Carlton Kirby

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Comments

  • thegibdog
    thegibdog Posts: 2,106
    I've given up hope of Eurosport ever dropping Kirby. My new hope for next year is that ITV get Hatch in.
    https://gibworth.mypixieset.com
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    thegibdog wrote:
    I've given up hope of Eurosport ever dropping Kirby. My new hope for next year is that ITV get Hatch in.

    Hatch & Miller would be really quite good.
    _
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,730
    underlayunderlay wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    I'm struggling to work out why anyone in the UK would be watching Eurosport for this Tour and hopefully that would make the powers that be at ES Towers sit up and re-think their commentary options.

    I can think of one good reason, and it should make the powers that be at ITV consider the quality and quantity of their adverts. Other than that, only one choice.


    This.
    Especially, the placement of ad breaks at the pointy end of the race.
    In order to free the last 30 minutes or so for the finale, they had been packing three sets in the preceding half an hour.
    It royally screwed up the mountain stage coverage on several occasions, missing some of the key action.
    Not that Eurosport have been perfect in that department, either.

    On a plus note, Eurosport have had Hatch book ending the last couple of stages, which means Kirby only gets to spoil the pointless, mid-stage section.

    ITV win the race diagnostic commentary by a no contest.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,228
    If you really don't like the adverts, watch on Eurosport player. When ad breaks come, flick over to the version with no commentary, and it continues free of any mention of washing your hair on the turbo, fussy elephants, or indeed paella.
  • dinyull
    dinyull Posts: 2,979
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    If you really don't like the adverts, watch on Eurosport player. When ad breaks come, flick over to the version with no commentary, and it continues free of any mention of washing your hair on the turbo, fussy elephants, or indeed paella.

    Or flick over to ITV/vise versa. Not often both on ad break at same time.
  • takethehighroad
    takethehighroad Posts: 6,823
    Also, S4C have the race, so if both ITV and ES are at adverts, you can switch to Welsh.

    Funnily enough, they seem to make more sense than dear old Carlton!
  • sherer
    sherer Posts: 2,460
    is Kirby on site ? The way they have been talking makes me think they aren't. Didn't seem too clued up on the weather yesterday as if they were commentating from Paris \ London
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,228
    sherer wrote:
    is Kirby on site ? The way they have been talking makes me think they aren't. Didn't seem too clued up on the weather yesterday as if they were commentating from Paris \ London

    He is.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,730
    He's doing the Vuelta win Sean Kelly, so another GT will be getting the treatment.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • andylav
    andylav Posts: 308
    Blazing Saddles wrote:
    He's doing the Vuelta win Sean Kelly, so another GT will be getting the treatment.

    ITV highlights only it is then
  • sherer
    sherer Posts: 2,460
    For those of you watching Le Mans he's managed to ruin that too.

    Porsche are running a retro livery on two of their cars this year. One is in classic Rothmams colours, but without the actual logos as you can't advertise cigarettes any more. No problem for CK as he keeps saying Rothmans several times per lap, not sure how happy Eurosport will be with that
  • slim_boy_fat
    slim_boy_fat Posts: 1,810
    sherer wrote:
    For those of you watching Le Mans he's managed to ruin that too.

    Porsche are running a retro livery on two of their cars this year. One is in classic Rothmams colours, but without the actual logos as you can't advertise cigarettes any more. No problem for CK as he keeps saying Rothmans several times per lap, not sure how happy Eurosport will be with that
    At least the other commentators on the Le Mans commentary call him out on his BS. He went full Partridge at about 1.30 am and the other commentators told him to sort it out.
  • sherer
    sherer Posts: 2,460
    In the space of 5 mins he managed to get cigarette advertising and then a homophobic comment about the pink pig Porsche .. this is the sort of stuff he can be sacked for.. I'm also not sure why he keeps laughing every 5 mins either
  • awavey
    awavey Posts: 2,368
    sherer wrote:
    For those of you watching Le Mans he's managed to ruin that too.

