10/21/2008

Where is the famous Scouse sense of humour ?

I went to see Steve Coogan, who is touring the country with his tour Alan Partridge and less successful characters, at the Theatre Royal in Norwich last night. Before hand I heard that his tour had not met with universal applause when in Liverpool last week he was booed and some people walked out.

So I was slightly surprised to find out, as I watched the show, the element of the show they apparenty disliked. During the Paul Calf sketch, he sung a song where he makes a comment about scousers stealing things. Hold the back page, a comedian makes a stereotype comment when playing a character who is supposed to by a drunk benefit scrounging layabout and Liverpool people take offence ? Couldn't they see that the joke was on the character Paul Calf because everything he was saying about Scousers was true of himself ?

People go on about the Scouse sense of humour, but it appears to be that they don't get irony.

The strange thing is that in Norwich, with the Alan Partridge segment of the show, the show went down an absolute storm. Remember, there have been elected politicians in Norfolk moaning about Alan Partridge's portrayal of Norwich and Norfolk (I would ask you to note that they are Tory politicians who also seem to have had a sense of humour by-pass). Yet the people of Norfolk love the way that although slightly lampooned, it is Alan Partridge who comes of worse, not Norfolk. Again, like Paul Calf, read between the lines and irony of the humour always makes the character seem the fool.

So the next time someone mentions the famous Scouse sense of humour, perhaps they too are being ironic.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can see how some Scousers might get offended. Because a "joke", repeated over many years ad nauseam, ceases to become funny. This is why I didn't go to see Steve Coogan in the first place ;)

Nich Starling said...

And Norfolk people have had to put up with in breeding and farming jokes for years too. I guess though that some are better able to take a joke than others.

Anonymous said...

Norfolk Blogger - Bang on the money.

The fact that some people up there are STILL boycotting the Sun newspaper, and that Boris had to do a grovelling apology 'tour' just means that the stereotypes keep getting re-inforced. If Liverpudlians chilled out a little bit, things might move on..

Anonymous said...

i was at the echo arena in liverpool for coogan's 1st night. for you to assume that negative comments about the show were based on a joke about scousers nicking handbags is incredibly narrow minded. personally, i thought it was a good show. but i was drunk, and i'm also a huge Partridge fan, so anything coogan said would have been hilarious to me. no, the negativity was regarding the fact he kept fluffing his lines and reading hiss gags off the back of his hand. it was terribly un rehearsed, and had nothing to do with any scouse gags. any search on the net where scousers giv their opinions will confirm that fact to you. your assumption is really quite idiotic.

Anonymous said...

Scousers have a victim mentality. A chip on their shoulder: YEAH! In their eyes, the whole world owes them a living, everyone else is wrong cos they don't "understand" them....they think they have a monopoly on humour. Artistically they are redundant: whereas the neighbouring city of Manchester is a model of musical eclecticism, most of Liverpool's musical output borrows from and relies heavily on the 60's: Cast, The La's, The Zutons, The Bunnymen, The Coral (yeah, Birkenhead lads - not strictly scousers, but you get my drift!) - none of them would sound out of place playing alongside Gerry Marsden and co at one of those chicken in a basket style 60's revival gigs! They remain stuck in a timewarp, and holed up within a cage of their own construct: one born of their own insular siege mentality.

Anonymous said...

As a scouser myself, I thoroughly enjoyed my night at the Manchester Apollo, I thought the show was really good, including Mr Coogan's 2 or 3 digs at scousers ..although the last one (as he left the stage)was a bit cheap ...but funny. However, this blog just demonstrates that sterotypes do still exist, especially in the vivid imagination of a handful of w*nkers who will always post a comment which amounts to a pile of s**te! Sadly, both Liverpool and Manchester have a number of w*nkers, the previous post being a perfect example of one!

Anonymous said...

Scousers do ACTUALLY have a sense of humour, we do have the ability to laugh at ourselves, and I think you will find that the people who attended the show in Liverpool walked out due to the unprofessionalism of Steve Coogan rather than his "jokes" regarding scousers, although they are hetting a little old now. Also,referring to the comment that "some people up there are STILL boycotting the Sun newspaper", if you had done your research about this matter, you might understand that a national newspaper accusing scousers of stealing from our own people as they lay dying at Hillsborough, is bound to stick in our throats a little, and is an unforgettable and unforgiveable thing to publish.
I have worked all over the world and have very often been complimented on my scouse humour. But I believe even some "humour" can at times cross a line.

Anonymous said...

Steve Coogan has been trying to excuse the bad reception he got in Liverpool early in his tour, by claiming: ‘Scousers hate Mancunians and the feeling’s mutual… People in Britain – apart from Liverpudlians – can laugh at themselves.’ Is this the same Steve Coogan who said BEFORE the gig: ‘I like playing Liverpool. Coming from Manchester I have affection by proxy for Scousers. I always get the best response in Liverpool and Manchester.’
Jimmy Carr performed at Liverpool and cracked jokes about scousers and was not booed off the stage because he was good value for money and entertaining, Coogan was neither.

Anonymous said...

Now den la'

Ryan Fitzpatrick said...

I'm from Liverpool myself..It has nothing to do with irony. It's just when people say the same scouser jokes over and over it gets boring. also the origin of 'all scousers are theifs' comes from a completely un-humorous event.

Anonymous said...

jealousy gets you nowhere!

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