Celebrity Juice ending after 14 years

[Spencer]

I think the whole show had become quite stale and had run out of ideas. It felt in the early days that there was a lot more effort and creativity, particularly with things like the VT rounds.

It probably also didn't help that the Keith Lemon character had to be toned down significantly in recent years following the 'Me Too' movement. The show used to rely a lot on the shock laughs from his saying highly inappropriate things to female panelists.

I think the change in public mood meant the show felt somewhat tainted, and made Keith Lemon seem like a bit of a hang-over from a previous era.

[Brekkie]

Comedian Fern Brady seems to be celebrating this news but her tweet comes across unnecessarily nasty to me. Perhaps bitter she was never invited on? 

Rather insulting to Emily Atack who is one of the best young female comedians around, but dismiss in this tweet as just a "blonde stunner".    I only know the name Fern Brady from wondering who the hell Fern Brady was when she was announced Taskmaster line up last week.

[Mouseboy33]

Long overdue probably. It was good for a while. Probably a couple of series too long.

[Blubatt]

To quote a colleague at work: I thought it was already cancelled. Me too, to be fair.

[Gary Baldy]

I'm of the common opinion that it is a long overdue decision. I stopped watching years ago, but fairly recently watched back an episode from the "glory days", and it's easy to forget how good it was.

The problem was it went from lampooning celebrity culture to embracing it, and it's something that can be said in general about Leigh Francis, a man who made his name rinsing the rich and famous before becoming best friends with them. Lest we forget the role of Rufus Hound whose sole job was to be the man who looked down on all the celebrity faff and mocked those who deserved it (the story about Kim Woodburn is one to look up, see his interview with Richard Herring).

For me, it became a show where a bunch of mates got drunk and farted about with jokes they knew would make each other laugh, but didn't really bother whether it landed with the audience. I do wonder where Leigh will go from here, because as has been said, the Keith Lemon character has worn thin enough that he's becoming known more for his gambling website adverts than anything else.

His work on the otherwise flawled series he did with Amanda Holden showed Leigh still has a talent for character comedy. I just wonder if he's too deep into the proverbial swimming pool of celebrity status to ever regain that flare he had as a relative outsider of that culture.

Think this is true of TV in general- look at all these reality stars. Reality stars used to have the piss ripped out of them on all these panel shows for being fame-seekers; and despite the fact that I think the current crop of reality 'stars' are more fame-seeking than ever with influencer culture rising; they're invited on to these shows as if they have somewhat of a discernible skill/talent and are embraced now rather than the hilarious ribbing that used to go on.  I caught a bit of a show called Celebability whilst flicking through the channels recently and that seems to actively embrace the influencer/reality thing (perhaps due to Iain Stirling's Love Island connection?), whereas had it been on just 10 years ago, even though reality stars may have featured, they'd have been the butt of the joke, which i think makes more sense (as long as it doesn't come across unnecessarily nasty). 8 Out of 10 Cats in its original run did this well, with the BB specials and later TOWIE stars like Joey Essex being on. Yes, they were reality stars but their lack of discernible skills was jested about; whereas the E4 version featured reality stars but treated them as if they were the comics. I mean, it seems like even mentioning/joking about Botox (of all things!) and the overuse of it in the celeb world (particularly the reality star world) is now a taboo subject on these shows. I feel celebs are too afraid to joke about 'trashy TV' now as they become mates with the trashy TV stars, and a lot of them probably thinking their next gig may end up being on a trashy show so best not to poke fun at it.

Believe it or not; I don't mind reality stars featuring as guests on these shows but they should be willing to be the butt of the joke and be the punchline when necessary. Again, probably up until Love Island's revival got huge, these types of TV shows were satirised frequently (Geordie Shore and TOWIE type things) whereas now I think people are too afraid to offend anybody and are very very careful about what not to joke about.

To me, I think 'celebrity' status should be earned; if these reality 'stars' are considered celebs, then so should random contestants who've been on the civilian Chase and the likes. Now, presenters, comedians, musicians, DJs, authors, sportspeople, journalists etc I can deal with fine as they are skills these people have, so for them to be booked on these shows, not an issue, but someone who's most famous for sh*gging someone on Love Island getting a guest spot on these shows is laughable really. I preferred when they just ripped the piss out of them. And I'm not saying that to be heartless or anything; i just think they shouldn't be afraid to joke about any individual celebrities/reality 'stars' when this show in particular's original premise was all about that.

There's only one recent-ish show I've seen that managed to successfully embrace and make fun of a  celeb culture (particularly the new 'types' of celeb that were emerging at the time- YouTubers)-and that was a show called 'Viral Tap' that the late Caroline Flack did a while back but that must be about 8 years ago at this point. That got the balance exactly right and I wish there was something that could create that balance for the reality star/influencer type of celebrity.

[Patrick]

I do also feel that they should have done this years ago and I feel that Leigh should retire the Keith Lemon character. The problem with this is that Keith Lemon is what people most associate Leigh with and getting away from it would be a challenge. This is possibly why Leigh's ITV sketch show had to be labeled as 'The Keith Lemon Sketch Show'.

