Frankie Boyle

I think Boyles problem is he can't make up his fucking mind what sort of comic he wants to be, or what sort of message he wants to deliver. His material wanders from being quite politically radical to Manning / Chubby Brown esque lowest common denominator offensiveness.

I'm with Ben in that I don't feel any subject should be off the agenda for drama / humour / art of any kind, but if you decide to tackle a subject that is controversial you've got to have some clue what it is you're trying to say.

Morris is a case in point, it's always fairly clear to anyone but idiots and the Daily Mail, (perhaps some tautology there) what the target of his satire is. With Boyle I'm not sure even he knows, and so the "shocking" material just looks like it is deliberately intended to offend.

Sometimes he gets away with it, when he's clearly just venting his own irrational hatreds and prejudices about celebrity, because there's an element of honesty in the work. There's the shock that he's dared to say something, but also a guilty recognition of understanding what he means. That can't be said of this material. I've never looked at a severely learning disabled child and thought "potential rapist" to be honest, so the "joke" pretty much dies on its arse.

Anyway, aside from the headline grabbing stuff what I've seen of the show looked fucking awful.