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The British Comedy Show Appreciation Thread - Page 3

post #101 of 549
6/5/08 at 7:53am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr_adam View Post
is the stewart lee video from Scotland - I think it was called stewart Lee - Stand up comedian or something, I saw it and it was amazing. He managed to abuse the Scots for an hour but in such a way that they couldn't get mad at him. Like when he destroyed braveheart - saying that the french princess would only have been a child of 8 or 9 when she supposedly slept with Wallace. "Now I'm not saying he didn't sleep with her..." then he went on about how they found love-letters from wallace to robert the bruce. Then he gets started on princess diana - outstanding.
Yeah, the new DVD will be his 3rd. There's Stand-Up Comedian (from Glasgow) and there's also 90s Comedian (from Cardiff), which has a lot of material about the shit he had to put up with after Jerry Springer: The Opera. It is this: funny.

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Incidentally, I loved stephen fry as wellington in Blackadder 3 but 2 will always be my favourite series.
Ah, the Baby-Eating Bishop of Bath and Wells! I love 2, but I think they got everything just right in the 3rd series - particularly the Dr. Johnson and Scarlet Pimpernel episodes. I always thought ...Goes Forth was a bit of a rehash of better material using mostly the same jokes. Steven Fry is good value for money in it, though!

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Also remember the psychiatrist sketch from Pall Bearer's revue featuring Mark E Smith? What a god.
a) No.

b) I need to see this right now. MES is just about the greatest living Englishman. His go on Vinyl Justice on the Adam and Joe show was one of the highlights.

Ah, why not: The Best MES TV interviews
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post #102 of 549
6/5/08 at 12:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vernon Signpost View Post
Bas Rutten to host!
Ah, so you're a fan? One of the many things I love about Grand Theft Auto is how it's this huge technically amazing, record breaking crime game, with all this hype and controversy surrounding it, and yet in the midst of it all there's that unmistakeably British sense of humour in the writing and place names and double entendres that are destined to fly over the heads of 90% of the people who play the game. I've been playing it for the last month, and just discovered an eatery call "Fanny Crabs".
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post #103 of 549
6/5/08 at 12:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vernon Signpost View Post
MES is just about the greatest living Englishman. His go on Vinyl Justice on the Adam and Joe show was one of the highlights.
Not really a huge music person but I'm aware of Mark E Smith and I reckon he must be good friends with Sadowitz because he was also one of the guest bouncers on TPVJS.
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post #104 of 549
6/5/08 at 12:27pm
Also in the interests of turning people onto good funny stuff they might not have seen, I recommend Weird Weekends and any other TV stuff with Moore protege Louis Theroux. That guy has such a unique and subtle pisstake style about him.
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post #105 of 549
6/5/08 at 4:05pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Disciple_72 View Post
Ah, so you're a fan? One of the many things I love about Grand Theft Auto is how it's this huge technically amazing, record breaking crime game, with all this hype and controversy surrounding it, and yet in the midst of it all there's that unmistakeably British sense of humour in the writing and place names and double entendres that are destined to fly over the heads of 90% of the people who play the game. I've been playing it for the last month, and just discovered an eatery call "Fanny Crabs".
Yeah, I love the humour in GTA, it's extremely Anglo-centic in parts. There's stuff that I didn't notice until the end credits, such as the Jakey's Beer brewery, which is something that would fly over the heads of everyone outside of Central Scotland even!

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Not really a huge music person but I'm aware of Mark E Smith and I reckon he must be good friends with Sadowitz because he was also one of the guest bouncers on TPVJS.
I wish I could say that The Fall are the band that would really get you into music but, even as a huge fan, I couldn't do that to you! Mark E. Smith is always value for money in one way or another, though. It wouldn't be a surprise that he and Sadovitz are friends, as they've common ground in being utter cunts with nought but contempt for almost everything, so they've got that to chat about.

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Also in the interests of turning people onto good funny stuff they might not have seen, I recommend Weird Weekends and any other TV stuff with Moore protege Louis Theroux. That guy has such a unique and subtle pisstake style about him.
I'm singing from this hymn sheet with you as well. Weird Weekends is equal parts funny and terrifying. Sometimes it's even quite touching. The Survivalists episode has a good mixture of all three.

I'd like to see his stuff from TV Nation again, actually. I assume it's on youtube somewhere.

As an aside; Theroux actually has a few blink and miss them cameos in the A&J Show as apparently they were all at school together.

On the same lines, did you ever see Jon Ronson's Secret Rulers of the World or Crazy Rulers of the World - very similar in style to Theroux's stuff and recommended.
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post #106 of 549
6/5/08 at 5:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vernon Signpost View Post
I wish I could say that The Fall are the band that would really get you into music but, even as a huge fan, I couldn't do that to you! Mark E. Smith is always value for money in one way or another, though. It wouldn't be a surprise that he and Sadovitz are friends, as they've common ground in being utter cunts with nought but contempt for almost everything, so they've got that to chat about.
I don't think they are friends per se but they seem to have similar hobbies...

Smith appeared in a the sadowitz sketch before the opening titles as a multiple mass-murderer being given therapy(?) by an NHS psychiatrist.

As I recall--

JS: So when did you first notice these MUDEROUS tendencies of yours

MES (mumbling natch): When I were a kid I used to have these dreams..

JS About a rat? About a rat up your arse?

