Ian Hislop C/D

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we sort of did some of this on, i think, the rolling comedy thread but i feel it sort of has legs. so, ian hislop should be a good thing, he edits private eye which whilst kinda middle aged still has loads of good zings of the rich powerful. yet on Have I Got News For You he rarely comes across much more as simply spiteful rather than genuinely angry about Very Bad Things. he and private eye feel sort of stuck in some weird post-elvis pre-beatles era of british culture and it sort of bothers me, like the way he'll go after minor celebs with the same venom as big shot politicos. enrique, i think, called the whole mentality High Tory, which i get just dunno if i can sympathize with or see it as "healthy".

what say ilx?

― acrobat, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:21 (eighteen years ago)

I don't know much about the guy but I consider Private Eye a kind of miracle.

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:24 (eighteen years ago)

classic as fuck with one caveat: his sneering disdain for the arts. i mean, "pseuds' corner" in private eye has just become a joke: anyone who dares to say anything remotely emotive or intelligent about contemporary art of any kind gets zinged.

but i'll forgive him that for many reasons, not least of which is the last-but-one eye cover (blair's legacy).

― grimly fiendish, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:25 (eighteen years ago)

oh yeh: and the little fucker didn't print the (very good) letter i wrote them about two months ago. mind, it was taking the piss out of them, so ...

― grimly fiendish, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:26 (eighteen years ago)

Dud.

― Dom Passantino, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:30 (eighteen years ago)

Hislop is really weird to think about, that there are people out there who still think the Beatles were this dangerous band of nogoodniks.

― Dom Passantino, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:30 (eighteen years ago)

if you look at his work sked your have to wonder how much editing hislop does at private eye. it's always been the work of many hands and the fact that only three or four of them are known to the public (hislop, dep ed francis wheen, craig brown, erm, victor lewis-smith) covers that up a bit.

― That one guy that quit, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:33 (eighteen years ago)

Classic.

― Matt DC, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:35 (eighteen years ago)

Private Eye is just basically completely clueless and shit re: all popular culture, no? Cf all the cartoons which are just the same shit joke transplanted to models/rock star/footballers/artists/hilarious guardian readers every single issue.

― Michael Philip Philip Philip philip Annoyman, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:36 (eighteen years ago)

xp to dom
that's not hislop, that's paul johnson.
i bet hislop's got a black sabbath cd around the house.

― Frogman Henry, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:36 (eighteen years ago)

Private Eye and Hislop by extension classic overall, it's no Viz though.

― Michael Philip Philip Philip philip Annoyman, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:37 (eighteen years ago)

It's no Zit or Smut, either.

― Dom Passantino, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:37 (eighteen years ago)

I suppose that's true.

― Michael Philip Philip Philip philip Annoyman, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:38 (eighteen years ago)

hislop is actually a christian i learnt, as was previous eye editor richard ingrams.

but check out og PE guy christopher brooker's book 'the neophiliacs' (1970?), a comprehensive assault on the 60s. and then of course there's bron waugh. also wheen wrote a book, which i haven't seen, called 'the sixties'. craig brown is more complex.

but in the 70s the eye was a bastion against the 'loony left', which is okay and necessary in a satirical magazine, except we ended up with thatcher.

peter cook, even though he bankrolled the thing, and in a different way paul foot, were sort of outriders, but very important ones.

― That one guy that quit, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:38 (eighteen years ago)

i just bought wheen's biography of marx. he's for him.

― Frogman Henry, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:39 (eighteen years ago)

The Premiershits and Pseuds Corner - dud
Everything else, especially when Piers Moron tried to get people to dish the dirt on Hislop and came up with squat - classic

― Pete W, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:41 (eighteen years ago)

mis-read christopher brooker as charlie brooker. which made me go "wha..." cos people like charlie brooker, christopher morris and armando ianuaci feel to in terms of satire seem to be from another world entirely to hislop.

