OT : Brit comics
ric zito
bewilderingly vast array of comedy DVDs, and realising that I'm
hopelessly out of the loop when it comes to recent Brit comics, with the
exception of The Office.
I ended up buying some oldies but (I thought) goldies : Series 1 of
Porridge, and two Best ofs, Dave Allen and Tommy Cooper. You know what?
Allen and Cooper have aged badly. Seriously, I was disappointed. After
all these years, they just weren't as funny as I remembered them -
especially Allen's dire sketches.
So...I'm looking for some recommendations for recent funny men. I've
been told to check out Eddie Izzard, but that's about all. I'm open to
all kinds of humour, from the Young Ones mayhem thru Python, to loveable
hacks like Eric Morecombe and the Carry On team. I love smart standup
when I can find it.
These days I appreciate Americans like Jon Stewart, Rob Corddry and
their team, and apart from Gervais I don't know any Brits...
Who can suggest some stuff to check out?
--
ric at pixelligence dot com
Da Frank
>These days I appreciate Americans like Jon Stewart, Rob Corddry and
>their team, and apart from Gervais I don't know any Brits...
>
I'll have to check those out..
>Who can suggest some stuff to check out?
>
Sorry, just more Americans. IMO, they rule the stand up scene at the
moment.
Last two standups i've really enjoyed were, HBO's Richard Jeni ("A
Steaming Pile of Me").. very, very good and quite original.
And also HBO's Robin Williams "Live on Broadway", which as you'd
expect you really need to keep up with, because he is non stop and the
man can not ever stick to a single subject. :-) It was very funny,
but you have to get used to him using a few 'F' words in this one. The
final scene will have you in absolute stitches, but if you have minors
around, you should send them out 5 minutes from the end, or you may
have some embarrasing explaining to do.. :)
Other one i've seen lately that impressed, was Jake Johanssen, not
sure about the surname having one or two 'n's. Original and funny too.
There was also a very funny hispanic guy on Comedy Central's "half
hours", but i didn't catch his name.. Could you do me a favor and buy
every hispanic comedian's DVD and let me know who he was ? Cheers. ;-)
ps: Wasn't Garcia. he bored me to death and the amount of beeps put me
right off. Some swearing is ok, as long as it fits into the context,
but some comedians think that if every second word is a beep, it makes
them funnier.. Straight to the bin they go, as did Garcia.
--
Regards, Frank
Tony Gartshore
says...
>
> So...I'm looking for some recommendations for recent funny men. I've
> been told to check out Eddie Izzard, but that's about all. I'm open to
> all kinds of humour, from the Young Ones mayhem thru Python, to loveable
> hacks like Eric Morecombe and the Carry On team. I love smart standup
> when I can find it.
>
For a Francophile Brit I can do no better than to recommend Al Murray
AKA 'The Pub Landlord'.
If you ever get the chance to see him live, then go.. BUT, unless you're
keen on ritual humiliation, don't sit in the first six rows !
Take a look at :
http://www.thepublandlord.com/
And click on the Video Clips bit.. (It's even done in Flash!)
T.
Bigbird
I watched Gervais - Animals again recently. Great stuff.
I used to like Izzard but I tried a couple of more recent ones and they were
a different Eddie. My benchmark Eddie is the stand up which includes stuff
like "le singe est dans l'arbre".
I enjoyed both Jimmy Carr offerings, pretty much one liners but not old
school.
I know what you mean about Dave Allen, I remember watching him when I was
very young, seeing him on TV lately has been a little painful.
As for sitcoms the only two come immediately to mind that I have been
inclined to watch more than once. Father Ted and Coupling. Nothing new in
Father Ted but Coupling passed a lot of people by unnoticed, maybe you have
to be of a cetain age.
Trigger Happy as mentioned is worth a look if youv'e not seen it. Long time
ago but we used to look forward to that.
...but we're talking humour and whilst one person will become intoxicated
the other will remain stone cold sober...and if you're buying it chances are
being rewatchable is important.
Having said that I tend to grab old TV shows off the net. Worked my way
through a couple of series of QI (Stephen Frys comedy quiz show) and was
very entertained.
My French brother-in-law loves Mr Bean, say no more. Just how French do you
feel?
peter
>Who can suggest some stuff to check out?
>
C4 TV series...a bit off the wall but excellent stuff with Dylan Moran,
Bill Bailey and Tamsin Greig.
--
Peter
Bud Hufstetler
news:i26ev11sqti7gg9a1...@4ax.com:
> There was also a very funny hispanic guy on Comedy Central's "half
> hours", but i didn't catch his name.. Could you do me a favor and buy
> every hispanic comedian's DVD and let me know who he was ? Cheers. ;-)
Would that be Carlos Mencia?
Bud
Simon Dean
Good choice. Get's my vote too, and if you're into stand up, Dylan Moran
- Monster is brilliant.
