Soggy Biscuit
Chris has already done a sterling take-down of John O’Farrell’s daft bit of self-promotion (by way of slagging off everybody else) on the BBC’s site. I feel the need to chime in to record that my immediate response to O’Farrell’s question:
So why is there only a sprinkling of obscure and erratically funny UK sites?
was
Because far too many people just tried to do lame Onion rip-offs. Just like you are.
Having now had the misfortune to actually look at his site, NewsBiscuit (ugh, hateful sub-Morris name), I didn’t realise how accurate that was. The site is arm-gnawingly dreadful. It’s a feeble dribble of Commonplace Thing Does Mild Exageration Of Normality headlines. There’s no wit or originality. There’s barely anything to suggest that whatever created it would pass a Turing test. And in every case the headline is the only sodding joke in the article. The Onion wasn’t funny because it had headlines like “Harry Potter Books Spark Rise in Satanism Among Children” (although that’s a funnier idea than anything on NewsBiscuit), it was because the articles had lines with perfect comic construction like:
“Hermione is my favorite, because she’s smart and has a kitty,” said 6-year-old Jessica Lehman of Easley, SC. “Jesus died because He was weak and stupid.”
You know – funny stuff. That they actually spent time writing well. In order to make it funny.
Satire? As I write this, the BBC are showing an utterly bonkers over-the-top bit of shiny prime-time spy drama that’s satirising the shit out of… well, everything. John O’Farrell is making tired jokes about reality TV. Well done. You are less cutting than Spooks.
And of course, what O’Farrell doesn’t realise is that his “plan is to get young talented humourists all over the world to send their stuff to me” is the antithesis of how the web works. They don’t need to send their stuff to John O’Farrell (sweet of him to offer, though). They can just do it themselves, and it might be superbly constructed comedy gold, or it might just be a picture of a willy drawn with MS Paint. That’s the fun. And if they do choose just to draw pictures of willies with MS Paint, well… it’ll still be funnier than NewsBiscuit.
Hey! I do superbly constructed comedy gold AND willies in MS Paint. I must be the most excellent person in the world! Yay ME!
[Thanks for the niceness, btw. I, like you, also go to the Daily Mail for laughs]
Comment by Scaryduck — September 19, 2006 @ 7:06 pm
Agreed – as I implied in another place, just how many years do you have to be buried in the ground to not realise that there are many interesting UK humour sites out there? Seems like JO’F has been hiding up a New Labour arsehole or two.
Comment by Ian Vince — September 20, 2006 @ 10:54 am
Whilst I fear I may run one of those “lame Onion rip-offs” that you mention in your article I full agree with your appraisal of NewsBiscuit. Whilst there is nothing wrong in running an Onion style site (the Onion certainly did not invent the concept of news parody – it just happens to be what Hoover is to the vacuum cleaner) if you are going to market it as a class leader it needs to consist of something other than low quality, production line jokes. Most of the articles are nothing more than 2 or 3 paragraphs – which as you point out – are nothing other than a repeat of the joke made in the headline.
But also – none of them are current. There was a joke about the current Pope taking over from the previous one… and when I clicked it it was only 2 paragraphs. If you are going to bother publishing a joke that is hopelessly out of date you would have thought he would have at least ensured he had enough material to write a worthwhile article.
Anyone who has seen the latest series of Extras will know that NewsBiscuit is exactly what Ricky Gervais is protesting about… comedy that relies on absurdity and repetition. Whilst reading things like “George Bush demands to know who drew giant penis on White House staff toilet wall” make a large number of people raise a half hearted smile (and expect to see that on NewsBiscuit soon) it’s neither current, nor has any real world connection. It’s simply “Famous person” + “regular sort of situation that we don’t really care about” + “immature / obscure angle”
Comment by Ben Dickson — September 22, 2006 @ 11:38 pm