07 February 2013

It's Steve Bell's question again

I have already asked about the inexplicable (to me) phenomena of Steve Bell's popularity.

Now about this one:


Could someone explain to me what's funny about that one? Or what's significant in the subject, which I thought to be quite dead after all that transpired with the Scarfe's cartoon?

Of course, I am fully aware of the issue of different tastes and all that, but still - the man is so clearly (to me) mediocre and unfunny. Well, I don't aspire to full understanding of what must be a special branch of the famous British humour, of course...

But please don't tell me Steve Bell is anti- or pro-Semitic, please, I shall have none of that crap.

4 comments:

SnoopyTheGoon said...

There was a time when his work was funny but that is way in the past. Perhaps my favourite of his drawings was one he did was for book by Billy Connolly where he portrayed Ian Paisley and his big mouth as a urinal


His depiction of erstwhile PMJohn Major in a huge chalk hill figure as the Grey Man of Ditchling was amusing but that was nearly 20 years ago...

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Well, I don't know his work for that long.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Snoopy, please don't confuse Steve Bell with British humour. Genuine British humour is far more subtle and relies on almost not realising that a joke has been told until after its over.

As political cartoonists, the non-Brits of David Low (Australian) and Vicki (Victor Weiss, Jewish and Austrian) were far better examples - always witty if not necessarily laugh out loud funny.

Try googling Vicky on "Supermac" or Low on two of my favourites: try this one from Low (called Rendezvous - the body on the ground is Poland): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Davidlowrendezvous.png: or this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lysander2/4915151119/

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Nope, I don't confuse Bell with British humour, the fact confirmed by the "what must be a special branch of the famous British humour". I fully understand that it's only a branch, and a pretty withered one at that.