David Mitchell slur

I heard it. It was amusing, not “laugh out loud” funny - which is why it didn’t cause lots of laughter.
There was no malice towards Cub leaders. I think it’s unlikely anyone would have been offended.

I don't understand how anyone could find that comment at all funny.

What is an appropriate joke? It really does depend on your life experience what will offend you!

I heard it Elrel and thought it a tasteless comment in the current climate.

Sometimes I think they are so into getting a laugh, they don’t put their brain in gear before speaking.

Actually, it is not a slur - it would be a slur if he had said in all seriousness that ALL cubleaders were top sexual predators, or that any specified cubleader was. As it is, everyone who heard it would know that SOME leaders of young people's organisations have been shown to be abusive. It is common knowledge that someone with a predilection for underage sex is drawn to an organisation where he/she can find those young people, and also that the vast majority of youth leaders abhor the minority of perverts.

It is getting to the point where no jokes at all can be permitted. Any and every subject has someone, somewhere, who will link any mention of it with their painful situation. This has always been the case and it always will be, unless all but the most anodyne of jokes vanish completely. It seems to me that we would all find that incredibly boring and flat.

Analysts of why humour is funny (a good way to kill all the fun!) say that the reason a joke raises a laugh is because of the unexpected connection made between two unconnected things, releasing the tension between what is expected and what is said. Linking some everyday comment with something in the news does that. This is why there are always jokes about news items and people in the public eye - the juxtaposition of serious comment with some mundane observation takes the hearer by surprise.

In this case it was child abuse - which is so emotive a subject that it makes people feel uncomfortable if they laugh, but it was still a link of cubs with Cubs - mundane with serious.

Everyone could be offended by everything.
I'm fat, I'm from Essex, I have someone I love who died; take your pick.
Unless something is personally directed at me with the intent to hurt, then I'm not worried.
I'm more worried about living in a world with
Trigger Warning before everything that's said or written.

So does everything transmitted on TV have to be approved by a PC brigade in case somebody is offended? It was a throwaway remark. Best ignored by those likely to be offended. Otherwise, move on. Nothing to be seen or done here.

I think it's not so much the pc aspect as the fact that someone who may have been affected could find throwaway remarks like that, supposed to be humorous, very upsetting.

Well, don't watch him then! Most humour is at someone's expense, be it MILs , other nationalities or whatever. Of course most scout leaders are fine folk...but it's absolutely true that SOME have been in it for perks other than mentoring the young!

Ok I probably mixed poker with bridge, sorry folks. I bet she plays bridge as well though - it's one for those with good memories and an ability with numbers that sadly, I don't have.

PECS I like any film with Meryl Streep in it, she's fab. Isn't it interesting how we can take what are probably irrational dislikes to actors. I can't stand Woody Allen (not sure that's an irrational dislike though)

jalima I have tried to think if my aversion to Meryl is because she reminds me of someone I disliked in my childhood.. a teacher maybe or a friends mum.... but cannot think of anyone I knew who looks remotely like her.

As far as I know, the chair's words are almost entirely scripted on The Unbelievable Truth. David Mitchell can be very witty (love him!) but that comment may not have originated from him.

I much prefer him to her.
She always seems a bit starchy..
I loved David Mitchell in 'Peep Show'.

I like David Mitchell and Victoria Coren, at least as much as you can like anyone that you don't really know.

Unfortunately, a joke such as this May well offend those who give up their time to do voluntary work in various organisations. However, if we clamped down on all these sorts of jokes for fear of offending people there would be no humour relating to politics or news in general. In my opinion, that would be dangerous.

I think it was rather a faux pas, meant to be funny but perhaps backfired.
(the remark)

For example I cannot watch films with Meryl Streep.. I have no idea why she grates so much!
I can't stand Helen Mirren but have no idea why, she has never done anything to upset me.

I do like David Michell and Victoria Coren
Giles seems a bit of a prax, sorry prat.

Her father was very funny and clever.

Iam64
She might play bridge but it's her skill at the poker table where she earns her money.

I volunteer with the scout movement twice a week. That remark is nothing.

We all respond to styles of comedy, presentation & programme hosting differently. There are presenters that I can't warm to or whose delivery style does not appeal. I quite like the wit of DM & VCM and I did think her dad was funny too. I enjoy their writing as well.
I have an irrational dislike of some actors. For example I cannot watch films with Meryl Streep.. I have no idea why she grates so much!

My brother met Alan Coren when he and some other journalists were invited to go on a flight in a Wellington bomber.

As they prepared for take-off, the pilot asked if the pax (passengers) were on board. AC misheard him and in his article he wrote that the pilot referred to them as prats.

It's a joke, I think it's funny, some people won't but it isn't that big a deal. Victoria Coren doesn't just play bridge she plays Poker and has won a fortune As of 2018 her total live tournament winnings exceed $2,470,000.

This is very trivial and not worth making a fuss over.
We seem to be turning into a nation of people who take offence over everything.

David Mitchell is very funny on Would I Lie to You, and for me Victoria is Joan Bakewell's successor as, in Frank Muir's words, "the thinking man's crumpet". Her father, Alan Coren, was the funniest man I ever met.

I don’t know whether VCM’s a bridge player as well, Iam, but she’s won several million dollars at poker tournaments.

The funny thing is, she's not the least bit funny but very likeable.