Rolling UK Comedy Thread - "Ricky Don't Lose Larry David's Number

Inside #9 - I hadnt' even realised this existed until yesterday and I'm a huge League / Psychoville fan. Needless to say this is excellent, really sharp, clever, witty storytelling. I love how the LoG guys have moved away from cheap gags and really the laughs now are felt implicitly.

Inside #9:

Thought the first episode was too characters by numbers - I felt like I'd seen both Reece and Steve's characters before, and Timothy West's character felt like an amalgam of several others; the "go out would you" doctor being the closest but bits of Edward for sure, with him thinking about the old days. Didn't he say "I was in the army" at one point? (Speaking of which, I have found an unacknowledged - as far as I know - source of a catchphrase. In the Doctor Who serial Frontios the character played by Peter Gilmore comes through the doorway and says "Hello! What's this?" in an exactly Edward way. It's impossible to believe Gatiss in particular was unaware.)

Loved the second episode. Funniest part I thought was opening the door to shoo out the small dog, only for the big dog to come in. I have no idea why they didn't just steal the painting though rather than go to all the effort of replacing it, since the duplicate would have been so easily spotted.

I wasn't all that keen on the third episode. I thought Tom's descent into being a tramp was all too predictable and didn't quite get who we were supposed to think was real by the end. My take is that the dead guy is Tom's social worker - it's him that makes the final breakthrough that gets Tom to turn his life round, not Gerri, and in rejecting what he's become he has killed (in effigy and, as it turns out, in reality) the projection model for whose fault the decline was. I think this is all flagged at the beginning when Migg comes into the flat and spins what seems to be a line in "I knew Bukowski". Tom says to him that he has the last book and Migg says he hasn't read it yet, but it's a brand new copy so crucially NEITHER HAS TOM. I think this is supposed to indicate that his romanticised view of Bukowski, but without so many of the harsh realities, is what allows him to start his decline and his fictionalised view of Migg proves you can live like that.

Or maybe I'm over-thinking it.

Reece certainly ran through a number of old voices in the final episode of House Of Fools, didn't he?

That's an interesting reading of the episode. I just figured the twist was that Migg had been real all along and Gerri was a projection of Tom's imagination, but I think I like yours better.

^ yeah I think that's just it. I loved how they were telegraphing the "obvious" twist of Migg and was waiting to see what they were going to do with that.
#2 was great. So was #1, tbf, just a bit more of what you'd expect I guess.

People Just Do Nothing seems smarter and more amusing than your typical BBC3 sitcom.

loved the pilot but e1 of the series proper seemed a bit more hammy & leaning towards the 2 pints lager type rot. not awful but not sure yet if to watch the rest of the series

anyone still watching friday night dinner? following a highly ropey opening episode, the third season was excellent - though I do prefer the episodes where nothing really happens and the boys just play juvenile tricks on each other.

Yeah, I've enjoyed this series a lot although some of it has felt a bit contrived - blind piano tuner, I'm looking at you - and I didn't like the ending at all, not least because it means no Mister Morris if there's a series 4.

the blind piano tuner episode was overstuffed with ideas - it really didn't need the whole "ooh, my carpet's just been cleaned" beat throughout. but there were some great moments this season, from mr morris's tirades about punk rockers and beau brummells, to the dad getting all pimpy in his tuxedo.

Favourite episode was the anniversary one, Jim and the sleeping pills was just superb. And Jim in the bath. And Jim having counselling. Just Jim in general really.

Oh yes. Jim has been very good value of late. Loved his shirt with the holes at the wedding. And Heap's panicky start whenever he gazes upon the ever-tranquil Wilson never fails to amuse.

the iPlayer "Comedy Feed" one-offs are fucking dire :(

Extremely unpopular opinion: I think Badults is often pretty clever and has some great one-liners.

I was bewildered at how terrible Badults was, to the point of wondering if I was missing the point, like someone watching Monty Python in 1968 or whenever and being all 'this is garbage! the sketches don't even end properly!', you know, like I just didn't GET IT. I would be interested to hear someone try to explain why it's not dreadful.

the bald badult reminds me a little of a young Jimmy Edwards, potential lead if BBC4 ever make one of those light-entertainment-star docudramas about him

I think most people are with you on that - just the Twitter rage alone when a new episode goes out is something to behold.

