Rosie Jones

[andy-hughes]

Is anyone else apart from me made deeply uncomfortable by watching and listening to Rosie Jones?

My discomfort has less to do with the fact that, due to her cerebral palsy, her delivery is necessarily slow, and her speech sometimes hard to follow.

It's due purely and simply down to the fact that she is not funny.

Make a joke of a condition has always been a one-trick pony, and there is a seriously short limit to the amount of time you can mask your discomfort by laughing along with someone laughing at themselves and the cards nature has dealt them.

Once that's gone, no matter how you are delivering your lines, as a comedian, you are required to be funny, and she is not funny at all.

I believe that it is the sheer 'right-on'-ness of audiences telling themselves how much they are better than everyone else because they embrace someone's difficulties, and applaud their ability to laugh at them, strictly in the context at all.

But strip that away, and if you the same material was being delivered by someone without Ms Jones's personal challenges, and she would not get a gig on a street corner, never mind on television.

Any thoughts?

[ToraToraTora]

I agree Andy, can't watch her. No idea how she ever managed to get on the telly. Must be a box ticking exercise.

[barry1010]

I have mentioned Rosie before. I want to listen to her, she has had some very interesting opinions on various chat shows and is not afraid to express them.
I don't have a problem with her slow speech or her disability but she is just too screechy and loud. Over excitable, nothing to do with her CP.

As for her comedy, I agree she is a bit of a one trick pony. Similar to Jo Brand banging on about her weight and periods.

[douglas9401]

Spare a thought for those who work with her, having to wait with an idiotic grin on their faces for a punchline that may never come then collapse in hysterics anyway.

She'll be on Strictly next year for sure.

[goodgoalie]

I cannot bear her, and it's nothing to do with her cerebral palsy. Embarrassingly unfunny; but it's almost heresy nowadays to say such a thing about anyone with a disability.

[MargoTester]

Ditto to all of the above

[ToraToraTora]

She may well be funny but I've never heard an entire gag. I just find it excruciating listening to her so I've never got past a few seconds.

[andy-hughes]

goodgoalie - // I cannot bear her, and it's nothing to do with her cerebral palsy. Embarrassingly unfunny; but it's almost heresy nowadays to say such a thing about anyone with a disability. //

Indeed.

I believe that a skewed belief that someone making fun of their own circumstances must automatically be hilarious is simply not valid, and Ms Jones is a perfect example of that.

It's like all the media gushing over Samantha Cameron, 'Sam Cam' as they ludicrously titled her, banging on about an averagely attractive woman as though she was the reincarnation of Helen Of Troy, simply because her husband was the Prime Minister.

These days, the emperor is getting a new suit of clothes every fifteen minutes.

[perseverer]

I haven't watched her in a comedy show, but I thought her acting in several recent episodes of Casualty was outstanding.

[naomi24]

I had an idea who you were talking about so I looked her up and I was right. Dreadful, absolutely dreadful - and so loud. I can only imagine her presence on television is all part of the quest for inclusivity. I can't think of another reason to give this decidedly unfunny, self-obsessed woman airtime.

I can't see the correlation between her and Sam Cam though - not at all.

[ToraToraTora]

TBH it's a common thing on live at the Apollo. Gay men do gay jokes, gay women to Lesbian jokes, Muslims do muslim jokes and black people do racism jokes. Rosie has been on LATA but I fast forwarded her, but I imagine she did CP jokes!

[andy-hughes]

naomi - // I can't see the correlation between her and Sam Cam though - not at all. //

The link is about perception.

People are seeing these two women as something they are actually not - in this case, fabulously funny, and drop-dead gorgeous, respectively, and the media treat these two perceptions as though they are the majority opinion of the ladies concerned.

I am suggesting that they are not, at all, and never actually were.

[andy-hughes]

TTT - // Rosie has been on LATA but I fast forwarded her, but I imagine she did CP jokes! //

I have no idea, but since this seems to be seen as her USP, it's pretty fair bet.

[naomi24]

AH,//the media treat these two perceptions as though they are the majority opinion of the ladies concerned. //

Perhaps that is the majority opinion. I don't know. Personally I regard Sam Cam as an attractive, educated, refined lady, a million miles from Rosie Jones.

[douglas9401]

Fear not, naomi, we've just reached the point of overplaying the hand earlier than usual on this one.

SamCam is the new Gloria Hunniford it seems.

[MissTerious]

Same as good Goalie. I don't like her personality or her humour. Or her loudness. She gets switched off here. Nothing to do with her disability.

[campbellking]

Never fret Andy, she’s doing an interview with Gloria Hunniford soon …

[tamaris]

I agree Andy, I have to turn off

[Cloverjo]

Perhaps she’ll be on next year’s Strictly? That would be fun :( Not!

[pastafreak]

I never noticed that Sam Cam was ever put on a pedestal or glorified for whatever her admirable traits were. She certainly didn't seek the limelight...maybe it was just the usual media blowing things out of proportion as it so often does.

I too had to check to see if Rosie Jones was who I thought she was. Comedy is subjective...I assume there are some who find her funny.

[MissTerious]

Who is Sam Cam?