― acrobat, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:42 (eighteen years ago)

Pros:
- Good at pointing out the corruption, hypocrisy, incompetence or just general buffoonery of certain British and Euro MPs
- Passable Jimmy Somerville impersonator
- Pwned Piers Morgan, Aitken, Archer and numerous other odious cvnts over the years

Cons:
- Anti-Pop arts curmudgeon (tho this may be incorporated into third con)
- Hates football and most other stuff 'below his class/culture' (tho this may be incorporated into third con)
- Tory to the hilt

― blueski, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:42 (eighteen years ago)

Michael Philip Philip Philip philip Annoyman, their telly and book reviews are the only reviews they do, and they seem pretty clued up to me.

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:43 (eighteen years ago)

"Tory to the hilt"? O RLY?

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:43 (eighteen years ago)

"- Anti-Pop arts curmudgeon (tho this may be incorporated into third con)
- Hates football and most other stuff 'below his class/culture' (tho this may be incorporated into third con)
- Tory to the hilt"

i don't think any of these are actually correct. can you give me quotes?

― Frogman Henry, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:44 (eighteen years ago)

I keep dreaming of commissioning a sitcom called "The Craig Browns", wherein Craig Brown and Craig Brown share a flat together somewhere in Bromley, and like Craig Brown walks down the stairs going all "You see? You see? That Berti Vogts thing just proved what an impossible job I had", and then Craig Brown guys "Hey, ever imagined what David Milliband would sound like if he was ordering bacon? I think it'd sound a little like this..."

Ratings.

― Dom Passantino, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:45 (eighteen years ago)

It is only because of Private Eye and Evening Standard billboards that I have the slightest clue about what is going on in the world.

― Pete W, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:47 (eighteen years ago)

So you know that Ken Livingstone is evil and that popular culture is something to be scared of?

― Dom Passantino, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:47 (eighteen years ago)

it's always been the work of many hands and the fact that only three or four of them are known to the public (hislop, dep ed francis wheen, craig brown, erm, victor lewis-smith) covers that up a bit.

aye, but this is true of almost every newspaper. the only people with a public profile are certain editors (i mean: could most people name the editor of the independent? or even the mail? "paul ... er ...") and, obviously, high-profile columnists. but the people with the real power (the backbenchers, the myriad associates and deputies and assistants) are totally faceless.

where PE differs is that none of the copy is bylined, which i really like.

a girl from university went off to work there, which surprised me because she was a total dick. she didn't last very long, though.

― grimly fiendish, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:48 (eighteen years ago)

sure Frogman:

"Modern, populart art is rubbish"
"I hate football"
"I am Tory to the hilt"

― blueski, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:49 (eighteen years ago)

I keep dreaming of commissioning a sitcom called "The Craig Browns"

i have an almost-clear credit card and can borrow a camera. when can we start making this?

― grimly fiendish, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:49 (eighteen years ago)

Youtube is our oyster.

― Dom Passantino, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:49 (eighteen years ago)

Tracer, TV review is alright sometimes yeah, there's a certain ridiculously out-of-touch vibe encouraged by the funnies and the attitude towards football et al though.

Constant shoehorning of Ignominious Neill Picture into the letters page/pretending Piers Moron's middle name is "Morgan" never get old though.

― Michael Philip Philip Philip philip Annoyman, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:51 (eighteen years ago)

But pales in comparison to Viz's hatred of Jimmy Carr, really

― Michael Philip Philip Philip philip Annoyman, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:52 (eighteen years ago)

Bring back Punch.

― Dom Passantino, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:52 (eighteen years ago)

xpost

ach, viz is secretly quite fond of carr. you can tell.

and i think hislop is quite fond of morgan. morgan, however, hates hislop with a passion. which just makes the whole thing even funnier.

― grimly fiendish, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:54 (eighteen years ago)

'So you know that Ken Livingstone is evil and that popular culture is something to be scared of?'

I know how much Paul Dacre earns, and that somebody famous has died, or been arrested, and that pictures of this are in existence.

xxpost - the new Cheeky Girls/Opik pic has legs.

