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Dapper Duck. What does the cancellation of a 'comedy' show tells us about big broadcasters?

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Dapper Laughs isn't funny. He isn't not funny because he plays fast and loose with accepted standards of decency and respect towards women (although he does); nor because he uses infantile language in his 'routines' and 'pranks' (although he does that too). No, he's unfunny because, by any reasonable measure, he delivers nothing that is amusing.

"The fact that it isn't funny is the least of its problems."

If you are fortunate enough not to have seen Dapper Laughs (real name: Wayne Gobbins, or something) on ITV2, allow me to bring you up to speed. He's a fellow who gained something of a following on YouTube, posting lame, grimly laddish sketches and reality street gags. Almost all his material is based on the premise that young women are in a permanent state of arousal, grateful for the slightest male attention, and particularly attracted to Dapper himself. He also thinks rape is something of a giggle.

On the strength of this, or more specifically the number of YouTube views he achieved, ITV offered him a late night show: 'Dapper Laughs, On The Pull'. That title tells you almost everything you need to know, but rest assured, every second of the programme is dreadful. Misogynistic, bullying, leering, embarrassing and obnoxious; there is absolutely nothing, not a shred of a moment, to be enjoyed in any of it. Indeed, the fact that it isn't remotely funny, is probably the least of its problems.

So how did something so base, crass and lump-headed, make it onto network television? Surely there must be some quality or appeal, otherwise why would it have been commissioned?

Well, I am quite sure that quality and appeal have nothing to do with it.

Broadcast executives are often to be found in a state of anxiety. Their business is all about creating an audience (the BBC must justify its licence fee, and the commercial sector must attract advertisers). But the internet has introduced a big old can of worms into the process. Those tasked with finding viewers are faced with an ocean of digital content and social network conversations, all conspiring to draw people away from their tellies. What is a station to do?
Well, perhaps they could bridge the divide by finding things people like on the web, and putting them on telly. Which is exactly what has happened here. Unfortunately, having hit on this wheeze, the relief is so great that nobody has bothered to examine exactly what they are transferring from the laptop to the flat-screen.

"Look at all those YouTube hits! Everybody loves this guy! Let's get him to do it for us! It'll be massive!" - in their rush to grab Dapper before anyone else, ITV failed to comprehend the notion that a cabal of ignoramuses, playing grossly sexist clips to each other, again and again, is not the same as a satisfied and well-served TV audience. In their enthusiasm to acquire something hip', they bought and screened dangerous bilge.

This week, it has been announced that Dapper Laughs will not be offered a new series, and the existing shows will not be re-shown. I'd like to think the network has seen sense and retreated. However, I suspect the vocal objections to his programme has spooked the advertisers and money is making the decisions.

The salient lesson for broadcasters is simple and valuable. Not everything with a sizeable following on the internet has merit, and you can't buy credibility by running after every idiot with a camcorder. I just wonder whether this is a lesson ITV has learnt - or, right now, they are trawling YouTube for another, more acceptable, Dapper Laughs.

Magnus Shaw is a blogger, copywriter and consultant

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