All I can say about a certain comp is I thank God I'm not still under 30!

Perhaps they will run a comp for the over 70's next so we veteran's can have a go.

I thought that this blatant agist discrimination was illegal now. What if I ran a competion for people who could only be funny? Eh? Eh? I'd have the commission for something or other round my place as quick as a ferret on chase a ferret day. Why oh why is Channel four pandering to the yoof culture that makes alcoholics of a certina age like me scared to go to the local offy? I am so angry I could give someone a dirty look.

Not at all, not at all... Channel 4 have quite properly recognised that anyone over thirty (who isn't already famous, of course...) probably has no talent...

...and why would they want to give space and opportunity to tired old wrinklies trying to recapture their lost youth (unless they're already famous, of course...) when people clearly prefer to read about (and lust over) bright-eyed, bushy-tailed fresh, young meat...

It's the way of the modern Western world don't you know, now where is my bottle of make-you-younger serum...

Hmmm, thinking about it, maybe there is an angle for the PC brigade to take Channel 4 to court for ageism... hey, I wonder if the 4laughs legal department can give us an opinion about that?

What about it Chris?

Ageist. Replace that term with racist or sexist or anti-Semitic and see how cool this talent search is. Booooooo

Calling representatives over the age of 30 of all 'so called' 'minority' groups, how about making a complaint about ageism for a change instead of sexism, racism, or some other bloody schism, eh?

Well... The 30 years old age cap is a shame - but why worry?... There are lots of others to enter that are open for all - like the new 'Friday Night Project' comp... Which... Yes! Is a chance once again to have a sketch performed on TV!...

4Laughs' second year is really off to a flying start...

All this on top of no longer being able to phone into Blue Peter posing as a 13yr old genius artist is beginning to make me turn to the bottle again. Nurse, the screens please.

quote:

Originally posted by hedge:
All this on top of no longer being able to phone into Blue Peter posing as a 13yr old genius artist is beginning to make me turn to the bottle again. Nurse, the screens please.

You can enter Blue Peter competitions at any age, providing you are a BBC employee

quote:

Originally posted by Seth Gecko:
Is a chance once again to have a sketch performed on TV!...

Just to nip this one in the bud straight away... the sketch won't actually be on TV. Justin and Alan will perform it and it'll be filmed by the Friday Night Project team before the finished product is hosted on our site. Justin and Alan will also give in show mentions of the video, which is still a great prize methinks!

quote:

Originally posted by Frankie Rage:


Hmmm, thinking about it, maybe there is an angle for the PC brigade to take Channel 4 to court for ageism...

What about it Chris?

If it wasn't for your age you wouldn't be able to get all of those "special films" that reside under your mattress, so there is a flip-side to the argument!

quote:

Originally posted by chris n.:

quote:

Originally posted by Frankie Rage:


Hmmm, thinking about it, maybe there is an angle for the PC brigade to take Channel 4 to court for ageism...

What about it Chris?

If it wasn't for your age you wouldn't be able to get all of those "special films" that reside under your mattress, so there is a flip-side to the argument!

Ahhhh! You got me, bang to rights nephew! !

Perhaps we'll have to go to Saga TV if they ever have their own channel... (gee, God forbid...)

quote:

Originally posted by chris n.:

quote:

Originally posted by Seth Gecko:
Is a chance once again to have a sketch performed on TV!...

Just to nip this one in the bud straight away... the sketch won't actually be on TV. Justin and Alan will perform it and it'll be filmed by the Friday Night Project team before the finished product is hosted on our site. Justin and Alan will also give in show mentions of the video, which is still a great prize methinks!

Absolutely... Any chance to have work performed by professionals is a fantastic prize...

This IS discrimination...Frankie I get what you said earlier now :P

Well what was the under 30s competition?

I don't think its fair at all to not let the over 30s join in. I think most humour comes from expirience, and the young don't have as much of that as older generations.

I'm younger and I don't want to sound as if I'm sucking up to you oldies, but still, it's just not fair :/

So it's atalen search for under 30s? That's good, but why not just do an all-round talent search? Everyone needs a lucky break.

Well that's the way it goes... the entertainment business is very fickle and also inconsistent. You can make it at any age but popular TV tends to favour the young (under 30) contingent. I think...