Wifton Percy
think he is a lot better than Robin Williams. I am not sure if Chris
humor travels well but some of it is very clever. He also gets too
"blue" (filthy humor). It is a shame because he can be very clean and
hysterical. I think when comics start getting filthy or resort to that
type of humor then they are not that funny.
The Python stuff is still funny - it has held up well. I loved Jeeves &
Wooster too.
Al
"Simon Dean" <sjd...@simtext.plus.com> wrote in message
news:45p10dF...@individual.net...
Black Books ROCKS!
Peter Kay is very funny, but I'm not really sure he'll travel well. His
stand-up is very British, about British families, primary schools, (It's
SPITTING!!!) and Northerners in particular. (Max and Paddy's road to
Nowhere had us in stitches, as does Phoenix nights - but same reservations
about travelling well)
The IT crowd looks as if it might go somewhere eventually, but for nearly
recent classic British sit-com humour search no further than The Royle
Family, Early Doors and the indescribably gentle but hilarious Dinner
Ladies.
Al
Pete Fenelon
> I ended up buying some oldies but (I thought) goldies : Series 1 of
> Porridge, and two Best ofs, Dave Allen and Tommy Cooper. You know what?
> Allen and Cooper have aged badly.
Wrong there, Ric, but comedy's subjective. Dave Allen copped a pile of
repeats over Christmas here and he still does it for me. And I have
problems with anyone who doesn't find Tommy Cooper hilarious. He only
had to walk on stage to crease me up.
> So...I'm looking for some recommendations for recent funny men. I've
> been told to check out Eddie Izzard, but that's about all. I'm open to
> all kinds of humour, from the Young Ones mayhem thru Python, to loveable
> hacks like Eric Morecombe and the Carry On team. I love smart standup
> when I can find it.
Sitcoms I'd recommend:
Father Ted
Black Books
Both written by Graham Linehan (with Arthur Matthews on Father Ted).
Father Ted is about three failing priests on a remote Irish island. One
of them is a pissed, filthy sexist monster; one of them is thick; the
titular Father Ted is vain, stupid and money-grubbing. It's absolutely
marvellous, weird, surreal, and with some splendid performances. Dermot
Morgan (Ted) died just after making the third season, and it's a fine
tribute to him.
Black Books features a superb cast (Dylan Moran as the misanthropic
secondhand bookshop owner, Bill Bailey as his useless assistant, Tamsin
Greig as his vague but relatively normal girlfriend who runs the shop
next door). Again, elements of surrealism and deep misanthropy, but
absolutely hilarious.
Spaced
One of the first media-literate British sitcoms - so many explicit
references to films, TV and other popular culture that it's a fanboy's
paradise. The basic premise is that a mismatched guy and girl share
a flat that neither of them can afford individually, although there's
not (initially) any romantic spark between them -- but it's a very
loose framework for exploring the lives of idle and intelligent
twentysomethings. Written by and starring Simon Pegg and Jessica
Stevenson. If you've seen Shaun of the Dead, this is where a lot of the
style, ideas and cast came from.
Phoenix Nights
This might not work for you -- it works for me because I was born and
have always lived in the North of England. The Godlike Peter Kay stars
and writes in an increasingly bizarre but achingly real story of failure
in the working mens' clubs of Chorley. It's all there - rivalry between
clubs, terrible variety turns, desperate stunts to pull one over other
clubs, and above all a wonderfully monstrous performance from Kay as
club owner Brian Potter. Kay is also a stunningly successful standup,
but again he divides audiences -- he's not a gag teller, he's rather
like a Lancs version of Connolly back in the 70s - long, observational
routines about the rituals and absurdities of life.
All of the above appeared on Channel Four and all are available on DVD.
The BBC currently has one potentially brilliant sitcom in "The Thick Of
It" which is "Yes, Minister" updated for the Blairite spin-dominated
years. It's played absolutely straight, shot on a minute budget, with
profane, wordy, ultra-dry scripts and some excellent performances. It's
still settling in, but could well turn into one of the best things that
the BBC's ever done.
BBC2 gave us one superb series of "Look Around You" a couple of years
ago, and one bloody terrible one. This is a parody of 1970s
schools/science programmes, and the first series was done with a
wonderfully obsessive eye for detail and tone. Again, works for me
because I grew up with the originals, but the deadpan narrative is
enough to crack almost anyone up. Season 2 was a bad mistake; avoid it.
I've also been very impressed by the BBC's "The Smoking Room". A
wonderfully low-key little comedy, which I think is much better than The
Office (a good ensemble drama; not a good comedy). This is set somewhere
down in the bowels of an office block in a dingy room reserved for the
company's few smokers -- the only rule is "no shop talk". It's slight,
almost plotless, but very much character-driven, with a lot of the humour
coming from the backstories of a bunch of misfits thrown together merely
by their nicotine addiction. (If you think "The IT Crowd" is just a limp
mix of "The Office" and "The Smoking Room" you'd be right).
"Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps" is crude, rude, bawdy,
lavatorial and often horribly sexist. But I still rather like it. It's
blue-collar, Northern, unashamed to celebrate the simple pleasures of
a few pints and an attempted shag, and has an endearing young cast led
by Ralf Little.
> These days I appreciate Americans like Jon Stewart, Rob Corddry and
> their team, and apart from Gervais I don't know any Brits...
>
> Who can suggest some stuff to check out?
>
The funniest man in Britain at the moment and for the last decade or so
is Chris Morris, but you have to be fairly broad-minded. Much of his
work has centred on vicious parody of the conventions of the media,
right back to early radio shows like On The Hour (later to migrate to TV
as "The Day Today" which as well as giving Morris his break also
launched Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge). These shows deconstruct the
ultra-slick modern presentation of news and reduce it to sheer
absurdity; showing how technique is used to drown out message. Morris
developed this theme in the later spoof documentary series "Brass Eye",
in which various celebrities were tricked into taking part -- there's
been a lot of controversy about some of the episodes... although given
that he tackled topics like drugs, child abuse etc...
The other strand of Morris is really the surrealist one -- again branching
out from his radio work which often featured cut-ups of news headlines,
ambient music, bizarre monologues, and dream/nightmare-like sketches,
his ideas as broadcast on late-night weird radio show "Blue Jam"
(I think there's a best-of CD out, but you can download the shows off
t'internet) later resurfaced on TV as "Jam". The themes here tend to
be sexual perversion, depression, death, abuse of positions of power,
stupidity - again usually shot in a bizarre dream-like fashion with
unusual musical backing tracks. Morris also 'remixed' the shows with
even trippier soundtracks and distorted visuals and soundtracks as
"Jaaaaaam"; they aren't necessarily hilarious, but they are strange and
compelling viewing. Art terrorism meets comedy?
pete
--
pe...@fenelon.com [Support no2id.net: working to destroy Blair's ID card fraud]
Pete Fenelon
>
> I enjoyed both Jimmy Carr offerings, pretty much one liners but not old
> school.
I find Carr's smug, upper-middle-class personality instant-off. I don't
like him, I don't like what he says, and I don't like how he says it.
> inclined to watch more than once. Father Ted and Coupling. Nothing new in
> Father Ted but Coupling passed a lot of people by unnoticed, maybe you have
> to be of a cetain age.
Coupling is pretty much a more sophisticated and rather harder-edged
British take on Friends, although as it was written by Stephen Moffatt
it uses a lot of his usual tricks - scenes shot twice, once from "his"
point of view and once from "hers" reflecting their view of events,
etc... Nicely made stuff, well-constructed, but hard to actually like
any of the characters (then again I don't like any of the characters in
Friends either!)
> Having said that I tend to grab old TV shows off the net. Worked my way
> through a couple of series of QI (Stephen Frys comedy quiz show) and was
> very entertained.
Good stuff -- the chemistry between Fry and Davies in particular makes
it work, there's a sort of schoolmaster and unruly but bright
sixth-former thing going on there. And it gives Fry the chance to sound
tweedy and authoritative, at which he is very good.
Pete Fenelon
> For a Francophile Brit I can do no better than to recommend Al Murray
> AKA 'The Pub Landlord'.
Oh yes - unreservedly recommended. Although Ric won't be allowed his
glass of wine - that (or another fruit-based drink) is for the ladies ;P
Creamy Goodness
Nothing funnier that guy who calls himself queen.
Creamy Goodness
Nothing funnier than that guy who calls himself queen.
Jim
Whilst it appears that I share Pete's sense of humour (and as an
ex-pat Brit, I'd not heard of a few of those newer ones, so thanks for
that, as they'll be added to my Amazon wish list), so far nobody has
mentioned Little Britain. Certainly one of the most popular British
comedies of recent years. Character based sketch comedy with areas of
the rediculous and also pushing a few boundaries in terms of taste.
Pete Fenelon
>
> Whilst it appears that I share Pete's sense of humour (and as an
> ex-pat Brit, I'd not heard of a few of those newer ones, so thanks for
> that, as they'll be added to my Amazon wish list), so far nobody has
> mentioned Little Britain. Certainly one of the most popular British
> comedies of recent years. Character based sketch comedy with areas of
> the rediculous and also pushing a few boundaries in terms of taste.
Overstayed its welcome. Series 1 was good; series 2 mediocre; series 3
appalling - the vast majority of the sketches degenerated into repetition
of catchphrases, very crude sexual innuendo and/or graphic depiction of
bodily functions.
Which isn't funny.
Jim
>Jim <j...@fakeemailaddress.com> wrote:
>>
>> Whilst it appears that I share Pete's sense of humour (and as an
>> ex-pat Brit, I'd not heard of a few of those newer ones, so thanks for
>> that, as they'll be added to my Amazon wish list), so far nobody has
>> mentioned Little Britain. Certainly one of the most popular British
>> comedies of recent years. Character based sketch comedy with areas of
>> the rediculous and also pushing a few boundaries in terms of taste.
