HE may be the mocking voice of Celebs Go Dating, but Rob Beckett has defended the right of comedians to take the mickey in our woke world.
The stand-up star — who returns tonight in Rob & Romesh Vs on Sky Max — says he understands that comedy has to change with the times.
But Rob insists cancel culture and right-on causes should not prevent poking people fun at anyone — so long as it’s done in the right way.
He said: “Ultimately, if it’s coming from a good place and the audience are laughing then it’s all right.
“I think you can pick on someone if it’s something that they’ve chosen to do, but you can’t pick on someone if they don’t have any choice in it.
“Comedy evolves with the world. There are certain things you’d say in the Sixties and Seventies you can’t say now and there’ll be stuff in the 2040s or 2050s you can say now but you won’t be able to say then.
“This question always comes up every five or ten years and then it goes away again.
‘NOBODY REALLY CARES’
“But between the performer and the audience, nobody really cares.”
Rob is on safe ground with the third series of Rob & Romesh Vs.
Teaming up again with fellow comic Romesh Ranganathan, the pair will delve into various spheres of life they are clearly hopeless at.
Previously they’ve tackled boxing, country music, drag and fashion.
In this series they’ll be taking on modelling, singing and running a restaurant — a venture which Rob describes as: “complete strung-out failure.”
And Rob has more bold ambitions for future series.
He said: “I’d like to do Bollywood and we haven’t done Formula 1.
“It would be quite funny to do a battle rap with Romesh because Romesh loves hip-hop.
“We’ve both got dogs, so it would be funny to do dog training at Crufts.
“I’d also like to go to Japan and learn about martial arts.”
Bollywood, dogs and martial arts — what could possibly go right?
AMIR BLING ON THE BOX
LAST week, boxer Amir Khan was mugged at gunpoint for his £72,000 watch — and a returning reality show could make him a target again.
The Olympian and his wife Faryal Makhdoom are back for a second series of Meet The Khans: Big In Bolton on BBC Three tonight.
And over the course of the first episode, they drip in almost £500,000 of designer watches, handbags, heels and jewellery as they flaunt their outrageous bling to the camera.
Amir poses with what looks to be a £20,000 Franck Muller watch and £90,000 Richard Mille timepiece.
And Faryal’s huge shoe closet contains Hermes, Balenciaga and Manolo Blahniks.
Handbags that by my reckoning include a £26,000 Hermes and several £6,000 Chanels are displayed on shelves.
It’s an eye-popping advert for the Khans’ extreme wealth.
Let’s just hope no potential robbers tune in.
SARA’S STRICTLY SECRET
DRAGONS’ Den star Sara Davies has revealed dance partner Aljaz Skorjanec had a secret tactic to avoid the famous Strictly curse.
The businesswoman says her pro partner on the 2021 series moved to immediately befriend her husband Simon to put him at ease.
Speaking in her new book We Can All Make It: My Story, which comes out today, Sara says: “Aljaz said, ‘Can you do me a favour — can you just go and do some work for half an hour or something like that, basically go make yourself scarce?’
“What he wanted to do is have that time with Simon.
“Forty minutes later, I found the two of them sitting on the sofa with a beer watching the football, chatting with the kids.”
Sara also revealed Aljaz quitting the BBC1 series last month was not a snap decision.
She added: “I did know — it’s not an overnight decision that he’s come to — it’s something he has been working towards.”
BIG MACK ’N’ PLEASE
COMIC Lee Mack has been rewarded for his Saturday night efforts with a second series of The 1% Club — before the debut run has even ended.
The ITV quiz show pulled in an average 3.4million viewers in its first three episodes.
Lee said: “Delighted to be back. Once again I’ve been trusted to correctly give away up to £100,000. Good luck, ITV.”
Each episode starts with 100 contestants. To make it to the end and win the top prize of up to £100,000, they must correctly answer a question only one per cent of us would get right.
Lee’s clearly on a roll as the BBC1 show he’s currently hosting with Holly Willoughby, Face The Freeze, is also receiving top reviews.
