Minstrel Goodies

This is a bit different to the usual stuff I upload. I want to see how people might view it now. It's from mid 1970s UK TV & was part of an immensely popular comedy trio called The Goodies. I wonder if anyone here can see past the initial look & catch the irony in the dialogue?
The Black & White Minstrels were a group of very popular, white, singers who would 'black-up' & sing songs from the old days of American black music. Some will see it as racist but times were different in the 1960s & 70s.
Ironically there was no outcry from the black communities in the UK about these progs. Until more recently with the do-gooders etc.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Goodies
• tripmonk0

[theoriginalsuzycat]

I remember this from the time and have always thought of it as being a really clever commentary on reductive viewpoints about black people .... but looking at it again I find tons of it really offensive. Which makes me sad.

I do find Enoch Powell in blackface amusing though. I understand that bit better than I did back then!

[tripmonk0]

@theoriginalsuzycat Why do you NOW find tons of it really offensive?? IT hasn't changed but YOU have. Is that good or bad?

Nick

[theoriginalsuzycat]

@tripmonk0 because then I was a child who knew nothing about racism and in fact had never met a black person, had no concept of where coon stereotypes came from, knew very little about the history of slavery (which this entire episode spoofs) and I didn't know about the privileged position I occupied in the world as a white person, and now I am an adult with an education.

And the world has changed. This reflects mid-70s Britain. The world is a different place now.

[tripmonk0]

Exactly & yours is a very good reaction to it.

Nick

[tripmonk0]

I STILL find it hysterically funny & am really pleased people who have watched don't find it at all racist. I never did. The scared BBC stopped making the original Black & White Minstrels Shows many years ago for fear of being called racist due to the connotations of negro singers.

Nick

[Edwardocatflappo]

Clever stuff , goodies were very underrated

[dfarmbrough]

It's clever, it's funny, and it's not discriminatory. I see you uploaded it to see people's reactions, but the reaction will be different because you've only uploaded a clip. So it's out of context of the programme as a whole, as well as out of context of 1970s BBC TV. Have you heard any complaints about this episode, or do you just mean about "this sort of thing"? The reason I ask is that this is probably a lot more sophisticated than much race-based 1970s comedy.

[radioianj]

Yes..........between the lines is right! Its good, clever, and funny as well.

[tripmonk0]

It IS a bit dated but it just goes to show how being PC can throw the baby out with the bathwater!!!

Nick

[jacobm8tysek]

I dont really get it.. but im only 22 so I wasnt alive when it was funny that prob explains it