Jasper Carrott – Driven to Distraction by his Mother-in-Law

by Ack · Published Fri, 9th September, 2011 · Updated Wed, 21st October, 2020

DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION

An analysis of Jasper Carrott’s stage routine over time, as compared to his written material, using his ‘Mother-in-law’ sketch.

As well as being shown on TV, recorded live at Palladium (with London Weekend TV, if I recall), and since, it features on his album ‘Beat the Carrott’, and in one of his books: ‘A Little Zit on the Side’

Table of Contents

Introduction
Contextual information
Accents
Tuts
Pauses
Reformulations
Audience Address
Audience Prompts
Sentences
Conclusion
Appendices:
A – Notation used for transcripts
B – Transcript of live show in 1975
C – Transcript of live show in 1981
D – ‘Driver-in-Law’ from the book version
E – Grammatical statistics
F – References and acknowledgements

Note: This was actually written as part of my England Language ‘A’ course work many years ago, but it might still be of interest to some of you…

I’ve put the emphasis here on might. Unless you are:

a) an English language teacher or an undergraduate university English student
b) obsessed with Jasper Carrott and or
c) a comedian that’s got lost

this post may well bore you stupid! Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Typing it up, it is rather a dry, stuffy read. (The analysis that is, not the sketch, that’s still funny 40 years on). I can only imagine that was the format my English professor was looking for with this particular paper. I had to look up one of the words to remind myself of its exact definition and I’ve lost since forgotten most of the definitions for stuff like sub-ordinate clauses. I spent half my time typing this thinking, "Huh, erm?"

(The word was Aplomb: noun. Complete and confident composure or self-assurance)