>
>Overstayed its welcome. Series 1 was good; series 2 mediocre; series 3
>appalling - the vast majority of the sketches degenerated into repetition
>of catchphrases, very crude sexual innuendo and/or graphic depiction of
>bodily functions.
>
>Which isn't funny.
>
Not seen series 3 yet (starts here this week). Was definitely cruder
in series 2 than series 1.
Probert
"Pete Fenelon" <pe...@fenelon.com> wrote in message
news:4rt7td...@fenelon.com...
> Bigbird <BigBird...@remthsgmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I enjoyed both Jimmy Carr offerings, pretty much one liners but not old
>> school.
>
> I find Carr's smug, upper-middle-class personality instant-off. I don't
> like him, I don't like what he says, and I don't like how he says it.
I agree totally - insufferably smug and very arrogant and not at all funny.
Not so sure about 'upper-middle-class' though - he comes across as being a
social-climber of the worst kind. Now, he really *is* a very good actor (as
his 'celeb' fans keep telling us), or he really is that much of an arsehole,
and I know what my money's on.
However, he's not alone in being extremely unfunny and being constantly on
TV. Paul Kaye has never been funny, and he can't act (his other job) his way
out of a paper bag. Of the more recent crop, Catherine Tate has managed to
string out two series, so far, out of material that is barely good enough
for one 'hour-long' special. 'Tittytittybangbang' - currently in it's second
series on BBC3 - is about as funny as watching paint dry; in fact - other
than 'The Office' and, possibly, 'Little Britain' - there isn't a decent (or
at all funny) comedy series that's come out of BBC3, a channel that's
supposed to be about 'hot-housing' new British comedy talent. (And I have
big reservations about 'Little Britain' too).
It seems to be a disease that BBC2 has caught recently, having
commissioned - with, apparently, no sight of a finished script for even the
first programme - an entire six week series of the excrable and totally
pointless and inept attempt at satirising 24 hour rolling news channels,
'Broken News'.
On a more positive note, though, I'd recommend 'The Thick of It' - a
fabulously written satire of the current UK government and the way it works,
and one that will stay fresher for longer than most (even if the current
government are all blown up tomorrow).
'Bremner, Bird and Fortune' (Rory Bremner, John Bird and John Fortune) is
C4's regular 'topical satire' and is rarely not spot on.
'Dead Ringers' (BBC) is, occasionally, brilliant - if a little bit
'light-weight' compared to BB&F. 'Have I Got News For You' is, still, very
funny. 'They Think It's All Over' seems to have found a new lease of life
with Lee Mack in the chair (though that may, actually, be its death throws).
I agree with the 'QI' comments - it's very clever and funny.
However, I think some of the best stuff is still to be found on Radio 4. And
just to show how the best ideas can run and run (and how the worst should be
left alone after the 'pilot' has crashed and burned) of the four I'd
recommend, three have been going for more than 30 years;
'I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue' is still wonderfully and anarchically funny,
'The News Quiz' is still 'the Daddy' of topical satire quizzes and 'Just A
Minute' is at the moment, probably, at one of it's peaks at the moment. All
three have something in common - they're not afraid to inject 'new'
participants when they think things are getting a little 'flabby' (that the
'new' voice has in recent years usually been Paul Merton in all cases, is
beside the point).
Of the 'newer' R4 shows, Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis's 'The Now Show' is a
goody.
Cheers,
Probert.
Bigbird
Pete Fenelon wrote:
> Bigbird <BigBird...@remthsgmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I enjoyed both Jimmy Carr offerings, pretty much one liners but not
> > old school.
>
> I find Carr's smug, upper-middle-class personality instant-off. I
> don't like him, I don't like what he says, and I don't like how he
> says it.
>
Fair comment and exactly what is required to balance these type of
recommendations, especially as I now realise ric maybe somewhat nearer your
age than mine. I find some of Carrs material fresher and less predictable
than the run of the mill. The same reasons that I like Bill Bailey and Sean
Lock, though I have seen little of those except on quiz shows.
> > inclined to watch more than once. Father Ted and Coupling. Nothing
> > new in Father Ted but Coupling passed a lot of people by unnoticed,
> > maybe you have to be of a cetain age.
>
> Coupling is pretty much a more sophisticated and rather harder-edged
> British take on Friends,
On paper it may first look like Friends, in fact very like friends but if
you are really suggesting the similarity of content goes further then you
missed it or have a poor ( or at least very different) memory of it. I am
thinking now of the style of humour and the material itself in Coupling and
I can't think of anything like it in Friends.
>although as it was written by Stephen Moffatt
> it uses a lot of his usual tricks - scenes shot twice, once from "his"
> point of view and once from "hers" reflecting their view of events,
> etc... Nicely made stuff, well-constructed, but hard to actually like
> any of the characters (then again I don't like any of the characters
> in Friends either!)
