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

Just to go back up I watched all six EPs of Fleabag last night in a sitting. Can't remember the last time I'd done that w/anything - it was compulsive to see someone giving expression to a partic set of frustrations. As it was shown this was created by the mistake the main character made. Had a very Girls-like quality but the humour wasn't dark so much as barely there, a kind of place where a scornful laughter at everything is your default position and you can only laugh along because you relate to it at some level, even though much of it comes out of an experience related to gender.

otoh I figured out her mistake as soon as it became apparent, and it wasn't that big of a reveal. The ending left the door open for a second series but I'm not sure I'd want one, it doesn't have any places left to go. You know she will find her way back to something that she can live out, the scars will never heal but that particular experience has been processed. Its a time and a place and a POV that has been captured.

sean lock looks less and less interested in the games over the years, so i'm not sure why he's stayed on unless he just wants the cash.

ha, I distinctly remember listening to an interview with Lock (probably around ten years ago now) where he was surprisingly upfront about not finding panel shows especially enjoyable or artistically satisfying, but it was a regular paycheck.

Close to a decade ago I heard him saying he was excited enough to count the days until next series but he probably got bored. On the Countdown version he said he hated it like he meant it but it's difficult to tell.

HIGNFY on friday left me a little pissed off at how Ian seems to genuinely think Hillary barely a better candidate than Trump, and also that Tory was about as charmless as Archer - relished the silence that followed his "jokes". The show feels dead though, and has for a long time now, especially as it relies more and more on apolitical viral content its researchers seem to have lifted off Facebook. Also, some of the guest presenters are really bad. I think they should get Jo Brand in as permanent host - she's funny, sharp, and that means there's the chance that occasionally there'll be more than one woman on the show (HIGNFY is an appalling sausage party).

Is HIGNFY the only major panel show aside from Mock The Week that Sean Lock hasn't appeared on?

Actually he's been on 4 episodes.

Mostly the early 00s

> Exploiting loopholes is part of the fun

yeah, but the same 'i can't do this but YOU can' loophole every show? nadir was him paying alex to carry a bucket of water (although alex stopping 2 ft away was kinda funny)

(that task also made me wonder about the filming of this given that there was clearly a frost when one of the people were doing their task, rain during another. given that series 2 was shown one-a-day not long ago and the frost suggests at least 8 months since they filmed series 3, how many more are already shot?)

Alex giving in in the face of Al's wallet and carrying the bucket was worth it for the look on Greg and Sara's faces at the blatant treachery though. It is, after all, a comedy show and not a serious competition, and things like that (and people bringing their A game to treat it so seriously) bring the lolz.

I enjoyed the tory guy on HIGNFY because the show is at its best when there's a politician on who refuses to do the back-patting jokes bruv thing and Hislop gets to really needle someone. Not that I think that's important in a "John Oliver DESTROYED Donald Trump" kinda way but marginally less depressing than Farrage laughing along like we're all friends here. Hislop's anti-Hillary stuff is a bit weird though, was particularly befuddled to see him state Sanders would've been a better candidate and tory goon agree - guess they'll both be singing on as Corbyn supporters then?

lolitics is a new material night at the same place Josie Long does hers, and as such gets a lot of people from that crew - Josie, Stewart Lee, Robin Ince. It has its moments. What's really funny is the OMG FREE SPEECH tone of the Mail headline - it's a venue for like 40 people, might as well cry about an anarchist squatting colective. Also organiser Chris Coltrane did a set for free to support an anti-detention group at an event I helped organise, he's a good egg.

I would be more surprised if Hislop was pro-Hillary tbh, he's always been the kind of fogeyish, small-c conservative who's contemptuous of the third way/"modernising"/Blairite/internationalist tendency that the Clintons are from. his thinking Sanders would have been a better candidate makes sense in the same way that someone like Peter Hitchens speaking relatively positively about Corbyn makes sense

I've enjoyed HIGNFY many times but there's so much about it that's always rubbed me the wrong way. I wonder if it's biggest impact on politics is giving Boris Johnson and Farrage a boost. To be honest, in that format I'm not sure how you'd be able to consistently wipe the smiles off Mail, Sun and Express readers.