― Pete W, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:54 (eighteen years ago)

I wonder if there's any other publication that has changed as little as Private Eye in the last 25 years or so, when I first saw it. I mean, change the names and it's exactly the same. I don't know if that's good or bad - obviously it makes it extremely culturally conservative at the least.

― underpants of the gods, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:56 (eighteen years ago)

Horse and Hound?

― Dom Passantino, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:57 (eighteen years ago)

Horse & Hound has at least changed its fonts and layout and what have you (I'm assuming)

― underpants of the gods, Monday, 14 May 2007 13:58 (eighteen years ago)

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 14 May 2007 14:00 (eighteen years ago)

hislop is not any kind of modern tory. but his worldview is the tory worldview of the waughs evelyn and bron, which is a kind of anglican, high tory, anti-modern outlook but... somehow not irredeemable. it's a very seductive and contradictory part of british culture. but the people it seduces are, like waugh and probably like hislop, not blue-bloods, and they're much more anti-establishment than the nobs. i remember they had a working-class person on HIGNFY and she aksed why some names in british are pronounced 'wrong', and he said, perfectly nicely, it's so people can get them wrong. so he isn't fully signed up, he realizes what a lot of bullshit it is -- like waugh -- but can't help himself. carmody has written about it a lot.

― That one guy that quit, Monday, 14 May 2007 14:02 (eighteen years ago)

was Hislop generally pro the Iraq war?
who did he vote for at the last general election?

― blueski, Monday, 14 May 2007 14:05 (eighteen years ago)

i'd bet he was agin the war. but i can't imagine who he'd vote for.

― That one guy that quit, Monday, 14 May 2007 14:05 (eighteen years ago)

According to Wikipedia, Hislop wrote Harry Enfield's "Tim Nice But Dim" character.

― Dom Passantino, Monday, 14 May 2007 14:07 (eighteen years ago)

a kind of anglican, high tory, anti-modern outlook but... somehow not irredeemable. it's a very seductive and contradictory part of british culture.

Swift?

― Pete W, Monday, 14 May 2007 14:09 (eighteen years ago)

HIGNFY sort of slept on iraq if i remember. i wasn't looking at private eye at that time. it's odd i first came into contact with it through a torygraph reading teacher now the person i know who subscribes to it has it witht he new internationalist. both subscriptions maybe "gifts" though. i find it hard to believe anyone would actually buy if for the funnies, thats sort of like buying the guardian for the music criticism huh.

― acrobat, Monday, 14 May 2007 14:10 (eighteen years ago)

BA-ZING

― Dom Passantino, Monday, 14 May 2007 14:10 (eighteen years ago)

i can't imagine who he'd vote for.

reading private eye makes me not want to vote for anyone. i can't imagine what editing it would do to one's faith in the system.

― stevie, Monday, 14 May 2007 14:11 (eighteen years ago)

he himself makes the swift comparison in this interview i just found in a christian magazine:

http://www.thirdway.org.uk/past/index.htm [no direct link]

"Oh, there’s a definite fogeyism, yes – and a definite resistance to change. That’s inherent in satire, really. The new comes along and you have a go at it. It’s very odd, because the rest of the time you’re having a go at the old and saying how useless it is. I suppose one needs to be convinced, really. Nearly all satirists are conservative..."

― That one guy that quit, Monday, 14 May 2007 14:11 (eighteen years ago)

Some of you here are talking about Private Eye as if it's some journal of the arts!

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 14 May 2007 14:12 (eighteen years ago)

I think that's... if not fair, then at least true.

xp

― Dom Passantino, Monday, 14 May 2007 14:12 (eighteen years ago)

Swift seems a lot more snobbish and a lot more conservative tho.

― Noodle Vague, Monday, 14 May 2007 14:13 (eighteen years ago)

need an expert opinion on the architecture column.

― That one guy that quit, Monday, 14 May 2007 14:13 (eighteen years ago)

Skipping 274 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

always figured hislop was vaguely lefty too, does that link ^ disprove this?

