Jason Manford takes swipe at Ricky Gervais as he insists there's no such thing as cancel culture - and claims 'really offensive' jokes are all the rage
Funnyman Jason Manford has shared his thoughts about cancel culture - and taken a subtle swipe at fellow comic Ricky Gervais. The comedian, 44, opened up to The Daily Mail about if he thinks comedy has become too PC in recent years. He pointed out that there are in fact plenty of stars making a whole career out of claiming they've been 'cancelled'.Jason explained: 'That's the funny thing, isn't it? It is and it isn't.'Look at the most watched shows on Netflix for example, they are Ricky Gervais, they're Jimmy Carr, they're Jim Jefferies. 'They're comics who are really offensive, and Dave Chappelle. Funnyman Jason Manford has shared his thoughts on cancel culture - and made a cheeky swipe at Ricky Gervais The comedian, 44, who recently joined forces with cheezy baked snack Cheez-It to spread joy in London, opened up to The Daily Mail about if he thinks comedy has become too PC in recent years'Makes me laugh, Ricky and Dave say, "Oh, I've been cancelled"... I think I wish I was cancelled! 'He just signed a 20 million pound Netflix deal. I'd love to be that cancelled... I'm on a worldwide arena tour being cancelled.'The Waterloo Road star explained that jokes often land way better in person at gigs rather than in short clips, which don't always capture the context of the set.He continued: 'Sat around the table with your family reading a joke that was said the night before in front of a room full of people, hits different.'You know that, of course, that might be offensive, but in the room on the night, you can see a wink in the eye. 'You can see the you can hear the tone of voice. 'You know there's no malice behind it. Live comedy is still as fun and as raucous and as edgy as it's ever been.' Jason joked: 'You know, makes me laugh, Ricky and Dave say, "Oh, you know, I've been cancelled"... I think I wish I was cancelled!'
When asked why he thinks classic comedies such as The Royal Family and Absolutely Fabulous are still popular to this day, he confessed that it's because way more people are involved in making shows now, in compared to then. The Royal Family aired on the BBC between 1998 and 2012, while Absolutely Fabulous was on our screens between 1992 and 2004.Jason said: 'I think there, there was definitely a point where laughter was first, and it was just about right. 'What's the funniest thing to do? Let's not worry too much about sensitivities, and let's be funny.'And the more you make comedy by committee, the more people are involved, the less funny it gets. 'You know, a lot of those shows were one or two people's vision, and they were sort of left to do it.'And now, I'll be sat in rooms with people I think you don't even make your own friends laugh, and yet you're in charge of comedy!'I've had that before, where I remember being in a meeting once, and I did whatever the joke was in the hosting thing I was doing, and this commissioner said, "You know, that bit at the end where they laugh, there's quite a long build up to that. Is there any way of moving that bit to the beginning?" Top 10 cities with the best sense of humour (Cheez-It research)1. Liverpool - 16%2. Glasgow - 7%3. London - 6%4. Newcastle-upon-Tyne - 5%5. Birmingham - 5%6. Manchester - 5%7. Belfast - 2%8. Edinburgh - 2%9. Leeds - 2%10. Brighton & Hove - 2%'And I was like, "What the punchline? No. That's not how this works."'That's like building a house on top of a roof, that's not going to work!"'I don't necessarily think I'm not one of these people who's like, "Oh, you can't say anything anymore", and everyone's offended. I don't think that's true.'I actually think being inclusive, if anything, makes you work harder for comedy, you can't just go for the low-hanging fruit now, you have to work a little bit harder to make sure that everyone feels included. I don't mind that at all. That fits into my comedy anyway.'I feel like I'm quite liberal, but I think some people in comedy sort of try and like out liberal each other. They try and find like another way.'I feel like even now I've got material that I think in 20 years time, someone will say, "Oh, my God, I can't believe you said that about dogs. '"Like dogs have got their own people, and how dare you, and you're gonna get cancelled because you said that joke about dogs".'Like just finding other ways of sort of getting in the way of being funny.'And fundamentally, when you're live in front of a room of people, everyone from all walks of life, everyone is just up for a laugh. No one is trying to be offended or try and be upset. Jason told us: 'When you're live in front of a room of people, everyone from all walks of life, everyone is just up for a laugh. No one is trying to be offended or try and be upset''So, yeah, I think modern comedy is it sort of victim of its own niceness, in a way. 'And that's probably why those old comedies sit so well, is because they didn't worry too much about that. 'They just went, "Let's be funny first".' Jason has had an extremely successful career over the years, working in comedy, TV, theatre and radio. In particular his comedy has seen him complete a number of UK tours including A Manford All Seasons, Like Me, Muddle Class, First-World Problems and Turning into My Dad. Jason, who recently joined forces with cheezy baked snack Cheez-It to spread joy in London, admitted that he still feels 'responsibility' to cheer anyone up if are feeling down.With February in full swing, plenty of rain and Christmas as a distant memory, the UK isn't at its most chipper - and Cheez-It's research has found that nearly two thirds of Brits admitted that they were 'yearning for more joy in winter months'. Jason hit the streets of the capital to try and lift the mood after finding out that one in ten Brits confessed that they can't remember the last time they had a 'proper laugh'. He said: 'I feel like I'm constantly trying to fix people's moods. 'You know, if someone's down, I feel like that's my responsibility.'And I guess people do presume that because you're a comic, you're always full of laugh, full of banter.' Luckily he knows exactly what to do if he needs a boost himself.'But for me, I suppose I'll watch same as everybody else, really comedy clips, sitcoms. 'I'll ring a friend, got a couple of mates who were dead funny. My mate Steve and and Dave and we have a little laugh. 'My kids make me laugh - my son's hilarious, like, just stuff he comes out with. 'So, yeah, I think it's about people, isn't it? Fundamentally, it's very hard to laugh by yourself. 'So a campaign like this hopefully brings people together, gets people laughing.'Jason Manford took to the streets of London with Cheez-It to lift the nation’s mood and launch the ‘Comedy Credit Service’ to give Brits a much-needed laugh. Missed Jason? Head to @cheezit_uki on Instagram
