One Parkinson Ali got the better of

DavidPayne · Post by **DavidPayne** » 03 Sep 2004, 06:05

Sorry poor taste. But come how could anyone resist.

Anyway - Did anyone else see the clips of Michael Parkinson v Ali from 1970's last night, when Parkinson tried to catch Ali out with his then closely held extreme Muslim beliefs.

Buncey - who just grows on you when you watch him - was his usual animated self about how close Parky came to REALLY pissing off the great man.

It was part of a 50 Greatest TV Chat SHow moments.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 03 Sep 2004, 06:13

I watched it against last night.

Ali was a fantastic fighter, but also a huge hypocrite, just like that other great religious warrior of the modern era, Evander Holyfield, he was a vainglorious bigamist who didn't practice what he preached. Ali has admitted himself that he wasn't a very pleasant man in his younger days, and has definetly mellowed as disease has slowed him limbs and his lips.

I think that Ali was a bully in that interview, he couldn't handle being questioned by Parky, who despite Ali's protestations was intellectually more than a match for Ali, and who obviously hit a nerve. I mean, if Ali was so secure in his beliefs then it wouldn't have bothered him being questioned now would it?

Ali has been almost deified, and whilst I believe he is a great man, like many great men he is a complicated and not totally benevolent character with definite dark sides to his nature. It's often forgotten that Ali, despite being from a more comfortable background, and funnily enough lighter skinned than both Foreman and Frazier, managed to somehow portrary both men as uncle tom's, when in fact they had come up very very hard compared to Ali, and were merely grateful for whatever opportunities they could get.

I don't find it particularly edifying having the heavyweight champion of the world threatening a yorkshire journalist in his early forties.

dondada · Post by **dondada** » 03 Sep 2004, 06:16

History does some a disservice, others a favour. It has done, and will continue to do, Ali a favour. James' sentiments are bang on.

Everyone seems to slate Parky now and maybe he has gone to seed regarding interviewing but when it comes to cricket and football, he knows what he is on about. Can you really say the same about a lot of those floating in the media cesspit these days?

mrbassie · Post by **mrbassie** » 03 Sep 2004, 06:20

jamesmcdonnell wrote:It's often forgotten that Ali, despite being from a more comfortable background, and funnily enough lighter skinned than both Foreman and Frazier, managed to somehow portrary both men as uncle tom's, when in fact they had come up very very hard compared to Ali, and were merely grateful for whatever opportunities they could get.

That's true, but you have to wonder what he was put up to and what he wasn't. After he announced he was part of that heretic cult (which incidentally has never been recognised by the Islamic world because of it's racist nature) is when he started all that bullshit. like 'You're not a Muslim so you're an uncle tom' seemed to me to be the criteria.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 03 Sep 2004, 06:21

The whole 'chat show' format has gone to seed, modern interviewers tend to be celebrities with no journalistic experience and no pertinent questions to ask, merely fawning or mocking their guests.

Jonathan Ross is good with film people, generally because he knows what he is talking about, but he can be too sycophantic especially around overrated chinhead Quentin Tarrantino who he obviously wanted to fellate gently under the desk if he could have done. In general though, we have the likes of Frank Skinner who is a shadow of what Parkinson was in his pomp.

Did anyone see Clive Anderson with the Bee-Gees, what a rude little pudendum, talentless, mekon-headed fucko. I mean ok, nthe Bee-Gee's, and especially Barry Gibb (or chewbacca as he's known to family and friends), can be a bit up themselves, but he really did slate them relentlessly and seemed to have an axe to grind.

mrbassie · Post by **mrbassie** » 03 Sep 2004, 06:23

Speaking of Jonathon Ross, did you ever see whn Jim Carey was on there? God! He was a twat, so much of a twat as to rival even Robbie fornicating Williams

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 03 Sep 2004, 06:25

mrbassie wrote:
jamesmcdonnell wrote:It's often forgotten that Ali, despite being from a more comfortable background, and funnily enough lighter skinned than both Foreman and Frazier, managed to somehow portrary both men as uncle tom's, when in fact they had come up very very hard compared to Ali, and were merely grateful for whatever opportunities they could get.
That's true, but you have to wonder what he was put up to and what he wasn't. After he announced he was part of that heretic cult (which incidentally has never been recognised by the Islamic world because of it's racist nature) is when he started all that bullshit. like 'You're not a Muslim so you're an uncle tom' seemed to me to be the criteria.