MES: Err no.

JS Bloody Sigmund Freud, No-one dreams of having a rat up their arse, you know I had to study that case for 3 years. any way do go on...

MES: I have this recurring dream where I'm in a sketch on a satircal tv show, and I get paid loads of money and everyone laughs at the material.

JS: Well they do say that dreams work in reverse....

MES: Then at the end of the dream the psychiatrist vanishes and goes to do card tricks in a top hat. (sadowitz has vanished) (to camera) That's sadowitz for you - a second rate craig ferguson imitator. (grinds teeth)

I am a big fall fan too. but i would also not recommend getting into the fall.

fantastic article about his greatest interviews. I remember one with Liz Kershaw on 6 music where he refused to say anything, he just made faces at her, prompting people to doubt the veracity of her claims that he was even in the studio. I can still remember her begging and pleading with him to say something.
Also I remember when Jo Wiley tried to inteview him at the brats after he got his genius award, about his thoughts on marc riley and mark radcliffe had won djs of the year and he said "it's like little and large init". Also that same night when Eddie Izzard was doing his kiss-ass introduction, MES wandered up, took the award mid sentence then left the stage without a word, left the award on the table and fucked off home.
The other good one was when the NME years before asked him to interview Link Wray (whom smith was a big fan of) however Wray is deaf and american and Smith mumbles and is from Prestwich so neither could understand each other AT ALL.

MES National treasure - I also reccommend his autobiography if you like drunken rants.
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post #107 of 549
6/5/08 at 6:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vernon Signpost View Post
I'm singing from this hymn sheet with you as well. Weird Weekends is equal parts funny and terrifying. Sometimes it's even quite touching. The Survivalists episode has a good mixture of all three.
My favourite one was the mail order bride episode. The combination of that creepy old guy and Theroux's questions/expressions was hilarious. I also really like the wrestling one, where he ends up pissing off that guy who takes the "sport" way, WAY too seriously. I just love how Theroux acts a bit daft when in fact he's clearly the most intelligent man in the room.

Never heard of Jon Ronson, sounds interesting though.
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post #108 of 549
6/5/08 at 6:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr_adam View Post
MES: Then at the end of the dream the psychiatrist vanishes and goes to do card tricks in a top hat. (sadowicz has vanished) (to camera) That's sadowicz for you - a second rate craig ferguson imitator. (grinds teeth)[/I]
Anyone remember anything about how there was this kind of Bill Hicks/Dennis Leary thing between Sadowitz and Ferguson years ago?

Personally, I know who I find funnier. Sadly though (or maybe it's a good thing?), Ferguson is the one who ended up making it in America. He has a fairly bad late night chat show now.
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post #109 of 549
6/5/08 at 6:54pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr_adam View Post
I don't think they are friends per se but they seem to have similar hobbies...

Smith appeared in a the sadowicz sketch before the opening titles as a multiple mass-murderer being given therapy(?) by an NHS psychiatrist.

As I recall--etc.)
Smashing. I've only seen a couple of episodes of The Pall Bearer's Revue since it was first on. I'll need to try to rectify that.

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I am a big fall fan too. but i would also not recommend getting into the fall.
There's a quote for the cover of their next album!

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MES National treasure - I also recommend his autobiography if you like drunken rants.
As a long time fan of the Fall, I've found I very much enjoy drunken rants! Anyway, I got the book for my birthday and it's sitting near the top of my "to-read" pile.

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fantastic article about his greatest interviews.
He's always entertaining! Anyway, I'm going to try not to derail* the thread even further into the obscurity ghetto with too much MES chat. There's possibly an even more impenetrable thread to be made about him over in the music forum, though!

To try to steer this back to the vicinity of the topic at hand, how's this for a convoluted route:

Mark E. Smith was, supposedly, the first person to say the Viz isn't as funny as it used to be. Alan Moore said recently in the excellent Comics Britannia series** said Viz was better than it's ever been!

Episode 3 of the series in particular is definitely worth tracking down for CHUD types. It covers Viz, 2000A.D. and Alan Moore's career in general. He does some readings from Watchmen. V for Vendetta etc. It's all good stuff.

Also, a couple of years ago Stewart Lee chose Alan Moore to interview on the radio series Chain Reaction, which you can listen to here.


* although, I'm not sure it's actually ever been on the rails. I'm going to claim this thread is a clever homage to Python.

**Narrated by Armando Iannucci, no less!
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post #110 of 549
6/5/08 at 7:15pm
Comics Britannia was a great series although I did feel it rushed through some careers, like Bryan Talbot - a fantastic comics writer had his output boiled down to one (excellent mind you) graphic novel.

Also, wouldn't Viz warrant a documentary in it's own right? (remember that fake Viz documentary from the 90's where keith Chegwin cried on camera about how viz outed him as an alcoholic and it destroyed his marriage and career, forcing him to become a beach comber in dorset).

It did kind of make me think that a documentary dedicated to Alan Moore only would be a great testament to the man and his weirdness. I also felt that a proper MES doc and a Sadowitz doc would make a great biography series about Brits who did their own thing, refused to play the system and their (often peculiar) home life. May be it's just because I'm a fan of these guys..
They aren't going to be around forever.... Anyone got suggestions of other "eccentric" creative brits who could feature in my non-existent documentary series?

Viz - funnier now than ever...

