‘There’s us and there’s them,’ commented Noel Gallagher chillingly about the resignation of his friend Russell Brand in the wake of the lewd answerphone messages Brand and fellow presenter, Jonathan Ross, made to Andrew Sachs about the latter’s granddaughter.
Gallagher was assessing the intervention in the affair of people like Conservative Leader David Cameron and I assume the Prime Minister but also on the fact that it took several days for around 10,000 people to lodge complaints about the broadcast. Since, the figure has risen to 30,000 complaints but anecdotal analysis seems to put the complainers in the camp of ‘old fuddy-duddies’ while those who support Brand and Ross as young people who considered it at worst a prank by silly boys but still quite funny.
Us and Them
I find it hard to take sides. I guess as I grow older I am more aware of the thin line between good taste and bad in comedy. Recently I watched the irreverent Little Britain USA where Matt Lucas and David Walliams took their successful formula of unique British humour to an American setting. I cringed. The humour was forced and erred on the side of shocking in an attempt to take the familiar characters and situations into small and large town America. I visibly shrank as I saw the stereotypical suggestion that the new President (I assume it was meant to be Obama ) had a ‘Weapon of Mass Destruction’ in his trousers and baulked at the scene where the ‘Laydee’ who gave her dog a voice made it tell her to defecate behind a bush. Not exactly their best material.
Maybe I would have laughed a few years ago but I got the distinct uncomfortable feeling that this was the best of British humour being aired in the US and it was awful and painful. Curiously much of it was directed by ex-Friends actor, David Schwimmer, who had done a great job on the very British humour in the immensely enjoyable film, ‘Run, Fat Boy, Run’. Maybe Americans like it that way?
Ruining a Successful Formula
And so to Brand and Ross. Both have enjoyed great success in taking things to the limit. Ross’ ‘cheeky’ style as described by Tom Hanks in a great interview has both shocked and been hilarious. And it’s a combination that has worked even though you are constantly feeling at any moment he could offend people terribly. I have not endured much of Russell Brand, but generally he is funny too.
So it came as a great surprise that they had pushed the envelope just that little too far as perhaps the real skill in their humour was to know the boundary and flirt with it just enough to cause a gasp but never to go far enough to ruin the formula and really offend. Whether this was humour, a prank gone wrong or whatever wasn’t really the issue. The fact was they called a granddad and made lewd insinuations about his granddaughter. It had to be offensive no matter who they were calling.
Perhaps the real sin was that as a recorded program it was allowed to be aired. The judgement by the BBC editorial staff was pretty grim and accordingly, Lesley Douglas accepted responsibility and resigned, as has Russell Brand.
Accountability vs. Responsibility
In an age where responsibility and accountability has been disconnected particularly in Government and business, I think that both Brand and Douglas should be commended for taking it on the chin and stepping down.
Whatever side we all take and whatever we may think of Russell Brand, his humour, his apparent lack of contrition, his sense of taste, I think we should actually applaud his being accountable for his actions – and for that he gets my respect.
Contrast it to the bank executives, regulators, politicians, police chiefs and more of this world and how they avoid blame and accountability, at least one guy who overstepped the mark had the decency to accept the criticism, draw a line and resign.
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