John Barry Humphreys 17^th February 1934 – 22^nd April 2023.

As with Covid Island Discs, I will occasionally publish a comedy sketch when something significant happens in the world of comedy. Sadly, usually the most significant events are related to deaths of a famous comedians. On the 22^nd of April 2023, the famous Aussie comedian Barry Humphreys (aka Dame Edna Everage) passed away after complications developed from a hip replacement. During his long life he made many people laugh as his alter egos Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. Below is a compilation of Dame Edna doing her thing on various talk shows. If you grab a bingo card you can also play spot the famous celebrity sitting next to Dame Edna. Sadly, too many of them, like dear Olivia Newton John are also no longer with us.

This is quite a funny sketch with Harry Enfield playing the Queen. Not much to say on this one. Best just to watch and enjoy it. I wonder if the real queen would find this little sketch funny?

Ok so we are now entering yet another period of complete chaos in the UK government as Truss was forced to sack her chancellor after Kwarteng released a non-costed mini budget that crashed the pound and the UK economy. Thankfully, the comedians have been at work trying to soften the pain for the long-suffering average Brit who have witnessed the health service collapse and their standard of livings fall as the government continues to pursue policies that only help the very wealthiest in society.

Yet it has also been a very busy week in UK politics. On the 19^th of October Suella Braverman resigned as home secretary because she broke the ministerial code. Two days after that, on the 21^st, Liz Truss was also forced to resign after her whole premiership was in tatters, there was bullying in the Commons as MPs were forced through the "yes" corridor in the voting chamber of the House of Commons on a crucial fracking vote, and Labour gained a 30 point lead over the Conservative party. In short, the whole country is in a right state because of a group of far right greedy, narcissistic, unintelligent, misanthropic, Dunning-Kruger-type individuals who care about as much for the common folk of the UK as I do for a garden slug. Sad and very difficult times indeed for the UK.

A nice little thematic compilation of sketches by Armstrong and Miller exploring the age old dynamics (fluid or turbulent?) of couples. Some quite funny punch lines in this set.

So Philomena Cunk aka (Diane Morgan) is a bit of an acquired taste. The concept of the character is that of someone with very little education producing a documentary. The series covers many varied topics including history, science, philosophy, music and politics. In this particular episode, she explores the computer and the history of its development. Part of her USP is to ask experts in the field rather basic questions which sometimes can almost seem profound in their simplicity (or stupidity) although of course, in this context, it is for comedic effect. In some ways, it reminds me of the ancient philosopher Socrates who was said to upset the learned men of his time by constantly asking why. The harsh reality, of course, is that by constantly asking "why" one is led to what is known as the infinite regress where we all are forced to the limits of human knowledge and left with that uncomfortable realisation that none of us really understand at all the strange reality in which we happen to find ourselves.

One of my favourite shows on TV in the 80s was Alas Smith and Jones. Thankfully I also had the pleasure of seeing them in concert when they toured Australia. This sketch goes all the way back to when the Channel Tunnel was under construction and is a classic dig at two particular weaknesses in English culture: 1) poor upper management and 2) terrible workmanship. Sadly if you spend any time living in the UK you will experience both. While there are great trades people in the UK they are sadly not in the majority. Rather a sizeable number are absolute cowboys who do terrible work if they ever complete it in the first place.

Likewise the standard of British management in my experience can also be pretty poor. I have now worked in universities and for both small and large companies and for some mysterious reason the more dysfunctional and incompetent a person is the more likely it seems that they will end up rising to a very senior position. I guess this phenomenon is so common that academics have even tried to give it a name. The Peter Principle was first proposed in 1969 in a semi-satirical book by Laurence Peter and Raymond Hull and was actually based on Peter's research into the operations of hierarchical organizations. Yet I think the modified version of this principle, first proposed by the author of the Dilbert cartoons (Scott Adams) is even closer to the truth. The Peter principle states that individuals in an organisation are promoted to the point where they reach a level of incompetence that prevents them from being promoted further while the Dilbert principle goes one step further stating that individuals are promoted because of their incompetence.

When I started this comedy list I decided I would work on the project for exactly one year. As such this is the final posting for my comedy section. I thought this sketch was worth leaving to the end as it is a very funny take on one of the greatest bands of all time: The Beatles. Obviously the Beatles feature heavily in my Covid Island Discs collection so this sketch seems an appropriate one to bridge the my two collections of comedy and music. Hope these collections bring as much joy to you as they do to me.