I do recall some kind of rivalry between Sadowitz and ferguson but i don't remember any specifics... does any one know?
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post #111 of 549
6/5/08 at 7:18pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Disciple_72 View Post
My favourite one was the mail order bride episode. The combination of that creepy old guy and Theroux's questions/expressions was hilarious. I also really like the wrestling one, where he ends up pissing off that guy who takes the "sport" way, WAY too seriously. I just love how Theroux acts a bit daft when in fact he's clearly the most intelligent man in the room.
The part where the wrestling guy ran Theroux until he was sick was quite something!

I also liked that Theroux manged to keep up the faux-naive act in every situation including the inside of a neo-nazi compound and some Black Nationalists who were insistent that William Shakespeare was a black man.

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Never heard of Jon Ronson, sounds interesting though.
Ronson's book that The Crazy Rulers... series was based on, "The Men Who Stare at Goats" has been optioned as a movie, apparently. I'm trying to find the Main Page Article and drawing a blank at the moment, though. Ah, here we are. If that description floats your boat, it definitely worth hunting the series down!

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Anyone remember anything about how there was this kind of Bill Hicks/Dennis Leary thing between Sadowitz and Ferguson years ago?
I think it was all down to Ferguson playing the Leary role there and stealing wholesale huge chunks of Sadowitz's act during his (godawful) Bing Hitler days.

Here's a pertinant Stewart Lee routine about joke plagiarism!
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post #112 of 549
6/5/08 at 11:59pm
one of my favourite sayle sketches about the post office

"I come from a very God-fearing family, that's because god used to come round our house on Saturdays and beat us all up.

Does anyone remember KYTV with Geoffrey Perkins and Angus Deyton (pre-fall)

I know some people thought they were a bit naff but I had a real soft spot for Hale and Pace (especially when they bashed yorkshire)

my favourite was the northern opera they did:
Nest in t'dormer (nessun dorma) "I keep t'pigeons in t'loft"
Madame Buggerlugs: "Washing, cooking and bingo, and ironingo, and then more bingo...."
And my favourite The marriage of Clitheroe (my home town): "We are the bigots, the biggest of bigots, bigoted bastards from bradford and bingley, the biggest bigoted beer-bellied bastards about."
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post #113 of 549
6/6/08 at 4:20am
Big Train is some inspired silliness, and I haven't even gotten to series 2. Finally clicked with me how awesome Kevin Eldon is watching it.

Also, can't wait to snap up The Peter Serafinowicz show when it hits DVD/BD/Beta.
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post #114 of 549
6/6/08 at 5:23am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darth Chocula View Post
Big Train is some inspired silliness, and I haven't even gotten to series 2. Finally clicked with me how awesome Kevin Eldon is watching it.

Also, can't wait to snap up The Peter Serafinowicz show when it hits DVD/BD/Beta.
Big Train Series one was great. There's a definite drop-off in the second series, though. The cast changed a bit and Graham Linehan - one of the two creators - dropped out. There's still some good stuff in there, though. Too Many Cooks, Ken Morse: Rostrum Cameraman, Fat-Handed Twat ec.

My favourite sketch in there off the top of my head is Pegg teaching his young son to ride a bike. "That's good but you've gone on fire. Try to do it again only this time be less on fire."

Also, I don't know why the Roxy Music sketch is so funny, but god damn, it really gets me every time.

If you're a fan of Kevin Eldon, you should definitely try to check out Chris Morris's Jam on DVD if you haven't already. His performances are great throughout. In fact, it's pretty much the whole rep company from Big Train minus Pegg but with added Chris Morris and David Cann, so it's not a terrible trade-off.
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post #115 of 549
6/6/08 at 12:55pm
If we're talking favourite BIG TRAIN sketches...
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post #116 of 549
6/6/08 at 1:25pm
Thread Starter 
What, no Hall and Oates in the Community!? Simon Pegg does make a convincing Barry Gibb, though.

I've always been partial to stealing other people's opinions and also this round of Stare Out. Mr Jobbie, indeed.
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post #117 of 549
6/6/08 at 2:56pm
Big train was excellent, they had such a great pool of talent and they blended it well - with a similar cast I vote for JAM, that was just incredible, much more intense and bizarre, whole sketches where you couldn't hear what they were saying because of the background music.
Obviously it would never be a success with the way it dealt with stuff. I remember one sketch where a woman calls in a plumber after a cot death to hook the dead baby up to the radiator so it will still be warm and therefore alive.
Chris Morris is an absolute talent, he's another one for the British Maverick Creative Eccentric series!

Peter serafinowitz's show started really well but kind of died off a little later on, but he is a great impressionist and comedian, I hope to have more things from him.

Does anyone remember touch me I'm Karen Taylor from BBC3 it was a bit chick-com but shit-loads better than most of the BBC3 women-comedy shit (Tittybangbang, missjocelyn etc.).
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post #118 of 549
6/6/08 at 2:57pm
No love here for 'Monkey Dust' ?...3 series of animated disturbia; though it seems series 2 and 3 will probably never make it to DVD...bastards.
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post #119 of 549
6/6/08 at 6:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vernon Signpost View Post
The part where the wrestling guy ran Theroux until he was sick was quite something!

