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

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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.

― 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

ha @ my spelling

― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:52 (seventeen years ago) link

I like that Ted thing where he's a gamekeepr or something, if that is Whitehouse, and the other bloke is his rich employer and wants to take him to see Tina Turner. That is good, that is.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 15:56 (seventeen years ago) link

you're 26??

― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 16:04 (seventeen years ago) link

i think so. yes, definitely.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 16:06 (seventeen years ago) link

Happiness was very good - but I do rather like Pearce Quigley - as, indeed, was 15 Stories High

Obscure comedy that I personally wish was better-known: My Life In Film

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 16:08 (seventeen years ago) link

yes My Life In Film was, on the whole, better than many think.

― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 16:10 (seventeen years ago) link

It was possibly better than I think.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 16:11 (seventeen years ago) link

It was just another of those ones that make you smile more than they make you bellow with laughter, this not always being a sign of inferiority in a comedy.

― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 16:13 (seventeen years ago) link

It was just another of those ones that make you smile more than they make you bellow with laughter

like peep show and ted & ralph and down the line!

― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 16:16 (seventeen years ago) link

"Peep Show" has made me bellow a few times

― Tom D. (Dada), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 16:17 (seventeen years ago) link

The Pearly King extending the hand of friendship to Muslims on the last Down the Line gave me proper "I need to pause this I'm laughing too much" moments.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 16:19 (seventeen years ago) link

why shouldn't i be 26?

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 16:22 (seventeen years ago) link

you should--you are

― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 16:25 (seventeen years ago) link

you're 26??
-- RJG (RJ...), January 31st, 2007.

why shouldn't i be 26?
-- the original hauntology blogging crew (miltonpinsk...), January 31st, 2007.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

you should--you are
-- RJG (RJ...), January 31st, 2007

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 16:26 (seventeen years ago) link

Down The Line = big lols

― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 31 January 2007 16:26 (seventeen years ago) link

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