LEGENDARY comedy duo The Krankies have claimed “they’d never get away” with their act today.
The Scottish comedians say Wee Jimmy Krankie wouldn’t be accepted by “woke” critics and would probably end up being canceled.
Janette and Ian Tough – who enjoyed decades of success on stage and screen – also told how they hated the cancel-culture modern comics faced.
The pair – who started out on Bernard Manning’s Wheeltappers and Shunters social club – went on to draw viewers of up to 19 million and still appear in panto.
Speaking to Mark Dolan on GB News, Ian said: “We would probably not get away with what we did now. These days you wouldn’t get half the material out. It’s not politically correct. But at the time it was huge. It wouldn’t be allowed on your telly today. We’d have to do different material. Janette dressing up as a wee boy? That would likely cause offence and me dressing up as a woman would cause offence too.
“But I think cancel culture is appalling. You should be able to say what you want. If you offend someone then everyone has the right to be offended and to offend. “We never did anything like that. But we did, looking back, work on material that wouldn’t be accepted today because of this woke business. It’s sad to see how things have gone. We shouldn’t have this cancel comedy.”
In recent years the pair have launched new characters with Janette dressing up as Susan Boyle and Miley Cyrus.
“Susan loved it,” Janette revealed. “She came to watch the show. But I don’t think I will be dressing up as Jimmy anymore. I’m 75 and probably a bit too old to be throwing myself around on stage these days. But it was a wonderful time and we made some great memories and hopefully made a lot of people laugh.”
The pair also revealed in their interview that they spent two years stuck in Australia due to Covid but are now safely back in Scotland.
