Tim Minchin's song comparing Jesus to Woody Allen was cut from UK TV. Picture: TS Publicity Source: Supplied
- Minchin's song compared Jesus to Woody Allen
- UK TV boss demanded song be cut from line-up
- Aussie comic musician extremely disappointed�
AUSSIE comedian Tim Minchin has become embroiled in a Christmas controversy in the UK with a song that compares Jesus to Woody Allen.
The UK-born but Perth-raised comic penned what he described as a "silly, harmless, and quite cute" tune, in which he compared Jesus to the Jewish actor and director, the Daily Mail reports.
The Jonathan Ross Show, which was recorded on Tuesday was due to be aired tonight (UK time).
However, the song has now been cut from the show after it was sent to the ITV network's director of television Peter Fincham.
The decision has evoked a spirited reaction from the comic who has claimed ITV bosses are pandering to Christians who are "afraid of anything that challenges their beliefs".
On his blog, Minchin said: "As always with these bespoke writing jobs, I was really stressed for about three days, and almost chucked it in the bin five times, and freaked out that it wasn?t funny and all that boring s--- that people like me go through when we?re lucky enough to have with a big audience with high expectations.
"I have to admit I'm really f---ing disappointed.
"It's 2011 - the appropriate reaction to people who think Jesus is a supernatural being is mild embarrassment, sighing tolerance and patient education.
"And anger when they're being bigots.
"Suzi [Aplin, the producer] and her team edited the show and everybody was happy.
"Suzi felt it had a nice balance of big-ticket celeb action, local talent, and a nice bit of that cheeky, iconoclastic spirit for which Jonathan is known and widely loved.
"And then someone got nervous and sent the tape to ITV's director of television, Peter Fincham.
"And Peter Fincham demanded that I be cut from the show.
"He did this because he's scared of the ranty, s--t-stirring, right-wing press, and of the small minority of Brits who believe they have a right to go through life protected from anything that challenges them in any way."
At the start of the song, Minchin sings: "Jesus was a Jewish philosopher, had a lot of nice ideas, about our existential fears, much admired by his peers.
"Short and Jewish and quite political, often hesitant and very analytical. Praise be to Jesus, praise be to Woody Allen Jesus."
Later in the song, he draws comparisons between the stories about Jesus and those of more contemporary figures, such as Superman.
The 36-year-old also muses on the story of Jesus flying into heaven after his supposed resurrection.
He also compares some of his miracles to those performed by UK magician Derren Brown.
Another example of lyrics from the song go: "Jesus died but then came back to life, or so the holy Bible said, kinda like in Dawn of the Dead, like a film by Simon Pegg, try that these days you'd be in trouble, geeks would try to smack you with a shovel."
Before going into the chorus: "Praise be to Jesus, praise be to magic, Woody Allen, Zombie, Jesus."
Minchin added: "It's not a particularly original idea, I admit, but it's quite cute.
"It's certainly not very contentious, but even so, compliance people and producers and lawyers all checked my lyrics long before the cameras rolled."
The comedian who now lives in London has uploaded a recording of the song as performed on Ross's show from his personal YouTube account, which has garnered widespread support from users.
A spokesperson for ITV denied the song was cut to appease believers, instead claiming Minchin's performance "wasn't right for the show".
In a statement ITV said: "We quite often cut shows in the edit, as we shoot more than goes out, and we felt Tim's appearance didn't quite feel right for show.
"But we do think Tim's talented and would love him to work with him on ITV shows again in the future."
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