Yes, I know. Not only am I showing my age, I'm supporting comedy and films that are sexist, racist, homophobic and all the other things that were denigrated by the brand of humour I hold so dear — alternative comedy.

Before the jury goes out to consider their verdict on the shameless disintegration of my usual taste in comedy, let me put my case to you.

Firstly it's a nostalgia thing. I come from a family of comics, and comedy always filled my childhood home, whether it was listening to Beyond Our Ken, Hancock's Half Hour or Take It From Here, or watching The Benny Hill Show or Monty Python's Flying Circus. Family nights often meant fish and chips and a bottle of lemonade while we sat around the telly to watch The Two Ronnies.

Secondly, with my reputation for being a comedy aficionado, I feel obliged to keep up with all things comedy. Well, that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

And thirdly, it really is quite funny. The films are rude and naughty (I like that!); they use many of the comedy features I love — innuendo, double entendre, puns, slapstick, satire, silliness, scatological and childish humour.

But, back to the Carry On Film Collection. The first issue is a bit of a lure — a trap to get the comedy lovers in. Volume One comes with the Carry On Camping DVD, one of the most popular of the series. It's cheap, but subsequent issues, which also come with DVDs, are almost $20. But I'm a comedy fanatic. People who know me know it's my passion. So, out comes the wallet, or more likely the MasterCard, and I fork out the money every two weeks as my comedy indulgence.

As I said, Carry On Camping is the first, and what a dated, politically incorrect movie it is. But, strangely, when I watched it, I was glued to the set. It was compelling viewing. The gags were the typical, Carry On-style double entendres and they were very predictable. Why do I still laugh when Barbara Windsor's bikini top flies off? It's that style of humour that relies on the anticipation of a gag.

Carry On films are rude, crude, lewd and very, very naughty. They cross over the barrier of decency and are out of step with the political correct 90s and 00s. Double entendres abound. The films are full of innuendos. Most of the humour is of a sexual nature. How could it not be, with that wicked Sid James laugh? Although the gags are sexual in nature and based on farting, peeing, shitting, big tits and bare bums, there is a strange, 'behind-the-bike-sheds' nature to them.

Some of the films I haven't seen since I was a child, but now I realise just how very risqué the gags were. They weren't that rude then, were they? Well, yes, they were. But like today's comedy shows, such as The Simpsons, the naughty, adult jokes go completely over the heads of children.

When I first saw Carry On Up The Khyber as a child, I didn't quite get the meaning of Sid James 'having a spot of tiffin'. I giggled at many of the jokes, knowing they were cheeky, but back then I didn't understand the real meanings.