Des Bishop's minimum wage program

lodgepole

...was excellent...

I've never liked the guy (as a comedian), and I still don't like his standup but this program was absolutely brilliant.

It confirmed that a) Irish people treat fast food workers like ****, b) fast food workers are good people who have lives and c) Des Bishop is a friendly smart ****er who i'd buy a drink for any day of the week.

While it's not likely, I hope this program does something to change the **** behaviour that goes on in these places.

On the off chance that Des, or any of the people involved , read this, I salute you. Fine program.

mike65

When I saw it was in Waterford I put it on tape (along with Blizzard of Odd) and will catch it later..I bet he gives us all a hard time!

Mike.

Mr E

Yeah I loved it. It was a great social experiment..... Des wasn't afraid of confrontation (I thought that guy at the end was going to deck him)

The program ain't done Abrakebabra any favours...... No double pay on Bank Holidays (because it pays for the clothes and food!) and really sh*tty work conditions.

- Dave.

Davey Devil

Fair play to Des, thought it was both funny and a slap on the face to Irish society. We really are becoming a nation of assholes.

Jim

loved the argument at the end with all the drunks.

all they seemed to say was ****.
thought it was only a once off thing, was very pleased when i saw the add for next weeks show at the end.
also the students he stayed with didnt do themselves any favours. i have think that bit was set up

Exit

I just caught the end of it. What was he angry about when he said something like "You can call me a dry ****ing bastard if you want, but that kind of things isn't on"? It wasn't the argument at the end, but was on just before that part.

By the way, he was completely right about Irish people being lazy pricks. Those **** at the end proved it.

Mr E

Originally posted by Exit
I just caught the end of it. What was he angry about when he said something like "You can call me a dry ****ing bastard if you want, but that kind of things isn't on"? It wasn't the argument at the end, but was on just before that part.

Drinking to excess .... being obnoxiously drunk .... Irish people not cleaning up after themselves.

- Dave.

emertoff

I liked the bit where he paid 8 Euro's for the black pants in Michael Guineys and said they had real clothes for real people. Classic.

Lawnkiller

I liked the bit where he paid 8 Euro's for the black pants in Michael Guineys and said they had real clothes for real people. Classic.

I worked part-time in that shop for years(and was prob. off the day he was in) but its true.

The program was excellent....proved a great many things to be true. I was good that the bit about abbrakebabra wasn't cut - kinda gives the show integrity.

mr_angry

I think Des Bishop is possibly the least funny comedian I have ever watched. As a social experiment, it was mildly amusing, but as for actual humour? Zero.

embraer170

Definitely one of the better programs I’ve seen in a while.

Just too true.

Ivan

Ah, I think he is genuinely funny.

Some of his jokes were just great, he has the irish culture down completely.

And did anyone see the stand up he did on the late, late show?

[Cork Accent] You left the waaater heeeeaaater on?! [/Cork Accent]

Fúcking brilliant.

Great program, it was fantastic seeing his actual reaction to the students in the house & to the customers.

One thing me & the lads were talking about, is how : If that was abrakababra in my town and I was **** drunk in there looking for chips and some smart ass "yank" comes up to me about the ignorance of the irish, I'd probably react the exact same way, calling george bush a fúcking ****.

Kinda puts me off drinking for a while, or at least to tone it down a bit.

Fantastic program, I look forward to the Aqua Dome

flogen

yeah i think hes a terrible comedian, but it was a good show that highlighted the terrible state of the lower rung of Irish jobs.

Fair play to him, but he should certainly revise his stand up sets... he talked about emersions on the late late for about 20 minutes, it was painful

Flogen

Ivan

Originally posted by flogen
yeah i think hes a terrible comedian, but it was a good show that highlighted the terrible state of the lower rung of Irish jobs.

Fair play to him, but he should certainly revise his stand up sets... he talked about emersions on the late late for about 20 minutes, it was painful

Flogen

I bet your under 21?

