Little Miss Jocelyn – A Little Bit Shit
I don’t have a television.
The main reason for this is the fact that I don’t want to buy a television license.
Today, I felt fully vindicated in this decision when, after visiting the BBC website to see if they had any news, I ended up on their I-Player website, and decided to watch the first episode of “Little Miss Jocelyn.”
I have never watched anything worse. Fact.
If you missed this delight (if you are from the UK, otherwise you are spared this trial) – click here to see for yourself.
Without doubt, this is a purile waste of money. It is supposed to be comedy, but there were zero laughs. We spent around 7 minutes in uncomfortable silence, then fast-forwarded a bit to see if any of it WAS funny. It wasn’t.
Thank you auntie.
Incidentally, to anyone who thinks that watching pre-recorded television programs on I-player would require a television licence, you are wrong: see this excellent post from Roo Reynolds for more details.
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I could not agree more.
This is the worst thing I have ever seen on TV.
It angers me so much that rubbish like this is on terrestial television.
So so bad.
I thought it was about as funny as the Soham murders. I’m glad within 4 secconds of the show starting the laughter track kicked in to remind me it was a “comedy”. I want my money back.
Unanimously and resoundingly a travesty! Honestly, it is one of the worst programs I have watched in a long time, and I even enjoyed Little Britain.
Whether I simply fail to see the humour in all of the (probably racist) Nigerian references, or my ignorance is due to the fact I don’t live in London, I’m not sure.
I am sure, however, that I could make at least one or two funny jokes, given the task of producing a comedy sketch show, and presumably some kind of budget.
What a pile of shit!!!! About as funny as cancer.
[...] the Countryfile weather forecast for this week on I-player, I was quite amused at how little variation there was on the word [...]
Without a doubt THE worst television program ever made! I managed to bare 1 episode and spent the entire time wondering how they made the laughter track! Did they take it from something funny and just edit it round the show? I also wondered how exactly she got on tv in the first place, and not only that but how did she get 2 series?
Does the BBC have some sort of racial diversity it has to include in its schedule? Meaning that Jocelyn was perhaps just the first Nigerian to come along.
I would honestly rather watch endless repeats of ‘A Place in the Sun’ for all eternity than see another episode of this abomination!
Thanks Jocelyn…bitch!
i think u lot all chat utter rubbish she is one of the best people inc omedy for a long time she makes observations of london youth and life and makes a mockery of it she was raised near where i live and the pople in the show are like people near me liek the teenagers and the “gangsta” culture that is swarming london
and you lot are a bit cheap aswell dont watch television because you do not want to pay for a television licence i would understand if it was for moral issues or you do not agree with the extensive”brain washing” type stuff on tv buh dang u people are cheap
Thanks for the comment Billi, that is precisely the point I am trying to make: “she makes observations of london youth and life and makes a mockery of it she was raised near where i live and the pople in the show are like people near me liek the teenagers and the “gangsta†culture that is swarming london”
- Observational comedy doesn’t really work when you observe something very few others can align with (i.e. anyone who isn’t a youth from London), using characters that appeal only to those with the most vapid sense of humour – for example, a disabled person ‘its funny because shes disabled’ No. It isn’t. ‘its funny because she’s attempting to do a posh English accent’ No. It isn’t. ‘its funny because she acts out a character that is just like someone I know. No. It isn’t. She doesn’t.
It just isn’t funny – to either me, or the vast majority of people I spoke to about it. Uncomfortable? Yes, definitely. Purposefully provocative and purile? Certainly. Funny? Not at all.
I agree, this show just IS NOT FUNNY! Is every character the same in this show? Its just so bad. I heard jocelyn on radio 1 (with Chris Moyles) she seemed like a well rounded comedian, but the humour in this series doesn’t work with me. When she does the unaware public interaction, its like a really poor imitation of what Borat does. I dont like it. Please BBC keep the next series exclusive to BBC 3, hidden between two mediocre films. You cant call thursday your comedy night if only half an hour of it is actually funny. If the BBC are trying to concentrate on quality rather than quantity i hope ‘little Miss Jocelyn’ isn’t the working model for the future.
the half an hour being Never Mind The Buzzcocks!!!
i agree, little miss jocelyn is the worst program i have ever watched. i sat through the whole program with a blank face and think personally its a waist of peoples time. why dont they just put a double episode of Never Mind The Buzzcocks.
p.s billi vicious learn to spell!
