Documentary following stand-up comedian Roy 'Chubby' Brown as he tours England. The documentary investigates if he is as offensive as he has been labeled.Documentary following stand-up comedian Roy 'Chubby' Brown as he tours England. The documentary investigates if he is as offensive as he has been labeled.Documentary following stand-up comedian Roy 'Chubby' Brown as he tours England. The documentary investigates if he is as offensive as he has been labeled.
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- ConnectionsFeatures The League of Gentlemen: Death in Royston Vasey (2000)
Featured review
Jabs at a point that isn't really there but still quite a well made and researched doco
STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
Royston Vasey, aka Roy 'Chubby' Brown, is Britain's rudest comedian, infamous for his outrageously racist, sexist and homophobic gags. It's an accolade that's meant he's never been allowed to perform on TV. But this appears to have been more of a blessing than a curse as it's meant his army of fans know what to expect and routinely buy his merchandise, from his videos, DVDs, audio cassettes and show tickets. As a result he's done very well for himself, while more well known blue comedians like Jim Davidson have gone bankrupt. But for all this, he insists his stage persona of Chubby Brown is different from that of his real life persona of Royston Vasey, a settled down family man still recovering from a throat cancer operation two years ago. Film maker Will Yapp attempts to assess how true this is, following the man around for a few months in 2005, as he performs shows, reveals his family life, re-visits his home town of Middlesborough and appears on TV for the first time in 18 years on The Frank Skinner Show, doing an interview defending his craft.
I have seen a few of Chubby Brown's shows and although his act is based on him appealing to the lowest common denominator (which, of course, you never go broke from!) I must admit in his own way he is quite a clever and witty man, in spite of the lager swilling louts who are usually associated with attending his shows (who annoy him at the start by constantly heckling his act!) Although his work looks a little out of place in amongst some of the more 'refined' comedy videos/DVDs I own, I do quite like him and find him quite funny. But this is a documentary trying to probe how bigoted he really is, not how funny he is, and on that level there's a bit to be desired but it is still a neat and slick doco that gets under the skin of the man quite well.
Yapp seems convinced the guy is a bit of a relic from the dark ages, and tries to make him come across this way. But listening to Chubby through-out you get the impression he's not as bigoted as people take him to be and that what bigotry he does have was just instilled in him from a young age and as a result of where he's from, freely admitting that until he saw a black man for the first time in his late teens he thought 'they were all from Africa with studs in their noses and spears in their backs' and even opening up, admitting that 'anywhere north of Watford we're a bit behind on the times.' The most shocking moment, after a work out at the gym, opens questions but if you think about it it's probably a matter most people in the UK are fed up of, with asylum seekers coming over here trying to change our way of life. Yapp tries to use this as the main focal point for his argument against Chubby but it's not really fair.
Chubby even admits once he went too far, telling a joke on the day Bob Marley died that 'now there's enough sh!t for everyone' but as a message board user pointed out this was actually just a joke about ganga, although a little tactless right at that time. It makes you wonder who was more out of order, Chubby or the Rastafarian fellow who reportedly turned up at the studio 'wanting a word' with Chubby.
We also learn about Chubby's criminal past, with spells in borstals and prison, but when you take a trip to where he lives and see what a rough, run down area this is, although you can't excuse it, you can see what may have driven him to it.
One downer is Chubby using the 'I just do an act, it's up to people what they make of it' line, but judging by the mentality of some of the people who go to his shows, you kind of see him as feul to the fire. People are responsible for their own actions, of course, but like I say...But he makes no inkling that he'll give it all up tomorrow and why should he when he's done so well off the back of it?
Yapp makes a Michael Moore sort of mistake with his film, to make their prosecution/defence case a bit too one sided without even considering the other point of view. But this is still a well made and well researched doco where you can make up your own mind on this most controversial of comedians anyway. ***
Royston Vasey, aka Roy 'Chubby' Brown, is Britain's rudest comedian, infamous for his outrageously racist, sexist and homophobic gags. It's an accolade that's meant he's never been allowed to perform on TV. But this appears to have been more of a blessing than a curse as it's meant his army of fans know what to expect and routinely buy his merchandise, from his videos, DVDs, audio cassettes and show tickets. As a result he's done very well for himself, while more well known blue comedians like Jim Davidson have gone bankrupt. But for all this, he insists his stage persona of Chubby Brown is different from that of his real life persona of Royston Vasey, a settled down family man still recovering from a throat cancer operation two years ago. Film maker Will Yapp attempts to assess how true this is, following the man around for a few months in 2005, as he performs shows, reveals his family life, re-visits his home town of Middlesborough and appears on TV for the first time in 18 years on The Frank Skinner Show, doing an interview defending his craft.
I have seen a few of Chubby Brown's shows and although his act is based on him appealing to the lowest common denominator (which, of course, you never go broke from!) I must admit in his own way he is quite a clever and witty man, in spite of the lager swilling louts who are usually associated with attending his shows (who annoy him at the start by constantly heckling his act!) Although his work looks a little out of place in amongst some of the more 'refined' comedy videos/DVDs I own, I do quite like him and find him quite funny. But this is a documentary trying to probe how bigoted he really is, not how funny he is, and on that level there's a bit to be desired but it is still a neat and slick doco that gets under the skin of the man quite well.
Yapp seems convinced the guy is a bit of a relic from the dark ages, and tries to make him come across this way. But listening to Chubby through-out you get the impression he's not as bigoted as people take him to be and that what bigotry he does have was just instilled in him from a young age and as a result of where he's from, freely admitting that until he saw a black man for the first time in his late teens he thought 'they were all from Africa with studs in their noses and spears in their backs' and even opening up, admitting that 'anywhere north of Watford we're a bit behind on the times.' The most shocking moment, after a work out at the gym, opens questions but if you think about it it's probably a matter most people in the UK are fed up of, with asylum seekers coming over here trying to change our way of life. Yapp tries to use this as the main focal point for his argument against Chubby but it's not really fair.
Chubby even admits once he went too far, telling a joke on the day Bob Marley died that 'now there's enough sh!t for everyone' but as a message board user pointed out this was actually just a joke about ganga, although a little tactless right at that time. It makes you wonder who was more out of order, Chubby or the Rastafarian fellow who reportedly turned up at the studio 'wanting a word' with Chubby.
We also learn about Chubby's criminal past, with spells in borstals and prison, but when you take a trip to where he lives and see what a rough, run down area this is, although you can't excuse it, you can see what may have driven him to it.
One downer is Chubby using the 'I just do an act, it's up to people what they make of it' line, but judging by the mentality of some of the people who go to his shows, you kind of see him as feul to the fire. People are responsible for their own actions, of course, but like I say...But he makes no inkling that he'll give it all up tomorrow and why should he when he's done so well off the back of it?
Yapp makes a Michael Moore sort of mistake with his film, to make their prosecution/defence case a bit too one sided without even considering the other point of view. But this is still a well made and well researched doco where you can make up your own mind on this most controversial of comedians anyway. ***
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- wellthatswhatithinkanyway
- May 14, 2007
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- Runtime50 minutes
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Top Gap
What was the official certification given to Roy Chubby Brown: Britain's Rudest Comedian (2007) in the United Kingdom?
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