I also liked that Theroux manged to keep up the faux-naive act in every situation including the inside of a neo-nazi compound and some Black Nationalists who were insistent that William Shakespeare was a black man.
Yeah, he's great. The more I think about it actually Theroux does basically the same type of thing as Borat, but in a gentler, more understated way.

As for Big Train- I thought the series was occasionally hilarious, but a lot of the time it just didn't work for me. But I did love the Hall & Oates sketch, as well as Prince in the Serengeti.
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post #120 of 549
6/6/08 at 6:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr_adam View Post
... Anyone got suggestions of other "eccentric" creative brits who could feature in my non-existent documentary series?

How about Paul Kaye, a.k.a. Dennis Pennis? I know a lot of people didn't find the character that funny, but I did. I'm a sucker for a bad pun or an old joke when it's delivered well, plus I'm easily won over by that kind of awkward unwilling/unknowing element in comedy (see also the Brass Eye stuff, and of course Ali G and Borat). For me, Kaye is a fearless comedy legend.

"Demi, it's said that Errol Flyn passed away with a huge erection. Do you think your husband will die hard too?"

He was also pretty great in the sitcom Perfect World, and It's All Gone Pete Tong.
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post #121 of 549
6/6/08 at 7:33pm
Thread Starter 
"Feel free to use my enchanted coracle"

Just finished watching the last episode of series 5 of Peep Show and it was an absolute masterclass in sitcom writing. I've mentioned before but I think if there's any justice at all, it'll be remembered as one of the greats in years to come.

Fight people to get a copy of this series!

Anyway, Dennis Pennis and Ali G (and Ricky Gervais in his early incarnations*) annoyed me at the time because "they were just ripping off Chris Morris, innit?" I've mellowed a bit since then and can appreciate them for what they are. I can't see myself ever loving them, though.

That said, Ali G in the US, Aiiiii! (is that the right title?) was a far better series than any thing Sacha B-C did on UK TV.

With Big Train, as I said, there was a definite drop in quality after Linehan left but the high points in the first series can hold their own against anything. It just makes you wonder how good it could have been if Morris could have fitted the whole series into his schedule rather than just being involved with the pilot.

* I know this is absolute heresy to many, but I'm not a great fan of The Office. The first series is pretty good, but I enjoyed the rest for the plot rather than finding any of it especially hilarious.

I think it's possibly to do with seeing the early "Ricky Gervais" character develop over a few years before The Sitcom breakthrough. And I didn't like that character very much at all, which tainted my initial opinion of David Brent because, well, it's the same character.

If I'm banned from the thread now, I must say I enjoyed it while it lasted!
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post #122 of 549
6/9/08 at 1:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vernon Signpost View Post
Just finished watching the last episode of series 5 of Peep Show and it was an absolute masterclass in sitcom writing. I've mentioned before but I think if there's any justice at all, it'll be remembered as one of the greats in years to come.
This is a great series, hopefully it will keep going. Did you see Magicians?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vernon Signpost View Post
I know this is absolute heresy to many, but I'm not a great fan of The Office. The first series is pretty good, but I enjoyed the rest for the plot rather than finding any of it especially hilarious.

I think it's possibly to do with seeing the early "Ricky Gervais" character develop over a few years before The Sitcom breakthrough. And I didn't like that character very much at all, which tainted my initial opinion of David Brent because, well, it's the same character.

If I'm banned from the thread now, I must say I enjoyed it while it lasted!
No Sir, you speak the truth! for too long the UK office has ridden too high. It should be on the Overblown chud list! I thought it was lazy and trite and disliked it from day one. I enjoyed the US version far more. Gervais is far too big for his boots these days - I liked him when he was on the 11 o'clock show but then when he got his chat show it was clear he was a one trick pony. When the office came out, everyone who hadn't seen him before were convinced he was a genious - the failure of his movie projects and pile that was extras ('lets get celebs in to swear..") should have convinced people that he was shit. People will realise he's not very good at all.

How about the mary whitehouse experience???????
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post #123 of 549
6/10/08 at 10:12am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr_adam View Post
This is a great series, hopefully it will keep going. Did you see Magicians?
Season 6 has been announced. Presumably it'll air next year.

I did see Magicians. It's pretty "meh". It's not much more than an overlong, under-cooked episode of Peep Show with less interesting characters. If they'd just gone ahead and made a Peep Show Movie it might have worked out a whole lot better for them.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mr_adam View Post
for too long the UK office has ridden too high. It should be on the Overblown chud list! I thought it was lazy and trite and disliked it from day one. I enjoyed the US version far more. Gervais is far too big for his boots these days - I liked him when he was on the 11 o'clock show but then when he got his chat show it was clear he was a one trick pony. When the office came out, everyone who hadn't seen him before were convinced he was a genious - the failure of his movie projects and pile that was extras ('lets get celebs in to swear..") should have convinced people that he was shit. People will realise he's not very good at all.
I wouldn't go quite that far in my dislike for it, but when I watched it on its first run my thoughts were: "This is better than I expected from a sitcom by that Ricky Gervais guy" and not "Wow, I am watching a revolution in TV comedy."

There's good performances and some nice touches over its run, but I'm still kind of amazed that it became an all-conquering Juggernaut of comedy and the big success story of the last decade.

As you say, I've not seen anything before or since The Office to suggest that Gervais is anything more than a one-note writer and performer. He still wins, though, and fair play to him I suppose.

