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

I think the corny 80's horror paperbacks Darkplace draws on are internationally known; transplanting those to TV might be a slightly more British thing (thinking of sci-fi more than horror here really).

Also it's funny how often stuff that feels super insider-y to ppl from the place it came from ends up being super popular outside it - ppl are drawn to geographical specificity even if they don't get all the jokes, I think.

It's like when I used to watch the Simpsons and they'd reference a US celeb I'd never heard of, but I didn't mind because I could generally guess what that person was meant to signify in the context of the joke.

OTOH I think some styles of humour have difficulty crossing international boundaries - for example I've watched several reaction vids of Americans utterly bemused by Reeves & Mortimer.

It's like when I used to watch the Simpsons and they'd reference a US celeb I'd never heard of, but I didn't mind because I could generally guess what that person was meant to signify in the context of the joke.

Just like an average day on ILX in other words. Daniel_Rf OTM btw.

If we're mentioning Darkplace we should probably also call up Doctor Terrible's House of Horrible for horror films 10-20 years older.

darkplace got usa play on adult swim, never clicked for me.

Thanks for the Doctor Terrible shout aldo, catnip for fans of 60's Brit horror. The titles alone!

I watched the Witchfinder General parody and it's interesting how despite being a loving reconstruction of 70's visions of Ruritania it also feels totally like a 90's Xena/Hercules type set. Also weird to hear Coogan's witch locator use these inflections that we now associate so deeply with Partridge.

I've never been sure how it'd play to someone familiar with the original films - especially since some of them lift actual dialogue and have the original cast in them - but for those of us that way inclined they're tremendous. I particularly love the one based on Vault of Horror, and also the Karnstein trilogy version.

Watch out for the cameo by Pete Walker regular Sheila Keith in the first of those, her final performance.

One of my other massively unpopular things that play 100% into my wheelhouse is Cruise of the Gods.

It's the ur-version of the Coogan/Brydon model later used in Tristram Shandy and The Trip, with them as ex-teen stars of a post-apocalypse ITV-style kids show set in the New Romantic era. It's set on a fan cruise and looks hard at fandom, writing TV sci-fi and cult celebrity.

In further Pete Walker connections, it also stars his one-time lead actor Jack Jones.

Warning for the above, contains both David Walliams and James Corden but just push past it.

I've never been sure how it'd play to someone familiar with the original films

Close to unwatchable I'd guess, assuming you meant unfamiliar and judging by the ep I saw - a lot of it is mockery of Hammer's horniness, which I think w/o the context of what they're parodying would just scan as terrible 70's sex jokes.

Haha yes, I meant unfamiliar.

One of my other massively unpopular things that play 100% into my wheelhouse is Cruise of the Gods.

It's the ur-version of the Coogan/Brydon model later used in Tristram Shandy and The Trip, with them as ex-teen stars of a post-apocalypse ITV-style kids show set in the New Romantic era. It's set on a fan cruise and looks hard at fandom, writing TV sci-fi and cult celebrity.

WTF, how have I not heard of this?!

So I started watching it on YouTube thinking it was a sitcom but it's a movie. A weirdly paced kind of downbeat one, bit reminiscent of Mindhorn. You're spending most of the first half waiting for Coogan to show up. Also Russell Brand pops up for 20 seconds.

Yeah, it was during this that Brand had his drugs and strippers meltdown that put him in rehab, so his part got rewritten on the fly.

enjoyed Cruise Of The Gods at the time, can imagine it playing like a horror film now that the most immature and entitled type of childrens'-SF-fan portrayed in it has been elevated to the core of mainstream culture, both pop and political

I remember liking it at the time

Best 3 tv shows not mentioned so far: This Country, Grandma’s House and (ok it’s Irish) The Young Offenders

One of my other massively unpopular things that play 100% into my wheelhouse is Cruise of the Gods.

