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comedy
Christmassy stuff
By Will last year, at the end of December, 1 Comment »
Happy Christmas.
Sometimes, there’s something worth watching on TV over Christmas. Not often, unless you class Victoria Wood and Catherine Tate as quality entertainment. Oh – and the Queen of course. She gets top billing for the 52nd consecutive year. Top effort from the uppercase Q; she’s rarely offered much flair or dynamism, apart from the 1992 season’s round-up (“Annus horribilis”), but she’s provided annual consistency when those around her simply cannot be relied upon.
Sorry. Been on the port.
Anyway, thought I’d mention a couple of radio shows I’ve listened to which are worth your time. The first is written by Ian Hislop and stars Jack Dee and Peter Capaldi – the fuck-man of The Thick Of It – along with Chris Addison, called The News At Bedtime. It wasn’t groundbreaking but still enjoyable, though it did make me think of Chris Morris’s On The Hour which really was breaking new ground.
The second is Andy Zaltzman’s History of the Third Millennium, though I’m slightly biased as I was the pest who lured the big AZ to Cricinfo. It’s bloody good, though.
The Zaltzmans are conquering the world of podcasts. Long before I met Andy and even listened to The Bugle, I was a big fan of Helen and Olly’s Answer Me This. It only occurred to me after I’d met Andy that Helen was his sister. Anyway, Helen and Olly are on Five Live next Thursday, which is a pretty cool gig, so keep your ears peeled for that.
And of course, there’s TMS for Boxing Day.
Listened to anything good yourself lately?
1 Comment »Andy Zaltzman’s BBC show, “Yes It’s The Ashes”
By Will last year, at the start of July, 2 Comments »
Andy Zaltzman – comic, Bugler, cricket blogger – starts his own BBC radio show tomorrow, at 11am on BBC Radio Five Live. It’s called either “Yes It’s The Ashes” or “Andy Zaltzman’s Alternative Ashes”, I’m not sure which.
He’s slightly lining his underwear about it, but I’m sure it’ll be sharp, different and entertaining – so lend your ears tomorrow morning, or download the podcast shortly afterwards.
Update: Here’s the MP3:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/fivelive/altashes/altashes_20090704-1313a.mp3
2 Comments »I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue back in April
By Will last year, at the end of February, 14 Comments »
(nothing to do with cricket)
If you appreciate any form of comedy, then chances are it has its roots on the radio. Failing that, its inspiration probably came from someone who themselves drew inspiration from radio satire or comedy. The list is too long to mention (Mitchell & Webb, Alan Partridge, The Day Today and Dead Ringers are some contemporary ones who arrived on TV from radio. Oh, and Flight of the Conchords too I think) and I’ve always been hooked on witty radio shows.
Regular readers will know this, and they’ll also know my love of I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, the ridiculously stupid panel show whose long-serving chairman, Humphrey Lyttelton, died last April. Anyway. No one can replace Humph who still possessed comic timing to beat the best, weeks before his death. But the show is returning, according to its producer, Jon Naismith, and well done everyone for that.
Like Have I Got News For You, when Angus Deayton was sacked for shagging around and being very un-BBC (though I’m not comparing Humph to Deayton), ISIHAC will have guest-chairman. The first will be Stephen Fry but others, such as Jack Dee, have agreed to do it.
It’s brilliant. Listen to it. Buy the DVD. Listen to the old ones with John Cleese. Listen to the new ones with Graeme Garden. Half-an-hour of stupendous silliness and satire and nonsensical humour.
The first recording with Stephen Fry is on Sunday April 26 at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Haymarket, London
14 Comments »Barack Obama: the couscous candidate
By Will 2 years ago, mid-January, 5 Comments »
As may or may not be apparent, I’m a big fan of political satire, and indeed comedy as a whole. Most writers think they possess acerbic wit and the ability to satirise our lives and politicians, but few cut the mustard. One of the very best, in this country and most others, is Armando Iannucci who has written, produced, directed and featured in some of Britain’s best comedies in the past 20 years. Anything he writes is must-read, and here is his take on Barack Obama:
But, rhythmically, it’s quite alluring. It can make anything, even, for example, a simple chair, seem magnificent. Why vote for someone who says: ‘See that chair. You can sit on it’ when you can have someone like Obama say: ‘This chair can take your weight. This chair can hold your buttocks, 15 inches in the air. This chair, this wooden chair, can support the ass of the white man or the crack of the black man, take the downward pressure of a Jewish girl’s behind or the butt of a Buddhist adolescent, it can provide comfort for Muslim buns or Mormon backsides, the withered rump of an unemployed man in Nevada struggling to get his kids through high school and needful of a place to sit and think, the plump can of a single mum in Florida desperately struggling to make ends meet but who can no longer face standing, this chair, made from wood felled from the tallest redwood in Chicago, this chair, if only we believed in it, could sustain America’s huddled arse.’
Superb. Read it here.
5 Comments »Super effort, that; a video or choo to chew over
By Will 3 years ago, mid-May, 1 Comment »
“Check one choo, check one choo.” Richie, Tony and Bill are back…well, not really. The video is a brilliant mashup of the latest 12th Man and actual footage of the last horrorshow train-wreck Ashes series. Courtesy of Mr Miller who somehow has found his way back to Blighty.
Click here if you can’t see it above.
1 Comment »Boned: The 12th Man
By Will 4 years ago, at the end of November, 11 Comments »
Buy Boned: The 12th Man by Billy Birmingham
I’ve often mentioned Billy Birmingham’s 12th Man Tapes here, and most (not all) of Cricinfo’s editorial team are complete addicts. We heard from the latest Australian member of the team, Brydon, that Birmingham is releasing a new album in time for Christmas which got the biggest cheer of the day. Fantastic news.
Called Boned, it contains all the usual stuff with Richie Benaud, Tony Greig, Bill Lawry and Ian Chappell. It’s going to be immense – Amazon are doing pre-orders so buy it now.
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The Sydney Morning Herald have an interview with Birmingham who begins with what could be Quote of the Century.
11 Comments »“I’m all over the place like a suicide bomber’s sandshoe,” he tells The Sun-Herald.
“There’s so much material. The drama has been trying to cut it all down so it fits onto a double album.”
The 12th Man’s catalogue stands at almost 2million units sold. Have no doubt about Boned!becoming the biggest-selling album at Christmas. All six previous albums from The 12th Man have reached No.1 on the ARIA chart, making Birmingham the only Australian recording artist to have reached top spot with every one of his releases.
“It couldn’t have happened in any other country,” he says. “We’re a nation of sports nuts and piss-takers and all I’ve done is combine the two.”
McGuire telephones Benaud and tells him he’s been boned: the term bandied about when the real-life McGuire was thinking about sacking Channel Nine presenter Jessica Rowe. That night, Richie dreams that he telephones Kerry Packer in heaven and the former Nine boss tells him to fight the good fight against McGuire. Benaud, Ian Chappell, Tony Greig, Bill Lawry, Mark Nicholas and the rest of the commentators storm Martin Place in Sydney with a petition to get their jobs back.
Ramatunga Downathroata
By Will 4 years ago, mid-March, 9 Comments »
Brilliant. I’m fairly wetting myself listening to the 12th man CD – I’d forgotten just how hilarious it is. Tony Greig commentating: “And here’s big Merv Hughes, to open the bowling from the Members’ end, and he’s coming into Ramatunga Downathroata”.
Utter quality. Expect more indecipherable musings soon.
9 Comments »