Thanks for the comment Tommy. To be fair, Buzzcocks is pretty good, but not as good as it used to be. I don’t know whether the format is becomming a little tired; whether it is too obviously scripted; or, most likely, I don’t find the young replacement for Lamar to be that funny as he constantly berates one or two of his guests.
I love how he takes the piss out of people for having been in boy bands – he started his TV career on a show called “Pop World” which was watched by teenyboppers, and spent his time (i.e. built his career) interviewing the likes of Blue and Hear’say…
Anyhow, Bill Bailey and Phil Jupitus are often very funny. so I tolerate the little jumped up twerp. I say tolerate…
I agree, this show is complete shit.
I was so angry at teh idea they could actually put that on tv .
Little Miss Jocelyn is brilliant and is true comedy you cheapskates. As if you don’t have a tv because you don’t want to pay a tv license, there is some brilliant tv shows. LMJ is fantastic and the laughing is real, i kno true comedy and this is true comedy.
Yeah, i dont know how often you watched Pop world Rob but i remember he used to rip into the boy bands quite a lot, no? I think he is pretty good as he doesn’t suck up to the celebrity at all… but the blatant scripting i can see would make people have to ‘tolerate’ the dilivery from Mr Amstell, althouhgh he did win a televsion award for ‘NMTB’…
Glad I’m not the only one who think it’s utter crap. Putting on a funny wig and being a twat for half an hour is something anyone could do.
The programme has really high viewing figures which is the bit I don’t get. Who on earth watches this crap?
I have found myself watching it for the same reason I wobbled loose teeth when a child. Also, I have noticed a disparity in communication skills between the anti-LMJ posts and the pro-LMJ posts. The pro crowd are morons.
Ah, viewing figures, a well worn chestnut.
They could just ask 1,000 teenagers from London what they watch on a Thursday night, then extrapolate the data out to represent a figure in millions.
Then again, most people could be what you suggest at the end of your comment, and it is we who are wrong.
How did this show get commissioned? And even more unfathomable is how did it get a second series!? Who watches it? I cannot understand how, when there is so much new comedy talent around, that this dross manages to get a half hour slot straight after a popular show like Buzzcocks. Without doubt, the worst thing I have ever seen on TV. I saw a few minutes of it after Buzzcocks the other night and it actually made me angry. That can’t be right surely?
It is pretty downright awful, but it’s no worse than bloody Catherine Tate, if you ask me.
My main problem is that the BBC has commissioned all these pitiful female-led comedies just to be PC and show that women can be funny like men, despite the fact that they rely on tacky, over-the-top toilet humour. I’m talkin about LMJ, CT and that horrendous Tittybangbang crap. Well I’m sure the late Linda Smith would be turning in her grave knowing that these women have been given a platform by the BBC.
The scariest part of it is that this Jocelyn bird is actually quite well spoken and reasonably intelligent from the interviews I’ve heard of her. Something doesn’t quite add up
Not sure about viewing figures – LMJ has made a consistent non-appearance on the BARB’s top 30 ratings. Largely because it’s shit, I assume.
It would be interesting to get proper information on the viewing figures and the audience demographic, if only to confirm my growing suspicion that the only people who watch LMJ are Jocelyn’s family.
I like the idea of getting more minorities on TV; I just wished they’d picked a woman who knew a few jokes.
All you people who hate LMJ are forgetting; comedy like so many other things (art, music, food) is subjective. What I find funny will not tickle all people. For instance I think Dad’s Army is naff, millions instantly disagree. You people need to get a grip and realise that if you don’t get it maybe its not meant for you.
Why put it on after Buzzcocks then? Surely the schedule is to blame as most people who watch Buzzcocks and appreciate it seem not to appreciate Little Miss Jocelyn.
I agree with Littletooth that Dad’s Army is naff. I am in the wrong demographic to really break my ribs over it.
I think the problem with Little Miss Jocelyn is Londoners in the BBC viewing London as the centre of the world. LMJ jokes just don’t apply outside of the capital. They are non-transferable.
Plus, she’s just not funny enough to carry it off.
Please, please, please, take this dire comedienne off the telly. I asked 10 of my black female friends what they thought and they all hated the show with a vengeance, I could go into the politics, psychological debasement and moral ineptitude, but I can only say, she is truly the bottom of the barrel…bring Gina Yashere or Felix Dexter people with real talent, not this moronic woman.