Hopefully his success has made some people look to see if UK comedy has anything to offer, which it obviously does!

Did you ever see the interviews he did with Chris Guest, Larry David and Garry Shandling? The first two were fairly bland mutual love-ins, especially the Guest interview. The Shandling interview, however, is fascinating as he completely refuses to play ball. You can find it on youtube, I'm sure.

How scripted the whole thing was is debatable, but it doesn't seem pre-planned and neither man comes out of it looking anything less than a complete dick. Of course, Gervais will have had the final edit on the show, so there's that to keep in mind.
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post #124 of 549
6/10/08 at 3:20pm
I was a bit disappointed by magicians, I thought it had a good chance but it kind of failed to engage, desite jessica stevenson (hynes) being fantastic, Did you know it was Directed by Andrew O'Connor (catchphrase, chainletters etc.)

I saw a bit of the Christopher guest episode of "Ricky Gervais sucks the cock of hollywood has-beens" because I'm a guest fan but I couldn't stand his sycophancy, it was like parkinson with less dignity. And that laugh... I just hate him now.

I don't think I could endure the Garry Shandling episode, sorry.

Gervais reminds me of Lee Evans, half an ounce of talent - off to conquer Hollywood then (hopefully) sent home with a broken heart and a bleeding ass. Lee Evans was in "there's something about mary" but no-one ever remembers...

Peep show will hopefully just keep marching on, it practically writes itself and I expect it's made for fuck all money too, plus it's not like mitchell or webb are suddenly going to start demanding $1m per episode. Wind to their backs!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Disciple_72 View Post
How about Paul Kaye, a.k.a. Dennis Pennis? I know a lot of people didn't find the character that funny, but I did. For me, Kaye is a fearless comedy legend.

He was also pretty great in the sitcom Perfect World, and It's All Gone Pete Tong.
I rather liked the pete Tong film and the Pennis stuff was pretty great at first but it just descended into lazy abuse (kaye admitted), last i heard he was trying to get pennis going again.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to reject the Kaye application based on 4000 acres of skye (or whatever it was called), such transregressions are not acceptable. Good suggestion but they need at least one legendary thing.

For the record, I'm not a fan of the mighty boosh - i quite liked it on radio and I don't mind it on TV if there's nothing else on but I just don't find it funny, it doesn't make me laugh. I think in all the episodes i watched I laughed out loud once*. It's pretty odd, I like it but I don't think it's funny.

"This coconut is alright it tastes exactly like abounty, the chocolate's a bit shit, like in an advent calendar."
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post #125 of 549
6/13/08 at 3:09am
Fair enough, mr_adam. Another submission for your eccentric/creative doco series, then:

Nigel "Nige" Buckland, of Vids fame (absolutely the greatest movie related TV show ever!). Very welsh, very intense, very very great.
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post #126 of 549
6/13/08 at 5:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vernon Signpost View Post
Did you ever see the interviews he did with Chris Guest, Larry David and Garry Shandling? The first two were fairly bland mutual love-ins, especially the Guest interview. The Shandling interview, however, is fascinating as he completely refuses to play ball. You can find it on youtube, I'm sure.

How scripted the whole thing was is debatable, but it doesn't seem pre-planned and neither man comes out of it looking anything less than a complete dick. Of course, Gervais will have had the final edit on the show, so there's that to keep in mind.
Are you serious? Because the two guys I see in this link are definitely not serious.

Edited to add that, after watching the entire clip, it's easy to understand how you could have disliked The Office given that you didn't catch on to the fact that this interview was completely staged. It was hilarious!
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post #127 of 549
6/13/08 at 6:25am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Disciple_72 View Post
Vids ... (absolutely the greatest movie related TV show ever!).
Quoted for truth! And to add that Bits was the greatest Video Gaming show ever! 4Later is sadly missed in general.

Quote:
Originally Posted by blunderbuss
Are you serious? Because the two guys I see in this link are definitely not serious.
I'm in a youtube-less zone at the moment, but I actually watched the full show again after I made my last post and I'm prepared to revise my opinion on it a bit. I still don't think it's totally scripted but there's definitely some set-ups. It's a bizarre hour of TV that's an interesting failure if its aim is to deconstruct uncomfortable humour in interview form. Although, I've been reading up about it and it seems his experience with Shandling has apparently put Gervais off interviewing for good, so who knows.

Edited to add: I don't dislike The Office, exactly, and I certainly "get it" - I just think it's way over-rated.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Troy n
Thanks Vernon. I've been enjoying the hell out of Peep Show on youtube.
Cheers Troy, glad you're enjoying it!
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post #128 of 549
6/13/08 at 1:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Disciple_72 View Post
Nigel "Nige" Buckland, of Vids fame (absolutely the greatest movie related TV show ever!). Very welsh, very intense, very very great.
QUOTED FOR TRUTH!

Nige was fucking crazy!! I had forgotten about him, he was amazing, especially in the first few seasons, after the shop got blown up i thought he went a bit too far but his obsession with biscuits was too damn funny.

The other thing I loved with Vids was the way before the break they would always say:
"Join us in part 2....For a bit of this...." and show a clip of some porn. Great show. Stef was good too but yes Nige was incredible. What the hell happened to him I thought he'd have gone on to do something after that (may be he did in wales or scotland)...

