NOTE: First published on 19th June, 2007CONTROVERSIAL “comedian” and general Manchester “funny-man” Bernard Manning has died aged 76 after being treated in hospital for a kidney condition.
Though recently out of the spotlight, Manning was all the rage in and around the 1980’s. Known for his trademark risqué material and ethnic slurs, he has in recent years refuted claims that he is a racist by saying: “I tell jokes. You never take a joke seriously.”
Manning shot to fame in the 1970s when he made regular appearances on ‘The Comedians’; a show aired by regional broadcaster Granada.
Having already developed a career in music as a vocalist and a compere, the Mancheser-based comic enjoyed unparalleled success in both the UK and with our transatlantic cousins, when at the height of his career he performed at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Manning’s website has branded him "one of the most outrageous and successful comedians of our time".
However, in 2002, he was banned from performing in the Dorset seaside town of Weymouth, where councillors were worried that his act would breach laws on race.
His biographer, Jonathan Margolis, described him as "the last of the joke-tellers".
“He was a man of his age,” Margolis tells the BBC.
“And as people of his age went, he was relatively un-racist. Until his dying day, he didn't understand what all the fuss was about.”
Another comedian known for his anti-conformist material, Stan Boardman said that all Manning did "was take the mickey", which he describes as "the British sense of humour".
But is this truly the “British sense of humour”, and if it is, is it something to be proud of? Is it fair to class ignorance and the promotion of socially exclusionist propaganda as “legendary, comic genius”?
Let’s not forget, Liverpool-born Boardman is the man who, whilst on stage at a Leeds United Football Club Award’s Dinner in May 2002, confronted a heckler by saying: “F**king hell. I am being heckled by Pakis now!”
He concluded his childish tirade by say: “Why don’t you go back to your curry house or shop in Bradford? Your elephant’s waiting outside.”
Is this the British sense of humour? Is it British comedy genius at its best? I think not.
The event was in honour of Leeds’ then player of the year, Rio Ferdinand, who is black. Seven hundred VIP guests were in attendance as Boardman continued with a cavalcade of “jokes” about the Irish, Australians, Americans and Germans.
Following an avalanche of complaints the club since banned Boardman from ever performing there again.
But of course we’re not here to debate the downs and downs of Stan Boardman’s career.
Bernard Manning achieved phenomenal success in the UK and relative success abroad. Even in the late 1970’s to early 1980’s, after his appearances on British television were drastically curbed, his private shows continued to flourish.
His “World Famous Embassy Club” in Manchester was regularly packed out where he himself made regular appearances.
However in the mid-1990s his career took a sharp decline following a News of the World exposé and television documentary uncovering the extent of his ethnic “mickey-taking”.
A charity dinner to raise funds for the police in 1995 saw Manning, then 65, performing as one of the comedians on the night’s line-up.
The event was attended by some three hundred police officers, all of which were white, with the exception of one black officer.
Manning, true to his style, took advantage of the situation and initiated a string of racist jibes.
His police audience whooped with delight and continued to cheer him on. The News of the World reported the racist gags in April 1995:
“Where is he? How are you, baby? Having a night out with nice people? Isn’t this better than swinging from the trees?
You’re black, I’m white. Do you think colour makes a difference? You bet your bollocks it does!”
“They actually think they’re English because they are born here. That means if a dog’s born in a stable, it is horse.”
“They used to be happy people in the cotton fields, singing their bollocks off day and night. A fella used to go around with a whip… ‘Oh, massa, give us another crack of dat whip. I love dat whip’”
“A Liverpool docker went to South Africa for a job. The boss tells him: ‘It’s people like you we want here. Here’s a test. There’s a revolver, go out and shoot 6 niggers and a rabbit.’ The docker asks: ‘Why do I have to shoot the rabbit?’ He got the job.”
Though recently out of the spotlight, Manning was all the rage in and around the 1980’s. Known for his trademark risqué material and ethnic slurs, he has in recent years refuted claims that he is a racist by saying: “I tell jokes. You never take a joke seriously.”
Manning shot to fame in the 1970s when he made regular appearances on ‘The Comedians’; a show aired by regional broadcaster Granada.
Having already developed a career in music as a vocalist and a compere, the Mancheser-based comic enjoyed unparalleled success in both the UK and with our transatlantic cousins, when at the height of his career he performed at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Manning’s website has branded him "one of the most outrageous and successful comedians of our time".
However, in 2002, he was banned from performing in the Dorset seaside town of Weymouth, where councillors were worried that his act would breach laws on race.
His biographer, Jonathan Margolis, described him as "the last of the joke-tellers".
“He was a man of his age,” Margolis tells the BBC.
“And as people of his age went, he was relatively un-racist. Until his dying day, he didn't understand what all the fuss was about.”
Another comedian known for his anti-conformist material, Stan Boardman said that all Manning did "was take the mickey", which he describes as "the British sense of humour".
But is this truly the “British sense of humour”, and if it is, is it something to be proud of? Is it fair to class ignorance and the promotion of socially exclusionist propaganda as “legendary, comic genius”?
Let’s not forget, Liverpool-born Boardman is the man who, whilst on stage at a Leeds United Football Club Award’s Dinner in May 2002, confronted a heckler by saying: “F**king hell. I am being heckled by Pakis now!”