    Porsche are running a retro livery on two of their cars this year. One is in classic Rothmams colours, but without the actual logos as you can't advertise cigarettes any more. No problem for CK as he keeps saying Rothmans several times per lap, not sure how happy Eurosport will be with that

    tbf on that one, I think everyone keeps calling it the Rothmans Porsche, its hard not to when its clearly intended to replicate the livery (and it looks pretty good in those colours),Porsche even put pretend brick wallpaper up to mimic the old garage, and its less of a mouthful and more meaningful than just the 91 Porsche, the other one is called the "pink pig" :)

    but at least I can watch the Eurosport pictures and listen to Radio Le Mans instead, so totally ignore any Kirbyisms, shame theres not that option for the cycling
  • sherer
    sherer Posts: 2,460
    awavey wrote:
    sherer wrote:
    For those of you watching Le Mans he's managed to ruin that too.

    Porsche are running a retro livery on two of their cars this year. One is in classic Rothmams colours, but without the actual logos as you can't advertise cigarettes any more. No problem for CK as he keeps saying Rothmans several times per lap, not sure how happy Eurosport will be with that

    tbf on that one, I think everyone keeps calling it the Rothmans Porsche, its hard not to when its clearly intended to replicate the livery (and it looks pretty good in those colours),Porsche even put pretend brick wallpaper up to mimic the old garage, and its less of a mouthful and more meaningful than just the 91 Porsche, the other one is called the "pink pig" :)

    but at least I can watch the Eurosport pictures and listen to Radio Le Mans instead, so totally ignore any Kirbyisms, shame theres not that option for the cycling

    im sure the fans are referring to it as the Rothams car, the difference is we arent sports broadcaster and arent bound by OFCOM \ ASA rules about advertising. F1 had a similar issue and the commentators stopped referencing the company names for that reason.

    Yes the other car is called the pink pig, but then as soon as CK mentioned the colour pink he that made a homophobic comment about how the colour pink is associated with being gay.

    For someone that does this for a living he really needs to know what the rules are. I could easily put in a complaint to OFCOM over some of his comments.

    Think next year i will do ipad \ laptop with radio LE MANS, or maybe just go in person
  • awavey
    awavey Posts: 2,368
    sherer wrote:

    im sure the fans are referring to it as the Rothams car, the difference is we arent sports broadcaster and arent bound by OFCOM \ ASA rules about advertising. F1 had a similar issue and the commentators stopped referencing the company names for that reason.

    Yes the other car is called the pink pig, but then as soon as CK mentioned the colour pink he that made a homophobic comment about how the colour pink is associated with being gay.

    For someone that does this for a living he really needs to know what the rules are. I could easily put in a complaint to OFCOM over some of his comments.

    Think next year i will do ipad \ laptop with radio LE MANS, or maybe just go in person

    well annoying as he has become, it would seem harsh on the Rothmans bit, the pink thing is precisely why I dont listen to him on races like this if theres better alternatives and Radio Le Mans are far better.

    going in person is great, but Im not camping there again unless I get a caravan/chateau/lodge to stay in :)
  • richard_t._biscuit
    richard_t._biscuit Posts: 246
    Cycling and Le Mans are two of my favourite sporting things and Kirby at best takes the edge off them any time he is commentating. I can handle and understand just not being very good at commentary but there is an air of ego and unpleasantness there that I just find repellent.
    ...Eh, maybe it's just me (or us), because he seems depressingly popular in some quarters, and Eurosport certain seem to regard him as their number one commentator in both Cycling and at Le Mans *sigh*
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,444
    sherer wrote:

    For someone that does this for a living he really needs to know what the rules are. I could easily put in a complaint to OFCOM over some of his comments.

    Get on and do it then, maybe Eurosport will sack the cretinous windbag and we'll all be better off for it.
  • diplodicus
    diplodicus Posts: 722
    bobmcstuff wrote:
    sherer wrote:

    For someone that does this for a living he really needs to know what the rules are. I could easily put in a complaint to OFCOM over some of his comments.

    Get on and do it then, maybe Eurosport will sack the cretinous windbag and we'll all be better off for it.

