Marion and Geoff - s2e1 - Pathos pathos everywhere, possibly Rob Brydon's greatest moment. Excellent combination of comic timing, improv and situation comedy.
Fast Show - s3e5 - the Channel 9 awards show sketch marks a return to the Channel 9 parodies actually being funny, especially with the comedy award. A cruel caricature of Men Behaving Badly-era Martin Clunes. Also the début of Quayle the retriever.
Grass - e1 - the Fast Show spin off no one seems to remember, featuring Billy Bleach, Simon Day's pub knowall character. Slow to start and rather dark, this was one of BBC3's first comedy's and Charlie Higson has said* that, like Swiss Toni, it was probably on the wrong channel for its target audience.
Gimme gimme gimme - Is Beryl really dead? How many uses for her coffin are there? The quality of this show really hasn't let up.
Show and Tell e3 - quality of guests takes a slight dip but still a strong line up.
*To me in a tweet. No really. I made a noise like a small girl when I saw he'd messaged me. @monstroso is the handle he uses by the way, currently sending updates of Fast Show Faster they're doing for Fosters.
Friday 30 September 2011
Comedy Night - 22 September 2011
Dad's Army - s4e9 - Mum's Army - Featuring a young Wendy Richards and Carmen Silvera (Edith in Allo Allo) as the Home Guard welcome women into the platoon. Dad's Army must be in my top 5 sitcoms of all time, combining a stupidly talented cast and great, warm writing. Arthur Lowe's comic timing in the Tea Shop as he tries to impress a younger woman by taking his glasses off and then end up bumping into things is a joy to behold.
Fast Show - s3e4 - more quality from Dave Angel and cockney geezer and this:
and Arthur Atkinson in a 1970s Confessions... movie.
Big Train - s2e1 - Opens with one of the greatest and most disturbing sketches they did:
From that point, I knew series 2 was going to be as good as series 1 and looking at the cast and writing list, its no surprise.
Smith and Jones in Small Doses - Second Thoughts - a touching comedy drama about 2 men about to commit suicide. Curious piece this, which struck me as something ripe for a stage version.
Gimme gimme gimme - s2e1 - Sugar returns, Patsy Palmer decks Tom and the quality lines continue: "I'm in distress!" "So? I'm in dis dress."
Nathan Barley - pilot episode - still great and relevant (just take a walk in Hoxton and look at the young idiots)
Show and Tell - Nice new comedy panel show, notable for the stock of funny young comediennes it seems to have found.
Fast Show - s3e4 - more quality from Dave Angel and cockney geezer and this:
and Arthur Atkinson in a 1970s Confessions... movie.
Big Train - s2e1 - Opens with one of the greatest and most disturbing sketches they did:
From that point, I knew series 2 was going to be as good as series 1 and looking at the cast and writing list, its no surprise.
Smith and Jones in Small Doses - Second Thoughts - a touching comedy drama about 2 men about to commit suicide. Curious piece this, which struck me as something ripe for a stage version.
Gimme gimme gimme - s2e1 - Sugar returns, Patsy Palmer decks Tom and the quality lines continue: "I'm in distress!" "So? I'm in dis dress."
Nathan Barley - pilot episode - still great and relevant (just take a walk in Hoxton and look at the young idiots)
Show and Tell - Nice new comedy panel show, notable for the stock of funny young comediennes it seems to have found.
Comedy Night - 15 September 2011
Chewing the Fat compilation e8 - Take a drink, goan, take a drink! Still can't see why this never got shown south of the border.
Fast Show s3e2 - great episode, not only including a very young Tony Way (see comedy nights passim) in Suit You, the jazz dance outfit Thrusk (nice), but two classics: The Long Big Punch Up:
and this great remake of a British Cinema Classic:
Smith & Jones - special - The Boat People - I'd forgotten that Smith and Jones did a series of two handed comedy dramas as Smith and Jones in Small Doses (1989) . This one based entirely inside a small sail boat is eminently watchable and shows that their ambitions were getting bigger than the sketch shows they were doing.