[Larry the Loafer]

The irony is, other than the voice, almost every aspect of Keith is now Leigh. He used to go to the effort of changing his appearance, either with a wig/hair dye and a moustache, but now there's only an accent and a lisp that tells them apart. So it could be argued that, if he did try to get away from Keith, he's going to have a really hard time doing so. It's silly to suggest that, considering his time as Avid Merrion was pretty much him in a neck brace, yet it was weirdly easier to distinguish when he was a Avid and when he was Leigh.

[Steve in Pudsey]

I can't think of any other performer who is credited as a character name (as distinct from a stage name they use constantly) other than Lily Savage/Dame Edna style acts.

There isn't even an Exec Producer or additional material credit for Leigh Francis just so his real name is on there somewhere.

[James2001]

Not entirely on topic, but I recently re-watched through "The Ultimate Chart" (Channel 4's programme from 2002 listing the 100 best selling songs of all time) where Leigh Francis did the links as his Bo Selecta characters, and it's shocking how homophobic the Will Young and Elton John impressions were. Suprised they were even able to get away with it then, they definitely wouldn't now. A few years back there was a lot of fuss over the Craig David, Mel B and Michael Jackson impressions (none of which I really see as being that offensive, he wasn't playing up racial aspects of the characters), but don't recall much being said about the former two I mentioned, or the Trisha Goddard and Oprah Winfrey ones, which were hugely more racist than the ones which did get focused on.

I know it's a bit OT and an old programme, but it seems hard to believe such things were seen as "acceptable" comedy less than 20 years ago. Though as we know, Little Britain from the same era has gone through similar critisisms and been edited for the iplayer.

[Larry the Loafer]

I can't think of any other performer who is credited as a character name (as distinct from a stage name they use constantly) other than Lily Savage/Dame Edna style acts.

There isn't even an Exec Producer or additional material credit for Leigh Francis just so his real name is on there somewhere.

Leigh received credit back in the Bo Selecta days as a writer, IIRC. If he's not credited as himself for anything in Celebrity Juice, there's probably a reason for that.

As for the racism controversy, I was fairly young and naive when his Trisha sketches were relevant, and I didn't really make the connections to any kind of racist undertones. But I was around 17 when he made his tribute to Michael Jackson, and even as someone who then (and now) had a taste for shock humour (if done properly) I was taken aback by his Oprah character and her obsession with fried chicken. A defender could argue that the stereotypes were that strong that they subverted themselves into self-aware irony (becoming so absurdly racist that it mocks the stereotypes themselves rather than those subjected to the stereotyping) but I think, by this point, Leigh was falling into that phase where making his friends laugh came first before making his audience laugh. Not to imply Leigh is an out and out racist, but I can envision him surrounded by a bunch of "yes" men laughing at his pitch for Oprah without anyone raising a concern.

But hey ho, onwards and upwards. If his work with Amanda Holden is anything to go by... Well, god help him.

[Toby brown]

I used to love the show but it probably lost its way when fearne and holly left

[all new Phil]

I can't think of any other performer who is credited as a character name (as distinct from a stage name they use constantly) other than Lily Savage/Dame Edna style acts.

There isn't even an Exec Producer or additional material credit for Leigh Francis just so his real name is on there somewhere.

Leigh received credit back in the Bo Selecta days as a writer, IIRC. If he's not credited as himself for anything in Celebrity Juice, there's probably a reason for that.

As for the racism controversy, I was fairly young and naive when his Trisha sketches were relevant, and I didn't really make the connections to any kind of racist undertones. But I was around 17 when he made his tribute to Michael Jackson, and even as someone who then (and now) had a taste for shock humour (if done properly) I was taken aback by his Oprah character and her obsession with fried chicken. A defender could argue that the stereotypes were that strong that they subverted themselves into self-aware irony (becoming so absurdly racist that it mocks the stereotypes themselves rather than those subjected to the stereotyping) but I think, by this point, Leigh was falling into that phase where making his friends laugh came first before making his audience laugh. Not to imply Leigh is an out and out racist, but I can envision him surrounded by a bunch of "yes" men laughing at his pitch for Oprah without anyone raising a concern.

But hey ho, onwards and upwards. If his work with Amanda Holden is anything to go by... Well, god help him.

It’s funny - I know a few people who have worked with Leigh and by all accounts, he’s absolutely lovely. He’s quite shy and humble, totally at odds with his different personas. But yes - some of his earlier stuff feels really awkward by today’s standards. I think we had a trend towards extreme caricatures in the late 90s and early 00s that pushed the boundaries further than would be acceptable today.

[Larry the Loafer]

For better or worse, it could be argued that mainstream comedy is certainly a lot safer than it was only twenty years ago or so (not as long ago as you may think). But even Rufus Hound, who had a very bitter departure from Celebrity Juice, was keen to praise Leigh afterwards. But his entire brand of comedy certainly struggles to find a place in today's landscape.

[Andrew]

Not even 20 years, for example Come Fly with Me was the highlight of the BBC One Christmas schedules as recent as 2011

[Blobs]

Those caricatures weren't necessarily "accepted" at the time. Most people just didn't have an easy access platform to express their objections.....to which idiots could reply "calm down love you're overreacting, get a sense of humour''.