I cannot believe the media scrum right now over Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand’s prank on Andrew Sachs at the start of the week. Talk about a FIRING SQUAD?
No, they didn't style their hair like this- they just got fucked by the BBC
It’s almost cringe-worthy to see all these media idiots literally overjoyed at the opportunity to take Jonathan Ross (and his massive pay packet) down a notch or two. As for Russell Brand, I underestimated how long they were going to give him- I thought the British media might at least wait until the middle of next year (or one more good movie roll) before they would start to tear him apart from media ‘darling’ to – well, lets think, where is Julian Clarey these days? I thought it would have probably been an ‘incident’ like the “fisting Normal Lamont” comment which would be the end of him.
So despite the fact that Andrew Sachs has been a comedy actor for most of his career, his greatest role being the stereotypical impersonation of a ‘Spaniard’ waiter now everyone is outraged on his behalf (and maybe he is a little bit as well) because of ‘obscene’ prank phone calls. The term is an offense to anyone who has actually recieved PROPER obscene calls- like me.
"Hello? Put me through to Max Clifford please!"
Sachs had been due to appear on Jonathan Ross’s radio show but failed to turn up. So they thought it would be funny to call Sachs. The rest, they say is (almost) history. So does anyone else smell shit? The grand-daughter Russell Brand joked he had slept with is an aspiring ‘actress/glamour model/tv presenter’, her name has been on the front/center/comment/ section of every paper since this whole thing started. She couldn’t have DREAMED of this publicity. Sure, Sach’s is 78 years old but he’s not STUPID (nor are his agents/PR people) so I’m sure they recognise the potential for a little press bonanza for his grand-daughter.
Now, I’m all for fair treatment of people but surely even if people can’t recognise it was a (ok, fairly silly) joke, then surely they can realise that this show had been PRE-RECORDED. It was the choice of the BBC Production Team in charge of the show to actually air it. Not even that, they GAVE them his phone number in the first place.
I am really not going to pretend I agree with Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand’s behaviour, either this time or a lot of other times, but what I (and lots of other people) hate, is HYPOCRISY. The news media/PR machine that is the media are so full of shit these days I have to buy extra air-fresheners to get rid of the smell when I watch TV. In yesterdays Independant newspaper Terence Blacker wrote,
” It is a rather bewildering contradiction of our increasingly peculair society that, while cruelty in everyday life is the subject of unprecendented disapproval, it is positively celebrated and encouraged in the world of entertainment.’ Terence Blacker, The Independant 28/10/08 pg 31
Jo Caulfield's not the devil, she's just an arsehole who slags everyone/everything
If anyone has watched anything featuring the ‘comedian’ Jo Caulfield will agree with that. One night I sat and watched a programme she was in which featured, without a word of a lie, wall to wall slating of everything and everyone ever featured on UK TV in history- even people/things that were blatantly good had to be brought down. It’s like society is becoming obsessed with increasingly clever and witty ways to insult eachother.She is not the only one OF COURSE.
When I was growing up, if anyone tried to bully me in any way I could never find the words to retort back in a cutting and hurtful way to counter them because I was always taught that if I didn’t have anything nice to say then not to say anything at all. I didn’t enjoy the thought of hurting people through words so when it came down to it I ended up in a LOT of physical fights. It was my FIRST resort (and my best one). Of course, there comes a point when you have to grow up and realise that physical violence in public is unacceptable (even if the other person started it) and thats when I realised that verbal warfare was the only way to go… I’m still not that good at it but the degree to which people rip eachother apart (sometimes not even as a joke or light ribbing) is getting out of hand. Bullys who bring otherpeople down are seen as cool, or something to be… or dare I say funny?Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand are two fairly good and well liked presenters being torn to shreds over a practical joke, with ‘calls’ for them to be sacked, investigations and general outcry at the airing of the show.
Eh, remember this folk? No, it wasn't a dream- it ACTUALLY happened!
However not even a fortnight ago ‘This Morning’ wheeled on Kerry Katona who was either drunk, ill, or in my view drugged out her nut and proceeded to pour patronising spew over her disguised as ‘concern’. Have there been calls for their presenters to be sacked? their producers? noooo of course not! They aren’t paid ‘by the tax payer’ so they aren’t viewed as public property are they. I might not laugh at Jonathan Ross’s brand of humour all the time, but he is certainly the best thing the BBC can offer on a Friday night. I hope the BBC don’t listen to the prude brigade and sack Ross, looking to decrease their outgoings on wages. MISTAKE!
So, I just hope it all goes away (as do Ross and Brand no doubt) because it just stinks of absolute witch hunt/bandwagon/hypocrisy.
________________________________________________________________________________________________-
Ross and Brand SUSPENDED over ‘lewd calls’
After the bold Gordon Brown wading in over the affair, and several calls for Ross and Brand to be sacked, the BBC Director General Mark Thompson has suspended the pair.
Sure, it was an insensitive thing to do. But the BBC have nobody to blame but themselves for the uproar as THEY ARE THE ONES WHO CHOSE TO RELEASE THE RECORDING OF THE SHOW. If it was such an abhorrent thing to do, then why didn’t the producers of the show recognise this and edit the incident out? What are they getting payed LICENCE PAYER money for? Old Rope?