― NI, Thursday, 27 May 2010 12:49 (fifteen years ago)

I'm genuinely stunned that anyone could ever have mistaken Hislop for a lefty! This >

judging from most times he's expressed his opinion on HIGNFY, that Hislop was pretty much a standard leftie. I find the fervent statements to the contrary on this thread a bit curious.

I mean, what?!?!??!

― Wenlock & Mandelson (Tom D.), Thursday, 27 May 2010 12:55 (fifteen years ago)

the only times i've seen him express any views on the show they've just been his euroskeptism.

― No disre but maryanne hobbs is peng trust me (jim in glasgow), Thursday, 27 May 2010 12:57 (fifteen years ago)

I always saw him as a bit of an orange book type.

― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Thursday, 27 May 2010 12:57 (fifteen years ago)

private eye still has some stuff that is "lefty" and hislop always published paul foot

but nah, no lefty he

he's CoE conservative, just not really a thatcherite

― English: The Money Woman (history mayne), Thursday, 27 May 2010 12:58 (fifteen years ago)

He's not quite a High Tory, but not far off it

― Wenlock & Mandelson (Tom D.), Thursday, 27 May 2010 13:00 (fifteen years ago)

I always had Hislop down as a PG Wodehouse or Tom Stoppard type of right-wing British humourist, conservative small-c without being paid-up Tory. I suspect Hislop fancies himself in that image as well.

― The Men Who Stare At Goatse (Matt DC), Thursday, 27 May 2010 13:02 (fifteen years ago)

Richard Ingrams, basically

― Wenlock & Mandelson (Tom D.), Thursday, 27 May 2010 13:04 (fifteen years ago)

I'm genuinely stunned that anyone could ever have mistaken Hislop for a lefty!

Insofar as the UK hasn't had a left-wing govt in the whole time he's been doing the Eye and HIGNFY, which are both largely dedicated to clowning the govt of the time... I could see how you might casually conclude that tbh

― taqsim for Gaffney (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 27 May 2010 13:18 (fifteen years ago)

Richard Ingrams, basically

With or without the homophobia?

― i'm gonna go and talk to some food about this (Ned Trifle II), Thursday, 27 May 2010 13:28 (fifteen years ago)

Ian H is a delightful and generous chap. I doubt he'd consider himself politically affiliated in either direction.

― Mark C, Thursday, 27 May 2010 13:47 (fifteen years ago)

you don't need to be affiliated to be quite obviously conservative.

― No disre but maryanne hobbs is peng trust me (jim in glasgow), Thursday, 27 May 2010 14:37 (fifteen years ago)

Like I said upthread, I really don't think it matters. It's not HIGNFW's remit to be lefty and probably helps for balance to have one captain that leans in each direction.

― The Men Who Stare At Goatse (Matt DC), Thursday, 27 May 2010 14:42 (fifteen years ago)

Right wing satirists are a good old-fashioned British tradition

― Wenlock & Mandelson (Tom D.), Thursday, 27 May 2010 14:44 (fifteen years ago)

I'd go with the 'clowning the govt' angle, as well as having a slice of 'conservative with a small c'.

― May be half naked, but knows a good headline when he sees it (darraghmac), Thursday, 27 May 2010 14:46 (fifteen years ago)

yeah i'll get in on that

― English: The Money Woman (history mayne), Thursday, 27 May 2010 14:48 (fifteen years ago)

Like I said upthread, I really don't think it matters. It's not HIGNFW's remit to be lefty and probably helps for balance to have one captain that leans in each direction.

i agree with the first part but merton leans in any particular direction politically? I've never noticed it.

― No disre but maryanne hobbs is peng trust me (jim in glasgow), Thursday, 27 May 2010 14:49 (fifteen years ago)

wears ironic clothes_ lefty, possibly homosexual

― May be half naked, but knows a good headline when he sees it (darraghmac), Thursday, 27 May 2010 14:56 (fifteen years ago)

merton's pretty much yr standard lefty lib, isn't he? i've seen him reading the guardian in real life, anyway

xpost

― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 27 May 2010 14:56 (fifteen years ago)

clearly intelligent, but long haired- keep an eye on this one, chaps

― May be half naked, but knows a good headline when he sees it (darraghmac), Thursday, 27 May 2010 14:56 (fifteen years ago)

on the other hand- speech impediment, wealthy. hmmmmm

― May be half naked, but knows a good headline when he sees it (darraghmac), Thursday, 27 May 2010 14:57 (fifteen years ago)

Speech impediment? You mean Cockney accent?