Gimme gimme gimme - millennium special - marvellous 2 hander (until the choir at the end) reflecting the crushing disappointment that is NYE and how it was magnified in 1999. That and some knob gags, of course.
Fun at the Funeral Parlour s1e4 - less patchy than other episodes and Art Malik as an evil hypnotist.
Fast Show s3e2 - great episode, not only including a very young Tony Way (see comedy nights passim) in Suit You, the jazz dance outfit Thrusk (nice), but two classics: The Long Big Punch Up:
Smith & Jones - special - The Boat People - I'd forgotten that Smith and Jones did a series of two handed comedy dramas as Smith and Jones in Small Doses (1989) . This one based entirely inside a small sail boat is eminently watchable and shows that their ambitions were getting bigger than the sketch shows they were doing.
Gimme gimme gimme - millennium special - marvellous 2 hander (until the choir at the end) reflecting the crushing disappointment that is NYE and how it was magnified in 1999. That and some knob gags, of course.
Fun at the Funeral Parlour s1e4 - less patchy than other episodes and Art Malik as an evil hypnotist.
Comedy Night - 7 September 2011
TMWRNJ - s1e8 - Apart from featuring Brian Cant giving up on his voiceover for The Organ Gang, the highlight of this episode is this piece of bizarre genius from TV's Kevin Eldon:
Fast Show - s3e2 - more debuts including "black, black, black". Also a very young Amy Winehouse in a competitive dad sketch here:
Flight of the Conchords - s2e10 - sadly the last of the show, perhaps of them as a duo given the way that Jermaine Clement's acting career appears to be taking off. MIB 3 anyone?
Smith & Jones - s4 compliation part 2 - those Head to Heads still hold up, you know:
Gimme gimme gimme - s1e6 - this week's gem: "I've had more pricks than keplunk" Not sophisticated but quality acting and script throughout.
Fast Show - s3e2 - more debuts including "black, black, black". Also a very young Amy Winehouse in a competitive dad sketch here:
Smith & Jones - s4 compliation part 2 - those Head to Heads still hold up, you know:
Gimme gimme gimme - s1e6 - this week's gem: "I've had more pricks than keplunk" Not sophisticated but quality acting and script throughout.
Thursday 22 September 2011
Comedy Night - 25 August 2011
TMWRNJ - s1e7 - Curious Orange starts to go bad. For some reason I vividly remember how realistic the mouldy look was. *Ahem* Anyway.
Fast Show - s3e1 - Everything seems to start to come together in series 3, Swiss Toni appears, as does Chip Cobb the stuntman, Arabella Weir finds a decent catchphrase character (an old lady saying "Ha!", don't get me started on "Does my bum look big in this") and this, possibly self-referencial joke at the expense of themselves and their fans:
Spaced - s1e7 - in which The Shining gets parodied and the Super Happy walk first appears.
Smith & Jones - s4 compilation - including a parody of In At the Deep End, which was reality TV before it was invented. Or something.
Gimme gimme gimme s1e5 - Kathy Burke's acting of a drunk Linda being worth the admission price alone. Incidentally, Beth Goddard (Suze)? Sir Patrick Stewart's mum, at least in X-Men First Class.
Flight of the Conchords s2e9 - Sadly, I really want to go to NY to do tours like this one. Now can I get a Midnight Cowboy outfit to stand in outside their apartment block?
Fast Show - s3e1 - Everything seems to start to come together in series 3, Swiss Toni appears, as does Chip Cobb the stuntman, Arabella Weir finds a decent catchphrase character (an old lady saying "Ha!", don't get me started on "Does my bum look big in this") and this, possibly self-referencial joke at the expense of themselves and their fans:
Spaced - s1e7 - in which The Shining gets parodied and the Super Happy walk first appears.
Smith & Jones - s4 compilation - including a parody of In At the Deep End, which was reality TV before it was invented. Or something.
Gimme gimme gimme s1e5 - Kathy Burke's acting of a drunk Linda being worth the admission price alone. Incidentally, Beth Goddard (Suze)? Sir Patrick Stewart's mum, at least in X-Men First Class.
