According to a recently published 12-page cultural awareness guide the London Borough of Barnet has effectively banned that staple of old-style comedians, the mother in law joke… Of course I would never dream of making jokes about my mother in law… our relationship is no laughing matter… This is a form of humour that has literally existed since Roman times… mind you they thought throwing Christians to lions was entertaining. But the guide says “British mother-in-law jokes, as well as offensively sexist in their own right, can also be seen as offensive on the grounds that they disrespect elders or parents.” Old style comedians like Les Dawson would have been left with little to say without the mother-in-law joke, and whilst I’m not into jokes that stereotype or pillory people unfairly, I must say that I’m with the more surreal comedian John Sessions, who I doubt has ever told such a joke, when he suggests that Barnet has had a bit of a sense of humour bypass in publishing this guide. Bu...
Dialogues, monologues, sketches, poems, rants, theological and liturgical bits and bobs and miscellaneous other verbal doodles...