Nobody forced him to say those platitudes at gunpoint, Ali was a malleable personality and became a mouthpiece for the nation of islam.
I believe he is just a muslim now, rather than with the nation of Islam.

I was reading some of the words of Elijah Muhammad the other day, and it's just over racism and a lot of bullshit too about asiatic africans and muchola crapola.

I am a big fan of Ali's, and he is a hero of mine, but you have to recognise the fact that he was a hypocrite and an egotist of the highest order. Racism in all forms is highly unpleasant, and Ali was undoubtedly a big racist for quite some time.

mrbassie · Post by **mrbassie** » 03 Sep 2004, 06:27

I do believe he was a hypocrite, but I also believe that he was to some extent, espousing opinions that he'd adopted, rather than formed for himself.

adamiw · Post by **adamiw** » 03 Sep 2004, 09:06

jamesmcdonnell wrote:The whole 'chat show' format has gone to seed, modern interviewers tend to be celebrities with no journalistic experience and no pertinent questions to ask, merely fawning or mocking their guests.

what i hate about interviews these days, is when they have a comedian on. They obviously had a little discussion backstage over what subjects to cover. Cos you get stupid questions, just so they can prompt a pre-rehearsed joke. Something like , 'tell me about your cat?'. Winds me up, i'd be more impressed if they did a normal interview, and the comedian improvised his witty responses. Parkinson often did this with guys like Billy Connolly and Peter Kay...Des O'Connor was the worst, he used to set up joke after joke for Joe Pasquale.

DavidPayne · Post by **DavidPayne** » 03 Sep 2004, 09:24

O'Conner does that with EVERYBODY. And lets be honest that all O'Conner etc were ever about - self-promotion.

People like Cnnelly went beyond that because he no longer needed it and he doesn't give a shyte anyway.

Parky is the best because he does his own work.

But he's more mumbly than ever.

DIRT SUGAR · Post by **DIRT SUGAR** » 03 Sep 2004, 09:30

Yeah, but remember Peter Kay on Parky? I'd not seen his stage show so I thought, with him being the man behind such superb TV programs, he was being off the cuff and witty. Then I watch him doing stand up and basically, the Parky interview was just a condensed version of part of his one-man show. I was a bit disappointed, but hey, I don't think people realise how much goes into making an two-hour show of funny material.

Parky did make Ali angry, but I don't think he meant to. He was a bit stunned when he started going into one. Made me laugh though, when I Ali made the 'Muslim sisters' stand up and show how respectably clothed they were. I mean, Ali's my hero, I love him to bits, but to go on like that when you're a guy who allegedly nobbed anything that moved, was laughable.

MightyWarrior · Post by **MightyWarrior** » 03 Sep 2004, 09:55

Best chat show host of all time? Larry Sanders

Slapsie Maxie · Post by **Slapsie Maxie** » 03 Sep 2004, 10:06

I have met Parky on a few occasions and asked him about the Ali interview. He told me that when Ali turned, he was bricking it and couldn't wait to get the interview over. When he finished, he went to his dressing room where his, Barnsley born and bred, dad was waiting. Apparently his dad's first words to him were "tha should've chinned the bugger"

DavidPayne · Post by **DavidPayne** » 03 Sep 2004, 10:15

tha shoulda chin the big bugga.

classic.

I love being a Yorkshireman - its things like that that make ya proud.

DavidPayne · Post by **DavidPayne** » 03 Sep 2004, 10:16

Tell ya what though - he thought he had problems interviewing Ali, imagine if he got Tyson.

Actually, imagine if Parkinson got Tyson to do an interview. Imagine, could be classic telly.

