Used to enjoy the Whistle Test back in the day - not seen the Harry Enfield one before either - seeing the blacking up bit now, bet he'd probably wish he hadn't done it now.
Both Enfield and Paul Whitehouse were superb actors. The BBC would pee itself at the thought of commissioning something like that these days, which is why I’ve stopped watching TV.
Agree. If they commissioned Harry and Paul to do a show now you fear it would be so watered down as to be unwatchable. Not everything they did was that good, but a lot of the time they were just in a class of their own. Pik the South African, the surgeons, I saw You Coming etc. Brilliant stuff.
I liked the two big-eared fellows in The Club, discussing whether various well-known people were “quare”. I must have watched it 40 times. 40, 45 times. 40, 45, yes.
Bunny’s an incorrigable old quare, quaring away like billy-o! The BBC would pee its Guardian-reading pants at the thought of something like that these days.
He might also think that in that context, blacking up isn’t intrinsically offensive. Or, if it is, why is it? It’s a question I’ve not really seen answered. Is it always, automatically offensive for a light skinned actor to darken his face, in every situation or context? Just a thing I wonder about. What would Nelson Mandela have made of Harry Enfield’s impersonation of him?
