Simple

It also suffers from an excess of UNPCness. Don’t like two old ladies throwing up? Don’t like Matt Lucas in a PC suit? You’re just PC.

You might want to read a) the article linked in the first words of this post, and b) the first comment on this post, both of which do exactly that.

Not that it’s particularly relevant. Dafydd is gay. Matt Lucas is gay. They’re the same minority. Matt Lucas has said publically that Dafydd is based on his own experiences growing up. The sketch may be one-dimensional, and desperately tired three series in, but it’s not unsympathetic. Questionable judgement, lazy writing, but not actually bigoted.

Mat Lucas is not, you may have noticed, Thai.

First off, even though I don’t watch Little Britain (any more) does not mean I should keep my mouth shut. Quite apart from the fact that, as a licence fee payer, then I have some right to ask whether my money is being wisely spent, even if this was on Sky, or a comic strip somewhere, I still have a right to complain. It’s not a mere matter of switching over and find an alternative, like it’s a brand of fucking breakfast cereal or something. If you honestly think that if someone objects to something then they should just find something else to do and ignore it – then what the hell are you doing leaving your comments here? Why don’t you just move on yourself? Feel free to register your disagreement with me here if you like, but don’t profess that I can’t do the same.

Secondly, yes, the sketch does aim to mock a lonely middle-aged lech, but if you think that he is the only target of that sketch, then you really should take another look. Why is there the need for a “Thai Bride” character specifically – why not have him with an inflatable doll, or a sheep? The answer is because Ting Tong is an integral part of the sketch, and is up for ridicule alongside him; except that she is ridiculed mainly for her race – buck-teeth, inability to pronounce English, the ‘hilarious’ fact she’s a ‘ladyboy’. By extension, the sketch is not just a slur on the one character, but on all Thai people – that is, unless you actually believe all Thai women are like that, in which case you are beyond all attempts at reason.

As for the comparisons, although with Till Death Do Us Part Johnny Speight aimed Alf Garnett to be a figure of ridicule, it is worth noting Garnett ended up becoming a hero to many in the show’s audience, who agreed with his racism and misogyny. This was something which Speight himself regretted; however, at least he made a (valiant) attempt to attack and ridicule prejudice, something which the Ting Tong sketch does not. Goodness Gracious Me, being written and performed by an Asian cast, has the privilege of being an insider’s view, and the characters and sketches it produces are both informed and affectionate. Little Britain is neither – it’s just plain ignorant and nasty: a white man yellowing up purely to continually peddle a grossly offensive caricature and mock South East Asian people. If that isn’t racist, then what is?

I think the point is being missed quite wildly by some people, judging by some of the posts above. The show is called Little Britain and it overblows the stereotypes that people have about British people. The humour in the Ting Tong sketches is not gleaned from the derision of the ‘Thai’ bride, rather, it is gleaned from the derision of the stereotypical lecherous, desperate, sex starved British man.

I concede that LB is not going to be to everyones taste, but I don’t like Westlife and I don’t write articles bemoaning their talents. If you don’t like, don’t do it. Just stop wasting your time complaining about it and go and do something you enjoy.

Setting the character as someone from an ethnic minority could be interpreted as two idea’s

1) poking fun at that ethnic group, despite that the joke could apply to anyone.
2) the comics playing characters from accross the racial spectrum of the real britain.

Comedy in britain is sadly played by mainly white comedians, which reprisents a very small percentage of britain. Maybe matt lucus and david walliams are attempting to portray a wider britain that the britain of the white lower classes.

If you look at it that way, white comedians been able to use racial characters in a non racist way is possibly one of the big walls that need to be broken down in a world where over PC values help fuel the racist problems.

The rest of it is total trash – it just isn’t funny. There’s no question of ‘taking things too seriously’ – it’s just not funny, pure and simple. To those who think it’s the apogee of modern comedy I urge them to go and watch Peep Show, South Park, The League of Gentleman and the first few seasons of The Simpsons to get a little perspective.