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

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It's like a little piece of Cookd and Bombd on dear old ILx.

acrobat (elwisty), Monday, 15 January 2007 12:24 (eighteen years ago)

anyway... Gervais gets painfully OTM takedown from The Indy.

Ricky Gervais: Step into my office

He created one of the great sitcoms. He is a very funny man. And he's concerned about his 'legacy'. Which is exactly why Nicholas Barber would like to have a quiet word with Ricky Gervais

Published: 14 January 2007

Ricky Gervais opens his new live show wearing a plastic crown and a regal red robe, with his name in lights behind him and a six-foot model of an Emmy award to his left. "Not too much, is it?" he asks with mock-concern, but the answer is, no, it's not too much. If anything, it's not enough. Once he's slipped off the fancy dress, the reigning King of Comedy strolls around the stage for an hour and a bit in his trademark jeans and black T-shirt. He couldn't be more relaxed if he was at home in his pyjamas (which he is, he says, by 6.30 most nights).

He's such a natural comic that he gets laughs every time he unleashes his falsetto sarcasm or his saliva-soaked giggle. He skilfully deconstructs his stories as he's telling them, and he slips nimbly back and forth across the boundaries of taste, so we're never quite certain how offended to be.

But compared to any other stand-up show in a venue the size of Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall, it's a lackadaisical performance. Between swigs from a beer can, Gervais recounts a few chat-show anecdotes, does some student bar stuff about how nonsense songs don't make sense, has a smirk at those dunces who abused a paediatrician because they thought he was a paedophile, and dishes up regular portions of ironic homophobia.

At least, I assume it's ironic. When he makes an Aids joke, and then mutters, "I won't do that one in Brighton," I'm not 100-per-cent sure why it's less objectionable than it would have been if Jim Davidson had made the same remark. Overall, it's an amiable show, but there's not much in the way of depth or quotable punchlines, and there's no theme beyond the tour's title, Fame: doing charity gigs, signing autographs, being misrepresented in the tabloids, hugging Chris Tarrant. You'd assume that someone who didn't start writing The Office until his late thirties would have a stock of pre-fame memories to transmute into comedy. There was his stint in an Eighties pop duo, and then as a university entertainments officer, to name the two best-known jobs he had before he made headway at XFM and on Channel 4's 11 O'Clock Show. But instead of mining these veins of material, Gervais seems obsessed by his own celebrity. He's like one of those rock bands who get to their third album and can't dredge up anything to write songs about except groupies, hotel rooms and the disappointments of being a multi-millionaire.

Maybe we shouldn't be surprised. Since The Office brought Gervais sudden fame and fortune, he's been the proverbial kid in a candy store, living out the fantasies of every film and comedy geek. He made a guest appearance on Alias because he was a fan of the show. He wrote an episode of The Simpsons, and turned up in it in cartoon form. He became friends with Jonathan Ross, as every rising UK comedian is contractually obliged to do. When Channel 4 offered him his own interview strand, he jumped at the chance to badger his heroes, Larry David, Christopher Guest and Larry Shandling. His first film roles seem to be motivated by hero-worship, too. Having shone as a pompous boss in The Office, he can now be seen cameoing as a pompous boss in both Night at the Museum and For Your Consideration. Neither film is very good, but they did allow him to hang out with Ben Stiller and Christopher Guest, just as his role in the forthcoming Stardust let him share a studio with Robert De Niro.

"It's like winning a competition," he said in one recent interview. "It's like, would you like to play with Spinal Tap for a day? Yes. Would you like to play with The Godfather for a day? Yes." Gervais is not the first British comedian to jump on a plane to Hollywood, of course, and there's nothing wrong with mutual appreciation sessions with your idols. Indeed, there's something sweet about such a major star letting his inner fanboy come out to play. As his collection of Golden Globes and Emmys attests, the American entertainment industry loves the man from Reading, so you can hardly blame him for loving it back. Who wouldn't want to be Peter Lawford in a comedy Rat Pack?

On the other hand, it's getting harder to ignore the weird disjunction between the way Gervais talks about his career and the way it actually is.

Ever since The Office began broadcasting in July 2001, its star and co-creator has been repeating in interviews that he's primarily a writer and director, and that he gets "no joy from seeing my fat face on the screen". Initially, he said he didn't want to do too much TV as himself because he wanted viewers to enjoy the illusion that David Brent and his colleagues were real people; that was why he cast unknown actors.

He even boasted, somewhat ungallantly, that he'd turned down roles in Pirates of The Caribbean and the other films which went on to feature his Office co-stars. "Secretly I think I'd be quite good on QI," he told one interviewer, misinterpreting the word "secretly". "But you have to discipline yourself and you have to ration yourself. I can get sick of someone I like within the space of a weekend if I see them on two quiz shows and then in the Sunday paper." It's a strange statement from someone who once fought Anthea Turner's husband in a televised boxing match.