Come on, it was bloody hilarious.

Had myself & my mother in stitches.

Woden

good show, enjoyed it, thought some of his stand up was funny,

also thought it was illegal for abrakebra to not give double pay or a day in lieu for the bank holiday regardless of what other conditions they offer, someone should look into that, unless they signed it in a contract or something but don't know if that over rides general law.

ixoy

I imagine their work practices are carefully thought out. Often those conditions are based on the number of hours you work and, if you juggle conditions correctly, you get to treat your workers more poorly.

Anyways, I missed this - anyone know of a repeat?

flogen

you are joking arent you ivan?

Flogen

gerire

Yeah I too thought it was very good, but as regards to the stand up comedy I watched some of the DVD the other night and its just all the same stuff regurgitated with hair on his head tonight.

As regards to his observation skills and picking out small points about irish life and making us laugh about it you cannot fault him.

Good social experiment aswell

Phibsboro

Hey,

I enjoyed it, and like others wouldn't really be a fan of DB. The one thing I didn't really agree with him was at the end when he was slagging off the drunks for not cleaning up after themselves. My feeling is that Abra really isn't geared up for this. Unlike a MaDonalds (say) there is usually only one bin and (at least in my local Abra) there is usually a bouncer standing in front of it. Also, at 4am the safest course of action is to exit asap before you get hit (but thats a Dublin thing I think . So I normally wouldn't attempt to clear my table if I'm eating late nite in Abra.

Roll on the aquadome - has to be better surely?

C

krattapopov

i thought it was a great show

his stand up sometimes wanes on poor, but he does have the irish society down... however that will only take him so far.

the show highlighted the problems every town in ireland is facing at the moment, alcohol abuse and racism.

i think that every person that uses the facilities that a fast food outlet provides should clean up after themselves... what are you animals? in every other country i have been in, if you got up and left your rubbish on the table someone who worked there wouldnt let you leave until you cleaned up after yourself

the show next week does look good, specially the bit where he is dry wretching haha

uberwolf

Originally posted by mr_angry
I think Des Bishop is possibly the least funny comedian I have ever watched. As a social experiment, it was mildly amusing, but as for actual humour? Zero.

I'm not sure amusment was the idea...
I only caught the second half of it, really put me off drinking. What a nation of ars*holes. Sad thing is I bet those Pr*cks at the end were watching it last night and thought it was "deadly boy" W*nkers.

GuanYin

I was in the audience for the stand up part of the first two shows and I'm going to the third one tomorrow.

The stand up is good but it only really comes together properly in the show.

I've met Des many times in the Comedy Cellar and the guy is one of the more genuine people I've met on the comedy circuit.


Its a good show, oh and he's current on Today FM if you tune in.

SheroN

It made waterford look like some ****e hole.

xx

Yeah, t'was a great show last night. At the end, there was a guy who called him a w@nker when he was challenging the drunks about not cleaning up after themselves - I know that guy and he's an absolute knob. Think I'll tell him that he made a complete spa of himself on live TV the next time I see him.
Roll on the waterpark episode.

smiaras

This post has been deleted.

ronanp

Good program but you could tell he'd never worked a day in a low paid job in his life. As well, he kind of dug a hole for himself - instead of saying "would you dickheads ever take your ****ing trays away" he got the nations backs up by saying "why are irish people all so ****ing ignorant", and was rightly told to **** off home.

GuanYin

Originally posted by ronanp
Good program but you could tell he'd never worked a day in a low paid job in his life.

Actually, he has

Originally posted by ronanp
As well, he kind of dug a hole for himself - instead of saying "would you dickheads ever take your ****ing trays away" he got the nations backs up by saying "why are irish people all so ****ing ignorant", and was rightly told to **** off home.

No, he was honest, its totally true, Ireland is the only place I've been to where wholescale abuse of fast food workers and the type of mess that the programme showed, takes place.
I think he hit thenail on the head.

