Friday 11 June 2010

The F word

Listening to the News Quiz this evening, Andy Hamilton (or Satan as I think of him) mentioned that his live standup is much more sweary than he is on Radio 4, and he gets letters from "older" people who have heard and liked him on R4, then get tickets to his live show and are surprised, and write about their dismay at all the swearing.

Another panel member said she'd had the same experience.

He asked, very reasonably, how on earth older people had got through life without getting used to a bit of swearing.

It did make me wonder, will I, at some point in the future, become shocked by the F word?

Or, I wonder, is what they're really saying, "you're actually clever and funny on R4, but in your live show, you seem to think all you need to do to be funny is say 'fuck' a lot, which is a bit patronising really".

But I can't believe he's not still clever and funny in his live show. He's so lovely on R4.

It's a mystery.