The Ricky Gervais who talks to journalists is a publicity-shy artist with exacting principles. "That quest for excellence, and also the legacy - I think about that," he said in The Radio Times. "I don't know if that's because I came to it older, but we really want to to have a great batting average. We don't want to let our guard down. You do it because you want to be proud of it." To Esquire, he pronounced: "When you're creating art, you've got to be a complete fascist." To GQ, he described himself and his co-writer and co-director, Stephen Merchant, as "comedy fundamentalists". He's often said that he doesn't rate many British comedians after Stan Laurel. "American comedy is better. It aims higher," he told Esquire. This Ricky Gervais is an ascetic, slightly intimidating perfectionist. And yet the other Ricky Gervais, the one who's all over the media, is someone who knows he won't be in the limelight forever, and who wants to revel in the exposure, the side projects and the glamorous friendships while he can.

It's impossible to exaggerate just how successful he's been. The Office has been broadcast in 80 countries, and remade in several, including the hit American edition with Steve Carell in the lead role. Sales of the British Office DVDs were record-breaking - four million is the current figure - and, as the tongue-in-cheek introduction to his live show reminds us, he's won an Emmy, two Golden Globes and six Baftas.

But this astonishing Midas Touch doesn't stop a large proportion of his work falling short of the benchmark he's set himself. His current stand-up tour, the fastest selling in history, sees him sitting right in the middle of his comfort zone. Podcasts of The Ricky Gervais Show are another record-breaking hit, but as funny as they can be, they consist largely of his XFM producer, Karl Pilkington, reeling off outlandish theories, while Gervais and Merchant berate him for not being as well educated as they are. And if his trio of children's picture books, Flanimals, hadn't had Gervais's name on it, the publisher would have sent it back with a polite note saying that it wasn't what they were looking for.

And then there's Extras. At the risk of inviting hate mail, I'd argue that Gervais and Merchant's second sitcom is, objectively, a patchy programme. Yes, it had its laughs. The fizzy water incident is destined to join Del Boy falling through the bar in all future bank holiday retrospectives of The 100 Best British Sitcom Moments. But it always felt less like a fully-formed show than an exercise in muscle-flexing by two writer-directors who had realised how powerful they were. They wanted superstars, they wanted location shooting, they wanted no canned laughter and almost no supporting cast; they had a list of minorities for the characters to upset and they wanted to tick them off methodically, week by week. Everything they wanted, they got.

The mysterious aspect of Extras was that it drew almost entirely from Gervais's own experiences in television, and yet it couldn't shake off a whiff of fakeness. It missed the satirical targets which were right in front of its creators' noses. Take its famous guest stars, for instance. On the programme which had the biggest influence on Extras, The Larry Sanders Show, the celebrity guests challenged us to spot where they ended and their scabrous self-parodies began, something Gervais himself does brilliantly on talk shows and on stage. But in Extras the celebs were all caricatured so ridiculously that there was never any danger that they might have been revealing their dark private selves. Did anyone watching it ever suspect that Daniel Radcliffe goes around propositioning actresses twice his age, or that Orlando Bloom pathologically hates Johnny Depp, or that Ben Stiller has exactly the same speech patterns as David Brent? Probably not. The actors could congratulate themselves on being good sports without the slightest risk.

Beyond that, there was the implausibility of Gervais's character, Andy Millman, being hoiked to stardom from work as a "background artist" even though - unlike Gervais - he had no TV-comedy experience. There was also the bewildering animus against the BBC, which was forcing Andy to wear a bad wig and specs in his sitcom-within-a-sitcom; when did that last happen in the real world? But what was more damaging was the series' grating inconsistencies. Sometimes Andy would be as crass and tactless as David Brent ever was, whereas at other times Andy would be the judicious one, and the solecisms would be parcelled out to his friend Maggie or his agent, played by Merchant.

In their introduction to the Extras script book, the writers say that they wanted a change from Brent. They wanted "Andy to be more like us: more normal, more self-aware, educated and liberal-minded, with a half-decent sense of humour". And so he was - some of the time. But he was also a man who saw a Bosnian refugee's photograph of his murdered wife, and then chided him for his choice of developer. "Oh, you missed a trick," he said. "Truprint give you a free film when you get something developed. So you're a mug." And witness the way Andy was shocked when Keith Chegwin grunted that the BBC was run by "Jews and queers" - and I'd love to know when anyone in showbusiness last said that - but was also horrified when a schoolmate he hadn't seen in 20 years thought he might be gay himself. (More only-just-ironic homophobia there.) "Andy's not a jerk at all," said Gervais in the Onion AV Club last week, but when it suited the joke, Andy mutated into David Brent multiplied by Basil Fawlty.

