49-445: Parting Shots is a 1999 British dark comedy film starring Chris Rea , Felicity Kendal , Oliver Reed , Bob Hoskins , Diana Rigg , Ben Kingsley , John Cleese and Joanna Lumley . It was the final film directed by Michael Winner . Upon release in the UK, the film gained controversy over its plot, and was widely criticised in the national press. It has since been evaluated as one of
98-507: A Saturday morning radio show with Josie Long on BBC Radio 6 Music between July and December 2011. In 2010 Collins made a brief foray into standup comedy , performing a show at the Edinburgh Fringe called Secret Dancing... and other urban survival techniques . This was recorded and released on DVD. He co-wrote the first series of the sitcom Not Going Out for BBC One with Lee Mack , and co-wrote various episodes for
147-399: A bold challenge for the hotly contested mantle of worst British film ever made." British film historian I.Q. Hunter, discussing the question "What is the worst British film ever made?", listed Parting Shots as one of the candidates for that title. Dark comedy Black comedy , also known as black humor , bleak comedy , dark comedy , dark humor , gallows humor or morbid humor ,
196-402: A bully from his school days and a back-stabbing former boss. Upon returning to London, he passes the gun to Jamie since he no longer needs it. Harry is subsequently hospitalised by his cancer, but after operating they discover he has been misdiagnosed and his stomach pains were due to a simple ulcer. After the good news, Harry and Jill decide to marry. As they are leaving their hotel, Jamie takes
245-405: A comic manner. Comedians like Lenny Bruce , who since the late 1950s have been labeled as using " sick comedy " by mainstream journalists, have also been labeled with "black comedy". Sigmund Freud , in his 1927 essay Humour ( Der Humor ), although not mentioning 'black humour' specifically, cites a literal instance of gallows humour before going on to write: "The ego refuses to be distressed by
294-464: A double-act with fellow music journalist Stuart Maconie , presenting the Sony Award -winning BBC Radio 1 show Collins and Maconie's Hit Parade , after forging their style on a daily comedy strand on Mark Goodier 's BBC Radio 1 drivetime show, and Collins & Maconie's Movie Club on ITV . In 1998, Collins published his first book, Still Suitable for Miners , an authorised biography of
343-473: A far ridere su un argomento talmente drammatico di cui si ride perché non c'è altra soluzione possibile, si ha quella che nei cabaret di Berlino degli Anni '20 veniva chiamata la "risata verde". È opportuno distinguere una satira ironica, che lavora per sottrazione, da una satira grottesca, che lavora per addizione. Questo secondo tipo di satira genera più spesso la risata verde. Ne erano maestri Kraus e Valentin. Andrew Collins (broadcaster) Andrew Collins
392-424: A genre in which dark humor is a core component. Cartoonist Charles Addams was famous for such humor, e.g. depicting a boy decorating his bedroom with stolen warning signs including "NO DIVING – POOL EMPTY", "STOP – BRIDGE OUT" and "SPRING CONDEMNED." Black comedy differs from both blue comedy —which focuses more on crude topics such as nudity , sex , and body fluids —and from straightforward obscenity . Whereas
441-418: A gun from the black market and embarks on a mission to kill all those who have wronged him, starting with Lisa. After the shooting, the police question him, but do not believe he is a killer. Harry next targets Gerd Layton ( Bob Hoskins ), the corrupt financier behind the investment scam. Posing as a repair man, he sneaks into Layton's home and drowns him in his own pool. His secretary, Jill ( Felicity Kendal ),
490-440: A hitman, Jamie ( Oliver Reed ), to kill him so he can give Jill the resulting life insurance payout. Meanwhile, the police determine the gun used in the killing of the chef was the same one used to kill Lisa. The police raid Harry's house, but with no physical evidence they reluctantly let him go. He borrows from the bank as much money as he can and spends it on lavish hotels and a new car. The last two victims of his killing spree are
539-470: A live audience. A hiatus from June 2011 to 4 November 2011 was due to what Herring joked was "Collins' duplicitous careerism". Herring announced that the November 2011 podcast would most likely be the last, as Collins had lost enthusiasm for it. Collins presented solo shows on BBC Radio 6 Music as well as presenting shows with Richard Herring before and during their podcast series. Collins then presented