Flight of the Conchords s2e9 - Sadly, I really want to go to NY to do tours like this one. Now can I get a Midnight Cowboy outfit to stand in outside their apartment block?
Tuesday 23 August 2011
Comedy Night - 18 August 2011
TMWRNJ - s1e6 - Paul Putner, who plays the Curious Orange, is another one of those ever-present comedy actors, whose face you know, but name you don't. Time was when people like him would have 20 Ealing/Carry On films under their belt.
Fast Show - s2e7 - With a character I'd forgotten by Charlie Higson: Sir Geoffrey Norman, who is so used to saying no in political interviews, it invades all his life:
Spaced - s1e5 - Featuring my favourite non-main character: Tyres. Michael Smiley reprises the character in Shaun of the Dead, incidentally, look carefully amongst the zombies outside the Winchester.
Smith & Jones - s3 compilation - including the businessmen who go to a restaurant to eat like babies. I vaguely remember the sketch, but it did have us giggling. Oh, and this. The Youtube subtitles are quite special, but I couldn't find a copy without:
Gimme Gimme Gimme - s1e4 - Dale Winton guests, but in a good way.
Flight of the Conchords - s2e8 - This week the boys get carried away with gel and revisit the 80s. Musically.
Fast Show - s2e7 - With a character I'd forgotten by Charlie Higson: Sir Geoffrey Norman, who is so used to saying no in political interviews, it invades all his life:
Spaced - s1e5 - Featuring my favourite non-main character: Tyres. Michael Smiley reprises the character in Shaun of the Dead, incidentally, look carefully amongst the zombies outside the Winchester.
Smith & Jones - s3 compilation - including the businessmen who go to a restaurant to eat like babies. I vaguely remember the sketch, but it did have us giggling. Oh, and this. The Youtube subtitles are quite special, but I couldn't find a copy without:
Gimme Gimme Gimme - s1e4 - Dale Winton guests, but in a good way.
Flight of the Conchords - s2e8 - This week the boys get carried away with gel and revisit the 80s. Musically.
Comedy Night 11 Aug 2011
TMWRNJ - s1e5 - What other show gives you TV's Kevin Eldon and Brian Cant?
Fast Show - s2e6 - My overdue realisation of the genuine that was Tommy Cockles continues, but this one also contains a gem of an Arthur Aktinson sketch.
Flight of the Conchords - s2e7 - apart from the shock appearance of Art Garfunkel in this episode, my man-love for Murray Hewitt goes on. Looking forward to seeing Rhys Darby appear with Vic Reeves in The Fun Police.
Alas Smith & Jones - s2 compilation - I know it's the distillation of a whole series, but my goodness there are some gems in here.
Gimme Gimme Gimme - s1e3 - Although best known for Burke and Drayfus, the supporting cast in this is worth a mention. Rosalind Knight's retired prostitute landlady is a hard centred piece of whimsy and Brian Bovell and Beth Goddard's sappy couple, who happen to be sex-mad are excellent as well. Everyone has depth, no matter how cartoon like they appear at first.
Fast Show - s2e6 - My overdue realisation of the genuine that was Tommy Cockles continues, but this one also contains a gem of an Arthur Aktinson sketch.
Flight of the Conchords - s2e7 - apart from the shock appearance of Art Garfunkel in this episode, my man-love for Murray Hewitt goes on. Looking forward to seeing Rhys Darby appear with Vic Reeves in The Fun Police.
Alas Smith & Jones - s2 compilation - I know it's the distillation of a whole series, but my goodness there are some gems in here.
Gimme Gimme Gimme - s1e3 - Although best known for Burke and Drayfus, the supporting cast in this is worth a mention. Rosalind Knight's retired prostitute landlady is a hard centred piece of whimsy and Brian Bovell and Beth Goddard's sappy couple, who happen to be sex-mad are excellent as well. Everyone has depth, no matter how cartoon like they appear at first.
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