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In the aftermath of the Russell Brand and Jonathon Ross fiasco, Frankie Boyle has been a name that has cropped up more than most when the Daily Mail PC brigade have come out in their numbers to attack the BBC’s more controversial comics.
The BBC was inundated with complaints recently following a repeat broadcast of a Mock The Week episode, in particular the ‘Scenes We’d Like To See’ section, which saw Boyle impersonate the Queen saying: “I’ve been having a few medical problems this year, I’m now so old, my p***y is haunted.”
The incident was discussed heavily on Newsnight, and in response Boyle was typically unconcerned, he quipped last night, “It was two years ago I said that, if it wasn’t haunted then it is now.”
And that was clearly the theme for the night. The material was as close to the bone as possible. He disclosed several of his one liners which had been deemed “unsuitable” for broadcast even on the notoriously controversial Mock The Week. Whilst almost all were hilarious, they remain unsuitable to repeat on The Yorker.
His most famous Mock The Week jokes were repeated, as expected. Indeed, much of his routine was familiar, but that did little to detract from the audience’s enjoyment. His jokes were as usual centred around Scotland, with terrorism and more disturbingly, paedophilia often visited. In many cases it was the old jokes that were the best, such as his infamous line on the Glasgow bombings: “I wasn’t sure if it was terrorists or Richard Hammond late for check in”.
Not all the audience members were too fond of his older material, with one heckler asking: “When are you going to stop telling Mock the Week jokes”. Boyle, unlike in a well publicised recent outburst to such a heckle, remained in control, and was typically unapologetic for “telling my own jokes”, and the majority of the crowd were more than happy to support the comic.
His other audience interaction was more good humoured. His opening gambit of, “Hello sir, you look like someone’s shaved a gorilla and dragged him through Topman” set the tone, and in general the audience lapped up the abuse. One group of Glaswegians accused Boyle of failing to play in his home town, to which he replied: “I only advertised it in the classier papers, you won’t have seen it in the Big Issue”, before later suggesting their inebriation may have caused them to miss the gig.
One of the biggest laughs of the night came just seconds after he had joked that the new HBOS advert showed Howard hanging himself in branch. He again searched the audience for comic sources, and asked one woman where she worked. “In a bank”, she replied and after more questioning, she sheepishly replied, “I work for HBOS”; the joke sort of completed itself.
All in all it was an excellent night of comedy, and completed an excellent week for live acts at the Opera House, who just this week have seen Boyle’s Mock the Week compatriot Russell Howard and Canadian rock star Bryan Adams prove that York does have some form of comedy and music scene.
Boyle’s almost unique brand of controversial and indeed often offensive humour was well enjoyed by the audience, many of whom were York students, and I for one hope he shall continue to offend and entertain us for many years to come, and he doesn’t fall victim to a newly resurgent PC middle England.
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