― Wenlock & Mandelson (Tom D.), Thursday, 27 May 2010 14:59 (fifteen years ago)

he's got a touch of the wossies dunnee

― May be half naked, but knows a good headline when he sees it (darraghmac), Thursday, 27 May 2010 15:03 (fifteen years ago)

starched tongue kinda thing

― May be half naked, but knows a good headline when he sees it (darraghmac), Thursday, 27 May 2010 15:03 (fifteen years ago)

I think that's just the weak "r" of yer avg. Cockernee guttersnipe

― Wenlock & Mandelson (Tom D.), Thursday, 27 May 2010 15:04 (fifteen years ago)

... which us Rhotic fellows feel at liberty to mock

― Wenlock & Mandelson (Tom D.), Thursday, 27 May 2010 15:05 (fifteen years ago)

merton barely says anything other than the odd stock 'im mad me' lazy surrealism, certainly not anything remotely political

― NI, Thursday, 27 May 2010 17:02 (fifteen years ago)

sometimes that's the most political thing of all maaaan

― English: The Money Woman (history mayne), Thursday, 27 May 2010 17:04 (fifteen years ago)

it's pronounced mayne

― May be half naked, but knows a good headline when he sees it (darraghmac), Thursday, 27 May 2010 18:50 (fifteen years ago)

Hislop seems to have a real distaste for Bruce Forsyth. Whatever did The Boss do wrong?

― Hippocrates or wat!! (Merdeyeux), Thursday, 27 May 2010 20:27 (fifteen years ago)

friend who worked with him years ago as a runner says bruce is horrendous - she wasn't allowed to address him directly!

― Worth waiting for the fannypunch at 4.02 (stevie), Friday, 28 May 2010 00:36 (fifteen years ago)

Hislop laffs at DCameron, the tories go "grrr leftie!"

That's it.

― Mark G, Friday, 28 May 2010 10:31 (fifteen years ago)

Do you know him personally or something? You're getting a bit defensive.

― The Men Who Stare At Goatse (Matt DC), Friday, 28 May 2010 10:32 (fifteen years ago)

I don't, but one of my friends does a day a week in the PI office and says he's a delightful boss.

― when the fertilizer hits the ventilator (suzy), Friday, 28 May 2010 10:35 (fifteen years ago)

It was Markelby who called him a delightful and generous chap up there! Or someone else called Mark C.

― taqsim for Gaffney (DJ Mencap), Friday, 28 May 2010 10:36 (fifteen years ago)

I sat opposite him on the train out of Charing X once. He had all the newspapers with him.

― Michael Jones, Friday, 28 May 2010 10:39 (fifteen years ago)

^ this is it, I guess? I hadn't really thought he was "a lefty" but hadn't thought he was Tory either, seeing as he clowned the Major govt for everything and the clowning of nu-Labour didn't seem to be from a particularly righty position, being "lol unjustified war and attendant coverups" "lol sucking up to Bush" "lol incoherent attempts to appear Tough On ___" on HIGNFY (as far as I remember - not watched reg for several years) + "lol giant money-hole of PFI" "lol corporate interests" in P. Eye (also not read regularly since like '01 and admit that I probably only remember the stories which hit my personal outrage buttons)

I mean this thread is not a major surprise but it is more "oh damn, I had thought he was a basically good guy but I can see why this thread makes sense"

― atoms breaking heart (a passing spacecadet), Friday, 28 May 2010 11:16 (fifteen years ago)

Well, I still think he's basically a good guy, etc.

