Entertainment that Best Depicts American Life

[Rich]

So we can then extrapolate that the average UK resident is a comedic, bumbling moron most of the time?

No because viewing just three shows isn't enough to come to a just and fair conclusion

 

[Mile-O]

Lionel- he was in A Hard Days Night

It shows.

 

[reclusivemonkey]

There aren't any jokes in the Office,

Setting in jelly the stapler of someone who has an unrational fear of jelly is a joke. Rich, you really need to learn the socratic method if you are going to develop any kind of debating skill. Its really not that hard.

anyway I AINT BOVERRED

Hilarious. A thirty year old woman repeating the obnoxious phrases of chavs... I guess its not what you know but who you know in TV...

 

[ColinEssex]

Does anyone know (or is it possible) to get DVD's of "Not The Nine O'Clock News"

I think you can get selected sketches from BBC website, but I wondered if its possible to get like a series on DVD.

I've scouted around the net but no luck yet

Col

 

[Rich]

Setting in jelly the stapler of someone who has an unrational fear of jelly is a joke. Rich, you really need to learn the socratic method if you are going to develop any kind of debating skill. Its really not that hard.
...

That's your opinion and of course you're welcome to it

 

[Rich]

"Not The Nine O'Clock News"
Col

Now you're talking comedy

 

[ColinEssex]

Setting in jelly the stapler of someone who has an unrational fear of jelly is a joke. .

I saw that bit and I admit I couldn't see what was supposed to be funny - I thought it was stupid.

I prefer the "telling jokes" type British comics

like
Bob Hope
Peter Kay
Dave Allen
Jack Dee

I think the only American comic I like is Joan Rivers

Col

 

[ColinEssex]

Now you're talking comedy

Do you remember the sketch where they were supposed to be digging the channel tunnel and were sat about "waiting for a skip"? . . . .priceless

or the copper who arrested people for "looking at me in a funny way"

Col

 

[Rich]

I think the only American comic I like is Joan Rivers

Col

Robin Williams is funny on a good day too

 

[ColinEssex]

Robin Williams is funny on a good day too

agreed - I look on him more as a funny impressionist but he is good

Col

 

[Rich]

Does anyone know (or is it possible) to get DVD's of "Not The Nine O'Clock News"

I think you can get selected sketches from BBC website, but I wondered if its possible to get like a series on DVD.

I've scouted around the net but no luck yet

Col

You can get the Best of
http://www.bbcshop.com/icat/notthenineoclocknews?bklist=icat,5,,2,525,notthenineoclocknews&

 

[ColinEssex]

You can get the Best of
http://www.bbcshop.com/icat/notthenineoclocknews?bklist=icat,5,,2,525,notthenineoclocknews&

Yes thanks Rich, those are selected sketches, I was just wondering if you can get complete episodes because Pam Stephensons news items were also very funny. There was actually 27 episodes from 1979 to 1982, I suppose its a bit much to do the whole lot on DVD

Col

 

[reclusivemonkey]

I saw that bit and I admit I couldn't see what was supposed to be funny - I thought it was stupid.

That's as maybe, but it was a practical joke (which was my point). Depends how you feel about practical jokes I guess as to whether you find it funny. I find jelly in itself to be funny. There you go, guess I am easily amused ;-)

I prefer the "telling jokes" type British comics

like
Bob Hope
Peter Kay
Dave Allen
Jack Dee

I think the only American comic I like is Joan Rivers

I would say that Jimmy Carr is one of Britain's Best "Telling Jokes" comedian at the moment.

 

[Mile-O]

He's on TV too much.

 

[reclusivemonkey]

He's on TV too much.

As I only record what I want to watch (the joys of a PVR), I only see what I want to watch. Its a shame he does present so much stuff, I guess it dillutes his effect. The only thing I have watched him on recently is his stand up show.

 

[ColinEssex]

That's as maybe, but it was a practical joke (which was my point). Depends how you feel about practical jokes I guess as to whether you find it funny. I find jelly in itself to be funny. There you go, guess I am easily amused ;-)
I would say that Jimmy Carr is one of Britain's Best "Telling Jokes" comedian at the moment.

Yes I understand, peoples humour tastes are different and thats all for the good. For example, some of what we call "American humour" (this is not a dig ) is often lost on the British as is alot of British humour lost on the Americans. I think British humour is more subtle whereas American humour is more visual (like Lucille Ball)

I can't stand silly type slapstick humour (Chaplin, Keaton, Laurel and Hardy Lucy etc) I admire the technical ability of doing the stunts - particularly Keaton but its not funny to me, yet it is to others.

Each to their own really.

Col

 

[reclusivemonkey]

I can't stand silly type slapstick humour (Chaplin, Keaton, Laurel and Hardy Lucy etc) I admire the technical ability of doing the stunts - particularly Keaton but its not funny to me, yet it is to others.

I know what you mean Col. It seems to be from a bygone era does slapstick. I'm trying to think if there is a modern equivalent? Would something like "Trigger Happy TV" be the modern version (a bit hit and miss, but very original)?

Personally I find the work of Chris Morris hilarious; lots of people simply find it offensive. I think that only drives him on more though...

 

[ColinEssex]

I know what you mean Col. It seems to be from a bygone era does slapstick. I'm trying to think if there is a modern equivalent? Would something like "Trigger Happy TV" be the modern version (a bit hit and miss, but very original)?

Personally I find the work of Chris Morris hilarious; lots of people simply find it offensive. I think that only drives him on more though...

I suppose one of the most famous British visual slapstick type comic was Norman Wisdom, these days maybe Lee Evans? again I don't find Lee particularly funny but he's very successful, he's funny in interviews like with Parky the other day.