Fewer white men might be a start.

Most of the elders in my family are tory voters and just laugh along with everything in the show, I don't know if they're racist enough to be bothered by more diversity but you're right.

> lolitics is a new material night at the same place Josie Long does hers

i've been to a lot of josie's monthly shows there (although fewer recently) and seen CC do sets a few times but my heart usually sinks when he's announced. there were a couple of mark thomas-esque tales that were quite entertaining but the rest of it just felt like ranting, not much in the way of jokes (comrade)

there's regulars who strike me as far more catastrophic than Coltrane, but Josie cultivates such an atmosphere of relentless positivity that I would feel a cad even saying

yeah, it is kind of patchy, but josie is usually worth the entrance fee alone. and i've only been once since they moved the door times forward, and maybe that helps (before it'd get to 11 and you'd lose the will to live...)

anyway, new, hidden-away, 8 out of 10 cats was on last night with 50/50 gender split amongst the panellists and... it wasn't great. new captains are considerably younger than the old ones and i think it shows.

(hobbles off and re-watches 15 storeys high...)

anyway, new, hidden-away, 8 out of 10 cats was on last night with 50/50 gender split amongst the panellists and... it wasn't great. new captains are considerably younger than the old ones and i think it shows.

― koogs, Thursday, 10 November 2016 05:13 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i've not seen it yet, but perhaps the new captains will change the feel of the show enough to re-energise it (perhaps they're also young enough to not make it obvious when they haaaate someone else on the show), and maybe channel 4 hid it away in order to lower expectations until it finds its feet and becomes its own thing.

I think they should get Jo Brand in as permanent host - she's funny, sharp, and that means there's the chance that occasionally there'll be more than one woman on the show (HIGNFY is an appalling sausage party).

― Is that my hand, manatee? (stevie), Monday, 7 November 2016 00:49 (four days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

she's also got so much to achieve with scripted productions that hosting a panel show would probably get in her way. if i were her i wouldn't be champing at the bit to revitalise a stagnant panel show, or especially to be the token female (and she's probably had dozens of offers across the board).

on that topic, this happened. five women and three men. it's not for broadcast but there needs to be more a hell of a lot more of this — between these women and the likes of long, brand, khorsandi, millican, yashere, suttie, bea, holly walsh etc etc etc etc the ongoing sausagefests don't make any sense at all.

^ Agreed. The "at least one woman" rule is very telling in that so many panel shows seem to have replied with "ok, but just the one!"

otm, and it's so common you've got to wonder how it's happening and whether anyone in production teams is asking why. as great as it is seeing women move into the smartest-in-the-room seats on comedy panels (sandi toksvig for qi, rachel riley for catsdown, ellie gibson for go 8 bit), the danger is that that itself will become a trope and give lazy/obnoxious casting agents an excuse to keep fillling up on blokes.

*and susie dent

(as smart-seat allotment i mean, please forgive 4am insomnia posting)

…and not to stray too far off-topic but this from america has only just appeared in my rss feed:

Earlier this year, Adult Swim announced its full roster of new shows, returning series, and specials, and of the 47 announced projects, exactly zero were created (or even co-created) by women. (…) According to Lazzo, women don’t like conflict, and comedy comes from conflict.

Would be nice to see Sarah Kendall on more stuff. The only thing resembling a British panel show she's been on is As Yet Untitled.

anyone here tried this?

Dozens of stand-up specials from comedians have been made available on a new Netflix-style video-on-demand service dedicated to British comedy, Chortle can reveal.

Stewart Lee, Miles Jupp, Brendon Burns and Luisa Omielan are among the comedians on offer via the new NextUp platform, which launches today.

The service also offers full shows from Edinburgh favourites and up-and-coming acts including Alfie Brown, Colin Hoult, Tim Renkow and Lou Sanders.

it just launched today

yeah

Saw Sarah Kendall at the Fringe and was very impressed, great storyteller.