>
> > Having said that I tend to grab old TV shows off the net. Worked my
> > way through a couple of series of QI (Stephen Frys comedy quiz
> > show) and was very entertained.
>
> Good stuff -- the chemistry between Fry and Davies in particular makes
> it work, there's a sort of schoolmaster and unruly but bright
> sixth-former thing going on there. And it gives Fry the chance to
> sound tweedy and authoritative, at which he is very good.
>
So not all smug uppermiddle class personalities are an instant-off. ;)
ric zito
with. I'll try to check them all out.
Pete Fenelon <pe...@fenelon.com> wrote:
> Wrong there, Ric, but comedy's subjective. Dave Allen copped a pile of
> repeats over Christmas here and he still does it for me. And I have
> problems with anyone who doesn't find Tommy Cooper hilarious. He only
> had to walk on stage to crease me up.
Well yes, normally I'd agree. But the 50 minute 'Best of' compilation is
all over in ten minutes. I was surprised, and somewhat saddened.
Dave Allen is an unbeatable gag-teller. And that still works, very much
so. It was mainly the unfunny, Benny Hill/Dick Emery level 'sketches'
that spoiled it for me.
<snip>
> Sitcoms I'd recommend:
>
> Father Ted
I know it and loved it. It used to be shown on cable TV here.
> Black Books
Sounds good. I'll definitely try this one out.
> Spaced
> If you've seen Shaun of the Dead, this is where a lot of the
> style, ideas and cast came from.
Great. I thought Shaun had some very funny moments.
> Phoenix Nights
>
> he's not a gag teller, he's rather
> like a Lancs version of Connolly back in the 70s - long, observational
> routines about the rituals and absurdities of life.
I'm a HUGE early Connolly fan. The later stuff tailed off, but the early
seventies wild man was wickedly funny. Those early Parkinson appearances
were classics.
<more good suggestions snipped>
>
> > These days I appreciate Americans like Jon Stewart, Rob Corddry and
> > their team, and apart from Gervais I don't know any Brits...
> >
> > Who can suggest some stuff to check out?
> >
>
> The funniest man in Britain at the moment and for the last decade or so
> is Chris Morris, but you have to be fairly broad-minded.
Great. I've always appreciated humour that flirts with the limits.
> Art terrorism meets comedy?
Thanks again to all who contributed!
Probert
"ric zito" <add...@in.sig> wrote in message
news:1hb0bdu.s0kev89lmja4N%add...@in.sig...
The problem, for me with Morris, is that when he did go over the limit, he
really went for it big time, and often ended up looking like a bully - I'm
not sure that comedy should, necessarily be about unnecessarily humiliating
the target. But when the producer/director had him on a reasonably tight
leash, he was/is devastatingly funny.
Talking of Chris Morris, he's involved in a new Channel 4 series, the IT
Crowd - it looks very promising.
I, also, meant to add my two-pen'orth to the 'Black Books' supporters. I
thought it was very funny and very well cast.
Cheers,
Probert
Pete Fenelon
> The problem, for me with Morris, is that when he did go over the limit, he
> really went for it big time, and often ended up looking like a bully - I'm
> not sure that comedy should, necessarily be about unnecessarily humiliating
> the target.
If the targets are politicians and "celebrities", fair enough. They set
themselves up in the public eye; they should be prepared to take some
stick.
> Talking of Chris Morris, he's involved in a new Channel 4 series, the IT
> Crowd - it looks very promising.
It's not. Morris is little more than a bit-part player and although he's
good in it and it's written by Linehan it's very slack and unfunny.
Paul-B
Ric
Peter Kaye... one of the very very best!
Julian Clary can be really funny, too, in the right situation.
As for modern sitcoms, can't stand "The Office". There haven't been too
many since the likes of Rising Damp, Porridge, and that type of thing.
--
Paul-B
Paul-B
> Jim <j...@fakeemailaddress.com> wrote:
> >
> > Whilst it appears that I share Pete's sense of humour (and as an
> > ex-pat Brit, I'd not heard of a few of those newer ones, so thanks
> > for that, as they'll be added to my Amazon wish list), so far
> > nobody has mentioned Little Britain. Certainly one of the most
> > popular British comedies of recent years. Character based sketch
> > comedy with areas of the rediculous and also pushing a few
> > boundaries in terms of taste.
>
> Overstayed its welcome. Series 1 was good; series 2 mediocre; series 3
> appalling - the vast majority of the sketches degenerated into
> repetition of catchphrases, very crude sexual innuendo and/or graphic
> depiction of bodily functions.
>
> Which isn't funny.