Whereas The Office took such pains to fool us, for half an hour at a time, that we were flies on the wall of a genuine paper merchants', Extras required viewers to give it the same leeway that they would a pantomime. In a single episode of the second series, Andy was at the BBC, filming a sitcom, and yet the same sitcom was already on air, getting a critical pasting, and Andy was also auditioning for a play, rehearsing it and performing it. Assuming that he wasn't supposed to be a Time Lord, Gervais and Merchant had given up caring whether their programme had any internal logic or not.

At the risk of inviting yet more hate mail, I'd suggest, too, that even in the second series of The Office, there were signs that its writers already believed the hype. Gareth was more obnoxious; Brent was more self-deluding; the humour was broader and cruder. When Brent frothed at a birthday party about how he'd have sex with the Corrs, the raucous, drunken festivities slammed to a halt and everyone stared in disgust.

Fair enough, that's the kind of thing which happens in sitcoms all the time, but the previous series hadn't felt like a sitcom; it had felt like an unwittingly hilarious documentary. The second series could have been written by someone who had watched the first one, but hadn't quite understood it.

That's not to say that anyone who masterminded those first terrific six episodes of The Office shouldn't be proud of himself. Nor is this an attempt to start a backlash or chop down a tall poppy. After all, everything Gervais does is worth a look, because he's funny even when - as on the current stand-up tour - he's not trying very hard. And when someone has accrued so many millions, so many plaudits and so many famous admirers he might feel justified in letting standards slip.

But let's get his output into perspective. Perhaps we should ease off on the King of Comedy accolades until Gervais's batting average, as he calls it, is a little closer to Galton and Simpson's or Clement and Le Frenais's. And that's not likely to happen unless he eases off on the cameos, the podcasts and the children's books. Maybe now that he's done a stand-up show called Fame, he can get back to the sort of work which made him famous.

The first leg of Ricky Gervais's stand-up tour has sold out. Tickets for the second leg, beginning on 6 March, go on sale on Tuesday at www.ticketzone.co.uk

http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/article2152792.ece

acrobat (elwisty), Monday, 15 January 2007 12:26 (eighteen years ago)

Who wouldn't want to be Peter Lawford in a comedy Rat Pack?

BURN.

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 12:29 (eighteen years ago)

couldn't agree more with the article.

vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 12:34 (eighteen years ago)

yeah pretty definitive article.

the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Monday, 15 January 2007 12:39 (eighteen years ago)

I got most of my Extras series 2 opinions (other people's that is) from the thread on here, and as such it's quite easy to forget that a pretty big proportion of the outside world thought it was really good and not at all disappointing or obsequious. Good piece, thirded

Feargal Hixxy (DJ Mencap), Monday, 15 January 2007 12:59 (eighteen years ago)

not that big a proportion surely though. i bet it got nowhere near the viewing figures of say my family or something.

acrobat (elwisty), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:11 (eighteen years ago)

"it's quite easy to forget that a pretty big proportion of the outside world thought it was really good and not at all disappointing"

is this true?

Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:14 (eighteen years ago)

Among the people that actually watched it, I meant, but yeah you could definitely argue that the audience-to-coverage ratio is pretty skewed

xpost

Feargal Hixxy (DJ Mencap), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:16 (eighteen years ago)

on a cookd/bombd tip, glad to see i'm, not alone in thinking Sam Wollaston is a truly hopeless telly reviewer.

Britain's Obtusest Shepherd (Alan), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:16 (eighteen years ago)

Alison Graham and Sal Woollaston liked it. They're two hip, with it, swinging cats.
xxp

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:16 (eighteen years ago)

Cookd and Bombd fact: I once saw a noted C+B poster try to chat up a Little Britain fan, whilst he so clearly was trying to hold back his real views on Lucas and Walliams for the sake of poppage.

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:17 (eighteen years ago)

It got mostly good reviews did it not? And most people I spoke to thought it was pretty good, maybe not quite up w/ the first series

Feargal Hixxy (DJ Mencap), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:17 (eighteen years ago)

Alison Graham: Copy and Paste Your Top 1000 Reasons Why She Is So Bad and Hated

Michael Philip Philip Philip Philip Annoyman (Ferg), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:17 (eighteen years ago)

But why though? Is Gervais just some master of the percentage game, he knows that 20% ironic homophobia, 15% recycled Seinfeld gags, 32% broad catchphrase comedy, etc etc is the key to the nation's heart?

xp

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:18 (eighteen years ago)

I'm calling it: Alison Graham is the worst fucking journalist on the planet today.

I would say that though, because I hate women.

