I will start by telling you a joke about Cerebral Palsy. A young girl with cerebral palsy goes to the ice cream van and asks for a cone. What flavour ? says the ice cream man. It does not matter she replies I will drop it anyway. A joke that is not funny you might say but if I tell you that ... Read review
Advantages: Very funny observations on multiracial Britain Disadvantages: See text
I will start by telling you a joke about Cerebral Palsy. A young girl with cerebral palsy goes to the ice cream van and asks for a cone. What flavour ? says the ice cream man. It does not matter she replies I will drop it anyway. A joke that is not funny you might say but if I tell you that joke was told by one of Britains paralympic athletes who herself suffers from cerebral palsy and whose actually telling of the joke is a triumph of the human ... ...that got to do with Goodness Gracious Me?
The question is actually is it acceptable and funny for a member of an ethnic or religious minority to make fun of the differences in culture but not acceptable for, say, Bernard Manning or Jim Davidson to do the same. Is a joke about Jewish family life only funny if it is told by Jackie Mason or similar comedian. If you believe a joke is funny when told by one person but not funny when told ... more
I will start by telling you a joke about Cerebral Palsy. A young girl with cerebral palsy goes to the ice cream van and asks for a cone. What flavour ? says the ice cream man. It does not matter she replies I will drop it anyway. A joke that is not funny you might say but if I tell you that joke was told by one of Britains paralympic athletes who herself suffers from cerebral palsy and whose actually telling of the joke is a triumph of the human spirit would you think differently? And of course what has that got to do with Goodness Gracious Me?
The question is actually is it acceptable and funny for a member of an ethnic or religious minority to make fun of the differences in culture but not acceptable for, say, Bernard Manning or Jim Davidson to do the same. Is a joke about Jewish family life only funny if it is told by Jackie Mason or similar comedian. If you believe a joke is funny when told by one person but not funny when told by someone from a different ethnic or religious background who is the racist? There is no doubt that GGM is a very well written and well acted comedy sketch programme. There is also no doubt that it does hold a mirror to our society and show how our conceptions are seen by those minorities. In this respect it surely does great good.
Its subject matter is therefore controversial. Racism for the majority of people in this might be perceived only as the way in which the white majority in Britain relate to black or Asian minorities. By showing, for example, the racism which exists between those of Indian and Pakistani origin they both widen the conventional view of racism and isolate its absurdity. They also confront some of the aspects of their own culture such as arranged marriages and British cultural integration by portraying the absurdity of trying to both maintain certain aspects of cultural identity whilst trying to deny it in other areas. In this respect the Kapoor family who strive to become the Coopers is atelling example.
There have been a few series now and I did feel the last series was treading over familiar territory. It may just be that a new format for the programme is required or perhaps they should just widen the humour a little by being just funny and continually trying to educate us all at the same time. The main cast have now all established themselves as individual performers and deservedly so. Like all self respecting comedy shows it has spurned lots of catch phrases like ‘Eat My Chuddies’ and characters like Smeeta Smitten have a familiarity. The scheduling of the programme on BBC2 however does not do credit to the BBC or to the show. Such an important, and more importantly, such a funny programme deserved peak time scheduling.
Goodness Gracious Me is a very funny comedy sketch show but it is also much more than that. It is relevant social comment. But in a truly multi-racial democratic society should we not also allow comedians wider scope to exploit multiculturalism from the other side. I am certainly not suggesting deeply offensive or inciteful jokes to be told but have we not gone too far. Have we allowed political correctness to go too far?
As for the very brave young lady who told the joke about her condition, it was not a very funny joke and at the end of her telling it I smiled but fought back tears as she finished it. Would I like her to be offended by an able bodied person telling a similar joke? Certainly not, but also if jokes are not told about her condition would that not isolate her and the disabled more from society. I remain confused.
Advantages: An insight into Bollywood films, and Chunky la Funga Disadvantages: It is no longer on t.v..