Maybe that's not so bad... ?

Here's the facts; young people watch TV the least, but those that do, regularly watch C4.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/marketresearch/

This demographic is tiny, compared to the over 55s who are by far, the biggest TV watchers (there you go Frankie, you are represented somewhere!). Advertisers, (the evil financiers of C4) rely on C4 being the "yoof" channel, for their targeted marketing, so that is the real reason for the competition to be only open to youngsters, because, as already noted, young people will commission what they want to watch.

That said, writers can appeal to all ages, (JK Rowling - great example Frankie!) and I think it's ridiculous to exclude them as they are not performers and will not be on screen to ruin the "yoof" aesthetic of the channel.

Originally posted by Seth Gecko:
[/QUOTE]
... Any chance to have work performed by professionals is a fantastic prize... [/QUOTE]

Professionals! Oh, THOSE two...right...yes, what an honour indeed

Reading a couple of your thread posts this morning SG, I can't help feeling that you are not your usual sunny self... has this blatantly ageist policy enraged you that much, or is it your gout playing up again?

it's the odd combination of a request to supply comedy for two 30+ performers of questionable quality that won't be broadcast, whilst being omitted from a major part of channel 4's comedy initiative.

If a tree falls in a wood with no one around does it still make a noise? If a gag is badly performed behind closed doors is it still funny?

and yes...the gout is flaring up again, along with me lumbago

(I am actually quite unwell (some of my material bears this out) with a sore throat and throbbing headache, but I am also busy writing for a couple of other projects that are actually a) paying! and b) getting seen by the intended audience! so maybe I am taking advantage of my position to be a little 'snitty', but I also feel that certain hoops to jump through are both contrary and unnecessary)

I have recently had a dialogue with a so called comedy producer at the beeb who made me want to gnaw my own face off as she had absolutely no idea what to do with a script that we were doctoring, and any suggestions made were either ignored or embraced as if they were total genius and got her all excited (she seemed a bit bi-polar/coke addled)...I still got paid though so hahahahahahahahahahaha in her face! I've got another project which will involve selling my creative soul in exchange for 'schilling for the man' and scripting a new sales vehicle for ipTV broadcast in February...but none of it is doing my own comedy...I think I should get rid of my angst on the stand-up circuit again instead of on here...so please accept my apologies for being a moany-old-goat

I have been scribbling down some ideas about the CO2 brigade and the bad science being bandied about by both sides...but I also loved the reaction of the Pagans when a 180foot Homer Simpson was painted onto the hill next to the cerne abbas giant...the local leader said "I'm amazed they got permission to do something so ridiculous. We'll be doing some rain magic to bring the rain and wash it away,"

What could be more ridiculous than doing 'rain magic' next to a picture of a man with an 80ft willy on a hill?

Thinking about it has cheered me up again no end!

I love you guys! (double checks to make sure he typed the 'you' ... yep)

quote:

Originally posted by hedge:
I love you guys! (double checks to make sure he typed the 'you' ... yep)

Reminds me of a gag I heard recently, where the stand-up was talking about waiters that are indiscriminate with their punctuation...upon serving them their drinks instead of saying "Enjoy, boys!" he simply said "enjoy boys"

maybe we should start a punctuation based thread...in fact, you know I think I just might do that...

quote:

Originally posted by Spanking Gorgeous:
...but I also loved the reaction of the Pagans when a 180foot Homer Simpson was painted onto the hill next to the cerne abbas giant..

That was absolutely fantastic... Where he appeared to be about to throw his donut over the, *ahem*, phallus...

In fact, it would've been a good shot for the 'Altered Images' comp, way back at the birth of the 4Laughs main site...

quote:

Originally posted by Spanking Gorgeous:
...but I also loved the reaction of the Pagans when a 180foot Homer Simpson was painted onto the hill next to the cerne abbas giant...the local leader said "I'm amazed they got permission to do something so ridiculous. We'll be doing some rain magic to bring the rain and wash it away,"

I think we should get anyone hit by the floods recently to sue the backsides off those bloody Pagans (bloody as in swear word, not as in ritual sacrificing)

It's either that or send them off to areas of severe drought and get them to do their thing in a place where it will be appreciated