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#1732802402221588-457: A long time and sometimes it just lasts the few seconds that they're cutting you up, or being a nuisance. A girlfriend parted very nastily, and I thought 'I really wouldn't mind killing you' and five or six years later I thought, 'I still wouldn't mind.'" The majority of the cast was chosen personally by Winner, and included friends, those he had worked with professionally before, or other actors/actresses he wished to work with. Early discussions for
637-616: A man who grasped things by reason and never by feeling, and who enclosed himself in skepticism; [...] Swift can rightfully be considered the inventor of "savage" or "gallows" humor. Des termes parents du Galgenhumor sont: : comédie noire, plaisanterie macabre, rire jaune. (J'en offre un autre: gibêtises). humour macabre, humeur de désespéré, (action de) rire jaune Galgenhumor propos guilleret etwas freie, gewagte Äußerung Walter Redfern, discussing puns about death, remarks: 'Related terms to gallows humour are: black comedy, sick humour, rire jaune. In all, pain and pleasure are mixed, perhaps
686-596: A shot at Harry, however he misses and accidentally kills a foreign head-of-state staying in the same hotel. Jamie is apprehended and since he was using Harry's gun and has no chance of release, he takes responsibility for all of Harry's murders in a last act of charity. Winner came up with the basic storyline after a relationship of his had ended. Speaking to Tim Sebastian of the BBC in June 1999, Winner revealed: "We all have people we'd like to kill. Sometimes we want to kill them for
735-1308: A spese di chi è più ricco e potente di te. Io sono specialista nella risata verde, quella dei cabaret di Berlino degli anni Venti e Trenta. Nasce dalla disperazione. Esempio: l'Italia è un paese dove la commissione di vigilanza parlamentare Rai si comporta come la commissione stragi e viceversa. Oppure: il mistero di Ustica è irrisolto? Sono contento: il sistema funziona. racconto di satira grottesca [...] L'obiettivo del grottesco è far percepire l'orrore di una vicenda. Non è la satira cui siamo abituati in Italia: la si ritrova nel cabaret degli anni '20 e '30, poi è stata cancellata dal carico di sofferenze della guerra. Aggiungo che io avevo spiegato in apertura di serata che ci sarebbero stati momenti di satira molto diversi. Satira ironica, che fa ridere, e satira grottesca, che può far male. Perché porta alla risata della disperazione, dell'impotenza. La risata verde. Era forte, perché coinvolgeva in un colpo solo tutti i cardini satirici: politica, religione, sesso e morte. Quello che ho fatto è stato accentuare l'interazione tra gli elementi. Non era di buon gusto? Rabelais e Swift, che hanno esplorato questi lati oscuri della nostra personalità, non si sono mai posti il problema del buon gusto. Quando la satira poi riesce
784-401: Is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo , particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discuss. Writers and comedians often use it as a tool for exploring vulgar issues by provoking discomfort, serious thought, and amusement for their audience. Thus, in fiction , for example, the term black comedy can also refer to
833-511: Is an English writer and broadcaster. He is the creator and writer of the Radio 4 sitcom Mr Blue Sky . His TV writing work includes EastEnders and the sitcoms Grass (which he co-wrote with Simon Day ) and Not Going Out (which he initially co-wrote with Lee Mack ). Collins has also worked as a music, television and film critic. Collins was a member of the Labour Party between
882-620: Is an acknowledged coping mechanism. It has been encouraged within these professions to make note of the context in which these jokes are told, as outsiders may not react the way that those with mutual knowledge do. A 2017 study published in the journal Cognitive Processing concludes that people who appreciate dark humor "may have higher IQs, show lower aggression, and resist negative feelings more effectively than people who turn up their noses at it." Examples of black comedy in film include: Examples of black comedy in television include: Examples of gallows speeches include: Military life
931-400: Is aware of the murder but covers for Harry since her own parents were a victim of Layton's scam. Brought together by the crime, Harry and Jill begin a relationship. They visit an upscale restaurant together but are abused and thrown out by the snobbish chef ( Ben Kingsley ). Later that night, Harry returns to the restaurant and shoots the chef in the car park. The next day Harry decides to hire