― Mark G, Friday, 28 May 2010 11:21 (fifteen years ago)

not sure that there's too many people on the planet that qualify as 'basically good', so don't see why political quipmasters should be held up to a higher standard

― May be half naked, but knows a good headline when he sees it (darraghmac), Friday, 28 May 2010 11:22 (fifteen years ago)

xp OK, I thought he was a basically good guy who I agreed with, but it turns out he's a basically good guy I agree with on some stuff but for different reasons! Wait, that doesn't sound too bad either.

Some people upthread wanted to turn this into Hislop v Merton, so I'll say that I'm pretty fond of both of them, and the format is a bit tired now but the interplay/contrast between them was great in the early years - I like Merton's trick of a flurry of mock-bemused looks or "don't really care about politics" surrealist question-avoiding quips but then revealing he always knows exactly where the question is going

vaguely remember an RT interview where Merton said that he always won because he'd read all the papers and Hislop wouldn't get his hands dirty with the tabloids, and obv that's not exactly true cz Hislop has to read the tabs for Private Eye, but it was a little "aha" line for me, anyway
(course it could well have been a joke because it seems like it has to be true but maybe isn't)

― atoms breaking heart (a passing spacecadet), Friday, 28 May 2010 11:32 (fifteen years ago)

Ingrams used to describe himself as a "conservative Christian anarchist"

― bham, Friday, 28 May 2010 11:45 (fifteen years ago)

missed out "homophobic wanker"

― every time i pull a j/k off the shelf (Noodle Vague), Friday, 28 May 2010 11:46 (fifteen years ago)

Google not turning up any choice examples of Ingrams-era Eye strip 'The Gays', disappointingly

― taqsim for Gaffney (DJ Mencap), Friday, 28 May 2010 12:01 (fifteen years ago)

missed out "homophobic wanker"

And anti-Semitic twat?

― Wenlock & Mandelson (Tom D.), Friday, 28 May 2010 12:03 (fifteen years ago)

small- c conservative Christian kind of a catch-all for those IMO.

― when the fertilizer hits the ventilator (suzy), Friday, 28 May 2010 12:04 (fifteen years ago)

xp to self oh here we go

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_lSk4AbYU4tY/SYnorrt-z1I/AAAAAAAAAwU/HzMFgiO3TCc/s320/pe27jul84.jpg

not sure I get it :(

― taqsim for Gaffney (DJ Mencap), Friday, 28 May 2010 12:06 (fifteen years ago)

Bloody large "C" Christians. (xp) Heath is repulsive.

― Wenlock & Mandelson (Tom D.), Friday, 28 May 2010 12:08 (fifteen years ago)

he clowned the Major govt for everything and the clowning of nu-Labour didn't seem to be from a particularly righty position, being "lol unjustified war and attendant coverups" "lol sucking up to Bush" "lol incoherent attempts to appear Tough On ___" on HIGNFY

This was my main rationale for seeing him as a leftie. Also, I remember when Peter Stringfellow, who's a Conservative, was on HIGNFY, and at some point PS made some condescending remark about Ken Livingstone and Hislop really sneeringly replied, "Is that because he isn't a Conservative?" Similarly, he once took the piss out of Clarkson for the lazy naffness of his "politically incorrect" brand of humour. I recall many other little instances like this that seem to suggest leftieness, but I can't recall any time when's he made any pronounced right-wing impression. The link upthread notwithstanding, most people on this thread seem to be simply asserting his Toryness, and providing only abstract explanations for why they see this. I'd like some concrete examples of actual right-wing remarks he's made.

― Freedom, Friday, 28 May 2010 15:58 (fifteen years ago)

he said "vote for boris"

i think you can be a small-c conservative w/o being a tory, exactly

not that it matters much

i don't think he's a lefty -- he isn't -- but it doesn't matter much

― English: The Money Woman (history mayne), Friday, 28 May 2010 16:00 (fifteen years ago)

I don't think anyone's claiming he's a paid up member of the Conservative Party, you probably can't be editor of Private Eye without having an all-consuming cynicism about all areas of the political establishment.

― The Men Who Stare At Goatse (Matt DC), Friday, 28 May 2010 16:01 (fifteen years ago)

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