and i appreciate that they did interesting things with characters like pauline, they didn’t merely do job seekers 2017
― rove mcmanus island (Autumn Almanac), Saturday, 23 December 2017 12:44 (six years ago) link
To be fair to them, the 'fans' seem to like the disturbing stuff too, and it's probably more fun to write and perform.
― Whiney Houston (Tom D.), Saturday, 23 December 2017 12:46 (six years ago) link
The tension between the disturbing and the prosaic is where their best humour lies. It's funnier when the horrors are suggested rather than made explicit. OTOH, I wouldn't want them to start making straightforward character comedy or whatever, where would be the fun in that.
― chap, Saturday, 23 December 2017 13:21 (six years ago) link
Almost all of their best characters are fairly straightforward: Pauline & Micky, Les McQueen; Geoff; Ollie & Legz Akimbo, Charlie & Stella etc.
― Whiney Houston (Tom D.), Saturday, 23 December 2017 13:51 (six years ago) link
I think the show has quite a special combination that seems kind of refreshing. When I first seen clips of it in highschool I was completely horrified by it but I got used to it fairly quickly.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 23 December 2017 14:20 (six years ago) link
It's not that the new stuff was disturbing, just kind of off-putting and underwritten
― i know kore-eda (or something), Saturday, 23 December 2017 15:34 (six years ago) link
What kind of offputting?
Would have liked to see the butcher. Cant think of many other absences but I'm sure there was.
I hope they return to this in some fashion, I'd be sad if there was no more Papa Lazarou.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 25 December 2017 17:18 (six years ago) link
Agree that this was fanficcy and very much all setup and no payback. Felt like some plotlines were just too slight or something - an extra episode would have allowed them to breathe. The whole Benjamin plot was just an excuse to reference a bunch of old horror movies but was tonally off and just didn't go anywhere
― FREEZE! FYI! (dog latin), Tuesday, 26 December 2017 02:54 (six years ago) link
Didn't think the Hallowe'en Inside No 9 was the work of genius some quarters are making it out to be, mainly because I remember Ghostwatch. The one touch of genius was Reece directing everyone to his Twitter and the live content there.
Maybe it was more effective if you'd been following all the set-up but I don't habitually read The Sun, watch The One Show etc. To be fair, Reece was telling us all to.
― Bimlo Horsewagon became Wheelbarrow Horseflesh (aldo), Monday, 29 October 2018 09:08 (five years ago) link
If I hadn’t been trying to tweet a pic of the screen I’d have turned off because I r idiot
― stet, Monday, 29 October 2018 09:48 (five years ago) link
i wonder if OPS were warned about it in advance?
i hadn't seen that bobby davro clip before.
― koogs, Monday, 29 October 2018 10:01 (five years ago) link
I still can't work out which bits were legit 'live' or if somehow ALL of it was. It was an insane feat of trickery and planning.
― piscesx, Monday, 29 October 2018 10:09 (five years ago) link
I'd like to say all of it, but I think the night vision stuff probably wasn't - too much potential for things to go wrong running about in the pitch black, particularly with respect to timings.
― Bimlo Horsewagon became Wheelbarrow Horseflesh (aldo), Monday, 29 October 2018 10:24 (five years ago) link
That was pretty bold, assuming people wouldn't switch off in frustration/go and make a cup of tea like I did at the start of the repeat.
― kinder, Monday, 29 October 2018 20:56 (five years ago) link
The bits in the dressing room were certainly live as they flickd through what was actually on the other BBC channels at the time.
I liked that they portrated themselves as massively unsympathetic.
― chap, Tuesday, 6 November 2018 10:06 (five years ago) link
I watched recently this on iPlayer. The creepiest moment was when my laptop died during the final "Sorry we're having problems with the broadcast" message.
I've never seen this show before - any standout other episodes?
― Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, 6 November 2018 11:30 (five years ago) link
Best advice I can give us that all episodes have a twist which in I think 90% of instances is obvious to anyone who's watched anything much that would get referenced on the Creepy British TV etc thread. A couple are telegraphed really early on and you just have to go with it.
My picks (in no order):
Tom and GerriA Quiet Night InThe UnderstudyNana's PartySeance TimeThe Devil of ChristmasRiddle of the SphinxDiddle Diddle DumplingZanzibarBernie Clifton's Dressing Room
12 Days of Christine is the award winner and the canon pick but I don't actually think it's much cop.
― Bimlo Horsewagon became Wheelbarrow Horseflesh (aldo), Tuesday, 6 November 2018 11:52 (five years ago) link
the one they started showing as a replacement was quite effective. "A Quiet Night In" (S01E02)
the others that jump out at me from the episode lists are:
"The 12 Days of Christine" (S02E02)
"The Riddle of the Sphinx" (S03E03)
but it's generally quite watchable.