I and others have sent complaints to the BBC, but we got a standard letter which backs her comedy. This is what we have to put up with under the guise of diversity. Not my cup of tea and I’m of the most diverse member of the British public.
…to say she is the bottom of the barrel is unfair to barrel bottoms…I would rather gnaw an arm off than watch another of her painful excuses for a programme…Talentless and embarrassingly awful, whoever commissioned this series needs to be locked in a room and have the whole series played over and over in a continuous loop. Comedy needs an essential element – humour – and this does not have it in bucket loads
It’s a horrible show. Putting on a stereoptypical accent from some country you weren’t even born in then shouting isn’t comedy. It reminds me of that Omid Djalili show, but worse (if that’s possible). It’s nothing to do with not being able to relate. It’s just not funny. I watch comedians from all around the world and find them funny. Even a guy called Ahmed Ahmed, but this stuff just plain isn’t funny.
With regards to Buzzcocks, I thought it was quite a bit funnier when Noel Fielding was there. It gave it a bit more energy. I’ve noticed Bill Bailey barely says much nowadays and when he does it often isn’t that funny.
I, too, have noticed that Bill Bailey hardly says anything on Buzzcocks. I actually get the impression that he dislikes the new host. He only really got animated to stick up for Anthony Costa (that guy out of Blue) when he was being ripped by Simon for the fifth time. He actually did a good job of deflecting it, which was needed, as the program was becoming painful and tedious.
little miss jocelyn is the single worst thing ever to have graced this earth, and i have a TV so believe me its poor, i would go as far as to say its worse than the suffering in africa, i mean what the f*** would be funny about this show, its all about racism, and thats only funny when in small doses.
So i conclude that the women behind little miss jocelyn deserves to die!!!!!!!!!
in response to Bretts comment on NMTB noel fielding is shocking and unbelievably unfunny
This show demonstrates that if you want to see cutting edge comedy, get off your backside pay a little money and go to see it live. They dont call the BBC Auntie Beeb for nothing. Shes safe predictable, occasional tells a saucy joke but will blush and say shes had too much sherry. The next Richard Pryor will not be televised
The BBC trumpets “Thursdays are Funny”. Well not anymore they are not. Get this excruciating Little Miss Joclyn rubbish off our TVs now.
Nominated for a BAFTA? Why? What were they thinking?
In response to “the truth” -I concur except to say that racism is not funny unless done in an ironic fashion (i.e. to sarcastically point out that judging on skin colour and skull shape alone is rather irrational).
Also, Little Miss Jocelyn herself should probably not be condemned to death. The show is awful but capital punishment for bad comedy is probably going a bit too far.
Speaking of capital punishments – have a look at this:
http://www.24hourtrading.co.uk/blog/top-5-most-gruesome-forms-of-capital-punishment-585/
i sent a couple of comedy scripts to the production company who made this crap and was told that my material wasn’t funny. i’m not blowing my own trumpet but they are having a laugh. sorry bout this but got to get it out. you have no chance of getting into the buisness if you live in wales and if you are not in the tv comedy crowd French and saunders etc. oh well a life in a factory for me then. bloody hell i only want to make stuff that my friends and i find funny. it’s a lot funnier than that crap. and titty bang bang while i’m at it. also most of the racist little britain show. if i sent a script to someone where someone throws up at the sight of a black person i don’t think they’d be picking it up somehow. bye
LMJ is a good program, buzzcocks is a load
of middle class tosh like most of the words
posted here.
little miss jocelyn is truly the worst show of any kind i’ve ever seen. it’s really disgraceful that it was bought back for a second season.
“Observational comedy doesn’t really work when you observe something very few others can align with (i.e. anyone who isn’t a youth from London).”
Rob Scott, I do not fit in the category of “youth from London”. In fact, I am from Jamaica (West Indies, not NY) and happen to find Little Miss Jocelyn hilarious. I most certainly would not describe my sense of humour as “vapid” either.
It’s wonderful that freedom of speech allows so many of you to say how strongly you despise the show. You all seemed to have forgotten that humour is SUBJECTIVE i.e. not everyone is going to find the same thing funny. Maybe if you all didn’t take yourselves so seriously and stop looking down your nose at the rest of the world, you may find it funny as well.