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:19 (eighteen years ago)

who's your least favourite man hack? (you can't vote for yourself)

vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:20 (eighteen years ago)

"Sam Wollaston
Wednesday January 3, 2007
The Guardian


Here's a scene. You're looking along your collection of CDs, or shuffling through your playlist, trying to find that new Lady Sovereign album or whatever. But you stumble across something else, something from 10 years ago - the Fugees, say."

the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:21 (eighteen years ago)

OTM

vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:22 (eighteen years ago)

Sam Wollaston would then go on to mention how his "friend" really likes that Fugees album.

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:22 (eighteen years ago)

who's your least favourite man hack? (you can't vote for yourself)

That senile dribbling cunt with his own column in the Guardian weekend magazine.

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:23 (eighteen years ago)

Or Artrocker Comedy Racism Man

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:24 (eighteen years ago)

that article i posted up thread is i think what john harris perecives his "controversial" articles to read like.

acrobat (elwisty), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:24 (eighteen years ago)

SW will never spend any real money or time on "that new (some say only) Lady Sovereign album" or, indeed, "whatever."

That senile dribbling cunt with his own column in the Guardian weekend magazine.

Cue stock that's no way to talk about Zoe Williams gag.

Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:24 (eighteen years ago)

Alison Graham doesn't have a Wikipedia entry. And Dom Passantino does.

Michael Philip Philip Philip Philip Annoyman (Ferg), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:27 (eighteen years ago)

Where are the standards of today, I ask you.

I don't have a Wikipedia entry either.

Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:35 (eighteen years ago)

Thursday, 20:00
Radio Ha Ha

Radio 4 turns over the airwaves to solid gold laughter, as Steve Punt joins up with a host of stars, backstage movers and industry shakers from the comedy industry with a two-hour special.

Variety shows and radio were the traditional routes to comedy fame and fortune, but what about today? Super agents, DVD sales, straight-to-TV stars; where does radio fit in? Steve and a panel of guests pick apart the laughter seam of the modern comedy industry, as well as generating a few jokes along the way.

Includes News Summary at 9.00pm.

Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:36 (eighteen years ago)

In any given episode of "Extras", it could be 15% "brilliant", 25% "passable" and 60% "rubbish/obvious"...

like swimming in a cool sea and passing through a warm current, etc...

Where are the standards of today, I ask you.
I don't have a Wikipedia entry either.

-- Marcello Carlin (marcellocarli...)

Oh, have I got one?

mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:37 (eighteen years ago)

you are diligently referenced on both j harris' and a petridis' though marcello.

acrobat (elwisty), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:38 (eighteen years ago)

Search
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
You searched for mark grout [Index]

No page with that title exists.

Whew.

mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:39 (eighteen years ago)

before that little derail folks was talkin' about the public / critical reaction to extras s2. the critical raves so often feel like wishful thinking. wanting, needing to have that generation defining masterpiece happening on your watch. i have yet to meet anyone who regards extras as anything other than ok or entertaining.

also on the bad can someone please put Have I Got News For You out of its misery.

acrobat (elwisty), Monday, 15 January 2007 13:58 (eighteen years ago)

At the risk of inviting hate mail, I'd argue that Gervais and Merchant's second sitcom is, objectively, a patchy programme.

At the risk of, on this reviewer's logic, inviting lynch-mobs to my door, I'd argue that Extras was shite.

You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:02 (eighteen years ago)

Radio Ha Ha is great. I was fooled by it the first time.

vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:10 (eighteen years ago)

sometimes writers employ rhetorical devices.

xpost

the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:10 (eighteen years ago)

wait, i'm thinking of that other thing on radio 4. carry on. xpost

vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:10 (eighteen years ago)

xpost: Yes, but I still think the sentence panders unnecessarily towards Extras when it can really go for the kill instead.

You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:12 (eighteen years ago)

'This week: Worzel says all reggae is vile.' thread actually linked to from John Harris wikipedia!

vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:12 (eighteen years ago)

A handful of contributors to the I Love Music boards have strongly attacked what they as a thread of covert racism in some of his work

vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:13 (eighteen years ago)

david quantick wrote a book about chris rock?

the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:16 (eighteen years ago)

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE WORDS COMING OUT OF MY QUIZZICALLY PURSED LIPS?

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:18 (eighteen years ago)

to get off the hate and link to Quantick... TV Burp is back on Saturday! woo! Harry on this year's CBB should be a joy.

acrobat (elwisty), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:28 (eighteen years ago)

for reference or summat from the green wing thread:

To put things into context: Harry Hill aside, all British TV Comedy right now is total shit.