Woden

i don't think fast food outlets are the only place irish people show there ignorance, i work in a retail store with a large volume of clothing. we constantly see people let things drop leaving on the ground, throwing things all over the place, never putting things back where they get them basically making a god awful mess, also if one customer does it others seem to take it as the go ahead that its fine to do it.

people that have come over from english stores to work with us look on in amazement as it just doesn't happen anywhere near to the same extent over apparently.

SheroN

Irish people are ignorant, add a few pints and they're ****ing pig ignorant.

weak infant

it was a great show. i thought the best bit was where he confronted his managers about the bank holiday pay. was it a hidden camera? i vaguely remember a crappy picture. would anyone deliberately make themselves out to be that stingy?

anyway, abra were really exposed. their two reasons for not paying up were laughable, 1. abra pay for the uniform (lies) and 2. you get free food, so naturally, you the employee, dont get bank holiday pay. it's ridiculous.

i don't think the mess in the student house or the students attitude was put on. he was a bit unfair about them though. not everyone can go home and get fed, i know a few who cant afford the train/bus ticket to do that. granted, they do drink themselves stupid every so often. still there's genuine cause for complaint.

and working out what he was on, 230 odd a week, minus 70 rent, minus tax, minus heat & light, means about 10 quid a day. its a lot more than what some students have. students who then have to comepete with people living the d4 lifestyle. while only being able to afford the tuna and pasta des was whinging about. the ****er.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

i loved the drunk guy at the end "rock on"

the show itself showed the drink problem the irish people have, but the old dude was able to handle it alot better than the young knackers.

uberwolf

Originally posted by ronanp
[B and was rightly told to **** off home. [/B]

he's been living in Ireland (and i'm sure some one can be more accurate) for around ten years. So this is home. If I was to say the same things he did, would I have to **** off home as well?

His one mistake was to try and talk sense into drunks. By the looks of those people they wouldn't be receptive at the best of times

ixoy

Was the show balanced at all? I pretty much always clean up after myself and am generally quite disgusted by the fast food joints I walk into. Filthy pigs. However, we're not all pigs - was any of that shown?

egan007

Certinally a great show

The bit i liked the most was the loudmouths that did not have the balls to show their faces when they were not so pi5s ar5ed drunk

such bravado, if they were big enough to shout their mouth off they should be big enough to show their face on TV

egan007

on the Fast food issue did anyone read about the guy who went for a month straight with 3 mickie d's meals a day - he gained 2 stone and damaged his liver!!

Story in full...

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/16393.htm

Genghis

Sounds like a great show, I missed it altogether. Are RTE repeating it later in the week (Like they did Batchelors Walk)? And is the next one on Monday? Network 2?

Lucutus

Saw this last night, I thought it was excellent, there should be more of this sort of thing on RTE.

I wonder will DB see any earnings from the show itself? Or did he really just go in for the min wage job and lifestyle to see how the other side lives?

I saw his stand up bit on the late late show that time, the one about the emersion. Was funny. Probably wouldn't be the second time around tho. Maybe he does need new materiel.

Americans, like DB, can often make excellent cultural observations about various societies, however, lack of tact and subtlety of persuasion always let's 'em down.

I also didn't like the bleeping of the word c*nt several times during this show, I mean, what time was it on? After 10pm for sure, I'm getting sick of someone in RTE or whatever 'organisation' making the assumption that if I hear the word c*nt I *might* be offended. I'll take that decision myself, thanks. It's even worse if someone in the production company did it.

Overall tho, a great show, looking forward to the next one.

Elmo

It's great to see stopwatch doing TV again. (@LAST TV one of my fav tv shows)

Thought it was great, unfortuate that it was up againist Proof and next week CSI, sorry to rain on RTE's parade.

But ABOUT THE NOT PUTTING TRAYS BACK

Sometimes I do, other times I don't.