He concluded his childish tirade by say: “Why don’t you go back to your curry house or shop in Bradford? Your elephant’s waiting outside.”
Is this the British sense of humour? Is it British comedy genius at its best? I think not.
The event was in honour of Leeds’ then player of the year, Rio Ferdinand, who is black. Seven hundred VIP guests were in attendance as Boardman continued with a cavalcade of “jokes” about the Irish, Australians, Americans and Germans.
Following an avalanche of complaints the club since banned Boardman from ever performing there again.
But of course we’re not here to debate the downs and downs of Stan Boardman’s career.
Bernard Manning achieved phenomenal success in the UK and relative success abroad. Even in the late 1970’s to early 1980’s, after his appearances on British television were drastically curbed, his private shows continued to flourish.
His “World Famous Embassy Club” in Manchester was regularly packed out where he himself made regular appearances.
However in the mid-1990s his career took a sharp decline following a News of the World exposé and television documentary uncovering the extent of his ethnic “mickey-taking”.
A charity dinner to raise funds for the police in 1995 saw Manning, then 65, performing as one of the comedians on the night’s line-up.
The event was attended by some three hundred police officers, all of which were white, with the exception of one black officer.
Manning, true to his style, took advantage of the situation and initiated a string of racist jibes.
His police audience whooped with delight and continued to cheer him on. The News of the World reported the racist gags in April 1995:
“Where is he? How are you, baby? Having a night out with nice people? Isn’t this better than swinging from the trees?
You’re black, I’m white. Do you think colour makes a difference? You bet your bollocks it does!”
“They actually think they’re English because they are born here. That means if a dog’s born in a stable, it is horse.”
“They used to be happy people in the cotton fields, singing their bollocks off day and night. A fella used to go around with a whip… ‘Oh, massa, give us another crack of dat whip. I love dat whip’”
“A Liverpool docker went to South Africa for a job. The boss tells him: ‘It’s people like you we want here. Here’s a test. There’s a revolver, go out and shoot 6 niggers and a rabbit.’ The docker asks: ‘Why do I have to shoot the rabbit?’ He got the job.”
This event raised £28,000 for police charities.
Former Liverpool Council leader Derek Hutton was a guest at the dinner party. Appalled at Manning’s rant, Hutton said: “The fact that it was a police dinner makes it all the more disgusting. The black guy could do little about it. He had this embarrassed grin on his face.”
Hutton goes on to describe how the on-looking white officers clambered onto their chairs and began their own tirade of applause and cheering.
“Just think, next morning some of them would be patrolling the Moss Side area,” he added.
At the time, Manning said the material was not in bad taste and claimed that the black officer “enjoyed every minute of it”.
Not one to learn from his mistakes, Manning made two black waitresses the butt of racist jokes before 500 men at a Round Table dinner at the Pennine Hotel in Derby later the same year.
One of the waitresses, 24-year-old Freda Burton said the ordeal began when she bent over to pick up a cup she’d dropped.
The Sun reported that Manning swooped in with a quip: “Very nice. That’s how I like my black pudding.”
In a complaint to an industrial tribunal, Burton alleged that Manning went on to make a series of jokes about sex acts using words like ‘wog, nigger and sambo’.
Manning apparently asked Burton for one of her braids as he “needed some shoe laces for his boots”.
But then why is it that this type of xenophobic toilet humour has become more acceptable in modern society. Only last month we saw a young girl ejected from the Big Brother house in the early hours for using the word “nigger”.
Nineteen-year-old drama student from Bristol, Emily Parr was dismissed from the Big Brother house at 3.30am and was forbidden from having any further contact with the 11 other contestants.
She was ejected after saying: “Are you pushing it out, you nigger?” to black housemate Charley Uchea whilst dancing in the garden.
An inundation of social commentary took place with many people feeling she was taken out of context. Web-bloggers around the world felt she had been wrongly evicted and that the term had been used as a socially advancing term of endearment.
Either way, the issue of race is an increasingly hotter potato than it was a decade ago. Wheter comments made by Emily Parr in the Big Brother house or gags by Bernard Manning in his Embassy Club, people will be debating the issue of race and political correctness for as long as there is air to breathe.
But hold on, maybe I’m in the wrong, perhaps I’m not getting it. This Great British humour can be a tricky business to decipher.
There must be something of merit in Manning for film director Michael Winner to describe him as "the funniest man in the world".
I’ve asked many people, and sadly no-one has been able to put a finger on it. Maybe it was his steadfast determination. The fact that he pulled himself up from nothing to become one of Manchester’s “greatest exports”.
Perhaps it was his iron resolve to not bow down to political correctness and his ideology that the show will always go on.
A tribute was paid to Manning last month in front of an audience of 600 friends and fans at the recording of a TV show entitled This Was Your Life.
In full on-stage swing he proudly told his audience: “I'm going to be with you for a long time yet!”
Though not in person, I’m sure his legacy will be.
NOTE: Manning died in North Manchester General Hospital at 3.10pm, on Monday June 18th 2007.
REFERENCES:
Stan Boardman - Daily Mirror, 2, 3 & 6 May 2002
Bernard Manning - Laughing at Ethnic Minorities, Digest issue #3.4 (1995)
News of the World (April 1995)
Sun, (September 1995)
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