A helpful hint: If you have nothing nice to say…STFU!
Yes humour is subjective: I think Little Miss Jocelyn is a little bit shit.
Its fine that you find LMJ hilarious, but surely something this fringe belongs on a fringe channel like BBC 3, not terrestrial television. That’s the point I was making.
Comedy obviously polarises opinion. I find Roy Chubby Brown an obnoxious and unfunny man too, peddling infantile humour but – and this is an important but – he didn’t get a primetime slot on the BBC (even they aren’t that out of touch). However, some people obviously do find him funny, otherwise Royston Vasey wouldn’t have a career. Equally so, Little Miss Jocelyn must have a lot of followers: I’m not one of them.
Of course, no-one is really interested in my opinion, and I do have nice things to say, but not about things that I feel have wasted my time: watching a comedy show that isn’t funny (for me) being one of those things.
ITs not an attack on people who do find her funny, or even Jocelyn herself: I’m merely criticising, in the very truest sense of the word, this show.
Given that the BBC is uniquely funded I feel entitled to take this sort of stance: we all feel we have a right to comment on BBC programming because of the licence fee.
In any case, I won’t shut the fuck up, but thank you for the suggestion.
Oh, and as for all the “Cheapskate (sic)” comments: I do now have a television licence, because I have to watch Match of the Day, Countryfile and other stuff that appeals to tight-fisted Yorkshiremen. Though I do find you calling me cheap a racial slur against my kind.
Thrifty is a much better choice of words.
The scariest part of it is that this Jocelyn bird is actually quite well spoken and reasonably intelligent from the interviews I’ve heard of her. Something doesn’t quite add up
To the person above, You have looked at LMJ and assumed she must be a dumb black woman, then you have heard ger speak, and she sounds reasonably inteligent! Your not very clever yourself are you. My dad is a comedian, a writer, a musician and many other things, and is highly inteligent and guess what likes LMJ.
Most people do not understand she is not being racist if she was she would be racist to herself as she mocks africans and jamacians so what sense would it make. This show is not for you people that dont understand.
I find Little Britain unfunny and racist but thats aired all the time.
There are a million comedians and racist ones at that, that are just not funny at all.
For the person asking 10 black friends if LMJ is funny, you need to go back to school, in south london, where you will have real black friends who have a sense of humour and would let you understand things, how come all of my white friends and alot of them are in high places like LMJ.
Anyone who says LMJ angers them should spend more time looking at worst things on TV that brainwash our children, as you guys are obviously racist.
To the person who says bring back Gina Yasheri for your information Gina could not get a contract in this racist country and is now making it big in USA on Comedy Def Jam, where she will make millions and all of you would hate this show as its probably to racist for your ignorant views. This show is aired in Usa as there is more black people over there that enjoy the show. Eddie Murphey started on Def Jam, Richard Prior and many famous people.
As for Felix Dextor, he is so gay and is not your usual black man, yes hes funny, but he is not a threat so you guys would like him.
And who cares about stupid Mr Motivator who is a fake black man, (married a white woman) he is no threat. Hes not even really sucsessful. We will never see a black priminister here, thats why im going to America, unless you can name some black millinares who are in the public eye in Britain there is no point. There are millions in America guess why…. eqaul oppurtunities, best man for the job and all that….love it
May i add 1 more thing…
Tuesday, 7 May, 2002, 12:10 GMT 13:10 UK
Why do people find racist jokes funny?
Alf Garnett was meant to expose racism. But many said they identified with him
Ann Winterton is not the first person to fall foul of telling racist jokes. But for good or bad, race is one subject of which joke-tellers never tire. Why is this?
Ann Winterton’s joke wasn’t funny. Even Bernard Manning admits that.
In telling a racist gag in an after-dinner speech, she committed an act of professional suicide which saw her sacked from the shadow cabinet.
The “joke” – in case you haven’t heard it – was that there was an Englishman, a Cuban, a Japanese man and a Pakistani on a train. The Cuban throws a cigar out of the window, saying they are “ten-a-penny” in his country. The Japanese man throws a Nikon camera out, saying they are ten-a-penny in his country. Then the Englishman throws the Pakistani out the window.
Ann Winterton: After-dinner speech
It came a few days after comedian Stan Boardman was vilified for telling a racist gag at a Leeds United dinner, and in the wake of three BNP councillors being elected in Burnley.