>
> pete
Yep, you've got it there, Pete. Although the Comic Relief one was
great, in fact classic. Just seeing the sketch with Robbie Williams and
the Elton John interview was worth twice the ?6 they charged for the
DVD>
--
Paul-B
Pete Fenelon
> Yep, you've got it there, Pete. Although the Comic Relief one was
> great, in fact classic. Just seeing the sketch with Robbie Williams and
> the Elton John interview was worth twice the ?6 they charged for the
> DVD>
Talking of music - I got that Richard Thompson box set this weekend. His
voice still sounds like a coal bucket being dragged up a back alley on
the older tracks, but the words are always fantastic, and by 'eck his
guitar work is stunning. I started warming to RT when Front Parlour
Ballads came out - it's a stunning album - and I think this has tipped
me over the edge into becoming an obsessive ;)
Paul-B
> Paul-B <pa...@rasf1.net> wrote:
> > Yep, you've got it there, Pete. Although the Comic Relief one was
> > great, in fact classic. Just seeing the sketch with Robbie Williams
> > and the Elton John interview was worth twice the ?6 they charged
> > for the DVD>
>
> Talking of music - I got that Richard Thompson box set this weekend.
> His voice still sounds like a coal bucket being dragged up a back
> alley on the older tracks, but the words are always fantastic, and by
> 'eck his guitar work is stunning. I started warming to RT when Front
> Parlour Ballads came out - it's a stunning album - and I think this
> has tipped me over the edge into becoming an obsessive ;)
>
> pete
I have lost track of how many times I've seen Richard live, his
composition and his sheer guitar mastery is overwhelming.
Truly the guitarists guitarist. Just listen to his "Vincent Black
Lightning" track, or "Beeswing", and his earlier "Bright Lights" and
"Rainbow"...
Mind you, "Meet on the ledge" is something I want played at my funeral,
it epitomises everything I believe in.
And I've actually played live on-stage with him...
--
Paul-B
Da Frank
No, he was who i meant by "Garcia". Do i have to spell everything out
to you too ? ;-p
Cheers for that, all them Spanish names look alike to me. :-)
--
Regards, Frank
Da Frank
>American stand up comics? Probably African-American Chris Rock. I
>think he is a lot better than Robin Williams. I am not sure if Chris
>humor travels well but some of it is very clever. He also gets too
>"blue" (filthy humor). It is a shame because he can be very clean and
>hysterical. I think when comics start getting filthy or resort to that
>type of humor then they are not that funny.
>
Can't stand his voice. He drives me around the bend in 5 minutes just
listening to his occasional interviews.
>The Python stuff is still funny - it has held up well. I loved Jeeves &
>Wooster too.
>
Yep, Monty Python is always funny in it's own way, but having just
seen "The meaning of life" after a few years, it just wasn't the same
to me anymore. I think right now i'd rather opt for a Mel Blanc movie,
even if it can be a bit burlesque. Then again i thought the movie
called "Shaolin Soccer" was quite funny. 8-)
--
Regards, Frank
Sam Strickland
<snip>
> Yep, Monty Python is always funny in it's own way, but having just
> seen "The meaning of life" after a few years, it just wasn't the same
> to me anymore. I think right now i'd rather opt for a Mel Blanc movie,
> even if it can be a bit burlesque. Then again i thought the movie
> called "Shaolin Soccer" was quite funny. 8-)
Do you mean Mel Brooks, Frank? (Although I prefer Mel Blanc.)
Da Frank
Doooh, LOL. <mode=Daffy Duck> Just shoot me now. </d> :-)
Brooks of course..
Blanc, to me, was "the" voice in cartoons, but i don't think i've seen
him do anything else.. Not that there is anything wrong with a good
old Hanna/Barbera cartoon.
Disclaimer: While reasonable care has been taken to verify, all names
above are only approximate and provided as is at your own risk. ;-)
--
Regards, Frank
ric zito
> Julian Clary can be really funny, too, in the right situation.
My word, is he still around? I have an anecdote about Clary :
Back in '88 or '89, the Carnaby Street Shops Association was getting fed
up with Regent Street getting all the limelight when it came to
Christmas illuminations, and they commissioned a friend of mine to
design and build something original for them. Julien Clary, then at the
height of his fame, was to throw the switch to turn them on.
So my mate made a sort of illuminated skyscape, all stars and moons and
planets. I was helping him out building them, and we had them installed.
Come the big night, there was a crowd of Beautiful People and minor
celebs assembled. A cherry-picker crane was there, to lift Clary up
about 10m, where there was a huge fake switch to throw.
We were crouched down inside the cherry picker, out of sight, and we
were supposed to hit the real switch when he threw the fake one. Clary
arrived, all queened up, made up to the nines, and stepped into the
cramped space with us. As we got lifted up, Clary started wisecracking
over the PA system. Of course, he gave the game away immediately,
announcing in his camp voice that "This is a dream come true for me.
It's not every day that I have TWO young men on their knees in front of
me, ready to push me buttons.." or some such.
At which point we were invited to stand up and take a bow. Laughter all
round. He was a nice bloke. Very funny.
HooDooWitch
Wot he says - Eddie Izzard.