Limmy suggests docking their wages and sending it to a charity of Sach’s choice. Fair enough, but from the latest round of press briefings, it’s clear that Andrew Sach’s himself regrets the whole media clamour around this incident. It’s his GRANDDAUGHTER who is continually calling for heads to roll. The 23 year old Actress/ burlesque dancer who admits she slept with Brand, says she feels betrayed by what went on. I hope someone who has her ear lets her know that when she becomes a ‘proper’ celebrity, she will be open to a lot more stories of this nature. Of course, now she is FAST becoming one of the most talked about 23 year old burlesque dancers of the moment 
…. someone might like to let her know that being responsible for the uproar leading to the sacking of two of the most loved presenters/celebritys the BBC…no the UK has to offer, will do her career any favours. Nor her grandfather. Who wants to remember Andrew Sach’s as ‘the guy from Fawlty Towers and the guy who got Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand sacked? or should i say Sach’ed?
This is getting out of hand.
Alanna, can’t agree with you I’m afraid. The papers are all nonsense and I don’t bother with them much but I think what has triggered such a reaction is the fact that Andrew Sachs is OLD. Now, I’m not suggesting that the elderly should be patronised or handled with kid gloves ( I know a lot of old people and some of them are absolute old cunts) but for thousands of years, society has demanded that the elderly be respected.
If Andrew Sachs was the same age as Ross & Brand then fair enough. But this is a man old enough to be their father and grandfather. I didn’t find what they said to be particularly offensive (but then you’ve probably gathered by now that, for me, it’s open season on most topics) but it was fucking RUDE. Bad manners in general and a lack of consideration for others is the reason why there are wee hoody neds roaming the streets at midnight, wrecking your car or pissing in your garden.
I HATE rudeness and that is why I think they should at least make a very humble and public apology to Andrew Sachs. Otherwise they’re just reinforcing the current culture of cuntishness that’s prevailing.
As I understand it, Messrs Ross and Brand are employed by the BBC as cutting-edge commentators on this Modern Society we are bound to live in, using their cutting-edge humour and erudite asides as the mirror they hold up to reflect the risible mores of this Society in a cutting-edge, erudite kind of way. Although the renumeration they receive for these skills is very substantial indeed, I defy anyone to gainsay their considerable acumen in leaving obscene phone messages for a (now) obscure actor, who let’s face it, has done nothing of note since “Fawlty Towers” ended.
I whole-heartedly support Wossy’s and Brand’s comedic duty to point this out by leaving what have been described as “puerile” messages on Mr Sachs’ voicemail, thus exposing the fact that although the comedic character essayed by Mr Sachs in the said sitcom will long remain in blessed memory, even unto the day when Wossy’s and Russell’s bones will have been rendered to dust on the cheating breeze, Mr Sachs should be looking for a higher profile, preferably through his more nubile female relatives.
If that means Russell Brand must bring to bear his cutting-edge humour by making lewd and lascivious innuendos regarding Mr Sachs’s grand-daughter, then I think we should defer to his judgement as an erudite, cutting-edge commentator on this crazy world that we live in, and bumper his name up unto the rafters!
Fiona, I totally agree it was rude. Yes, they should show a bit more respect for their elders but look at the pelters the bold Ross throws at Bruce Forsyth every week from FNWJR? Brucey is 80 but he can give as good as he gets eh? It’s a publicity stunt either from Sachs side in order to raise the grand-daughters profile, or the BBC trying to justify possibly sacking Ross.
I don’t agree with people being rude to eachother, it was the question by Terence Blacker in the Independent “When did bullying become acceptable?” which made me write the blog. They apologised, they’re example was hardly bullying. I think the press should leave it alone now.
SSimstar are you Bhudda?
I believe that John Cleese has taken out a contract on Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand!
http://galacticgordon.wordpress.com/2008/10/30/cleese-takes-out-contract-on-brand-and-ross/
I like Brand, he’s great, and a breath of freshair, with his gay sense of liberty and vibrance. Pity he makes such a cock of himself, it would have been funnier if he invited Smug Ross on his show, and then kicked his fucking smug head in, I’d have paid his fine for that, and listened to him say he ‘used’ to be a smack head, oh….for at least another ten times, I wonder if that fairy who visits him at night before he goes to bed, you know, the one who he talks about in his funny stand up show, the one that shows Noel Gallagher is in the crowd four times in the first half hour, just to show Russ is cool, and Noel does have his flaws, (why saint Noel?) I wonder if it has been visiting him, saying, “Hello, Russell, I know your going to sleep, but your a fucking Knobhead!, suck my Sach!!!”
Good night, Happy April Fool’s Day!
The local sheriff was looking for a deputy, so Homer – who was not exactly the sharpest nail in the bucket – went in to try out for the job.
“Okay,” the sheriff drawled, “Homer, what is 1 and 1?”
“11,” he replied.
The sheriff thought to himself, “That’s not what I meant, but he’s right.”
“What two days of the week start with the letter ‘T’?”
“Today and tomorrow.”
He was again surprised that Homer supplied a correct answer that he had never thought of himself.
“Now Homer, listen carefully: Who killed Abraham Lincoln?”
Homer looked a little surprised himself, then thought really hard for a minute and finally admitted, “I don’t know.”
“Well, why don’t you go home and work on that one for a while?”
So, Homer wandered over to the pool hall where his pals were waiting to hear the results of the interview. Homer was exultant.
“It went great! First day on the job and I’m already working on a murder case!”
Happy April Fool’s Day!