Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/11/21/uk-regulator-rules-joke-about.html
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Somehow this panel of David Mitchell and Richard Ayouade analyzing why a joke about the Queen having sex wasn’t funny managed to not suffer the penalty:
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Given that one of the key features of royal families seems to be an abundance of bastards, the oversensitivity is surprising. (King William 4th, I think, had about 14 known ones.)
But…in the days when the monarchy went about by train rather than helicopter, the toilet signs were painted over on the stations through which the train passed so that the Queen should not be reminded of bodily functions. I can personally testify to this.
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The show, Don’t Make Me Laugh, was cancelled in the wake of the controversy
You may or may not believe it, but the BBC claim that the show was just cancelled/not renewed at the end of the series, not directly in response to the incident.
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Dog save the Queen!
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well it’s not like the slander laws are anything new
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I don’t believe the implication that the Queen has had sex at least four times counts as a form of “slander” even in the UK since no one has challenged its veracity.
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For slander to be actionable I believe it has to cause actual harm to the person slandered - financial, reputational etc.
So it might be slanderous if it could be shown that the UK veneration for the monarchy (which I do not share) was dependent on the belief that royal children arrive through virgin birth. After all, turkeys can do parthenogenesis (no similarity suggested.)
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The joke is really tame, give it to someone like Gilbert Godfrey to run the joke into the ground with overkill and see what the UK Regulators think then.
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“… The Aristocrats!”
I’d like to see Jerry Sadowitz take this joke somewhere. Or Stewart Lee.
The return of lèse-majesté, coming soon to America if our new thin-skinned head of state has his way.
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I was surprised this wasn’t mentioned yet. Then I remembered that I’m getting old.
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THE MONARCH
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The relevant segment starts at 9:15, and ends at 14:10.
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Wow, that was funny! Almost 2min of pointed discussion of what I can only imagine is the con column from the Queens “Should I visit Birmingham” list.
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Richard Ayouade adds a +5 amusement bonus to everything he’s in.
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David Mitchell and his wife Victoria Coren Mitchell are national treasures (and I say this as literal fact, no sarcasm intended) which puts them in a special category of being able to get away with almost anything. See also Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Morecambe and Wise, the Two Ronnies.
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I find “the Queen having a shit” at least ten times funnier. Not sure why.
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Ahh yeah, our brexit-britain future whereby we all have to pay for her madge’s refurbs, politicians get chastised for not grovelling at the feet of hereditary rule and we all have to stand as the anthem plays at the end of the evening’s tv viewing (which is 12pm, sharp!). Wait… two of those things are already happening.
For anyone who thinks the bbc are totally establishment though…
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