I don't think I could craft a particularly *impassioned* defense, but I do think I'd say that the key to the show is that the writer/stars know how stupid it is, but are smart at crafting the stupid. There's an episode I saw where the aforementioned bald badult starts to write a play about his flatmates which starts to become a sort of Synecdoche, New York that folds in on itself and it was very well done.

It's very old fashioned, and daft, and uncynical, and all of that is intentional. But I understand why it's not for everyone.

the bald badult reminds me a little of a young Jimmy Edwards, potential lead if BBC4 ever make one of those light-entertainment-star docudramas about him

This is such a horrific idea it's almost certain to be commissioned by some chinless wonder at the Beeb.

they got the guy from the BT adverts to play Eric Morecambe, I'm not sure there are any depths these people couldn't sink to

(NB I didn't watch that Eric and Ernie thing, Simon from the BT adverts may have given a transcendent performance for all I know) (he won a BAFTA for it, apparently?)

just the Twitter rage alone when a new episode goes out is something to behold

ha, this is part of the reason I thought I might be missing something, if it was some elaborate scheme to troll Twitter it was very well done- people didn't just dislike the show, they were genuinely incredulous and offended that it was being broadcast

I'll take a thousand and one series of Badults over a single second of the new comedy show commissioned by ITV for fucking DAPPER LAUGHS

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jul/30/youtube-dapper-laughs-lands-itv2-dating-show

Could someone more eloquent than me eviscerate Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy? Grimmest shit I've sat through in years.

From the Facebook page of award-winning stand-up comedian, Andrew Lawrence:

Can't help but notice increasingly, a lot 'political' comedians cracking cheap and easy gags about UKIP, to the extent that it's got hack, boring and lazy very quickly.

Particularly too much moronic, liberal back-slapping on panel shows like Mock The Week where aging, balding, fat men, ethnic comedians and women-posing-as-comedians, sit congratulating themselves on how enlightened they are about the fact that UKIP are ridiculous and pathetic.

Yet the Clacton by-election victory and what looks to be a likely victory in the Rochester by-election goes to show that UKIP have their supporters.

Out of touch, smug, superannuated, overpaid TV comics with their cosy lives in their west-London ivory towers taking a supercilious, moralising tone, pandering to the ever-creeping militant political correctness of the BBC with their frankly surreal diversity targets.

The reason UKIP have resonated with voters is because all the other parties are too spineless to tackle the issue of immigration.

Our elected representatives seeded control of the borders of this country to the EU and it's been catastrophic for us all, an unmitigated disaster. Nothing works. Public transport infrastructure is dysfunctional. Hospitals and Schools are dysfunctional. The housing crisis continues to blight our economic potential and destroy the hopes and dreams of a generation. The benefits system is totally out of control. All because there are far,far too many people living here.

For every wonderful, welcome skilled worker our open borders bring into this country, there are also benefit tourists and criminals. For every person that comes here and contributes richly to our culture, there are those that refuse to assimilate, which breeds distrust and has led to a fractured, broken society, where people have lost all sense of community.

Can't say that I'm a UKIP supporter, but I can see why other people are, and I don't disrespect them for it.

What I don't respect is lazy comedians, who market themselves as 'political' but rather than having the courage of their own convictions jump on the militant liberal bandwagon- which has been the source of so much shit stand-up over the years- so that they can get TV work and line their own pockets.

There is a deeply ingrained militant liberal politics at every level of the BBC, despite the fact that it's tax-payer funded and supposed to be neutral. It's a biased organisation and the only sorts of political comedians that are welcome within its corridors are those that reflect it's values.

Essentially when we're watching these 'political' comedians cracking their piss-poor UKIP gags on the BBC, I think we need to be aware they are neither engaged nor passionate about their subject- but money-grubbing charlatans, toadying up to the militant liberals that pay their wages, mirroring their own beliefs back at them in an act of false flattery so that they'll feel smug and validated and keep them on the BBC tax-payer funded gravy-train.

