One or two comic gems poke through, but generally the atmosphere is of self-congratulation, even in the contemporary links. The audience are laughing before the punchlines, because they know what's coming, while the performers seem more interested in amusing each other than the spectators. I'm sure it did a lot of good, which is the most important thing, but I think it did more harm than good to the cause of comedy over the years in perpetuating the middle-class, stale, and, I hate to say it, but WHITE domination of the field.