980-429: Is full of gallows humor, as those in the services continuously live in the danger of being killed, especially in wartime. For example: Workers in the emergency services are also known for using black comedy: There are several titles such as It Only Hurts When I Laugh and Only When I Laugh , which allude to the punch line of a joke which exists in numerous versions since at least the 19th century. A typical setup
1029-500: Is not only the worst British film produced in this country since Carry On Emmannuelle (quite a feat in itself), it is a thoroughbred contender for the crown of Worst Film Ever Made". In a hostile overview of Winner's films, Christopher Tookey claimed " Parting Shots is not only the most horrible torture for audiences that Winner has ever devised. It is also profoundly offensive, even by Winner's standards". Charlotte O'Sullivan, The Independent's film editor, claimed Parting Shots
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#17328024022211078-439: Is that someone badly hurt is asked "Does it hurt?" – "I am fine; it only hurts when I laugh." The term was part of the language before Freud wrote an essay on it—'gallows humor.' This is middle European humor, a response to hopeless situations. It's what a man says faced with a perfectly hopeless situation and he still manages to say something funny. Freud gives examples: A man being led out to be hanged at dawn says, 'Well,
1127-774: Is the film editor for Radio Times . He wrote and filmed a weekly TV review column, Telly Addict , for The Guardian website, from May 2011 to April 2016. It returned in June 2016 on YouTube , now hosted and produced by UKTV . He took over the weekly radio show Saturday Night at the Movies on classical music station Classic FM in March 2015 (from presenter and composer Howard Goodall ). In March 2023, Jonathan Ross replaced Collins as presenter. Collins' first solo-written comedy, Mr Blue Sky for BBC Radio 4 , starred Mark Benton and Rebecca Front and aired in May and June 2011. It
1176-775: The Corner (which draws its title from a line from the R.E.M. song Losing My Religion ) published in May 2007. He produced a regular (generally weekly) podcast, the Collings & Herrin Podcast , with comedian Richard Herring , which began in February 2008 and ran for four years and was named "Podcast of the Week" in The Times in July 2008. Some episodes were recorded in front of
1225-521: The Corner , and continues to appear on similar shows (most recently, The Comedy years on ITV in May 2019). He has written three volumes of autobiography, humorous accounts of "growing up normal" in 1970s Northampton, struggling with art school in London in the 1980s, and forging a media career in the 1980s and 1990s: Where Did It All Go Right? (2003) (a Sunday Times and Smith's bestseller), Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now (2004) and That's Me in
1274-604: The French humour noir ) was coined by the Surrealist theorist André Breton in 1935 while interpreting the writings of Jonathan Swift . Breton's preference was to identify some of Swift's writings as a subgenre of comedy and satire in which laughter arises from cynicism and skepticism , often relying on topics such as death. Breton coined the term for his 1940 book Anthology of Black Humor ( Anthologie de l'humour noir ), in which he credited Jonathan Swift as
1323-450: The anthology series Common Ground on Sky Atlantic in 2013. Collins was script editor on sitcoms The Persuasionists on BBC Two , Little Crackers (specifically Shappi Khorsandi 's) on Sky1 , the broadcast pilot of Man Down on Channel 4 (2013), two series of Badults on BBC Three (2013-2014), and the second series of Drifters for E4 . In 2014, he acted as a script consultant on The Inbetweeners 2 . Collins
1372-445: The comedy is used to mock the victim. In the last cases, the victim's suffering is trivialized, which leads to sympathizing with the victimizer, as analogously found in the social commentary and social criticism of the writings of (for instance) Sade . Among the first American writers who employed black comedy in their works were Nathanael West and Vladimir Nabokov . The concept of black humor first came to nationwide attention after
1421-505: The day is certainly starting well.' It's generally called Jewish humor in this country. Actually it's humor from the peasants' revolt, the forty years' war, and from the Napoleonic wars. It's small people being pushed this way and that way, enormous armies and plagues and so forth, and still hanging on in the face of hopelessness. Jewish jokes are middle European jokes and the black humorists are gallows humorists, as they try to be funny in
