― vita susicivus (blueski), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:22 (seventeen years ago) link
it also shows what happens when people who look at the world differently clash with those who conform (and therein lies the greater part of its subversion).
you may be right but still not seeing how these convert to roffles, other than in the latter's case the obvious juxtaposition and subsequent confounding of expectations (which isn't/doesn't have to be done dark of course).
i mean a woman crying and when asked what's wrong saying 'i can't feel my cock' IS/was funny provided it's done with the right tone but beyond that it just didn't do it for me...
― vita susicivus (blueski), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:25 (seventeen years ago) link
i think i'll stick with family guy.
i think a big problem is, for me anyway, often the funny comes before the thinking. i admire the satirical intent of brass eye but to be honest richard blackwood saying "i feel suggestible now" or the purves grundy "me oh myra bit" are just funny cos well i'm not sure. or mark heap swearing at a cow, it didn't make me thing about "people who look at the world differently clash with those who conform" but it made me laugh a lot.
― acrobat (elwisty), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:27 (seventeen years ago) link
You've chosen one of the more obtuse, wilfully 'outrageous' sketches. The majority of BJ has some grounding in logic. Not the logic of any other show, mind.
― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:33 (seventeen years ago) link
I mean, the monologues were a slower, richer source of hyuks but, still, there wasn't a point at which I thought, "Oh yes! I was feeling faintly nauseated there for a while but NOW I see how he's challenging convention - ha ha ha!" It was all pretty amusin' to me.
― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― the killfire konspiracy (Haberdager), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 17:50 (seventeen years ago) link
I was talking about this 'sketch' on the TV version (as I hadn't heard it on the radio show). But funny because I do tend to prefer logic/realism in my comedy now (at least I do when it's comedy set in our real world e.g. Peep Show, Extras). But I do need to listen and watch the shows properly to really be sure of all this.
I found it as immediate in its lollacity and rofflage as yr undark tellyMorris.
I think Morris has always traded this way e.g. laughs for the puerile gags (road sign called 'Youngbottom Ride' on the BE TV special) as big if not bigger than the ones reserved for the actual 'satire'. He seems to love the puerile as much as anyone else really.
but an extra on the Jam DVD, in which genuine audience response was played over the sketch. As it turns out, most of this response was hysterical laughter. It gave one of the darkest, most disturbing sketches of recent times a feelgood, 'comedy classic' aura, as we and the audience laughed along to a couple of parents reacting to the rape and murder of their son as if it were a cracked flowerpot (the aforementioned Cann pulling off an astonishing performance). This brilliant challenge to what instant, hilarious, laugh-out-loud comedy COULD be is what makes both BJ and Jam so great IMO.
again isn't this just 'let's confound expectations in a rather obvious way whilst using brutal subject matter for added punch' or am i still missing something? i suppose years later it might not seem as impressive because of copycats, internet stuff etc. but still.
― vita susicivus (blueski), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 18:03 (seventeen years ago) link
― acrobat (elwisty), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 18:12 (seventeen years ago) link
Sorry if I'm misunderstanding you here, but by "genuine audience response" you don't actually mean a recorded response to this sketch, do you? Because it's obviously not - it's canned. I thought it was a fairly cheap gimmick, provoked (possibly) by the response of audience members to playback of BJ sketches at Battersea Arts Centre in '98 (where his brother is/was artistic director) - polite, simpering laughter which Morris apparently thought kinda depressing.
I sort of admire your zeal, Scourage, and I'm sure you're quite sincere in your enthusiasms but trumpeting the show's cultural subversions and its "brilliant challenge[s]" isn't, I don't think, going to convince the sceptics that it's funny. It's one of the hardest (and most futile) undertakings, that of selling a piece of comedy based on its perceived importance and innovation. Having said that, quoting funny lines out of context (another popular approach) doesn't work either. I suppose that's why I find your fandom a bit uncomfortable - you're championing something to people who aren't interested in terms I don't really recognise.
We can't really re-create the conditions in which you or I encountered BJ upon original broadcast for anyone else, so don't be surprised if someone goes away from this thread, downloads a couple of eps and is underwhelmed.
― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 22:33 (seventeen years ago) link
― acrobat (elwisty), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 23:19 (seventeen years ago) link
― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 00:39 (seventeen years ago) link
Genre - Ambient comedy
not quite prog then.
― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 12:13 (seventeen years ago) link
― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 12:15 (seventeen years ago) link
― Feargal Hixxy (DJ Mencap), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 12:24 (seventeen years ago) link
― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 12:27 (seventeen years ago) link
― the killfire konspiracy (Haberdager), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 12:42 (seventeen years ago) link
Er, some pleasure for the audience? Some gauge of how effective the material was for the creators? I dunno, why do anything ever? They were all on the floor on cushions in complete darkness, apparently. I imagine it was all rather awkward. Apart from the ubiquitous snogging couple.
― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 13:09 (seventeen years ago) link
― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 13:14 (seventeen years ago) link
anyway... LJ's point kinda hold i think the comedy programs held in the most affection tend not to be simply 'cos of the roffles. there's also a gender thing. there's a certain generalization about the ladies liking lolz only as a side order to soapiness or "feeling good" friends or green wing tend to be produced as evidence. there's a real covert thread of that in c & b world. cf there thread on upcoming stand up josie long. theory is kinda bollocks cos loads of gurls like family guy which is like the most unemotional program ever.
back to the main point. the way LJ regards chris morris is kinda like the way "the nation" regards only fools and horses: a non comedic element has become, in talking about it at least, the chief reason for the cherishing of it. possibly.
― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 13:45 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ruairi Wirewool (Ruairi Wirewool), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 13:46 (seventeen years ago) link
― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 13:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 14:12 (seventeen years ago) link
― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 16:33 (seventeen years ago) link
― vita susicivus (blueski), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 16:35 (seventeen years ago) link
― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 16:39 (seventeen years ago) link
Father Ted and The Day Today use 'dumbness' in a manner that almost entirely removes the stupidity, because they do it with such unremitting poise.
― the killfire konspiracy (Haberdager), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 17:49 (seventeen years ago) link
'Peep Show' is intelligent with regard to the subjects it handles, but I never notice the actual jokes being that esoteric.
― Ruairi Wirewool (Ruairi Wirewool), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 18:14 (seventeen years ago) link
― the killfire konspiracy (Haberdager), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 18:17 (seventeen years ago) link
joek
― acrobat (elwisty), Wednesday, 17 January 2007 18:18 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ruairi Wirewool (Ruairi Wirewool), Thursday, 18 January 2007 00:01 (seventeen years ago) link
that sort of thing just doesn't happen in yer standard sitcom
― vita susicivus (blueski), Thursday, 18 January 2007 00:07 (seventeen years ago) link
he achieved this a lot better with The IT Crowd it would seem. i don't think he'd actually be capable of writing a 'stupid' Roy Clarke-esque sitcom.
― vita susicivus (blueski), Thursday, 18 January 2007 00:09 (seventeen years ago) link
(I'll admit to having not seen either of the first two in 20+ years - they could be dross misremembered as understated gems with cracking performances).
― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Thursday, 18 January 2007 00:19 (seventeen years ago) link
― vita susicivus (blueski), Thursday, 18 January 2007 00:22 (seventeen years ago) link
- the doctor who has eleborate swearwords- 'he killed the man'- '--brackets--'- rothko- 'i work in the warm arts'- 4ft car- '...can't you just' (louis knows what i mean)- the dance charts -- hackneyed but still funny
but also to repeat it was half a *music show*, and worked on those terms. think of it like steve wright in the wee hours or something.
― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Thursday, 18 January 2007 11:10 (seventeen years ago) link
― WOEbat (elwisty), Thursday, 18 January 2007 11:50 (seventeen years ago) link
― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Thursday, 18 January 2007 11:51 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ruairi Wirewool (Ruairi Wirewool), Thursday, 18 January 2007 12:12 (seventeen years ago) link
― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Thursday, 18 January 2007 12:15 (seventeen years ago) link
― Feargal Hixxy (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 18 January 2007 12:16 (seventeen years ago) link
― putting me in mind of attractive women (Enrique), Thursday, 18 January 2007 12:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― vita susicivus (blueski), Thursday, 18 January 2007 12:32 (seventeen years ago) link
Ah there was often comedy gold to be found there. Favourite ever was insults from Huey of the Fun Lovin' criminals:
You still pushing your jaw each way but westwards? You're raising my pressure quickstyle my friend, upside like a doped joker. i'm gonna cut you open so far you'll be up all night stitchin' your backpipe together just so you can start weepin'! You're gonna need eleven different kinds of treatment! You'll be tryin' to find ice till there's no more ice!
(from memory, tragically)
― ledge (ledge), Thursday, 18 January 2007 12:39 (seventeen years ago) link
roffle all the way home . . .
― Johnney B English (stigoftdump), Thursday, 18 January 2007 12:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Thursday, 18 January 2007 12:41 (seventeen years ago) link
― acrobat (elwisty), Thursday, 18 January 2007 13:13 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ruairi Wirewool (Ruairi Wirewool), Thursday, 18 January 2007 13:46 (seventeen years ago) link
Enrique's list is good, and contains (just about) two of my top-3 BJ moments...
3) Series 1 Episode 4, 25:10. The sprightly, uptempo groove accompanying Michael Alexander St.John's dance countdown suddenly morphs (in the radio equivalent of bone-spaceship in 2001:ASO) seamlessly into Lennon's '#9 Dream'.
2) Series 2 Episode 4, 27:59. The Rothko monologue ends. Accompanied by the melancholic, chilled middle-eight of Madonna's 'Ray Of Light', although you don't know that at this stage. As the monologue ends, the building, throbbing intro to the actual song bounces into gear, and as the last word is spoken, Madonna's heavenly voice takes up the baton. As a moment of sadness into happiness it is unparalleled.
1) Series 2, Episode 1, 34:18.
"Well, we'll just have to get used to it being just the two of us again."
"Mmmmmmm..."
― unmixed by DJ Mrs. Clark of Egham (Haberdager), Thursday, 18 January 2007 14:41 (seventeen years ago) link
― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Thursday, 18 January 2007 15:23 (seventeen years ago) link
― vita susicivus (blueski), Thursday, 18 January 2007 15:27 (seventeen years ago) link