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

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Perhaps Amstell has hidden depths. Next person to see him at the bus stop should ask him.

PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Friday, 26 January 2007 12:42 (seventeen years ago) link

A friend of mine claims to have twice seen Simon Amstell walking around with a woman and two small children, and wonders if perhaps he's a closeted heterosexual.

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 26 January 2007 12:43 (seventeen years ago) link

gay man... walking around with a woman... could never happen.

the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Friday, 26 January 2007 12:49 (seventeen years ago) link

sophieheawood.jpg

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 26 January 2007 12:49 (seventeen years ago) link

Got to admit, I thought him presenting 'Never Mind The Buzzcocks' would be awful, but it was....OK.

Ruairi Wirewool (Ruairi Wirewool), Friday, 26 January 2007 13:36 (seventeen years ago) link

Cleo hopes to be next Catherine Tate

Cleo has admitted that she is hoping for her own sketch show following her stint in the Celebrity Big Brother house.

The actress wants to follow in the footsteps of Catherine Tate after introducing the nation to some of her characters over the past three weeks.

"I'd love to launch a new comedy show with really wacky characters, like a cross between Little Britain and Catherine Tate. I think the time is right for something new," Cleo told the Daily Star last night.

"The characters I brought in with me - like Tiara the Tart and Dorothy Montgomery the biscuit tycoon's wife - were done deliberately because I was hoping there was a producer out there looking for new ideas."

Asked about failing to make Big Brother laugh in the comedy task, she added: "That was embarrassing. I died on my a**e in the Diary Room. I think they stitched me up. I was certainly funnier than some of the others."

acrobat (elwisty), Saturday, 27 January 2007 14:45 (seventeen years ago) link

also ITV launches Benidorm with Johnny Vegas on Thurdays. the new Hardware?

acrobat (elwisty), Saturday, 27 January 2007 14:48 (seventeen years ago) link

We did a thread about Josie Long, which, as so many threads do, turned into a thread about Louis Jagger.

Defend the indefensible: Josie Long

I'd love to launch a new comedy show with really wacky characters, like a cross between Little Britain and Catherine Tate. I think the time is right for something new

Does anyone see anything wrong with this? Also anyone who uses the word "wacky" as an aspirational concept tends to not be worth listening to.

ailsa (ailsa), Saturday, 27 January 2007 15:05 (seventeen years ago) link

Thanks for the link, Ailsa.

A cross between Little Britain and Catherine Tate would, to paraphrase Stuart Braithwaite, implode with pure evil.

Ruairi Wirewool (Ruairi Wirewool), Saturday, 27 January 2007 23:29 (seventeen years ago) link

Well, I just read that thread and it appears that Ms Long went to a summer camp for gifted children with Louis Jagger. There's probably a joke in there somewhere, but I'm not mean enough to make it - this is why I'd never cut it as a poster on CookdAndBombd.

Ruairi Wirewool (Ruairi Wirewool), Saturday, 27 January 2007 23:42 (seventeen years ago) link

Something along the lines of "If I'd been exposed to Josie Long at a young age I'd have been put off having sex with women as well"?

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 28 January 2007 00:10 (seventeen years ago) link

Wait, Louis Jagger exposed himself to Josie Long?
RE-EVALUATION TIME

Ruairi Wirewool (Ruairi Wirewool), Sunday, 28 January 2007 00:41 (seventeen years ago) link

you know harry hill's tv burp is so great cos i lmao then almost completely forget it. it's like the opposite of that "progreesive comedy" idea someone was throwing arounf up thread. it also feels like it exists in a sort of infinite tea time of adolesence. it reminds me of being 13 or so and watching coronation street or whatever not because you wanted to really but just because it was on and just sitting trying to find unintentional lolz.

acrobat (elwisty), Sunday, 28 January 2007 01:26 (seventeen years ago) link

A cross between Little Britain and Catherine Tate would, to paraphrase Stuart Braithwaite, implode with pure evil.

Well, indeed. Marcello and his red button to thread (in three seconds).

to scour or to pop? (Haberdager), Sunday, 28 January 2007 03:22 (seventeen years ago) link

THe live Mighty Boosh DVD is £6 in Fopp, should anyone be interested.

I could not find the Oh Monsieur Le Fopp You Are Spoiling Us thread.

PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Monday, 29 January 2007 13:53 (seventeen years ago) link

The Armando Iannucci Shows DVD is £7 in Fopp. I presume all the Arvo Part and Henryk Gorecki has been surgically removed and replaced with library music and/or The Sweet.

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Monday, 29 January 2007 16:11 (seventeen years ago) link

I think there are a couple of surviving bits, but the "driving at 160mph is actually really safe" sketch and the like suffer a bit with generic chirpy violinz instead.

Commentaries are pretty good though.

Michael Philip Philip Philip Philip Annoyman (Ferg), Monday, 29 January 2007 16:13 (seventeen years ago) link

I watched Mark Lawson Talks To...Armando Iannucci on Sunday.

vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 29 January 2007 16:15 (seventeen years ago) link

Lawson: 'Could you talk about Ricky Gervais for 45 minutes PLEASE'

Ruairi Wirewool (Ruairi Wirewool), Monday, 29 January 2007 16:49 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/downtheline.shtml

Radio 4's Down the Line with Gary Bellamy

a) Fuck me this is brilliant
b) Why was Felix Dexter never a true star, he had a window of opportunity in about 95/96 to make it as a comedy A-liner
c) Wow, Rhys Thomas and Lucy Montgomery in something that isn't complete shit
d) Paul Whitehouse is, pound for pound, the best comedy performer of his generation, six lengths ahead of yr Morrises and Ianuccis
e) "Do you know if Foxton's is owned by Bruce Foxton of The Jam?"