1470-890: The definitive recipe for all punning' (Puns, p. 127). En français on dit « rire jaune », en flamand « groen lachen » Les termes jaune, vert, bleu évoquent en français un certain nombre d'idées qui sont différentes de celles que suscitent les mots holandais correspondants geel, groen, blauw. Nous disons : rire jaune, le Hollandais dit : rire vert ( groen lachen ); ce que le Néerlandais appelle un vert (een groentje), c'est ce qu'en français on désigne du nom de bleu (un jeune soldat inexpéribenté)... On voit que des confrontations de ce genre permettent de concevoir une étude de la psychologie des peuples fondée sur les associations d'idées que révèlent les variations de sens (sémantique), les expressions figurées, les proverbes et les dictions. Q: Critiche feroci, interrogazioni parlamentari: momenti duri per la satira. A: Satira è far ridere
1519-399: The face of situations which they see as just horrible. At least, Swift's text is preserved, and so is a prefatory note by the French writer André Breton, which emphasizes Swift's importance as the originator of black humor, of laughter that arises from cynicism and scepticism. When it comes to black humor, everything designates him as the true initiator. In fact, it is impossible to coordinate
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1568-550: The fugitive traces of this kind of humor before him, not even in Heraclitus and the Cynics or in the works of Elizabethan dramatic poets. [...] historically justify his being presented as the first black humorist. Contrary to what Voltaire might have said, Swift was in no sense a "perfected Rabelais." He shared to the smallest possible degree Rabelais's taste for innocent, heavy-handed jokes and his constant drunken good humor. [...]
1617-439: The joke: whether the joke is being told by the threatened person themselves or by someone else. Black comedy has the social effect of strengthening the morale of the oppressed and undermines the morale of the oppressors. According to Wylie Sypher , "to be able to laugh at evil and error means we have surmounted them." Black comedy is a natural human instinct and examples of it can be found in stories from antiquity. Its use
1666-485: The late 1980s and early 1990s, leaving after Labour's defeat in the 1992 General Election . In 2007, he was made patron of Thomas's Fund, a Northampton -based music therapy charity for children with life-limiting illnesses. Collins started his career as a music journalist, writing for the NME , Vox , Select and Q (where was editor, 1995–97). He also wrote for and edited film magazine Empire in 1995. He formed
1715-529: The lead role suggested Neil Morrissey or Martin Clunes ; however, when Winner met Chris Rea on a beach at Sandy Lane , Barbados, he was chosen instead. After filming had come to an end, Winner had told his personal assistant, Dinah May, that Parting Shots was likely to be his last film. Regardless, he had said working with Rea was "a real pleasure" and that he had enjoyed making the film more than any of his past ones. According to Peter Davison, John Alderton
1764-450: The originator of black humor and gallows humor (particularly in his pieces Directions to Servants (1731), A Modest Proposal (1729), Meditation Upon a Broomstick (1710), and in a few aphorisms ). In his book, Breton also included excerpts from 45 other writers, including both examples in which the wit arises from a victim with which the audience empathizes, as is more typical in the tradition of gallows humor, and examples in which
1813-695: The particular type of laughter that it arouses ( risata verde or groen lachen ), and said that grotesque satire , as opposed to ironic satire, is the one that most often arouses this kind of laughter. In the Weimar era Kabaretts , this genre was particularly common, and according to Luttazzi, Karl Valentin and Karl Kraus were the major masters of it. Black comedy is common in professions and environments where workers routinely have to deal with dark subject matter. This includes police officers , firefighters , ambulance crews, military personnel, journalists, lawyers, and funeral directors , where it
1862-399: The provocations of reality, to let itself be compelled to suffer. It insists that it cannot be affected by the traumas of the external world; it shows, in fact, that such traumas are no more than occasions for it to gain pleasure." Some other sociologists elaborated this concept further. At the same time, Paul Lewis warns that this "relieving" aspect of gallows jokes depends on the context of
1911-476: The publication of a 1965 mass-market paperback titled Black Humor , edited by Bruce Jay Friedman . The paperback was one of the first American anthologies devoted to the concept of black humor as a literary genre. With the paperback, Friedman labeled as "black humorists" a variety of authors, such as J. P. Donleavy , Edward Albee , Joseph Heller , Thomas Pynchon , John Barth , Vladimir Nabokov, Bruce Jay Friedman himself, and Louis-Ferdinand Céline . Among
