On The Job

Bernard Manning deals out a steady stream of blue material and insult comedy in On The Job, leaning into the abrasive persona that made him a cultural lightning rod. Taped at his own Embassy Club in Harpurhey, Manchester, the VHS release captures the Mancunian comic completely in his element. By the early 1990s, Manning’s mainstream television career had largely evaporated as public sensibilities shifted, leaving him to focus on the northern club circuit where he remained a significant draw. Aiming his punchlines at minorities, women, and whoever happened to be sitting in the front row, he works a room of loyalists who knew exactly what they were paying for.