I'm not a political comic, my only ambition for my comedy is to make a room full of people laugh. But there are those that disingenuously market themselves as political comics, not out of any genuine conviction, but in an effort to line their own pockets, and I don't like their hypocrisy.

https://www.facebook.com/andrewlawrencecomedy?

'seeded control'

Lawrence's act exploits his range of voices, includes references to his ginger hair and songs performed on an acoustic guitar.

Can't say that I'm a UKIP supporter

Ah now, you might as well.

he lost me at "women-posing-as-comedians"

Who hell he?

to be fair maybe it's because he's very very very white

http://www.andrewlawrencecomedy.co.uk/images/Andrew-Lawrence.jpg

Someone's butthurt at not making the R4 -> BBC2 jump clearly

I don't know what crazy shit went down for Diwali yesterday, but I've been phoning for a taxi for an hour now, and no-one's answering.

Erm

For every wonderful, welcome skilled worker our open borders bring into this country, there are also benefit tourists and criminals

EU study on migrants rebuffs 'benefit tourism' claims or

Someone's butthurt at not making the R4 -> BBC2 jump clearly

This is so obviously what this is about and how shite would you have to be not to make the jump?

https://twitter.com/andrewlawrence/status/512927692480868352

‏@andrewlawrence

That Partizan Belgrade 'Only Jews And Pussies' banner was an absolute disgrace last night, how dare they steal the BBC's recruitment slogan.

Alan didn't get his second series then

That shushh! gesture meaning hey I am outrageous and so very controversial, irrepressible etc... . Yeah whatever you little fucking prick.

With just one episode to go, Detectorists has been the best BBC sitcom in some time.

Yeah it's brilliant

I'll third that. What a pleasant surprise

Only watched the first episode and was fairly underwhelmed, but will perhaps soldier on if folk rate it.

it's highly rateable imo

should i bother with scot squad?

That Andrew Lawrence must have been doing a 'bit', right? No one's talked in those kinds of cliches since Alf Garnett.

Doing a bit of what?

bit of politics

http://mothinabutterfly.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/44975680_ben_elton_1990_466bbc.jpg

It's not, in fairness, as funny as describing Frankie Boyle as 'achingly PC'.

The Shambolic Skeptic • a day ago
Nothing worse than the giggling, smirking, grinning, self-appointed, self-congratulating elitist cabal that call themselves comedy performers.

Who watches these so not funny morons anyway?

Toast of London is back - not quite as funny as I'd remembered but worth a go if you're bored.

Some people have put two and two together and got pretty much 4 to explain why Dapper Laughs got commissioned:

There is still one question that remains from the fallout of the whole Dapper Laughs debacle. Namely: why on earth would ITV commission such a controversial comedian to make a blatantly sexist show? If you take Dapper out of the equation though, it suddenly starts to make a lot more sense…

And so Dapper Laughs has laughed his last. Two days ago, Daniel O’Reilly was forced onto Newsnight in a sombre turtleneck, first to have Emily Maitlis repeat his punchlines back at him (in the same humourless-yet-hilarious style she once delivered Frankie Boyle’s “I’m so old, my pussy is haunted” line) and then to ceremoniously slit the throat of his ‘creation’, Dapper Laughs.
A lot has been written about the whole Dapper Laughs imbroglio – pieces about free speech and censorship, pieces about comedy and classism, pieces about online bullying, rape culture and the place of satire in the 21st century. All of that has been scrutinised in minute detail by thousands of commentators and there is no reason for us to revisit or rehash it any further.
The only question that still seems to be plaguing people is this: why on earth would ITV commission Dapper Laughs in the first place?
Here’s one possible answer for you.

Dapper Laughs: On The Pull is listed as having been co-devised by two companies. One is Big Minded Limited is a production company headed up by Jolene Ellis and Chris Graves. The other is Proper Moist Limited is a company which lists Daniel O’Reilly as a boardmember. Both Graves and O’Reilly are also listed as executive producers of the show alongside one other man: Dan Baldwin.
Daniel Peter Baldwin is the man listed as the Managing Director of Hungry Bear Media – the company which actually produces the show. (They have since removed any mention of Dapper Laughs on their homepage, but pics are still floating about on their domain.)