Well what can I say! In a nutshell it’s brilliant! I am not of Asian race myself but I can identify and laugh along with many of the Asian stereotypes portrayed in the program. The writers all Asian themselves, have used the program to depict Asian family values and the importance of traditions and culture, including “Bollywood” and it’s idolised actors. Such as GGM character “ Chunky la Funga”.
The team of four ... ...show Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Syal. The other two primary characters Nina Wadia and Kulvinder Ghir, provide extra material for the show, mainly devised from family stories and observing others in the community. GGM and its characters were first presented to the general public in radio format. The first sketches consisted of characters, such as the two quarrelling mothers, who argue about the fertility and size of their son’s “dunda’s” ...
Christoph666 20.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of BBC1 - Goodness Gracious Me
Advantages: None Disadvantages: It's just not funny
First of all, the good news - http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/g/goodnessgracious_66601650.shtml is the address where you can find the customary helpful BBC background info and news about Goodness Gracious Me, and the web page is as good as you would expect from the wonderful people at the Beeb (I don't subscribe to any of the nonsense put out as part of the Hutton Report about the media institution - these guys remain the very best at ... ...find out all you possibly could desire to know about this Asian comedy series, including the listing of cast and crew:
Cast
Sanjeev Bhaskar
Kulvinder Ghir
Meera Syal
Nina Wadia
Dave Lamb
Crew
Sanjeev Bhaskar
Kulvinder Ghir
Meera Syal
Nina Wadia
Dave Lamb
Sharat Sardana
Richard Pinto
Anil Gupta
Nick Wood
Jon Plowman
You also get the normal decent background notes as follows:
Created for television, Asian sketch show Goodness Gracious ...
dave27 28.12.2000 (13.03.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of BBC1 - Goodness Gracious Me
Advantages: Extremely Funny Disadvantages: Could be a little offensive
Whoever came up with this idea is an absolute genious. He must be indian - all the great people are indian!
This programme never runs out of good ideas and is full of good humour. I was traumatised at the end of the last series and I can't wait for the next one to start!
It's a good idea, and as far as I am aware, there are no programmes like it, which is good because otherwise it would become boring. Some people may find it offensive, but I personally ... ...son off at school, they're all discussing what 'Bhangraman' got up to, or what they say about english men.
I think the idea of GGM is to prove that indian or asian people have a sense of humour, but watch the closing titles at the end. It's written by english men.
Well, surely they're going to 'go for an English' one day, and get curry served on there plate, because we all love their national dish!
So when you're all sitting in your Bharat homes ...
danieletheridge 11.02.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of BBC1 - Goodness Gracious Me
Advantages: Brings out Asian talent to the mainstream. Disadvantages: Not enough Rasmalai innit.
One of the best ethnic comedy sketches on TV. The boyz from Ealing - Is trying to depict some of the young Asians that are taking up Black culture. Just check out how stupid they look. The Other sketch that makes me laugh are the Kapoors and the Singhs aka Coopers and St. john's (singens). They are trying to act more British then your average Smith and Jones. The maharishi (yoga guru), is bought in to motivate the England football squad. He starts ... ...names (past and present). The translates it to a wicked meaning. Just goes to show, beware of the maharishi conmen.
The show started off geally good. Lately it's been a little silly, I think they have run out of ideas. They waste most of their time performing stupid songs just to pad out the air time.
Get your act sorted out and we want more Rasmalai on the show innit. ...
Rajib 14.11.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of BBC1 - Goodness Gracious Me
Advantages: Original, short sharp sketches etc Disadvantages: Culture orientated ..
It wasn't until recently that I first saw a sketch of ' Goodness Gracious Me '.... and I thought it was extremely funny..
Based around four to five idian comics, they go about poking fun at their own culture, and for me, this proved an instant hit..
Some of the jokes it must be said aren't always funny, but the actors, their idian accents and the way they portray themselves, still manages to bring a smile to my face...
It really is a funny program, ...
Si007 01.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of BBC1 - Goodness Gracious Me