--
HooDooWitch
DC
>Pete Fenelon <pe...@fenelon.com> wrote:
>
>> Phoenix Nights
>>
>> he's not a gag teller, he's rather
>> like a Lancs version of Connolly back in the 70s - long, observational
>> routines about the rituals and absurdities of life.
>
>I'm a HUGE early Connolly fan. The later stuff tailed off, but the early
>seventies wild man was wickedly funny. Those early Parkinson appearances
>were classics.
Phoenix Nights is one of the funniest things seen on TV in the last
decade. Sadly, the spin-off, Paddy & Max, was a disappointment (still
funnier than Bernie & Max though), which makes me wonder how much of
PN was down to Dave Spikey, another local funny man. Chorley FM,
coming in your ear...
I wouldn't watch Peter Kay's stage show and expect the heights of
early Connolly, or even more recent stuff, though. It's good, it's
quite funny, and it's a similar style to Connolly, but it doesn't come
close, at least for me. And he needs a new act. I saw his tour (last
year?) and much of it was still the same material as the Blackpool
Tower video from a few years ago. You could get away with that before
TV...
Some of Peter Kay's funniest stuff was the John Smith ads - "it's the
burglars you should worry about..."
David
DC
wrote:
>Jim <j...@fakeemailaddress.com> wrote:
>>
>> Whilst it appears that I share Pete's sense of humour (and as an
>> ex-pat Brit, I'd not heard of a few of those newer ones, so thanks for
>> that, as they'll be added to my Amazon wish list), so far nobody has
>> mentioned Little Britain. Certainly one of the most popular British
>> comedies of recent years. Character based sketch comedy with areas of
>> the rediculous and also pushing a few boundaries in terms of taste.
>
>Overstayed its welcome. Series 1 was good; series 2 mediocre; series 3
>appalling - the vast majority of the sketches degenerated into repetition
>of catchphrases, very crude sexual innuendo and/or graphic depiction of
>bodily functions.
>
>Which isn't funny.
Assessment agreed. Unfortunately, I booked tickets for the live show
before the rubbish Series 3 came out. Anyone been to see the live show
- how good is it?
Has no-one mentioned The League of Gentlemen yet? An acquired taste
maybe, with some very dark humour (sometimes they forgot the humour in
the darker bits later on), but the first series was superb with some
eminently quotable and oft-repeated lines. "This is a local shop, for
local people - there's nothing for you here." Their recent live
"pantomime" lost some of the subtlety (and darker bits) but was a
great laugh when we went to see it last year.
David
Phil Newnham
> Bigbird <BigBird...@remthsgmail.com> wrote:
>> I enjoyed both Jimmy Carr offerings, pretty much one liners but not old
>> school.
>
> I find Carr's smug, upper-middle-class personality instant-off. I don't
> like him, I don't like what he says, and I don't like how he says it.
I liked Carr's smug, upper-middle-class personality the first time I saw
him, because it's *so* unfashionable and anti-PC. Of course it rubs
people up the wrong way, and that's funny too ;) :p
--
Phil
Pete Fenelon
> Has no-one mentioned The League of Gentlemen yet? An acquired taste
> maybe, with some very dark humour (sometimes they forgot the humour in
> the darker bits later on), but the first series was superb with some
> eminently quotable and oft-repeated lines. "This is a local shop, for
> local people - there's nothing for you here." Their recent live
> "pantomime" lost some of the subtlety (and darker bits) but was a
> great laugh when we went to see it last year.
>
I never really 'got' the League of Gentlemen; the first couple of series
had the "grotesquerie for the sake of it" without being particularly
funny, and the last one (which actually had quite an interesting story)
forgot to put any jokes in at all. That said, I was very impressed by
Mark Gatiss' work on Doctor Who, and his first novel ("The Vesuvius
Club") is rather a stylish romp (or "a bit of fluff" as he describes
it).
Bud Hufstetler
That possibility dawned on me right after I made that post. Hispanics
account for 70-80% of the population in these parts so we need to be able
to tell the difference between our Garcias and Mencias (not to mention
Vasquez v. Velasquez and Gonzalez v. Gonsalves)
Bud
John Gibson
5
years. Some of the scenes are almost unbearably cringe-worthy to watch, in
the same way as The Office and I'm Alan Partridge were (i.e. they're
cringe-worthy in a "why on earth did he do that?!! What was he thinking?!!"
way, rather than cringe-worthy as in "not funny"). Marvellous.
Monkey Dust is interesting and oddly haunting, although rarely
laugh-out-loud.
Little Britain is a load of overrated toss, IMO, but I dislike sketch comedy
as a format, so I'm biased against it.
Pete Fenelon
> I strongly recommend Peep Show, the greatest new British comedy of the last
> 5
> years.
The characters are so unsympathetic that it's hard to like, but it's
well written and acted.