-- Ruairi Wirewool (horseproduction...), January 15th, 2007. (Ruairi Wirewool) (later)


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what were the chances of that happening?
-- mark grout (mark.grou...), January 15th, 2007. (mark grout) (later)


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If you can put CT and Green Wing on a par, you truly show a lack of discernment IMO.
Frankly, now that GW has been and gone, I'm inclined to agree with Ruairi, minus the bit about Harry Hill.

-- You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (papiermachealamphibia...), January 15th, 2007. (Haberdager) (later)


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If you can put CT and Green Wing on a par, you truly show a lack of discernment IMO.
no it's just a 'higher' (or rather 'stricter') level of discernment.

-- vita susicivus (n...), January 15th, 2007. (blueski) (later)


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'the thick of it' will be back, later in the year, and so will 'peep show'.
-- the original hauntology blogging crew (miltonpinsk...), January 15th, 2007. (Enrique) (later)


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but in a another more accurate sense...
-- mark s (mar...), January 15th, 2007. (mark s) (later)


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but then i do like Harry Hill so it's apples and roundabouts.
-- vita susicivus (n...), January 15th, 2007. (blueski) (later)


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rubbish
-- RJG (RJ...), January 15th, 2007. (RJG) (later)


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so you keep saying
-- vita susicivus (n...), January 15th, 2007. (blueski) (later)


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RJG's TV Burp
-- Dom Passantino (juror...), January 15th, 2007. (Dom Passantino) (later)


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Hmm. I was only talking about currently-running comedy shows. If Peep Show returns for a fourth bite at the cherry (and TTOI for a second), I will only be too delighted. Of course, the one I'm really looking out for is Nathan Barley II.
-- You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (papiermachealamphibia...), January 15th, 2007. (Haberdager) (later)


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i think it would be a big ask for there to be a 'great' uk comedy series to be running all 52 weeks of the year. i have low standards perhaps; but i don't ask for a 'great' film each month either.
-- the original hauntology blogging crew (miltonpinsk...), January 15th, 2007. (Enrique) (later)


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of course i too want 'nathan barley' back.
-- the original hauntology blogging crew (miltonpinsk...), January 15th, 2007. (Enrique) (later)


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They could drop scissors on a dog's head this time.
-- Dom Passantino (juror...), January 15th, 2007. (Dom Passantino) (later)


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uh, rose-tinted view there i reckon - but at least it was generating interesting discussion.
one episode of Screen Wipe a month would be good. ditto TV Burp.

-- vita susicivus (n...), January 15th, 2007. (blueski) (later)


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ha ha Dom OTM
-- vita susicivus (n...), January 15th, 2007. (blueski) (later)


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Unread Messages
as with 'green wing', take away the hype and the expectation it'll live up to 'the day today' and 'nathan barley' was 23 minutes well-spent. i lolled anyway.
-- the original hauntology blogging crew (miltonpinsk...), January 15th, 2007. (Enrique) (later)


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i didn't laugh more than i did laugh etc.
-- vita susicivus (n...), January 15th, 2007. (blueski) (later)

acrobat (elwisty), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:00 (eighteen years ago)

We're, what, 18 months away from NB now? Can we work out why it was so bad and so hated yet?

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:02 (eighteen years ago)

we already did!

vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:03 (eighteen years ago)

like, 5 minutes after the end credits!

vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:03 (eighteen years ago)

I'm talking about THE BENEFIT OF DISTANCE AND HINDSIGHT

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:03 (eighteen years ago)

Charlie Brooker's Monday G2 column is weird because you can see the video game journalist in him threatening to break through at any moment. qf the Geoff Capes gag in today's etc.

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:04 (eighteen years ago)

Louis you seem to be assuming that the guy from the Indie actually thinks Extras is shite, which isn't what he's saying. Something can be patchy and still have plenty of redeeming features overall

Feargal Hixxy (DJ Mencap), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:06 (eighteen years ago)

It wasn't bad. It was funny, well-drawn and turn-itself-inside-out clever, not to mention superbly casted and acted. It needs re-watching cos it skips from one idea to the next so quick, but yeh, it's awesome.

And Screen Wipe rocks.

Johnney B English (stigoftdump), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:07 (eighteen years ago)

Brooker should start doing his columns in cartoon strip form, like those ads for some gaming shop or other that were always in Gamesmaster magazine

Feargal Hixxy (DJ Mencap), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:08 (eighteen years ago)

re amandaland. richard osman was on his podcast the other day reading out the top 100 streaming programmes* and of the 10 that were bbc originals 6 of those were the 6 episodes of amandaland

(* streaming only, broadcast wasn't included)

Cockfields has finished and the oddest thing about it is that joe wilkinson is the most normal part about it. he's there in normal clothes, sometimes even in the sea in shorts, and he's not the chunky looking bloke that you wouldn't leave your kids with that he is in pretty much everything else he does.

koogs, Monday, 10 March 2025 12:14 (three months ago)

The Change, probably my favourite thing of that year, has got a second series, coming soon.