    Please do it
  • sherer
    sherer Posts: 2,460
    diplodicus wrote:
    bobmcstuff wrote:
    sherer wrote:

    For someone that does this for a living he really needs to know what the rules are. I could easily put in a complaint to OFCOM over some of his comments.

    Get on and do it then, maybe Eurosport will sack the cretinous windbag and we'll all be better off for it.

    Please do it

    Unfortunately I'm not that cruel, it's his living after all even if he's bad at it.. surely there should be a producing who should reign him in. Slipping once or twice and advertising cigarettes I can just about let slip but to continue for 24 hours is a very bad show.. it's his job and he should know what the rules are on what you can and can't say.. F1 managed it when they had cigarette advertising but didn't mention it in the broadcast, so CK should know it is banned too.

    We can now ad homophobic to his rascist comments too
  • onyourright
    onyourright Posts: 509
    I don’t think he’s homophobic or racist or whatever … just not quite in control of his mouth. Which is an unfortunate problem for a professional commentator. There are times when he issues forth whole seconds of commentary that don’t follow known patterns of language and bear only the slightest semblance to reality.

    He obviously does have a great talent for language, and I think he’d do a brilliant job coming up with a slick two-minute summary of a race after the fact, assuming he could reign himself in. But when live he pushes every idea that pops into his head farther than anyone is comfortable with … often purely for his own amusement, I think.
  • yorkshireraw
    yorkshireraw Posts: 1,632
    He’s big mates with the guy who gives out the commentary gigs at ES, hence why he doesn’t need to worry about actually being any good.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,599
    Someone has set up a petition to get rid of him. Seems pointless as I can't imagine it having any standing with anyone who matters but it gives people another place to vent their dislike of his style!

    https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/get-rid-of-carlton-kirby#.W3AiOqFPHEM.facebook
  • thegibdog
    thegibdog Posts: 2,106
    I find Kirby much less annoying these days, mainly because I just don’t bother watching any races where he’s commentating. My viewing of the smaller races at the moment is purely determined on this basis. I’m far from Tony Gibb’s biggest fan but he makes a much better main commentator than Carlton, so if it's Tony + AN Other I’m happy to have the race on in the background.
    https://gibworth.mypixieset.com
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,730
    thegibdog wrote:
    I find Kirby much less annoying these days, mainly because I just don’t bother watching any races where he’s commentating. My viewing of the smaller races at the moment is purely determined on this basis. I’m far from Tony Gibb’s biggest fan but he makes a much better main commentator than Carlton, so if it's Tony + AN Other I’m happy to have the race on in the background.

    Really?
    I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that he isn't.
    He does no preparation work, so in that respect he matches Kirby.
    But he can't identify riders to save his life. Even Kirby has some idea.
    Prime example just now in BinckBank.
    Big crash that had happened earlier. Managed only one name out of half a dozen and even got that one completely wrong.
    Last week he kept going on about Teuns beating Kwiato, in last year's Tour of Poland, despite the fact that the Team Sky rider was only there a spectator. The man in question was Wout Poels.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • thegibdog
    thegibdog Posts: 2,106
    Yep. But I can listen to him for more than 5 seconds without switching the cycling off, which is an improvement over Kirby.
    https://gibworth.mypixieset.com
  • philbar72
    philbar72 Posts: 2,229
    for quite a few of us who were away in the alps last week, we all came to the same consensus, he's pretty average, but far superior to that dullard Millar.
  • DeadCalm
    DeadCalm Posts: 4,249
    philbar72 wrote:
    for quite a few of us who were away in the alps last week, we all came to the same consensus, he's pretty average, but far superior to that dullard Millar.
    Well, by their nature, opinions can't be wrong but they sometimes are bonkers...
  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    Millar's voice is pretty grating but his insight is exceptional.
  • Vino'sGhost
    Vino'sGhost Posts: 4,129
    yes make a complaint that he might be saying something that someone might get upset about.

    He might be irritating but to identify possible mistakes that dont affect you as a person and then complain on behalf of the people that might be offended is crass

    Complain if you think his commentary is poor but not because he should be fired for saying things that someone somewhere might be genuinely offended by. thats just virtue signalling.

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