It's the ur-version of the Coogan/Brydon model later used in Tristram Shandy and The Trip, with them as ex-teen stars of a post-apocalypse ITV-style kids show set in the New Romantic era. It's set on a fan cruise and looks hard at fandom, writing TV sci-fi and cult celebrity.

It's probs my favourite Coogan outside of Partridge, the Video Diaries and The Trip.

okay, grabbed all four of those.

watching the start of the euros yesterday made me instinctively say 'a pound in the Nessun Dorma box'. odd how throw away lines from 1996 stick in your mind

oh, italia 90, obviously

apparently there's a season two of Starstruck on the way, i'm down if the plotting gets ironed out
https://www.thecut.com/2021/06/starstrucks-nikesh-patel-would-maybe-date-you.html

Act 4… pic.twitter.com/5CgVF7p15F

— Matt Berry (@porksmith) July 6, 2021

new As Yet Untitled on dave last night. feels like it's been over 2 years since the last one. featured both the irish robot wars presenters

(also slightly weird in the it was filmed in the roundhouse in london, an old, enormous railway building. covid regs, i guess)

episode 3 of This Way Up made me think they should bring back Mind Your Language.

(splash screen at the end of that was interesting too, HM treasury and DCMS bigging up themselves and their media restart scheme, complete with union flag...)

new Ghosts tonight

Thanks for the reminder! Thought it was next week.

Ghosts maintaining its quality. Slightly upset that I recently recommended it to a friend, who reported back to me describing it as 'bilge'.

I watched the first 5 minutes of an episode on the plane and it was like kryptonite to me despite liking a lot of the actors

I watched the first episode (series one) lst night and 'gentle fun' would be the kindest thing i could say about it, maybe it gets better...

Gentle fun not to be sniffed at imo... It's good comfort telly with some good jokes and a great ensemble. The quality stays about the same probably, but I quickly became very fond of it.

Back to Life starts a second series on Tuesday. which i barely remember anything about other than i enjoyed it at the time.

That's good news.

i like the lead actress but it felt sorta also-ran to me

I don't think I made it past the second episode. It was too depressing.

it's hard to search for but there are a few (other) positive mentions here. and i was surprised to see it back tbh.

(I'm also holding out for a second series of don't forget the driver. call me a hopeless optimist...)

in other news, mash report on Thursday too. strange situation with that but, again, i enjoyed it.

"Back to Life is a British dark comedy-drama co-written...

OK, I'm outta here.

(I'm also holding out for a second series of don't forget the driver. call me a hopeless optimist...)

this.

Finished 'Pls Like' S2 today (it's quick and easy, and i like Liam).
had no idea there was a S3.

First series of Back to Life was great. I mean, person X returns to hometown after years away is a complete cliché but Daisy Haggard is a gem and seem to recall there were a couple of real gut punches amongst all the laughs.

Back To Life S2 is pretty masterful to be fair, twee soundtrack aside.

man walks into crime scene, blood everywhere, tense music. you're meant to think he's the detective who's caught this murder but then he plonks down a caddy full of cleaning equipment because he's actually a crime scene cleaner. surprise!

only that's not a surprise to anyone because it's called The Cleaner and the announcer has just announced it.

(9:30pm on bbc1 on a friday so i'm not holding up too much hope for it. greg davies and helena bonham carter)

oh, and Mash Report is back on Dave and is an hour long, which is probably a mistake.

yeah the new mash is noticeably lower budget and has weird unfunny placeholder bits where they just show headlines on screen

I normally enjoy Davies' work, but Ep 1 of the Cleaner was rotten.

i liked all the curry night chat, but after he got locked into that toilet it was all downhill.

Yes, it was promising up until any characters after the first two turned up. Not sure what the point of Paul Chowdhry in schoolboy getup was at all.

The Scotts isn't bad.

i agree that the Cleaner was a total miss with a remarkable cast.
Will try the Scotts. Can you say more about why I should though?

It's like Two Doors Down filmed as TOWIE instead of a sitcom, by the guys behind Burnistoun.