(which surprises me somewhat, just because it seemed complete as it was)

koogs, Thursday, 13 March 2025 11:42 (three months ago)

Watched first two eps of Last One Laughing UK.

I have a love/hate relationship with the format: I find the concept truly fascinating and the fact that there's versions for all sorts of countries is really interesting for pinpointing cultural differences. Otoh the format is very garish and a lot of comedians decide to go as lowbrow as possible, which is prob not the worst strategy but it's a bit embarrassing to watch.

Anyway UK edition is quite good so far, it doesn't have the hard arsedness of the Japanese original*, in which the arriving comedians were greeted by cries of "fuck no I don't want this dude here" instead of the kissy luvvie shit, but it is surprisingly serious about its concept (no smiling allowed - contrast with the French version where no one got a card until they were like rolling on the floor) and of course a lot of the contestants are good. One thing I noticed in most versions is women tend to do worse (because more socially conditioned to laugh when others make jokes) and it usually comes down to older male comedians at the end. Doesn't seem so much the case here - the exits have been pretty gender balanced, Lou Sanders in particular managed to eliminate two, and the oldest contestant is by no means the most stonefaced one.

* hosted by an abusive pos who is now cancelled, but I didn't know that when I watched it

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 21 March 2025 10:24 (three months ago)

We're loving Last One Laughing (four eps in) - has the potential to go full Taskmaster, we're already discussing who we'd love to see on it in future seasons

ailsa, Thursday, 3 April 2025 20:42 (three months ago)

I was slightly disappointed at first, because I wasn't aware of the "staying in one 'house' and having to not smile for 6 hours" thing and imagined it would be a straight-up panel game "try and make other people laugh against their will with your hijinx" thing. But this show is just so funny, I'm loving it, even despite Jimmy Carr, who I find repellent. Up to ep 4 at the moment, too, and Bob's song with the recurring hook "I will kill again" had me on the floor.

conspiracitorial theories (stevie), Friday, 4 April 2025 09:51 (three months ago)

Speaking of Taskmaster alumni, Mae Martin is in Laugh One Laughing Canada (good, though helps if you feel the same tenderness in your heart for Dave Foley that I do) and Aisling Bea is in Last One Laughing Ireland (borderline unwatchable).

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 4 April 2025 10:00 (three months ago)

We almost watched the US LOL when trying to watch the UK one, as we're sneakily logging in on a friend's login and unfamiliar with the menu - is that any good, too?

Excited for s02 of the UK one but worry they'll struggle to match the lineup. Some of my favourite comedians in this, and the only one I didn't already know, Harriet, is dangerously funny.

conspiracitorial theories (stevie), Friday, 4 April 2025 10:07 (three months ago)

Loved Harriet. "Not in that dress, princess!"

So there's an US one at last?? When I was going through them they had so many versions (Mexico, Philipines, Germany, France, Italy, it just went on and on) but no UK and no US.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 4 April 2025 10:08 (three months ago)

"Not in that dress, princess!"

Ha! Yes. Lou currently the MVP. Bob amazing. Judi Love always v v v hilarious.

So there's an US one at last??

I assumed? Jay Baruchel appeared in the credits in the Jimmy Carr role and then my partner pointed out we were streaming the wrong one and I exited swiftly. Maybe this was actually the Canadian one?

conspiracitorial theories (stevie), Friday, 4 April 2025 10:11 (three months ago)

Yeah that's the Canadian one.

I will say I know Aoyoade's aloofness is part of his persona but as it goes on it does make him seem like he looks down on everyone but Bob.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 4 April 2025 10:13 (three months ago)

Harriet is amazing at this. I was actually crying at Bob's song, I have no idea how Daisy didn't crumble.

Our casting plan for season 2 mostly revolves around them getting Ed Byrne and Dara O Briain on together.

ailsa, Friday, 4 April 2025 10:17 (three months ago)

And Lucy Beaumont to play the part of Harriet.

ailsa, Friday, 4 April 2025 10:19 (three months ago)

Liza Tarbuck or Claudia Winkleman as the deadpan agent of chaos.

ailsa, Friday, 4 April 2025 10:20 (three months ago)

And Lucy Beaumont to play the part of Harriet.

Oh yes. Hells yes.

conspiracitorial theories (stevie), Friday, 4 April 2025 10:21 (three months ago)

ahh you guys are gonna make me watch this

kinder, Friday, 4 April 2025 12:49 (three months ago)

Yeah, I read reviews of the Irish one when it came out and assumed that they were all as bad, but the clips I've seen of the UK one do make it look worth watching. My aversion to at least one of the participants notwithstanding.

trishyb, Friday, 4 April 2025 13:04 (three months ago)

I'll admit I'm finding Carr, who reminds me of a glitching, malevolent robot at all times, hard to watch.

conspiracitorial theories (stevie), Friday, 4 April 2025 13:15 (three months ago)

He's repulsive and I literally cannot watch anything with him in it.

Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Friday, 4 April 2025 13:25 (three months ago)

xpost to trishyb - yep, she's awful in this too, but I'm largely pretending she's not there, assuming we're talking about the same person. Everyone else is golden.

ailsa, Friday, 4 April 2025 13:35 (three months ago)

If you can take it, I can.

trishyb, Friday, 4 April 2025 13:40 (three months ago)

I assume you guys are talkinh about Lou Sanders? It's ok, I don't think she posts here. I'm with stevie tho, she's great in this.

Yeah, I read reviews of the Irish one when it came out and assumed that they were all as bad

I'd say yes and no: there's aspects of the format that show up in every version (the garish sets, the lame footage of the eliminated contestants observing, the shitty surprise guest stars) except the Japanese one, which is the most hardcore but sadly also hosted by a now exposed sex pest. But if you can get past the trappings I listed there's a lot to enjoy in some of the versions.

Tbh I'm in it as much for the weird social experiment aspect as the comedy, the tension that builds, the way ppl circle each other or try to avoid each other's gazes. By the last episodes it does often resemble looking at ppl undergoing psychological torture tho.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 4 April 2025 13:56 (three months ago)

Tbh I'm in it as much for the weird social experiment aspect as the comedy, the tension that builds, the way ppl circle each other or try to avoid each other's gazes. By the last episodes it does often resemble looking at ppl undergoing psychological torture tho.

Yes, this absolutely grew on me. Aoyade is very funny, but also seems a bit unpleasant. I have vague memories of unsavoury stuff having arisen about him, but I cannot remember what, but I was already ready to take against him (despite having loved him in a lot of stuff he's done). He seems to enjoy torturing the others a little bit too much. Tho Lou's a killer too, and I adore her in this.

conspiracitorial theories (stevie), Friday, 4 April 2025 14:10 (three months ago)

A quote from Ayoade, featured in publicity materials, noted: 'Graham Linehan has long been one of my favourite writers – and this book shows that his brilliance in prose is the equal to his brilliance as a screenwriter.

'It unfolds with the urgency of a Sam Fuller film: that of a man who has been through something that few have experienced but has managed to return, undaunted, to tell us the tale.'

Ayoade's warm words for the man who gave him the role that made him mainstream prompted criticism from fans. He has now defended his review as being based on Linehan's skills as a writer - not necessarily his viewpoints.

Speaking on Gyles Brandreth's Rosebud podcast, Ayoade said: 'He's had, I think, a very harrowing time.

'But I wrote (the review) because he wrote an autobiography and his involvement, I suppose, he would frame it in terms of women's rights as opposed to being anti- anything, so I wanted to say I thought his book was well-written and good.

'I think he's a great writer, a brilliant writer, and I think everyone who would know him would know he's a man of great principle, I think.'

Number None, Friday, 4 April 2025 14:18 (three months ago)

That's him off my Christmas card list.

Please play Lou Reed's irritating guitar sounds (Tom D.), Friday, 4 April 2025 14:19 (three months ago)

Yup, that's what I thought of too.

Hadn't read the Sam Fuller namedrop tho, lol and indeed lmao.

xpost

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 4 April 2025 14:21 (three months ago)

Ah, there it is.

conspiracitorial theories (stevie), Friday, 4 April 2025 14:31 (three months ago)

I enjoyed this. Not sure it needed to be 6 episodes but it did build pretty effectively. I'm guessing the end was manufactured - Ayodae deferring to Mortimer?

I found some of the jokers pretty excruciating, particularly Lou Sanders', and not in the way I think she intended. No one laughing except her seemed painfully accurate. Thought she was generally good, though. Love Joe Wilkinson; his Stars in Your Eyes was magnificent.

Anyone got the case against Bob Mortimer? He was a prince in this.

I would prefer not to. (Chinaski), Friday, 4 April 2025 14:36 (three months ago)

The most I can say is that, as with Ayoade's Linehan defense, Mortimer's biog is full of happy memories with wrong 'uns, not acknowledged as such, but I guess that's just being in showbiz during the 90's. But yeah I love him.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 4 April 2025 14:40 (three months ago)

There is no case against Bob Mortimer, surely. The man's a treasure. I'd hate to hear anything bad about him.

