by Brian Bamford
Ludwig Wittgenstein said: 'Humour is not a mood but a
way of looking at the world.' 'So if it is correct to say
that humour was stamped out in Nazi Germany, that
does not mean that people were not in good spirits, or
anything of that sort, but something much deeper and
more important.'
Perhaps to understand what that 'something' is, it would be best
to look at humour as something strange and incomprehensible.
For example, the philosopher Wittgenstein enjoyed reading
American detective novels and the casual humourous way
they bumped off their characters. For instance in
'Rendezvous with Fear' by Norbert Davis desribes a man
named Garcia cross-eyed with a thin yellowish face sat
drinking beer the colour and consistency of warm
vinegar. Meanwhile, when Doan shoots Bautiste Bonofile,
another 'bad man', the romantic but naïve heroine, Jane
asks with concern: 'Is he hurt?' 'Not a bit' says Doan, 'he's
just dead.'
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JOHN CLEESE has laid into the
"cowardly and gutless and contemptible" BBC after an episode of Fawlty
Towers was removed from a BBC-owned streaming platform.
A 1975 episode titled The Germans was taken off UKTV's streaming service because it contains "racial slurs".In it, the Major uses highly offensive language, and Cleese's Basil Fawlty declares "don't mention the war".
Cleese wrote on Twitter: "The BBC is now run by a mixture of marketing people and petty bureaucrats."
He added: "I would have hoped that someone at the BBC would understand that there are two ways of making fun of human behaviour.
"One is to attack it directly. The other is to have someone who is patently a figure of fun, speak up on behalf of that behaviour."
"We laughed at Alf's reactionary views. Thus we discredited them, by laughing at him," Cleese wrote.
"Of course, there were people - very stupid people - who said 'Thank God someone is saying these things at last'. We laughed at these people too. Now they're taking decisions about BBC comedy."
He continued: "But it's not just stupidity. The BBC is now run by a mixture of marketing people and petty bureaucrats. It used to have a large sprinkling of people who'd actually made programmes. Not any more.
"So BBC decisions are made by persons whose main concern is not losing their jobs... That's why they're so cowardly and gutless and contemptible. I rest my case."
'Audience expectations'
UKTV also operates channels including Gold, and many of its channels and its digital player were taken over by the BBC's commercial arm BBC Studios last year. A BBC spokesman declined to comment.A UKTV spokesman said: "UKTV has temporarily removed an episode of Fawlty Towers The Germans from Gold's Box Set.
"The episode contains racial slurs so we are taking the episode down while we review it. We regularly review older content to ensure it meets audience expectations and are particularly aware of the impact of outdated language.
"Some shows carry warnings and others are edited. We want to take time to consider our options for this episode."
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