BB FANS

I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, and can't say I ever agreed with his politics, but he was one of the funniest of his generation

Controversial comedian Bernard Manning has died aged 76, his comedy venue, Manchester's Embassy Club has said.

He shot to fame in the 1970s on ITV programme The Comedians, having already developed a career in music as a vocalist for the Oscar Rabin Band.

His website branded him "one of the most outrageous and successful comedians of our time".

He also denied being racist, once remarking: "I tell jokes. You never take a joke seriously."

However, in 2002, he was banned from performing the Dorset seaside town of Weymouth, where councillors were worried that his act would breach laws on race.

About 200 people had signed a petition, protesting about the show.

He died in North Manchester General Hospital at 1510 BST on Monday, a spokesman there confirmed.

'Didn't understand fuss'

Manning's biographer Jonathan Margolis last saw the comedian at his house in north Manchester six weeks ago.

"Bernard was the last of the old-style joke-telling comedians," he told the BBC News website.

"Jokes slightly went out of fashion maybe 25 years ago and Bernard was the last of the joke-tellers.

"I think he'll inevitably become famous for this question of whether he a racist comedian - and it's a funny thing because it's some way down the list of things he was," he explained.

"He was a man of his age - and as people of his age went, he was relatively un-racist.

"He was of Jewish extraction, he had a huge circle of Jewish friends in Manchester, and a smaller circle of Asian friends in Manchester."

"Until his dying day, he didn't understand what all the fuss was about."

'Godfather'

Showbiz agent Mickey Martin, who was a close friend of the comedian, told the Manchester Evening News that his death was a sad loss.

"I was going to visit him today but young Bernard called to say he's gone," he said, referring to Manning's son.

"It's come all of a sudden as we thought he was on the mend."

Mr Martin added: "He was the godfather of The Comedians and it's a sad loss to Manchester as well as to the world of comedy."

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Bernard Manning Documentary On C4

Channel 4 has today confirmed that it has commissioned an obituary programme on the late Bernard Manning, made with the full co-operation of the comedian himself.

The one-hour documentary is Manning’s own obituary on himself, from beyond the grave, has been filmed during the course of the last year and was made with the full co-operation of Manning and his family.

The one hour documentary entitled Bernard Manning R.I.P. examines the comedioan's life and career and will be broadcast on Channel 4 within the next month.

waveguide.co.uk

ITV cleared over 'racist' joke



McDonald: Ofcom ruled that his joke about Bernard Manning was 'clearly intended to parody' the comic's approach. Photograph: Johnny Green/PA

ITV has been cleared of racism by TV watchdog Ofcom after Sir Trevor McDonald called the late controversial comic Bernard Manning a "fat, white *******".

A total of 112 viewers complained that the remark, made on Sir Trevor's ITV1 Sunday night news comedy programme News Knight the week Manning died, was inappropriate or racist.

But Ofcom said Sir Trevor "clearly intended to parody" Manning's own brand of comedy, which played on racial stereotypes and was often denounced as racist.

The regulator cleared ITV of breaching broadcasting guidelines, ruling that "any offence that may have been caused was justified by the context".

During the June 24 edition of News Knight, less than a week after Manning's death aged 76, Sir Trevor introduced an item as "Racist and Dead".

"This week, it's the turn of corpulent, narrow-minded northerner Bernard Manning," he said. "Personally, I never thought of Bernard Manning as a racist comic... just a fat, white *******...".

In its ruling, Ofcom pointed out that News Knight was broadcast at 10pm, a full hour after the 9pm watershed and that it was clearly "an edgy, satirical look at the week's news".

"In the case of this programme, Sir Trevor McDonald obviously, and intentionally, drew on Bernard Manning's own style of humour, which frequently played on the real or apparent prejudices of his audience.

"The comments were clearly intended to parody Manning's own comedy, where he claimed he was not himself racist, but simply made 'jokes' based on racial stereotypes," Ofcom said.

"It was in such a context that Sir Trevor McDonald could therefore state that he did not consider Manning to be a racist but then went on to say that he was '...a fat white *******'".


guardian

Are there that many sad twits living in this country or did some of them complain several times?

As the complaint was unfounded, Ofcom should publish their names and addresses so that their local communities can be warned. Perhaps photos doctored with comedy Groucho moustaches would be a nice touch too under the circumstances?