Never Mind the Unpleasantness

For no particular reason I watched an old episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks today. It was the - apparently - 'infamous' edition featuring Chris Moyles, whereby he was subjected to a 'right kicking' from Mark Lamarr et al.

Except, he wasn't. In fact having just seen it, it turns out it seems I already saw it at the time, and found it so uneventful that it barely registered. In fact, if anyone was targeted in the programme, it was fellow guest Vic Reeves, who was repeatedly - and rather unfunnily - subjected to a sample of music from a band he used to be in.

All it did really was remind me why I stopped watching the programme altogether, namely because it just wasn't very funny. Indeed, I started to find the rather aggressive, bullying style of the regulars, and in particular Lamarr, rather unpleasant.

Why bother trying to be witty when you can target a vulnerable guest and repeatedly insult them until they're on the brink of tears? That'll teach them for coming on some poxy quiz to earn some money and have a bit of fun.

Seeing Sean Hughes recently on a edition of Animal Rescue Live looking like a tramp who'd inadvertently wandered onto the set almost makes me believe there may be such a thing as karma.

Anyway, you can see the episode in question (on chrismoyles.net, curiously enough) here. Scroll down a bit, it's in there somewhere.

It made me think about how things get spun one way or another, in this case if you'd only heard the hype and never seen the episode you'd think that Moyles had been ritually crucified while his close friends and family were made to watch. I'm not saying he looked particularly comfortable - he never really does on TV - but I've certainly seen people come off much worse on the show. If you were one of Moyles' many detractors though, you'd probably be keen to make much of it.

Rather like the Janet Jackson 'Nipplegate' incident, whereby a small group of fanatics would have you believe that the only way to rectify such a heinous offence is to fine a TV company to the point of bankruptcy, and in turn impose ever more ludicrous puritanical regulations (saying 'bum' on network television is punishable by a day in the stocks now), while the rest of the world sits scratching its head wondering what all the fuss is about.