BITS was a good show, I can't remember all their names (shows what a considerate lover I am) but I recall one of them was Alex and another called emily, one of them was fit and one had a lisp. The american bird was ok but was a bit annoying.

4later come back!!! I can't believe they replaced it with morons sleeping in a house in that london.

Moviewatch was repeated then as well - Vaughny's little project - didn't the director of moviewatch make the full monty - italian sounding name...
and if i recall, 4later was the first time poker was on TV.
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post #129 of 549
6/13/08 at 2:14pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr_adam View Post
QUOTED FOR TRUTH!

Nige was fucking crazy!! I had forgotten about him, he was amazing, especially in the first few seasons, after the shop got blown up i thought he went a bit too far but his obsession with biscuits was too damn funny.

The other thing I loved with Vids was the way before the break they would always say:
"Join us in part 2....For a bit of this...." and show a clip of some porn. Great show. Stef was good too but yes Nige was incredible. What the hell happened to him I thought he'd have gone on to do something after that (may be he did in wales or scotland)...
Nige turned up in the Scottish version of the Culture Show (Hey, we have culture too!) and did a bit of stand up after Vidz finished. Hadn't thought about him in years until Disciple's post. I'm not sure what he gets up to these days. Not enough, certainly.

Steph, I think, just fell off the face of the Earth.

Quote:
BITS was a good show, I can't remember all their names (shows what a considerate lover I am) but I recall one of them was Alex and another called emily, one of them was fit and one had a lisp. The american bird was ok but was a bit annoying.
There were two Emilys and an Alex (although it was spelled in a stupid internets way with 3 "K"s and a "Z" or something). The one you're thinking of Is Emily Bouff, the sometime thespian who turned up in arthouse flicks such as Pervirerella and Cradle of Fear, the Cradle of Filth movie. SPOILERS: Yes. You see her knockers in them and, yes, the films really are that bad END SPOILERS

Quote:
4later come back!!! I can't believe they replaced it with morons sleeping in a house in that london.

Moviewatch was repeated then as well - Vaughny's little project - didn't the director of moviewatch make the full monty - italian sounding name...
and if i recall, 4later was the first time poker was on TV.
Yep, Late Night Poker, JAAAAAAM and random Short Films (Shooting Gallery?) amongst other things. It kept me pleasantly occupied through the night through the early part of this century.
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post #130 of 549
6/13/08 at 4:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vernon Signpost View Post
Nige turned up in the Scottish version of the Culture Show (Hey, we have culture too!) and did a bit of stand up after Vidz finished. Hadn't thought about him in years until Disciple's post. I'm not sure what he gets up to these days. Not enough, certainly.

Steph, I think, just fell off the face of the Earth.
He was a bit of a comic foil/ bag carrier though. I always wondered if they were lovers, they sometimes alluded to it but it was hard to tell.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vernon Signpost View Post
There were two Emilys and an Alex (although it was spelled in a stupid internets way with 3 "K"s and a "Z" or something). The one you're thinking of Is Emily Bouff, the sometime thespian who turned up in arthouse flicks such as Pervirerella and Cradle of Fear, the Cradle of Filth movie. SPOILERS: Yes. You see her knockers in them and, yes, the films really are that bad END SPOILERS
Yesss. Aleckxzkkzzkx was the Yank, she still turns up on TV everynow and again, Bouff (they called her that didn't they to distinguish from the emily with a lisp - it's all coming back now) had really great tits.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Vernon Signpost View Post
Yep, Late Night Poker, JAAAAAAM and random Short Films (Shooting Gallery?) amongst other things.
Of course JAAAM was on too! See my earlier posts for praise of that show! There was other annoying stuff like Jo Whiley's ugly face and uglier feet.

Does anyone lese remember the white room with Mark Radcliffe trying to be down with the kids in a suit and contacts? I love scrawn but he really looked out of place there. I remember some odd performances there - it was like the music bits of the word but in a really false and abstract way - everyone had to wear black or white and look uncomfortable but even that got ditched later on. It died on it's arse because of TFI Friday.
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post #131 of 549
6/13/08 at 8:55pm
yeah, Bouff was well fit. Great norks, and clearly the dirtiest of the three.

Quote:
Nige turned up in the Scottish version of the Culture Show (Hey, we have culture too!) and did a bit of stand up after Vidz finished.
I heard he also did something on one of the SKY satellite channels where he talked about movies. Never saw this though.
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post #132 of 549
6/16/08 at 9:39am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Disciple_72 View Post
I heard he also did something on one of the SKY satellite channels where he talked about movies. Never saw this though.
I wonder if that was the same show that Harry Knowles turned up on? I didn't see it either, though.

Anyway, here lives his website, which has a a few rants and a link to some Vids fansites, a couple of which seem to have the shows available -although, I can't check from here. If they do, then I've just found a thing to do with my evenings for the forseeable future.

Even the Vids episode guides are giving me the horn:


Quote:
Series 1, Show 2

Vids reviewed:

Wishmaster
Demagogue
Gang related
The full totty
Shaolin art of war
Shaolin temple
Spooky encounters
Mimic
They don't make 'em like that any more. Sadly

Quote:
Does anyone lese remember the white room with Mark Radcliffe trying to be down with the kids in a suit and contacts? I love scrawn but he really looked out of place there. I remember some odd performances there - it was like the music bits of the word but in a really false and abstract way - everyone had to wear black or white and look uncomfortable but even that got ditched later on. It died on it's arse because of TFI Friday.
I didn't mind The White Room for what it was, but it was all a bit forced with the occasional inspired moment - which seems to be the case with all music shows on TV. The black and white gimmick as a callback to the 60s days of Ready Steady Go or whatever, was an idea that should never have got beyond the planning stage.