I used to like Jethro before he went "blue", he didn't need to bring "blue" into his act, he was brilliant before. I'm afraid I don't like "blue" comics, it to me seems a cheap way of getting laughs and its not clever. Many of the "greats" didn't need to revert to it.

I don't know Chris Morris.

Col

 

[Mile-O]

Chris Morris was responsible for The Day Today, Jam, Brasseye, and, with Charlie Brooker, Nathan Barley.

Brasseye was certainly controversial because of the investigative journalism spoof covering controversial topics as Animals, Drugs, Science, Sex, Crime, Decline, and, in 2001, Paedophilia. It faked all sorts of footage (Libyans blasting a cow from a cannon and beating the corpse, a school with the social experiment of using recreational drugs, and starting the Good AIDS/Bad AIDS controversy.) It was also well known for the way it outed a number of celebrities as a bunch of know-nothing idiots who are only to happy to promote themselves by jumping on the bandwagon of charities despite having no knowledge of what they were talking about. Paul Daniels, amongst others, appealing for your help to protest against the conditions of an elephant - and lack of action in helping her - in an East German zoo (this was 1996!) who had got her trunk stuck up her arse. Or Bernard Manning and Noel Edmonds talking about the horrors of a new drug, called Cake, from Czechozlovakia which had caused one girl to throw up her pelvic bone. Or, in the Paedophilia special, Phil Collins promoting awareness amongst children by wearing a T-shirt for fake child protection agency Nonce Sense and proudly proclaiming that he was talking "Nonce sense". And, in the same episode: Richard Blackwood talking about how a paedophile can smell a child through a computer keyboard; Phillipa Forrester talking about how a paedophile can touch a child through the computer screen; and DJ Dr Fox saying that, "genetically, paedophiles have more in common with crabs than with humans. Phillipa Forrester quit her role on science show Tomorrow's World the day after the episode was screened.

He's also behind the defunct site, The Smokehammer which, as its legacy, just shows an excellent piece of footage of George W. Bush cut up to misrepresent his statements but to reinforce what he really means. Excellent stuff.

Another thing he did was a column in The Observer where he posed as a columnist who reported things happening in his life and, after the fifth column, started a decline into depression which led to the promise to commit suicide after the tenth column. A commentary on the aftermath was published in The Times about how it was very funny but with a serious point.

 

[Mile-O]

Found an extract of some of the comments from the Drugs episode of Brasseye:

The episode opens with Morris as reporter Ted Maul explaining the evil threat of a new drug.

Maul: It's a new Czechoslovakian drug called Cake. And luckily the story involves these people: Free the United Kingdom from Drugs and British Opposition to Medically Bi-sterbile Drugs. [Morris holds up a T-shirt with the acronyms F.U.K.D and B.O.M.B.D and a series of interviews with concerned celebrities follows]:

Bernard Ingham: ...this is a piece of Cake [points to enormous yellow disk in his hand]

Bruno Brookes : ...we all like to party, right? Absolutely. But only the fool would say, 'Yeah, I'll enter the nightmare of Cake.' [points to large yellow disk in hand] And this is it.

Rolf Harris: This colour, that they thought would be a good selling point, is put in using an industrial dye which in itself is a pollutant and is causing in Czechslovakia something called 'Czech neck'. It causes enormous water retention so that the body swells up ... until the person that is on the trip dies from not being able to breathe at all.'

Bernard Manning: One little kiddie on cake cried all the water out of his body. Just imagine how his mother felt. It's a fucking disgrace.

Noel Edmunds: What is cake? Well, it has an active ingredient which is a dangerous psychoactive compound known as di-mesmeric ansonphosphate. It stimulates the part of the brain that deals with time perception so a second feels like a month. Almost sounds like fun, unless you're the Prague schoolboy who walked out into the street in front of a tram. He thought he'd got a month to cross the street.

Brookes: You know they've even tested this stuff on rats. Turned them into bloody Space Hoppers.

Manning: And if you're sick on this stuff, you can puke yourself to death. One girl threw up her own pelvis. What a fucking disgrace.

David Amess, then MP: You've heard what Bernard Manning's said: Cake's a Bi-sterbile Cradabolic Anphetamoid - which is a made up psycho-active chemical. It comes from Prague, with its own culture of Boon raves, where kids wolf down vast quantities... Look at that [gestures to huge yellow pill of Cake in his hand] £100,000 in the pocket of the filth that sells it, a big yellow bullet in the head of some user.

The best part was many people, like David Amees's quote, saying "Cake is a made-up drug".

Cake's a Bi-sterbile Cradabolic Anphetamoid - which is a made up psycho-active chemical.

Brilliant! The show was halted while investigations were underway because Amees brought it up in Parliament.

And, an extract from his radio show, Blue Jam:

Edited extract from Morris's Blue Jam 'interview' with Princess Diana biographer Andrew Morton

CM: OK, let's look at the book. New edition. Here it is. Em, first of all, its size; it looks bigger than it is, which is quite a crafty move. Was that the intention?

AM: Well it is a big book. It's a lot bigger than...

CM: Than it is...

AM: Than the original one.

CM: But it does look bigger than it is as well.

AM: Well, I'm glad, I'm glad, you think that_

CM: Let me give you an example... 'The tectonic plates which underpin society having shifted culturally, socially and politically in the previous few years.'

AM: Hmmm...

CM: Now that describes exactly what had happened after Diana's death, so many people struggled to put their finger on that. Was it something you worked hard on or did it just come out? I mean how on earth...

AM: Well, I, I... (sigh).

CM: What I want to know is how you feel about other people who are feeding off the same ... carcass. People who make computer games like 'The Last Chase' where you play a paparazzo chasing a car through a tunnel, subtitle of the game 'Snap The Dying Bitch'.

AM: Well, I find them very abhorrent because all you're doing is exploiting someone's death.

CM: Hmm...