― koogs, Tuesday, 6 November 2018 11:58 (five years ago) link
> but I don't actually think it's much cop.
xpost!
My issue with it is that the twist is so transparent from the start that I can't take it seriously. It's well acted and shot, I'll give you that, but to my mind Tom & Gerri and Bernie Clifton mine similar territory more effectively.
― Bimlo Horsewagon became Wheelbarrow Horseflesh (aldo), Tuesday, 6 November 2018 12:02 (five years ago) link
Oh yeah, I did watch that Christine episode but blanked it out. You're right, the ending was quite obvious. Also a bit of "we are comedians but this our SERIOUS ARTISTIC one" worthiness.
― Chuck_Tatum, Tuesday, 6 November 2018 12:14 (five years ago) link
Nah there are loads of good ones, but the WE ARE BEING CREEPY NOW ones are typically the worst.
My ten would be:
SardinesA Quiet Night InLast Gasp12 Days of ChristineNana's PartyThe BillThe Riddle of the SphinxZanzibar (probably my #1 overall)Bernie Clifton's Dressing RoomOnce Removed
The most recent one isn't even in the top 20 best episodes.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 6 November 2018 13:00 (five years ago) link
The Harrowing, Private View and To Have And To Hold are all worse.
I have a soft spot for the Elizabeth Gadge one because it's the only one played as an overt comedy.
― Bimlo Horsewagon became Wheelbarrow Horseflesh (aldo), Tuesday, 6 November 2018 13:49 (five years ago) link
That's the worst of the lot I think, there's a real feeling of rejected LoG sketch about it.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 6 November 2018 13:57 (five years ago) link
Yeah, I'm aware I'm swimming against the tide there.
― Bimlo Horsewagon became Wheelbarrow Horseflesh (aldo), Tuesday, 6 November 2018 14:15 (five years ago) link
I enjoyed that one.
― chap, Tuesday, 6 November 2018 15:10 (five years ago) link
I commented on the UK Comedy thread, but I watched this Sunday night and found it a bit 'will this do?' It was almost worth it for the Bobby Davro clip.
I've only dabbled, but my favourites have been
A Quiet Night InBernie Clifton's Dressing RoomOnce RemovedThe Riddle of the Sphinx
The rhyming one in the hotel was so far onto the whimsy scale I don't quite know how I made it through.
― Have the Rams stopped screaming yet, Lloris? (Chinaski), Tuesday, 6 November 2018 16:31 (five years ago) link
(wasn't that hotel one based on some shakespeare?)
― koogs, Tuesday, 6 November 2018 16:35 (five years ago) link
It was all in iambic pentameter. It was clever and inventive but it was so damned pleased with itself! Farce? FARSE, morelike.
I realise I'm not being entirely rational.
― Have the Rams stopped screaming yet, Lloris? (Chinaski), Tuesday, 6 November 2018 16:40 (five years ago) link
If anyone was thinking out of nostalgia, or even boredom, watching the last live show on iPlayer (the Beeb screened it last night) then for the love of Christ don't. Absolutely execrable. Shockingly bad.
― Elitist cheese photos (aldo), Monday, 22 April 2019 17:40 (four years ago) link
A day later I'm still annoyed at just how bad/lazy this was. To save you the effort:
The conclusion of the reunion specials (Tubbs in the photo booth, 'wife mine now') plays on the big screen then Edward and Tubbs sing a version of 'Papa Can You Hear Me' from Yentl.Gatiss does the bingo caller monologue from the reunion shows. (Familiarity makes this less successful than the first time it was on,but it's still excellent.)Bernice appears on the big screen 'backstage' reading a question from the audience to which her answer is basically "suck it up, snowflake". (More on this later.)Herr Lipp gets two people from the audience to read out German phrases that sound a bit rude as homophones in English. (Which completely undoes the excellent work in the movie.)Dr Chinnery slices the face off a panda with a laser. (No, it really is just that. No real setup or routine to go with it to speak of.)Bernice appears on the big screen 'backstage' reading a question from the audience to which her answer is basically "suck it up, snowflake". (More on this later, again.)Aunty Val is getting married again, Papa Laz is doing the ceremony. (It's about 5 interminable response of call & response blackface ooga-booga and monkey dancing. Really.)Benjamin recalls a morning when Uncle Harvey pissed on him, Aunty Val shit on him, he spewed on Harvey who then got a massive hard-on. (Medical terms make everything funny, right?)Les McQueen sings a song about his failed life in music. (Jeremy Dyson appears on the big screen during it, in probably the least embarrassing part of the whole endeavour.)Bernice appears on the big screen 'backstage' reading a question from the audience to which her answer is basically "suck it up, snowflake". A guy in the audience claims it's fake shock so she comes out from round the back and shoots him with a crossbow. (Then leaves without a punchline.)Pauline reveals her dementia and death were faked for the insurance. She kills Ross and then her and Mickey have sex. (The big joke in this part is her spitting spunk after a blow job into a glass.)Tubbs has a nightmare after a Scottish Theresa May steals away Edward because of something to do with her fanny that I can't remember. She snaps back to the present, her and Edward reprise the Yentl song and he blows up the mine. (With no jokes.)