I do remember Iggy Pop performing Lust for Life in a pair of see-through plastic trousers whilst also going commando, though. So it was worth it for that if nothing else.

Also; Fuck TFI Friday.
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post #133 of 549
6/16/08 at 10:23am
Forgive me for not going back through the whole thread, but have you guys talked up THE PETER SERAFINOWICZ SHOW? Just watched the first two episodes, and they cracked my shit up. Loved Michael-6, the robot talk-show host ("Smiley face") and the excellent Michael Caine piss-take.

Oh, and I second the appreciation of Emily Booth's tits.
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post #134 of 549
6/17/08 at 3:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vernon Signpost View Post
Anyway, here lives his website
Heh, judging by that one rant he doesn't much like Louis Theroux, does he?

If you're a fan of Bits/Vids, try checking out Consolevania. I've seen a few episodes and it's definitely got some of that mischievous low budget Vids spirit. The Resident Evil 4 one was hilarious, especially the bit with the aerosol can.
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post #135 of 549
6/17/08 at 6:29pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Disciple_72 View Post
Heh, judging by that one rant he doesn't much like Louis Theroux, does he?
Ha! Seemingly not.

Quote:
If you're a fan of Bits/Vids, try checking out Consolevania. I've seen a few episodes and it's definitely got some of that mischievous low budget Vids spirit. The Resident Evil 4 one was hilarious, especially the bit with the aerosol can.
I've actually caught a few episodes of that and enjoyed them. I keep meaning to track down some more. And, hey wouldn't you know, you can get them all on their webbo. Did it ever go national? I just assumed it was a local thing.

Haven't had any joy tracking down any Vids, sadly, but I've been reminded of other 4Later shows like The Trip and Exploitica on my travels. Late Night TV used to be awesome.

Anyway, for the sake of funny, here are some Videos by Adam Buxton:

Adam On You Say We Pay

Signing for the Deaf

Ken Korda on In Her Shoes

And one so good it made the front page of CHUD:

NWA Day
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post #136 of 549
6/19/08 at 11:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vernon Signpost View Post
Did it ever go national? I just assumed it was a local thing.
To be honest I don't know. I only found out about Consolevania when someone at a videogames message board linked to the Resident Evil episode a few years back.

I never got into The Adam and Joe Show, but I liked the Buxton clips you posted. He's quite funny. Loved his sendoff in Hot Fuzz!

Because I feel like posting it, here is a clip I found of my fave Coogan's Run character, Gareth Cheeseman:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VEv3q-ViieQ

"YOU'RE A TIGER!"
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post #137 of 549
6/19/08 at 11:19am
Damn, no luck trying to find a clip of Gareth deciding to celebrate his big win with a wank!
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post #138 of 549
6/19/08 at 11:23am
Hang on, found it:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=w826qm1XIaY

And another great Cheeseman moment:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hlQySJ-_c6Y
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post #139 of 549
6/19/08 at 3:53pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Disciple_72 View Post
To be honest I don't know. I only found out about Consolevania when someone at a videogames message board linked to the Resident Evil episode a few years back.
Fair enough. I'll try to catch up on it, as I liked what little I did see of it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Disciple_72 View Post
I never got into The Adam and Joe Show, but I liked the Buxton clips you posted. He's quite funny. Loved his sendoff in Hot Fuzz!
When it's my turn to go, I want someone to drop a steeple on my head!

I love the A&J show but I can see how it could be a turn off for some. A few of the toy movie parodies haven't worn too well, but when they hit the mark it was a great thing indeed.

As I mentioned, they have a Saturday radio show and Podcast these days that you can stream all week off the BBC website. The podcast at least is usually worth a listen if you have a spare half hour of an evening.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Disciple_72 View Post
Gareth Cheeseman Stuff
Ah, smashing. It was pretty much a dry run for I'm Alan Partridge but still fucking great anyway.

Your post reminded me I don't actually own Coogan's Run on DVD. I'll have to fix that. I haven't seen it for a few years now but I also remember enjoying the Natural Born Quizzers episode which I can find no trace of on YouTube and also the Nightclub one that Peter Kay ripped off for Phoenix Nights. It even had Graham Fellows in if I recall.

Hey, why the hell not, here's Graham Fellows in his punk days:

Jilted John!
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post #140 of 549
6/19/08 at 7:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vernon Signpost View Post
Ah, smashing. It was pretty much a dry run for I'm Alan Partridge but still fucking great anyway.
Yeah, there was definitely some influence there in IAP. For example, the hints of sad, lonely Travel Tavern wank sessions with that running gag about the skin mags in his drawer (which in Pulp Fiction briefcase style, are never actually seen).

Kevin Eldon, opening the drawer: "Ooh. Hehe!"


Quote:
Your post reminded me I don't actually own Coogan's Run on DVD. I'll have to fix that. I haven't seen it for a few years now but I also remember enjoying the Natural Born Quizzers episode which I can find no trace of on YouTube and also the Nightclub one that Peter Kay ripped off for Phoenix Nights. [/URL]
The nightclub one was good. "The name's... CLINT... STALLONE."