The woman as "the clever one" on panel shows already ties into some pretty bad tropes - part of me loves seeing Ellie Gibson as the expert on Go 8 Bit just because of how much it'll piss off idiots worried about fake gamer girls but it also places her as the sensible, educated adult while the boys get to be fun and play, a variation on the patient sitcom wife. Fair do's to the show tho they have mostly always had a female guest on as well - too bad it's just not a good viewing experience.

No Such Thing As The News is entertaining in a news-picked-apart-by-the-QI-elves way (because that's exactly what it is). i missed the first series completely. and it looks like they spent probably £50 on the set (and got change) but...

part of me loves seeing Ellie Gibson as the expert on Go 8 Bit just because of how much it'll piss off idiots worried about fake gamer girls but it also places her as the sensible, educated adult while the boys get to be fun and play, a variation on the patient sitcom wife.

this. it's like the decision makers are (sub?)consciously terrified of women mucking in or being funny, even though (as you said) most episodes have had one woman playing games. gibson's the only person on the whole show i'd want to have a pint with.

too bad it's just not a good viewing experience.

they've gone to some trouble to make it interesting with the lazy-susan set and such, but i think the core problem is it's just not fun to watch other people play games. twitch works because it's not such a chore to sit through two hours of something you're playing or want to revisit, but 90 seconds of split-screen nokia snake is eh.

and it looks like they spent probably £50 on the set (and got change) but...

― koogs, Wednesday, 16 November 2016 06:20 (seven hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

their infectious enthusiasm alone compensates for this imo. if they were even slightly bored it wouldn't hang together at all.

I think they should make it all fighting games. One of the dumbest genres to play for me, but the most entertaining from a spectator pov.

What do you mean dumbest to play?

I lack the dedication to memorize the specials moves that make those games interesting and have found that with the vast majority of them I usually do fine just button mashing, rendering the overall experience kinda braindead for me.

That's definitely true for a lot of the Namco and Dead Or Alive games but Virtua Fighter and Samurai Shodown are not button mashable at all.

unlikely entry into the women on comedy debate:

Frankie Boyle's American Autopsy
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b083s663

Writer Frankie Boyle
Participant Katherine Ryan
Participant Sara Pascoe
Participant Michelle Wolf

(Participant Richard Osman turns up half way through)

Desiree Burch was on it too.

yeah, was good, but not listed in the credits for some reason (and i posted the above before she appeared)

nobody's mentioned david walliams' new show yet...

is that because it barely registers as comedy?

(i caught 5 minutes of the jack whitehall one. felt like i'd fallen into a timewarp)

What was that all about in that Frankie Boyle show when he ended by putting his bunnet on and saying he had better things to do than entertain strangers?

okay the reference to pat butcher being david bowie persona known as ziggy fag ash made me laugh a lot. philomena cunk/barry shitpeas always a pleasure as well.

incidently is barry shitpeas the taxi driver in the 'go compare' tv ad?

taxi driver in the 'go compare' tv ad is played by Howard Devoto iirc

I've enjoyed a lot of the Christmas specials perhaps more than I was expecting. Mock the week springs to mind as a pleasant surprise.

it was funny but mostly depressing. not brooker's fault. I just wasn't ready to revisit that shitrag of a year yet, nor to confront the fact things are probably going to get worse.

Susan Calman was on Richard Herring's show for the second time, it was really funny.

http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2017/02/01/26765/philomena_cunk_set_to_return

She said her ideas for 2017 include Cunk on punk, Cunk on modern art and Cunk on Jane Austen, saying with Cunk-like imprecision: ‘Apparently there’s an anniversary coming up this year of her birth or death or something or the day she had her first… I don’t know.’

Aww yes that's nice

Simon Munnery was brilliant on Richard Herring's youtube show. Good stories, quite drunk.

Catastrophe back on tuesday. i find it slightly too mean-spirited for my tastes (like fleabag) but...

As Yet Untitled back on the same night on Dave. and Bob Mortimer is always good value.