> Some of the scenes are almost unbearably cringe-worthy to watch, in
> the same way as The Office and I'm Alan Partridge were (i.e. they're
> cringe-worthy in a "why on earth did he do that?!! What was he thinking?!!"
> way, rather than cringe-worthy as in "not funny"). Marvellous.
Yes, but with Alan Partridge you at least can like the character; the
flatmates in Peep Show are just.... nasty.
jasons...@yahoo.com
has talent. Her show is excellent and she has won countless awards, not
to mention is is the most watched show when it is on.
Back to the drawing board ARSE WIPE
Gary lewis
Canadian knows that Superman was Canadian and that the Daily Planet was
really the Toronto Star!
So there!
"When Superman first appeared, its hero, Clark Kent, worked for the Daily
Star newspaper, named by (co-creator Joel) Shuster after his old employer
in Toronto. On this basis, Toronto, rather than New York City, could be
seen as the model for Metropolis. When the comic strip received
international distribution, the company permanently changed the name to
the Daily Planet."
Joel was also the cousin of comedian Frank Shuster, who holds the all
time record for appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" (67).
"(Johnny)Wayne and (Frank)Schuster" were at one time two of the most
popular comedians during the early television years in North America.
Probert
<jasons...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1140823847.5...@z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
Wow! There's a considered response that's bollocks in almost every single
way.
Diverse? No - every single show of both series is indistiguishable from
another.
Talent? Yes, she has - as an actress. As a comedienne, she's a bit limited,
in my view, particularly with 'character's as one dimensional as those in
her show. 'The Dick Emery Show' was last broadcast in 1981, 'The Catherine
Tate Show' is, at best, a really, really poor revival of the format.
What awards has the series won? I can't find a reference to a single one -
even on the BBC's dedicated web page (and they'd be sure to be trumpeting
it).
As for the 'most watched show', if you can produce a single, verifiable
figure to support that claim, I'll walk naked up any street you care to
name. Even allowing for the fact that the last series was show at the height
of summer, it's figures weren't too good - bad enough, in fact, to have been
beaten by the 10 o'clock news that was on BBC 1 straight afterwards. Perhaps
you mean it is 'the most watched show on BBC 2 at 9.30pm on a Thursday....
when it is on'.
I don't know if you recall the embarrassment that was the 'Emma Thompson'
hour special 15, or so, years ago - but that is the kind of level of
crapness that, in my view, 'The Catherine Tate Show' is at. Thompson, then
at the peak of her seemingly 'I'm so wonderful' ever-presence didn't get a
series out of it - and the material was better.
Geoffrey Perkins, the show's producer, has a great track record for
promoting good comedy (The Fast Show, Father Ted, Blackadder - the list goes
on); alongside that he has a track record of every once in a while promoting
a duffer (The Thin Blue Line, Safe and Sound, Keeping Mum etc) and hoping
the second series will be better. I think 'The Catherine Tate Show' falls in
the latter bracket.
I stand by my previous assertion that she's wrung 2 series out of material
that, even 10 years ago, wouldn't have filled a one hour special. 20 years
ago, that one hour special wouldn't even have been made because the material
wasn't even polished enough, let alone good enough.
You want a genuinely funny comedienne? Try Linda Smith. She's really, really
funny and deserves far better than being marooned on various Radio 4 shows -
unless that's where she's happiest.
Cheers,
Probert.
Bigbird
> <jasons...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1140823847.5...@z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> > Catherine Tate is one of the most diverse comediennes on the box.
> > She has talent. Her show is excellent and she has won countless
> > awards, not to mention is is the most watched show when it is on.
> >
> > Back to the drawing board ARSE WIPE
>
> Wow! There's a considered response that's bollocks in almost every
> single way.
>
> Diverse? No - every single show of both series is indistiguishable
> from another.
>
> Talent? Yes, she has - as an actress. As a comedienne, she's a bit
> limited, in my view, particularly with 'character's as one
> dimensional as those in her show. 'The Dick Emery Show' was last
> broadcast in 1981, 'The Catherine Tate Show' is, at best, a really,
> really poor revival of the format.
"What a fucking liberty"
It's clear you're both wrong of course. In the same vain you're both right.
From his comments Probert is at the major disadvantage of never having seen
many shows in the last 25 years.
e.g. Harry Enfield, the Fast Show, Little Brtiain
Catherine Tate is far from alone in having a character repetition based
show.
Her material was excellent and, perhaps if not being the last good one in a
long line of shows with too much similarity it would have been even more
successful. That she pulled it off was due to having better material than
many of those that went before and bringing her own originality to the
screen.
A current example of it being done badly is Twattytwattyf'ingcrap that has
tried to sell a series with just two or three jokes and little originality.
but...
"Do you have a friend in Jesus miss?"
"Are we your flock miss?"
Classic.
I watched sparingly as the format has been done to death, but great writing,
great delivery.
Of course we all disagree, that's the brilliant thing about humour in this
country, it's diversity.