Prom 40: Saturday 13th August 2011 at 7.30 p.m. (Comedy Prom)

[mercia]

making fun of music is not a joke

I thought Anna Russell making fun of Wagner was funny

[agingjb]

There's no lack of possible material for a program, even a Prom if we must, of music and laughter. We'll see.

I do notice that the BBC isn't televising this one immediately (if at all) - lack of confidence in what they probably call the "concept"?

[french frank]

I do notice that the BBC isn't televising this one immediately (if at all) - lack of confidence in what they probably call the "concept"?

Nothing wrong with the 'concept' - apparently - it will be broadcast at 9pm, BBC Two, 27 August

[PJPJ]

........ Hope tonight's Prom is clever and witty.

Well, it didn't seem to be by 8pm, or I've just aged hugely, so I turned it off.

[Chris Newman]

Part one was a bit iffy for half an hour but Kit and the Widow rescued it with the songs about Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Stephen Sondheim (the first very barbed and sung by Kit Hesketh-Harvey and the second more affectionate sung by Susan Bullock). "Puccini in Punjabi" (a piece of Curryoke or Kareoke, geddit) worked because it continued on the laughter which had begun before and involved the audience in LNOTPs style.

[EdgeleyRob]

that makes two of us. Time for a

Think I'll join you , currently listening to Deep Purple.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Not particularly funny.
Rather crass.

I thought there was potential for something good.

I was wrong.

[BetweenTheStaves]

Think I'll join you , currently listening to Deep Purple.

....

Now, you're talking. I dipped in and out of the Prom. Banal. Pointless. Wearisome. Re Haydn's Surprise symphony..at least that had music in it.

Radio 3 ...downhill..hand basket.

[Nick Armstrong]

Looking forward to some "What a po-faced lot" backlash from returning Arena-ites who had a whale of a time

Might try and catch the TV version having been otherwise engaged this evening - I quite like the idea of a barbed Lloyd-Webber p***-take / send-up. Nessun Korma sounds dire though...

[Chris Newman]

I missed most of the the second half as I wanted to relive the NYO concert on TV. The beginning of the Reizenstein Concerto Populare sounded as though the old warhorse has plenty of life left in it.

[cavatina]

"Puccini in Punjabi" (a piece of Curryoke or Kareoke, geddit) worked because it continued on the laughter which had begun before and involved the audience in LNOTPs style.

I thought it was as racist as hell. "Yuk yuk! Funny little brown people and their funny little foodstuffs out in the colonies!" Actually, I died a little inside to think of what my Indian business associates would think of me for not having had the guts to leave the room.

You'd never hear a piece where the humour is predicated on the idea of black people eating watermelon, fried chicken, chitlins and greens (Puccini in Pickaninny?) Same thing...why this was acceptable was beyond me. Maybe in Britain, casual racism isn't the issue it is in the US...oh well.

Other parts of the show were quite enjoyable and clever; for instance, I loved the Flanders & Swann singalong, the Victor Borge schtick, and the Sondheim spoof. However, at times I found myself admonishing myself with the same lines I always use on the likes of you: "Not every Prom has to appeal to every listener. Who are you to begrudge people their enjoyment? Don't you see how many enthusiastic new young faces are here? Lighten up and stop your whinging: if it's not "for" you, you should have stayed home."

I guess it just wasn't for me.

[PJPJ]

Maybe in Britain, casual racism isn't the issue it is in the US...oh well.

I suggest you watch "Family Guy" or "South Park". No, watch both.

[Ventilhorn]

I thought it was as racist as hell. "Yuk yuk! Funny little brown people and their funny little foodstuffs out in the colonies!" Actually, I died a little inside to think of what my Indian business associates would think of me for not having had the guts to leave the room.

Lighten up and stop your whinging: if it's not "for" you, you should have stayed home."

Good advice, Cavatina!

[cavatina]

I suggest you watch "Family Guy" or "South Park". No, watch both.

They wouldn't broadcast racist songs from either of those shows on NPR. Oh well, I suppose standards at NPR are a bit different: did you think what Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand did to Andrew Sachs was great fun too? Were you yukking it up at Richard Hammond's slurs against Mexicans?

You say "edgy," I say "rotten".

[cavatina]

Good advice, Cavatina!

Ooh, look--they're playing your song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vh-wEXvdW8

Now THAT's funny.

And for what it's worth, it's not that I'm po-faced about everything: I certainly don't have a problem with raunchy humour as long as it's witty and clever. In fact, I've seen Tape-Faced Boy's "half-dress" act done much better as a neo-burlesque/performance art cabaret act in New York City: a Fay Wray/King Kong striptease to the tune of "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing". Tacky as all get-out, but that's part of the point.

Here's an article about the neo-burlesque performance art renaissance in New York. I suppose I prefer this kind of humour to much of what was on Radio 3 last night because although it's often crude and over-the-top, it's basically good-natured and seldom mean-spirited. Oh well, to each his own. And never in a million years would I say this kind of thing is appropriate for the Proms or Radio 3...that's my take on it, at any rate.