I just can't go Lou Sanders' schtick. She's just painful to watch. I understand others' mileage may vary on this, comedy being subjective and all that.

ailsa, Friday, 4 April 2025 14:40 (three months ago)

I've loved Lou in this tbh, but all comedians have the potential to be marmite ime

conspiracitorial theories (stevie), Friday, 4 April 2025 14:45 (three months ago)

(meant to write Mortimer's autobio there. but yeah saying nice things about cunts ain't the biggest sin)

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Friday, 4 April 2025 14:47 (three months ago)

Finished it now. Just great stuff. Get Acaster on the next series please.

ailsa, Friday, 4 April 2025 21:47 (three months ago)

Also, Sean Lock would have been so good on this :(

groovypanda, Monday, 7 April 2025 18:52 (two months ago)

Oh god, yeah.

ailsa, Monday, 7 April 2025 21:17 (two months ago)

I wasn't a fan of Lou before but quite liked her in this - 'naughty taughty' was genuinely hilarous.

I imagine we'll be seeing a lot of these, probably with diminishing returns cast-wise. surely cheap and quick as fuck to knock out, with contestant fees the biggest expense.

Bob winning was a boring result, much as I obviously love him

chap, Tuesday, 8 April 2025 18:01 (two months ago)

It turns out I don't enjoy people not laughing when other people are trying to make them laugh, so it wasn't for me... I'm out. /Deborah Meaden voice.

But yes, obviously it's going to run and run because it presumably costs nuppence nuppeny to make.

trishyb, Tuesday, 8 April 2025 18:02 (two months ago)

I'm still confused as to why they took so long to bring it to panel show happy UK tbh!

Ending did up conforming to most versions of the show - winners tend to be veterans, and almost always male.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Tuesday, 8 April 2025 18:12 (two months ago)

Naughty taughty was great, yes.

The veterans thing is presumably because a lot of the young bucks have looked up to them their whole lives and are predisposed to finding everything about them hilarious. There's probably a ton of people on the casting team courting Jack Dee or Paul Merton round about now.

ailsa, Wednesday, 9 April 2025 07:13 (two months ago)

Well, and conversely, the veterans are jaded and not amused by the young 'uns. UK far from the worst version in that dynamic tho.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Wednesday, 9 April 2025 08:25 (two months ago)

Yeah, I read reviews of the Irish one when it came out and assumed that they were all as bad

I loved this so much that I immediately watched the Irish one and thought it was great. It got so chaotic at the end. Started the Candadian one but it wasn't as good.

The UK one was one of the best things I've seen in ages. Mortimer and Ayodae doing the speed dating absolutely killed me.

Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 9 April 2025 11:12 (two months ago)

Most of the ppl in the Irish one were rubbish imo and there was so much low hanging fruit.

The Canadian one has Tom Green's Carson monologue which is worth the price of admission.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Wednesday, 9 April 2025 11:15 (two months ago)

I love Aisling and I liked Deirdre, Catherine, and Jason none of whom I knew before. It wasn't as good as the UK one at all but I enjoyed it.

I stopped the Canadian one part way through so I don't think I saw that but will go back to it.

Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 9 April 2025 11:22 (two months ago)

Whatever about the rest of them, some of whom I know in person and they are nice people, you could not pay me to watch a programme with David McSavage in it. He is the worst.

trishyb, Wednesday, 9 April 2025 12:15 (two months ago)

I know nothing about him (had to look up which one he was just now) but he was def the worst one.

Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Wednesday, 9 April 2025 12:48 (two months ago)

Saturday Night Live is to have its own British version called SNL UK.

It will be made in London with an all-British cast, executive produced by Lorne Michaels and it will air in 2026.

— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) April 10, 2025

I quite like US SNL, there are UK comedians I like, but somehow I can't imagine this being anything other than the worst programme ever made

Platinum Penguin Pavilion (soref), Thursday, 10 April 2025 09:41 (two months ago)

have there been any good UK sketch shows in recent years? The only one I can think of is Ellie & Natasia

Platinum Penguin Pavilion (soref), Thursday, 10 April 2025 09:44 (two months ago)

US SNL interesting as an exercise in "how much talent can you pour into a show for decades and decades without ever being funny", don't see any need to repeat the experiment elsewhere tho.

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Thursday, 10 April 2025 09:46 (two months ago)

Who's gonna sing "Hallelujah" when Reform gets in?

a ZX spectrum is haunting Europe (Daniel_Rf), Thursday, 10 April 2025 09:47 (two months ago)

have there been any good UK sketch shows in recent years? The only one I can think of is Ellie & Natasia

Burnistoun is the only one I can think of.

ailsa, Thursday, 10 April 2025 11:51 (two months ago)

i've watched the first 3 eps of LOL. Bob Mortimer would have me in stitches.
switched over to watch a bit of The Martian I'd recorded for another day and Mr Swallow pops right up as a NASA JPL guy, freaked me out a bit!

kinder, Saturday, 12 April 2025 15:22 (two months ago)


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