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 03 Sep 2004, 12:15

mrbassie wrote:Speaking of Jonathon Ross, did you ever see whn Jim Carey was on there? God! He was a twat, so much of a twat as to rival even Robbie fornicating Williams

Is that possible?

adamiw · Post by **adamiw** » 03 Sep 2004, 12:28

DIRT SUGAR wrote:Yeah, but remember Peter Kay on Parky? I'd not seen his stage show so I thought, with him being the man behind such superb TV programs, he was being off the cuff and witty. Then I watch him doing stand up and basically, the Parky interview was just a condensed version of part of his one-man show. I was a bit disappointed, but hey, I don't think people realise how much goes into making an two-hour show of funny material.

peter kay was quality on parky. when he started talking about funerals, and how someone sees a bannana skin or something and says 'our david always liked to eat bananas' or something. obviously kay made it sound a lot funnier.

Matchfixer · Post by **Matchfixer** » 03 Sep 2004, 12:36

KOJOE90 wrote:
mrbassie wrote:Speaking of Jonathon Ross, did you ever see whn Jim Carey was on there? God! He was a twat, so much of a twat as to rival even Robbie fornicating Williams
Is that possible?

Impossible.

Only in England could Robbie Williams get any success. The guy has no talent, a smidgen of charisma and a big mouth. To think he's tried to tap into the American market... he sure has ideas way above his station. I can't stand him.

Even worse I saw an advert on yahoo.co.uk today that he's coming back with new material. Fantastic!

KOJOE90 · Post by **KOJOE90** » 03 Sep 2004, 12:59

Matchfixer wrote:
KOJOE90 wrote:
mrbassie wrote:Speaking of Jonathon Ross, did you ever see whn Jim Carey was on there? God! He was a twat, so much of a twat as to rival even Robbie fornicating Williams
Is that possible?
Impossible.

Only in England could Robbie Williams get any success. The guy has no talent, a smidgen of charisma and a big mouth. To think he's tried to tap into the American market... he sure has ideas way above his station. I can't stand him.

Even worse I saw an advert on yahoo.co.uk today that he's coming back with new material. Fantastic!

What makes it even worse is that almost every girl I know fancies the pants off him.

lamphey · Post by **lamphey** » 03 Sep 2004, 17:19

MightyWarrior wrote:Best chat show host of all time? Larry Sanders

No flipping. No flipping.

Man, did I fancy Darlene.

steve68 · Post by **steve68** » 03 Sep 2004, 19:00

see the Playboy spread that Linda Doucett (Darlene) did? What a woman

deadpan · Post by **deadpan** » 04 Sep 2004, 05:07

Larry Sanders is the best tv show of all time.

Anybody see the episode where Larry was ill and Hank got to guest host?

'You Suck!'

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 04 Sep 2004, 05:24

I heard about the time when the geezer who played Shaggy in Scooby Doo went on Johnathon Ross really pissed. I wish I'd watched that.

Parky is definately the best, he interviewed Naseem Hamed once and the subject of Muhammad Ali nearly knocking him out came up, and instead of milking it and giving all this poor poor me rant that a lot of celberity interviewers would've done, Parky defended the man and acted with class.

lamphey · Post by **lamphey** » 04 Sep 2004, 08:38

steve68 wrote:see the Playboy spread that Linda Doucett (Darlene) did? What a woman

Oh yeah! She looked uncomfortable in the pictures and we don't really get to see her breasts in all their glory.

Could have done with some bush shots as well. :(

Still, I'm not complaining.

MightyWarrior · Post by **MightyWarrior** » 04 Sep 2004, 12:52

deadpan wrote:Larry Sanders is the best tv show of all time.

Anybody see the episode where Larry was ill and Hank got to guest host?

'You Suck!'

Yeah that was a brilliant one - Hank and Rip Torn are class. My favorite one I think is the one with Carol Burnett and the tarantulas

The new Curb Your Enthusiasm on E4 is terrific too.

One Parkinson Ali got the better of

One Parkinson Ali got the better of

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