Piss poor.
― Elitist cheese photos (aldo), Tuesday, 23 April 2019 12:25 (four years ago) link
God when was this, performed?
― frame casual (dog latin), Wednesday, 24 April 2019 07:52 (four years ago) link
Last year, post-reunion tour.
― Elitist cheese photos (aldo), Wednesday, 24 April 2019 08:04 (four years ago) link
I enjoyed it when it was actually live, although the first half which was mostly classic sketches was definitely better and perhaps we were carried along in the momentum. They were never very good at gross-out humour and I remember thinking it didn't translate well to being at the back of a theatre.
Sounds like they only screened the second half of the show?
― Matt DC, Wednesday, 24 April 2019 08:22 (four years ago) link
Apparently the first half was a greatest hits thing in black tie? So yes, just the second half.
― Elitist cheese photos (aldo), Wednesday, 24 April 2019 08:46 (four years ago) link
Inside #9 starts again on monday
― koogs, Friday, 31 January 2020 21:11 (four years ago) link
I like the characters but that just felt like fan service to me.
― Doubling down on out of date information (aldo), Monday, 10 February 2020 23:16 (four years ago) link
Yeah but pretty lovable fan service. My partner has never seen Psychoville and still enjoyed it.
― chap, Tuesday, 11 February 2020 09:53 (four years ago) link
I've got to admit I did a little cheer when he showed up at the door.
― chap, Tuesday, 11 February 2020 09:55 (four years ago) link
thought the referee one was great but that psychoville one was dire. see also the league of gentlemen specials, they're much better off putting plenty of distance between themselves and that cartoon grotesquery (which I did like back in the day)
― or something, Tuesday, 11 February 2020 15:35 (four years ago) link
Ah no, I love a bit of cartoon grotesquery every now and then!
Agree the LoG specials were rubbish.
― chap, Tuesday, 11 February 2020 15:40 (four years ago) link
been reading reviews of last night and there clearly seems to be a clamour for new psychoville material so I should probably just say that it's not for me
― or something, Tuesday, 11 February 2020 17:14 (four years ago) link
Referee one was tremendous.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 11 February 2020 17:20 (four years ago) link
payoff was tremendous
― or something, Tuesday, 11 February 2020 17:23 (four years ago) link
Yes! Haven't really paid attention to these guys for ages and very much enjoyed that referee story, even if you can see the writing process a bit too clearly at times. The punchline was excellent.
Never seen Psychoville so didn't recognise that last night but it was less good because same old obsessions they've already worn out. Didn't hate it tho.
― Todd Phillips, party auteur (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 11 February 2020 17:30 (four years ago) link
The best five or so Inside No. 9s are up there with the best British telly of the last ten years but the self-consciously creepy ones are usually the worst.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 11 February 2020 19:03 (four years ago) link
it's the one everyone mentions but i'd put 12 days of christine up against any half hour of british telly ever. i cried
― or something, Tuesday, 11 February 2020 20:55 (four years ago) link
I loved Psychoville but it didn't really translate to a one-off here.Loved the ref one.
― kinder, Wednesday, 12 February 2020 21:29 (four years ago) link
there's a podcast for each episode of the new series, inside inside no. 9
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0824y01
― koogs, Monday, 17 February 2020 10:47 (four years ago) link
Rewatched League with its new 'jokes of the time' warning (which seems strange attached to the reunion specials) and the first two series really feel like radio forced into the telly.
It's funnier than I was worried I might find it, but an awful lot of the humour is in the 'laugh at the grotesques' category, like some modern freaks how. Gatiss' monologues are a treat though.
I've also realised the opening titles are formatted directly like Chopping Mall, which I'm not sure I've heard the connection before. Will bring it up with them when the twitter strike is over.
― Mud... jam... failure (aldo), Tuesday, 28 July 2020 08:13 (three years ago) link