Some have tried to pass off Mrs Winterton’s “joke” as a bit of harmless fun.
But perhaps the reason the joke may have been funny to some is the exact reason many others find it offensive: to find it funny one would have to actually believe there were too many Pakistanis in England.
To make him truthful he’s got to say those things, and they are nasty things – but I always feel as a writer that they should be out in the open so we can see how daft these comparisons are
Johnny Speight on why Alf Garnett made racist comments
To test the logic of this, try telling the joke with “a Swiss man” in the place of the Pakistani.
In other words, could it be a simple illustration of the old line that there is many a true word spoken in jest – that far from being jokes, racist gags are simply a more “acceptable” way of being racist?
In 2000, shadow health secretary Dr Liam Fox told this joke to fellow MPs: “What do you call three dogs and a blackbird? The Spice Girls.” Dr Fox apologised but did not have to resign. Could it be that, although an indelicate remark, it is more acceptable because it does not appear to mask a racist attitude?
Bernard Manning: “Never take it seriously”
Bernard Manning, who unashamedly proclaims his desire to tell jokes about anyone of whatever nationality, does not agree that jokes are a cover for racism.
“You never take a joke seriously,” he says. “It’s a joke! There’s no such thing as throwing [people out of the window]. You wouldn’t do that!
“We have to tell jokes about everything and everyone.”
I make jokes about Pakistanis because I am Pakistani. I make jokes about Muslims because I am a Muslim. I would never make a joke about black people because I’m not black,” she says.
“I make jokes about my own culture, because I feel I know about it. No-one knows it better than me.”
What about the TV program Goodness Gracious Me. That makes fun of white people shouldn’t we be talking about that or is this another one sided argument?
JUST A FEW EXAMPLES OF OTHER PEOPLES OPINIONS
How is this about race, Sarah? Being shite at comedy hardly has anything to do with the colour of your skin, your hair colour, or the colour of anything for that matter.
BBC, BRITISH BROADCASTING, WHO CARES ABOUT BRITISH BROADCASTING, MY KIDS ARE BEING BRAINWASHED BY SEEING WHITE TV ALL DAY EVERYDAY, WHATS THE BIG DEAL WITH THEM SEING 30 MINS OF BLACK TV, BRITISH BROADCASTING IS OBVOUISLY GREAT FOR SOME BUT NOT ME, I PREFER BET EVEN MTV BASE IS RUBBISH NOW.
LMJ is very funny! You guys need to get a life or simply don’t watch shows that do not appeal to you.
Have you ever heard of a target market? No? They are the people that a product is targeted at. E.g, I don’t buy porn and doubt seriously if I ever will. However, there are people that keep up with that sort of stuff and stack up dvds. Rather than spending my energy going on about porn, I will simply avoid it and go with what I like.
LMJ, dey do your thing jare! Nothing do you. Dem wey no sabi no sabi. No be everybody go happy. Nothing dey happen!
In my opinion LMJ is a really funny show.I think its goood and it isnt boring at all. The fact that lots of the sketches are so stupid its funny. If you are a serious person with not a very good sense of humour then your not going to find it funny, but to watch this show you have to just relax and not take any of the sketches seriously it is a comedy after all! I dont find it at all racist compared to some of the things people say and do to other races these days to me it is just a bit of fun. I think most people fail to realise that a lot of comedys are racist but many people still watch them and find the comments amusing. So pleaase guys, just stop hating on LMJ she rocks. And to the author (forgot your name) you dont have to live in london to find the show funny cos i dont live in london and i find it funny, no offence but i thought your little article thing was kinda shit cos you made a few stupid comments lol.
Fair enough Maz, you’re entitled to your opinion. As are we all. But why is it that when someone says a comedian / musician whom we happen to like is a little bit shit that we take it so personally? Isn’t it part of life’s rich tapestry that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure?
I do, however, still question the slot on BBC2 for LMJ, however, as I don’t see it as a show with mainstream appeal – BBC 3 would seem the ideal venue for such a show.
And, though you forgot my name, you only have to read some of the other things I have written, or look at one of our myriad websites to know that I also have a crazy/stupid sense of humour. I just fail to find many of LMJs characters funny.
But this is just an opinion: I don’t think any less of you because you enjoy the show, nor do I expect you to think the less of me because I don’t. It’s just that this show is, for me, a little bit shit.