I think Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand are hilarious, but I wouldn't want anyone ringing my granny and telling her I'd shagged them, regardless of whether it was true, or whether it was going to be nationally broadcast. That's because she was a very nice old lady who would have been very upset by such a phone call. As most grannies are and would be.

I missed all the furore as I was out of the country (being diverted by proper news like the American election), but I can't believe that Gordon Brown was moved to comment while the economy continued to implode. Has anyone ever seen the South Park movie? "Look over there!"

Having read what has been said here, it does sound like the BBC is at least as responsible as the presenters themselves for the debacle. It was a dumb stunt and it went too far, and Beeb execs or the production company should have pulled the broadcast.

Lots of people here seem to think that this is a victory for common sense, because they don't like the sort of humour purveyed by Brand and Ross. Someone even suggested that both are relative newcomers, Ross being around for 5 or 6 years and Brand since February. Far be it from me to suggest that some Mudcatters might be a bit out of touch, but I first tried to book Russell Brand for a venue about 4 years ago, and Jonathan Ross was on the telly when I first arrived in Britain 18 years ago.

Everyone has people they don't find funny. Personally, if this had happened to Jeremy Clarkson or Chris Moyles (both of whom really are nasty pieces of work, IMHO) I'd probably be rubbing my hands with glee. But I would defend anyone else's right to listen to their crass outpourings any day, because censorship is a scary thing.


Ralphie, I LOVE Chris Morris. The Day Today and On the Hour were two of the best programmes ever broadcast by the BBC. The Cake episode of Brass Eye was sheer brilliance, as was the one on paedophilia. The scary thing about the latter was the public response. The Daily Mail brigade were too busy foaming at the mouth to realise that it is the tabloid frenzy and knee-jerk reactions to such taboo subjects which were being parodied, rather than the thing itself.