If you know his name, it won’t be as Managing Director of Hungry Bear Media. It’ll be for one of his other achievements. To people in the industry, he made his name at ITV as the producer of Ministry Of Mayhem – the Saturday morning successor to SM:TV. To the general public though, Daniel Baldwin is better known for something else.
Being the husband of Holly Willoughby.
Holly Willoughby, in case you’ve never had the pleasure, is one of ITV’s golden geese. She is the presenter of ITV’s flagship daytime magazine programme This Morning; the presenter of ITV’s primetime feel-good family show Surprise, Surprise; and, up until recently, a team captain on ITV’s specialist programming for the feeble-minded, Celebrity Juice.
How does all of this connect to Dapper Laughs? Very simply.
Willoughby and Baldwin don’t just enjoy a close personal relationship, they enjoy a close professional one too. In fact, their careers are almost atomically intertwined. Although Baldwin recently stood down as secretary of Peaches Productions Ltd (Willoughby’s personal production company), he has served as producer or executive producer on a number of her shows – including Ministry Of Mayhem, Holly and Stephen’s Saturday Showdown, Lemon La Vida Loca and Celebrity Juice.
That’s a pretty hefty bargaining chip, especially considering that ITV almost lost Willoughby to the BBC once (when she left Dancing On Ice to host The Voice). They couldn’t risk that happening again. Certainly not over some paltry little internet show that they could commission for a single six-part series, stick in the schedules on Monday at 10:30pm and then quietly shelf citing poor ratings.
The Baldwin-Willoughby alliance wouldn’t have been the only consideration though, obviously. But guess which pair of geniuses are also credited with having come up with the idea for Celebrity Juice? Jolene Ellis and Chris Graves – head honchos at Big Minded Ltd and fellow Dapper devisers.
Celebrity Juice is a massive vehicle for ITV2. It’s the most watched show they’ve ever broadcast – drawing in over 2 million viewers for a single episode at its peak. They do not want to piss off anyone involved in that. Not the people who devised the show, but particularly not producer/creator Dan Baldwin.
It’s easy to see why the commission was a no-brainer. The creative team behind On The Pull already had their feet lodged right in under the table at ITV, so ITV couldn’t very well bounce them out on the street. Dapper’s 500,000 strong Vine following and million fans on Facebook might have sweetened the pot, but this literally was an offer they couldn’t refuse. The potential repercussions were too great.
Even with all the furore and negative publicity the show has caused, it would probably still be worth ITV2 commissioning it if they had their time again, because the alternative could have been much worse for them. It might even be why they were championing the show right up until the bitter end. Sure, they have some temporary egg on their face right now, but the talent – both on-screen and off – remain relatively happy. And, more importantly, remain at ITV.
Of course, we are in no way suggesting that Holly Willoughby had anything to do with the commissioning of Dapper Laughs directly. Not at all. The extent of Holly Willoughby’s involvement probably goes no further than getting her mate (Mike Skinner from The Streets) the job of composing Dapper Laughs’ theme tune.
No, this appears to be Dan Baldwin’s burden to shoulder. And the weirdest part of it all is that Baldwin actually inadvertently prophesied this whole backlash months ago.
Back when the commission was announced, Baldwin stated – in all earnestness – that “I actually believe [Dapper Laughs] is the new Cilla Black.” Oh, how right he turned out to be. For the only person at ITV who is still, to this day, spoken about with greater disdain than Dapper Laughs?
Forever and always, Cilla Black.

PS: The company records for Hungry Bear Media also list the chairman as being one Peter David Jones. The same Peter David Jones who dishes out money on Dragons’ Den and has also appeared as a guest star on… Celebrity Juice.

Should I know who Dapper Laughs is?

If you live in the UK and have access to the media, probably.

I do and I do and I still don't. It's some kind of internet nonsense I assume?