A beef about bullies

(This was the first of my two most recent articles for the Radio Mgazine about this major news story from the world of radio comedy).)

No prizes for guessing the big radio story this week. In fairness to the BBC, what started out as a headline in the Mail on Sunday did become the lead item on Radio 4's PM the next day despite it being about them, complete with extracts from the offending calls to Andrew Sachs' answerphone by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross, material that was pre-recorded and, remarkably, cleared by a producer for broadcast. As we go to press, there are demands for heads to roll but, as we have seen from so many public figures in recent years, sackings are simply the new suspensions.

This story has merely added to what was going to be the subject matter of this article anyway: drawing the line between using topical humour involving celebrities and bullying them, humour vs humiliation.

Nicola Roberts is a member of Girls Aloud, the pale redhead who didn't crop up performing sketches on the Friday Night Project with her bandmates and who perhaps says least in interviews. Despite having a large following, she is perceived as less glamorous than the rest of the group, rather like Mel C in the early days of the Spice Girls. She is also a regular target for Chris Moyles on Radio 1 and elsewhere (in his first book, he launched into an attack on her in the opening pages) and, earlier this month, she spoke out about his constant attacks.

All humour has a victim and although self-effacing wit is least likely to offend, a presenter or comic who only talks about him/herself could be accused of self-obsession (not that this stops some!) There are arguments that those who choose to put themselves in the public eye are fair game and that all publicity is good anyway. Having met a certain number of celebrities, all I can say is that they have varied in personality type from those who seemed incapable of even ringing for a taxi without a manager doing it for them to the totally down-to-earth.

At a talk to a mature audience recently, I drew applause when I said that I try to adhere to a rule of only joking about behaviour that can be avoided. I'm not sure if this was entirely deserved - there are times when I know I break this rule.

Of course, there are some famous figures whose self-destructive tendencies are bound to be fodder for comedy: Doherty, Amy, Kerry: celebrities whose names end with a 'Why?' as well as a y. But sometimes it becomes clear that we gag writers need to lay off. The stage show We Will Rock You removed a reference to Britney Spears as her personal life imploded and there seem to less jokes about Jade Goody since her cancer diagnosis.

Mock The Week is a show I love (Andy Parsons was the first person who spoke to me when I started going to Broadcasting House as a new, nervous comedy writer) and Frankie Boyle's material often makes me laugh out loud. My partner Val loves a lot of his stuff too but when she recently asked me why Professor Stephen Hawking is the butt of so many jokes, it was hard to find any answer other than the obvious. Modern comedy is supposed to be non-sexist, non-racist, non-homophobic but somehow the disabled and elderly have often been targets for otherwise PC comics. Difficult to take the moral high ground if all you do is demonstrate a different set of prejudices. Of course, it is possible to be humorous about Hawking, for example, his Brief History of Time which so many ostentatiously bought and carried around everywhere but so few read because they couldn't actually understand it. Years ago, I was proud to get a sketch aired on Radio 2 which satirised one of Anne Widdecombe's policies as a minister rather than making fun of her looks.

Ofcom are now involved in the Brand - Ross case. All told, not a good week for radio comedy.

(Reprinted from the Radio Magazine, issue 864, 29 October 2008)