Also a winner- The Duncan Thickett episode (maybe Coogan could recycle the glasses for when he plays Eddie The Eagle Edwards later this year!)
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post #141 of 549
6/19/08 at 7:12pm
The Cheeseman car worship is also tres Alan.
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post #142 of 549
6/19/08 at 10:39pm
I'm sure PEEP SHOW will have been discussed in here but overall I was disappointed with the last series. It started off strongly but there was a real dip for 2 or 3 episodes, although the last one was an improvement.

Here's hoping series 6 stays gold all the way through.
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post #143 of 549
6/20/08 at 8:02pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Disciple_72 View Post
Yeah, there was definitely some influence there in IAP. For example, the hints of sad, lonely Travel Tavern wank sessions with that running gag about the skin mags in his drawer (which in Pulp Fiction briefcase style, are never actually seen).

Kevin Eldon, opening the drawer: "Ooh. Hehe!"
The Actor Kevin Eldon is seriously one of my favourite people ever. He's disappeared slightly in the last couple of years which is a bit disappointing after him having seemingly been in everything funny ever throughout the previous decade.

I'm sure Chris Morris, whenever he re-appears, will put him to good use.

Quote:
Also a winner- The Duncan Thickett episode (maybe Coogan could recycle the glasses for when he plays Eddie The Eagle Edwards later this year!)
I am seriously buying that DVD tomorrow. I need to see the full series again.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Russell Faraday
I'm sure PEEP SHOW will have been discussed in here but overall I was disappointed with the last series. It started off strongly but there was a real dip for 2 or 3 episodes, although the last one was an improvement.

Here's hoping series 6 stays gold all the way through.
It has been discussed. I think I enjoyed the last series a bit more than you did but I'd agree that not every episode reached the heights of some of the previous series. That last episode was superb, though. And the one with "Gunny" the gun killed me.

I think Peep Show's main weakness is that it's not American. In the US, they'd have had the whole cast signed up on 6 or 7 year options after the first lot of episodes were a success. The UK's system has meant it's lost characters like Nancy, Big Suze (who was a Nancy surrogate in the first place) and especially series 1's Toni from year to year depending on each actor's schedule.

Any episode with Super Hans or Johnson = win, though.

As for series 6; The introduction of a baby into most other sitcoms would be the harbinger of doom with Fonzie looking down benignly from a Super-Selachimorphic position but it could actually work in the world of Peep Show.

Clippage:

The worst Answerphone message possible

Elf Porn & Swastikas

Omerta
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post #144 of 549
6/22/08 at 4:29pm
Thread Starter 
In a sort of surprising turn of events, it turns out Adam Buxton has a new show on tonight. Think it's a pilot with stuff along the lines of those YouTube videos I posted before, as it's called MeeBox.

The BBC must be really confident that they have a hit on their hands as they've given it pride of place in their listings; Sunday, 11:45p.m. BBC3!

I'm expecting hit and miss, but he's funny enough that it could be pretty good.
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post #145 of 549
6/24/08 at 3:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vernon Signpost View Post
The Actor Kevin Eldon is seriously one of my favourite people ever. He's disappeared slightly in the last couple of years which is a bit disappointing after him having seemingly been in everything funny ever throughout the previous decade.
As with many of the comedians mentioned in this thread, I haven't really kept up with his work. Sad to hear he's not around so much now.


Quote:
I am seriously buying that DVD tomorrow. I need to see the full series again.
Please do buy the DVD, but note that you won't be seeing Duncan Thickett on it, because I just realized I got mixed up and actually meant to say his other ultrasad glasses wearing character, Tim Fleck (aka The Curator). I'll get out of having to turn in my Coogan geek card by saying it's been a while since I last saw Coogan's Run, and the Cheeseman episode is the one I remember best.
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post #146 of 549
6/24/08 at 4:05pm
Saw on the news about the death of George Carlin yesterday, and they were showing some of his pokes against religion, which got me thinking about the late, great Dave Allen. In my opinion, he was one of the best non-beverage Irish exports ever, and in a perfect world I think he'd be as well known as (and more liked than) bloody Benny Hill. Anyone else a fan of this master raconteur?

Some classics:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jxo81Ok9Urk

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OA-chhs5uOA

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CBAxSBbYVxE

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vku_fKAioUw
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post #147 of 549
6/24/08 at 4:10pm
one more:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=IeNDkxnz2V0
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post #148 of 549
6/24/08 at 5:30pm
How many anecdotes did he have about how he lost half a finger?
Miss him loads.
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post #149 of 549
6/24/08 at 7:51pm
Thread Starter 
Smashing stuff. The man was a great stand-up. He makes it look so easy!

More to the point, he made half an hour of a man standing near a stool with a glass of whiskey on top essential Saturday night viewing. His series from around 1990 that Disciple's first clip was from was one of the few things my parents and I both thought was hilarious! Definitely missed.

I didn't manage to get the Coogan's Run DVD the other day as it was about a million pounds in HMV, so I've ordered it off that internet.
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post #150 of 549
6/25/08 at 3:10pm
Yeah, I've got some some nice memories of watching his shows when I was growing up. Nice to see he has some admirers here.

Here's another clip (predates Army of Darkness by several years)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VNRZl_fuquY
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