David Walliams says it’s breaks his heart that Little Britain is no longer aired for being politically incorrect because comedy must always be able to “shock and offend”.
The 53-year-old TV star and his writing partner Matt Lucas apologised in 2020 for sketches in their comedy series which contained blackface and other racial stereotypes.
Little Britain is now no longer repeated on television and was taken off BBC streaming service iPlayer. David admits it disappoints him that it has been blacklisted but he is hopeful that attitudes towards comedy are beginning to change.
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He said: “Culture has moved on, but you know what it breaks my heart.
(Image: PA)
“People can watch it on YouTube and still laugh and everything. I think maybe things are going to settle down in a bit and people are going to understand that humour is not to be taken too seriously and too literally, and not worry about it.”
David insists great comedy should shock and offend because that’s what makes jokes exciting.
He added: “Being shocked, it’s great. It’s exciting.
“Comedy, almost more than anything else, should be able to shock and offend. And if it doesn’t, it will become pretty toothless. What do we want?
(Image: HBO)
“You can go to an art gallery, see a shocking painting or photograph or something. You can listen to the Sex Pistols or something. You know, it’s like you can read shocking novels, watch shocking horror films.
“So why is comedy come under this? I don’t know. People like telling people off. I don’t know.
“Some people have no sense of humor. So what do you do with those people?”
David – who along with Lucas who also received criticism for their mockumentary series Come Fly With Me – despairs that people can’t understand the jokes in Little Britain.
(Image: Getty Images)
Referring to homophobic and racist character Maggie Blackamoor, a fictional member of the British Women’s Institute, David says it is obvious to any view with a brain that she is the butt of the joke.
He said: “I think people have become very literal minded about it, and they don’t realize that it’s playful. I mean we had this sketch that we did in Little Britain, where we had these ladies who were judging jams in sort of village fate competitions. She was very racist and homophobic, and if she tasted some jam in this competition, they were judging it, and she said, ‘Oh, it’s absolutely delicious. And then she’d find out the jam was made by someone black, and then she would throw up.
“Some people go, ‘It’s disgusting, she throws up because she she eats some jam by black people.’ It’s like, ‘Yes, I know, you’re meant to be shocked.’ And you’re meant to go, it’s how ridiculous racism is.
“I sort of despair sometimes when people can’t seem to decode things like that … I mean, it’s clearly deconstructing racism. It’s not saying it’s fine, it’s saying how ridiculous it is.”
(Image: BBC)
David and Matt are currently working on a new comedy series which they have promised will be edgy and similar to their past shows.
The comedian-and-author hopes the volume of clips from Little Britain and Come Fly With Me being shared online means that there is a new generation coming through who are anti-woke and will want to see his new series.
He said: “You see the kind of jokes that are shared online. And there are actually lots of really edgy jokes, right?
“When something happens in the news that might be kind of relevant to one of the characters, like, you know, when there was an IT crash, and so lots of people showing their computer says no clip. And then immigration is a big issue in the UK. And I had this character that I played in Come Fly With Me who was this immigration officer and you see clips of that all the time. So I’m just glad that they’re shared and still enjoyed.
“A whole new generation who seem to have their sense of humour intact are enjoying it.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
