Ted's not funny anymore

SETH MacFarlane's brand of sophomoric R-rated humour - which relies mainly on the liberal use of four-letter words, random pop culture references and sight gags involving male private parts and drug paraphernalia - is deliberately crude, as if to emphasise his well-deserved reputation as an arbiter of extremely bad taste.

In Ted 2, the symbol of MacFarlane's unrelenting assault on common decency is a stuffed teddy bear who - through the magic of stop motion animation - can swig a beer, swear like a trooper and even dance like a star performer in a Busby Berkeley-style musical (wh…