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 13:35 (seventeen years ago) link

b) Why was Felix Dexter never a true star, he had a window of opportunity in about 95/96 to make it as a comedy A-liner

he did a pilot exec-produced by whitehouse and higson. it didn't get taken up and he joined the RSC. anil gupta says he didn't have enough big noises on his side at the bbc.

the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 13:45 (seventeen years ago) link

i don't have aspergers, i was just reading about it last night.

the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 13:45 (seventeen years ago) link

No private school for you then, young man

Tom D. (Dada), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 13:46 (seventeen years ago) link

Paul Whitehouse is, pound for pound, the best comedy performer of his generation, six lengths ahead of yr Morrises and Ianuccis

Performer, yes. No doubt about that.

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:05 (seventeen years ago) link

But doesn't he just know it!

Tom D. (Dada), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:05 (seventeen years ago) link

I meant "performer" not as, um, the actual meaning of the word "performer", but as in an all round package. I honestly think he's got the strongest package of work of any writer in British comedy post 1990.

xp

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:06 (seventeen years ago) link

seriously?

acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:08 (seventeen years ago) link

http://a30.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/41/l_a91d1dc57b5b64a3553469b0b07c40b5.jpg

"comedy-writing? 'ardest game in the world. done it meself, 40 years, man and boy..."

the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:10 (seventeen years ago) link

Well, he seems to have got better as he's branched out. I just caught a bit of Help down the corridor in the AV suite while I was changing tapes - makes me wish I'd seen the whole series (it was the bit with Olivia Colman as the "disappointing wife").

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:10 (seventeen years ago) link

# "Help" (2005) TV Series (writer)
# "Happiness" (2001) TV Series (writer)
# "Harry Enfield and Chums" (1994) TV Series (writer)
# "The Fast Show" (1994) TV Series (head writer)
# Smashey and Nicey, the End of an Era (1994) (TV)
# "Harry Enfield's Television Programme" (1990) TV Series (writer)

That's a pretty impressive line-up, no? And that's not even including radio work. Plus seemingly the only awful thing he's even written was Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:11 (seventeen years ago) link

I think he's got worse as he's branched out, he's become so full of himself that I can barely watch him anymore (xpost)

Tom D. (Dada), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:11 (seventeen years ago) link

My favourite bit in Help, due to obvious reasons, was the Italian immigrant character trying to come to terms with living in a different country. It's a tie between him offering baccala as a present and "I-a johst give 'er-a lil slap"

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:12 (seventeen years ago) link

Did not like "Help" at all

Tom D. (Dada), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:12 (seventeen years ago) link

Because of Whitehouse, Langham, a third reason?

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:13 (seventeen years ago) link

saying whitehouse is the best comedian of the last decade is like saying peep show is the best current tv comedy...

acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:19 (seventeen years ago) link

i.e.?

the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:20 (seventeen years ago) link

i.e. there's a fair enough arguement behind it but it feels kind of dispiriting.

acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:21 (seventeen years ago) link

there is nothing dispiriting about peep show being the best current comedy; it's up there with Fawlty Towers and Father Ted in my top 3 all-time UK sitcoms.

what's dispiriting is the competition.

to scour or to pop? (Haberdager), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:27 (seventeen years ago) link

It's fun but it's not that good

Tom D. (Dada), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:28 (seventeen years ago) link

i like it a lot. but then i like 'scrubs'.

the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:29 (seventeen years ago) link

I can understand why a posho like you Louis wouldn't have Porridge, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads, or Steptoe and Son in your top three, but what about Yes, Minister?

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:29 (seventeen years ago) link

I've not really seen any of those four for more than five minutes at a go.

to scour or to pop? (Haberdager), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:31 (seventeen years ago) link

replace 'posho' with '19 year old' there

Is Whitehouse really 'full of it' or is this just another projection?

I guess if Johnny Depp calls you the greatest comic actor of the modern age then you'll have trouble keeping it together.

vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:31 (seventeen years ago) link

i've never really seen Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads, or Steptoe and Son, and i'm 26. porridge is okay if you like that 70s sitcom format thing, and i'm meh on it.

the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:32 (seventeen years ago) link

I guess if Johnny Depp calls you the greatest comic actor of the modern age then you'll have trouble keeping it together.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. I actually quite liked "Happiness" but "Help" was just, "Oh look at me, look at all these accents I can do, amn't I great?" - well, no, because your Scottish accent was shite for one. Plus crap serious bits. Not funny enough.

Tom D. (Dada), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:35 (seventeen years ago) link

but peep show is nowhere near as good as fifteen stories high!

acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:37 (seventeen years ago) link

No, Paul Whitehouse is great. Help and Happiness are both terrific, and Help is a thing of absolute beauty. I thought the serious bits were fantastic, haterz.

I was gonna start a thread on how great Chris Langham's body of work is as well, but I thought better of it. for. obvious. reasons.

Johnney B English (stigoftdump), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:40 (seventeen years ago) link

anything involving sean lock must be shit.

xpost

the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:41 (seventeen years ago) link

no it's really, really great! i was rewatching it on allfg and it's far more engaging than peep show ever is / was. does blackmailed by teenage bullies plot better than peep show.

acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:45 (seventeen years ago) link

15 Storeys High was very good.

Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:50 (seventeen years ago) link


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