Mainly because we pay so much for crap for in these restraunts, why should I put my tray back. Prehaps I am being ingorant about it but I am allowed when i pay:-

"7 euros for a chicken baguette"

I have to say I won't be ever going into fast food places ever again, anyway.

Mr E

Originally posted by Elmo
"7 euros for a chicken baguette"

It was a chicken baguette meal, actually.... Still, not exactly haute cuisine....

- Dave.

ronanp

Originally posted by uberwolf
he's been living in Ireland (and i'm sure some one can be more accurate) for around ten years. So this is home. If I was to say the same things he did, would I have to **** off home as well?

His one mistake was to try and talk sense into drunks. By the looks of those people they wouldn't be receptive at the best of times

I'm not saying he's wrong about the trays, i'm saying that as a foreigner (him, not me :-) ) he was foolish to tar the entire Irish populace with an ignorance brush. If those drunken gob****es were in America, or anywhere else, and started mouthing about all Americans being stupid, they'd (again rightly) be told to **** off home then too!

uberwolf

Originally posted by Elmo

Mainly because we pay so much for crap for in these restraunts, why should I put my tray back. Prehaps I am being ingorant about it but I am allowed when i pay:-
.

way to rage against the machine
all that happens is the staff get it from both sides then

GuanYin

Think about it, the meal is 7 euro, staff get 6.35 (although its gone up now) an hour.

How much of the cost of that meal do you think is attributed to the staff.

Do they get tips? No, yet they have twice the mess as restaurant staff to clean.

Stark

Originally posted by egan007
on the Fast food issue did anyone read about the guy who went for a month straight with 3 mickie d's meals a day - he gained 2 stone and damaged his liver!!

Story in full...

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/16393.htm

Just read that. Woah. I'd be interested to know if it was just the high fat and sugar content that made his liver go toxic or some additives in particular. Must drag myself away from fast food myself, can so identify with the fat/sugar cravings (doctors have said it's as addictive as heroin).

irishgeo

I thought it was very good and funny espically the bit abot the "Chink and racism". i mean the guy didnt know what chink meant and here he is being filled to the gills with racist slang.


Anybody idea how many epsiodes there is?

SheroN

I think it's 4 or 5 episodes.

patch

Great show.
I left it on thinking I'd switch over after a few minutes.
I was never too fond of him before, but he had me in stitches when he was talking about teaching the chinese guy to be a racist!

Davey Devil

I've always thought Abra's was a hole of an establishment. One night only about 2 years ago I was in the Dun Laoghaire restaurant late at night and some filthy skanger bird was working behind the counter smoking a cigarette. The burger tasted like arse and a fight broke out between some other knack and her boyfriend. Never been in there since and by looking at the way the owners treat their staff I think everyone should boycott the place. Just wait till you get home to eat. Trying to cook when your drunk can be very amusing, some of the creations I have come up with boggle the mind. One thing to remember: don't leave the cooker on. It's easy to forget when your pissed, I've had a few close calls in my time.

flogen

i think the wrd c*nt is a general no-no in TV-land, no matter what time of day it is.

and weve had our rant about censorship in a different post....which was alot of fun i might add.

Im sure he got payed by the company (RTE or someone) for doing the show, or even just got alot of income from his stand-up shows that tied into the episodes

Flogen

ixoy

Originally posted by flogen
i think the wrd c*nt is a general no-no in TV-land, no matter what time of day it is.

Nope, it's not a no. There was an episode of Oz [on TG4!] where Tobias Beecher went "c*nt c*nt c*nt c*nt c*nt". Never heard the word so often in 1 minute!

Exit

There was an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm where the lead character had to put an acknowledgement in the newspaper for an aunt that died. Well, instead of it saying 'for a beloved aunt', the paper somehow made a typo and it read 'for a beloved cunt'
It's funnier if you see the episode.

flogen

oh yeah, forgot that. I saw that episode (the only CYE ive seen), not a huge fan of it to be honest, but point taken..

Flogen