1960-504: The recent writers suggested as black humorists by journalists and literary critics are Roald Dahl , Kurt Vonnegut , Warren Zevon , Christopher Durang , Philip Roth , and Veikko Huovinen . Evelyn Waugh has been called "the first contemporary writer to produce the sustained black comic novel." The motive for applying the label black humorist to the writers cited above is that they have written novels, poems, stories, plays, and songs in which profound or horrific events were portrayed in
2009-521: The second, third and fourth series. The fifth was the first series he did not work on. The first series won the Rose D'Or for Best Comedy, and he and Mack won the RTS Breakthrough award. He worked on the team-written sitcom Gates for Sky Living in 2012, and re-teamed with Simon Day (with whom he'd co-written Grass for BBC Three and BBC2 in 2003) to co-write Colin , an episode of
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2058-456: The singer-songwriter Billy Bragg . The book was updated, in 2002, 2007, 2013 and 2018. Collins appeared on BBC , ITV and Channel 4 list shows, including I Love the '80s programme. He stated on BBC Three 's The Most Annoying TV Programmes We Love to Hate that he had appeared on 37 such list show. He devoted a full chapter to the experience of appearing as a talking head on such shows in his third volume of autobiography, That's Me in
2107-454: The term black comedy is a relatively broad term covering humour relating to many serious subjects, gallows humor tends to be used more specifically in relation to death, or situations that are reminiscent of dying. Black humour can occasionally be related to the grotesque genre. Literary critics have associated black comedy and black humour with authors as early as the ancient Greeks with Aristophanes . The term black humour (from
2156-579: The theme tune. In the Observer , radio critic Miranda Sawyer said "this series charms" and praised Benton's "lovely" performance. The List gave it 3/5, calling it "warmly cosy". The Guardian found it "full of warm, nicely observed lines". After its second series aired in April and May 2012 (Moira Petty in The Stage praised Benton's performance as "an essay in finely nuanced felicity"), Mr Blue Sky
2205-437: The worst films ever made . Photographer Harry Sterndale ( Chris Rea ) is diagnosed with stomach cancer and told he has just six weeks to live. Once a successful photographer, Harry was bankrupted by an investment scam pushed on him by his shallow ex-wife Lisa ( Diana Rigg ), who promptly left him for another man. After brooding for a few days, the usually mild-mannered Harry becomes set on revenge. With nothing to lose, he obtains
2254-485: Was "the worst film I've ever seen". O'Sullivan also took issue with the film for glorifying vigilantism: "It's Michael Winner and you know, he doesn't have any sense of irony. He seems to be saying it is okay to go and kill people". The journalist Miles Kington later claimed that despite the film's "glittering cast", it "was possibly the worst film ever made". In its entry on Michael Winner, the book Contemporary British and Irish Film Directors claimed Parting Shots "makes
2303-432: Was offered the role of John Fraser. Alderton turned it down because of the violence, and the part went to Davison instead. Parting Shots was not well received by critics, with Total Film describes Winner's work as "offensive", "incompetent" and "bad in every possible way". Andrew Collins gave a strongly negative review of the film: " Parting Shots ... is going to set the course of British film-making back 20 years. It
2352-420: Was recommissioned for a second series in 2012. It focused on Harvey Easter (Benton), an eternally optimistic man in his 40s and his more realistic wife Jax (played in series two by Claire Skinner ), and the rest of the family including son Robbie, daughter Charlie and grandmother Lou. Jim Bob of indie duo Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine recorded a cover of " Mr. Blue Sky " by Electric Light Orchestra for
2401-666: Was widespread in middle Europe , from where it was imported to the United States. It is rendered with the German expression Galgenhumor (cynical last words before getting hanged ). The concept of gallows humor is comparable to the French expression rire jaune (lit. yellow laughing ), which also has a Germanic equivalent in the Belgian Dutch expression groen lachen (lit. green laughing ). Italian comedian Daniele Luttazzi discussed gallows humour focusing on
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