Page 1 of An Australian Joke Too Far - Australian Manuelgate?

Follow this link and go down to "The Make A Realistic Wish Foundation Skit".

The Chaser`s War On Everything is an Australian sketch show now in its third series. On 3rd June, the team did this sketch satirising the Make A Wish type charities which raise money to grant the wishes of terminally-ill children. The Make A Realistic Wish Foundation, rather than granting these childrens` wishes, provides them with more realistic gifts such as sticks and pencils than meeting their pop idols or going to Disneyland. The sketch ends with the punchline "Why go to any trouble, when they`re only gonna die anyway".

The result was a fan-sh*t interface. There were apparently thousands of complaints about the sketch and questions were asked in the Australian Parliament, with even the Prime Minister commenting. The show is currently under suspension, and ABC tv is tightening up its internal review system as a result.

The first I heard about this incident was reading a report where the father of a terminally ill child who had been watching the show was asking what the comedy team suggested he said to comfort his son who had suddenly become very aware of his own predicament.

Now, personally I have no time for the class of people who go through life looking for opportunities to be offended. I`m not one for sanitising the media in the name of Political Correctness, but I`m annoyed by the thought that a child may have been traumatised by a fairly stupid shock-laugh punchline.

I`ve been having a fascinating discussion over at Roobarb`s about the whole issue - primarily about comedians showing the maturity to know when they`re going too far - and I`m wondering how people on this forum feel about What Is Too Far In Comedy, and should there be any taboos in comedy? Do modern comics have too easy a time with modern audiences?

Let`s have a quality discussion about this, eh? ;)

J Mark Oates

Hmmmm...

Just watched the sketh and yes, it`s in incredibly bad taste, and the subject of a child dying isn`t a laughing matter at all. Even the punchline seems to insinuate that the sooner the child dies, the better it will be for everyone.

However, didn`t Hale and Pace do a sketch where they gave the impression that they were going to put a baby in a microwave?

Of course I can understand the hysteria. Comedy shows (especially Aussie ones, which always seem to go further) are always trying to `push the boundaries` of what they can get away with, and it just looks like they were too caught up in their own egoes to realise exactly how much s*** they`d create for themselves. Mind you, how many processes did this sketch have to go through before it was actually aired? and no-one, in that time, had the wherewithall to say `hang on a minute....`

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Curse this infernal alcohol...


Writer`s Release
My Collection

Make a Wish Foundation have been satirised in plenty of US shows from My Name is Earl, South Park, and The Onion, which is an American sketch show which said that the Make a Wish Foundation was heading for bankruptcy due to a terminally ill child with leukaemia, asked for infinite wishes.

Ricky Gervais, he did a podcast where he played a song for terminally ill children, which was very shocking, but there was no outrage when that was broadcasted.

So when one comedian taps in to a taboo subject, then the rest will try to push the boundaries further and further to the point of bad taste.

floyd

I haven`t seen the sketch but it sounds in incredibly bad taste. As much as I don`t like the idea of this one in particular I also wouldn`t like the idea of going back to the old Beeb list of subjects you can`t joke about.
Comedy whether we like it or not needs to push at the boundaries of taste and decency and maybe in this case people are now asking about their attitudes to death, children and terminal illness. Perhaps to many of these Make a Wish foundations are making the ultimate survivors feel better rather than the child.
Don`t get me wrong if I were the father quoted I`d probably want to punch anyone to do with the shows lights out.
But we need Lenny Bruce, Bill Hicks, Brass Eye etc even, or perhaps especially, when they make us squirm.

Snaps

well, I found it funny. But then.. like ANY comedy.. It`s going to upset someone. I find Brasseye hysterical, etc etc.. I don`t think there are any taboos left..

And yes, I emailed the BBC and complained as to why Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand were treated so badly by the BBC , and demanded their reinstatement! SO.. what have we learned?

That I have a very wide margin for humour. :D

My DVD collection

This item was edited on Tuesday, 9th June 2009, 10:10

I suppose if one of the audience took out a gun and shot a comedian dead in the middle of their show then he could say it was done in the name of comedy and we could all have a good laugh, afterwards we could carry the joke on at their funeral as well...........Wishful thinking on my part I think. :)


Mr Basbat

This item was edited on Wednesday, 10th June 2009, 14:54

To me it all depends on when it was broadcast. If it was after the country`s watershed then fine. Shouldn`t be available to children who won`t necessarily understand the humour.

Whether it`s funny or not is in the eye of the beholder...and irrelevant to the OP`s question.

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Could someone please
Remove these cutleries
From my knees...

Quote:
To me it all depends on when it was broadcast. If it was after the country`s watershed then fine
Due to the amount and ease of options like Sky plus these days I think Watersheds are largely defunct these days. It`s arguable whether they were ever any use anyway.

Snaps

Quote:
Due to the amount and ease of options like Sky plus these days I think Watersheds are largely defunct these days. It`s arguable whether they were ever any use anyway.
The watershed should be used as a guide really. It is the parents` responsibility to enforce such things to be honest. My Sky+ boxes are pin protected for anything greater than PG which covers the film channels. Other channels are a little harder to do but parental supervision can go a long way.

On a related note, I switched off the "record things you may like to watch" on the one Sky+ box that has the capability as it shows thumbnail size previews of programs and movies and a few of them were unsuitable (IMO) for kids to see.

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Could someone please
Remove these cutleries
From my knees...

Missus and I like 8 out of 10 cats, it`s really funny, but we just watched this week`s and I thought about this thread

there were at least 2 racist jokes (anti French, one about them being traitors in the war, one that Jesus didn`t like them)
a joke about terrorists on the tube (man with beard and ticking backpack)
a joke about Jimmy Carr being kidnapped as a kid by a paedophile

there were some more bad taste joke, but then there always are, which is why we like it :)

So yes, joke about make a wish foundation is bad taste, but no worse than many other jokes.

I can`t remember if it was 8 10 cats or Have I got news for you, or something else, but a comedian made a joke about Diana, and it got gasps, his response was "too soon?".

This item was edited on Tuesday, 9th June 2009, 21:56