Comedians

Sara Pascoe and John Robins, Edinburgh Previews

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It’s nearly time for the Edinburgh Festival 2014, and although that makes me want to shrivel away with jealousy because I can’t be there, it also means comedians are performing their shows to small audiences in order to perfect their routines. I visited a lovely little art centre called the Mac in Birmingham, which I’d urge anyone to visit if they are nearby as it also puts on theatre performances, art exhibitions and cinema shows (amongst many other things).

Firstly, we saw Sara Pascoe’s show: Sara Pascoe Vs History, which was a wonderful mix of relatable material, crazy facts and a small amount of madness. Sara has been one of my favourite comedians for a while and she has growing audience-wise week by week, having recently appeared on Mock The Week, for example. It’s been great watching her television persona develop over time and I was really looking forward to actually getting to see Sara perform her stand up to a live audience.

What I loved most about Pascoe’s show was that she talked very openly regarding her feminist views without leaving a resentful feel in the air: she spoke of liberation and change. But also, it was hilarious. One of my favourite ideas she expressed was one that she also talked about on Mock The Week very recently: that Page 3 should actually be made like jury duty, where anyone could be called up at any time. She expanded on it during her live show and I actually think it’s an excellent idea in theory, but I definitely don’t want to see it put in place! (Well, actually, I gladly don’t read The Sun, so maybe I, and most people I know, would be okay!) I really enjoyed Sara’s set, even though everyone was sure the building was burning down at one point and even the venue staff had to investigate the smell of smoke during the interval.

Pascoe and Robins

Next, we saw John Robins (my latest Comedian Of The Month, who is a relatively new comedian for me) with his show: This Tornado Loves You. I talked at length about John’s style of comedy in the post mentioned above so I won’t go too far into that as I’d just be repeating myself. However, what I will say is that this new show is very strong, with a good balance of accessible observations (such as an in depth analysis of the strange tradition of weddings and people’s behaviour at such events) with brilliant acted out scenes that only contained one person (John, obviously), but were developed around another silent character. I found a quote for John which summed up what his new show portrayed: ‘His self-deprecation and Olympic ad-libbing would have you skipping happily down even the darkest alley’ (Venue).

It was really interesting to see which jokes from both comics didn’t work with the audience, not because they weren’t funny but simply because there needed to be something additional said in order for us to understand and appreciate them (such as subtle wordplays that kept going unnoticed). If you’re in Edinburgh this summer or are interested in seeing some preview shows, I definitely recommend both Sara Pascoe and John Robins as they are both very talented and hard-working comedians.

SEVEN QUESTIONS WITH… SARA PASCOE

MORE EDINBURGH PREVIEWS

TV Review: Alan Davies As Yet Untitled

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A couple of weeks ago, the channel Dave broadcast five episodes of a wonderful new comedy chat show: As Yet Untitled. It was hosted by Alan Davies, ran over the course of one working week and featured four different comedians each episode. It has been said that this show was an attempt at recreating the feel of a comedy green room, with a relaxed atmosphere and a minimal agenda. Of course, I cannot truly know if it drew an accurate comparison as I haven’t been in such a situation myself, but I can say that a comfortable conversational feel was definitely present and I found the series incredibly enjoyable.

For a start, the physical set up was uniquely casual, with the four guests and Alan Davies (the host) sat around a circular table and the audience sat around them. The way the audience was situated had almost a Top Gear feel as you could always see them in shot, but they weren’t often involved in the proceedings. Each comic provided a strange fact about themselves to begin with which allowed the discussion to have some kind of initial direction but other than that, the show had a clean slate with the objective of deciding on a title for the episode at the end.

There was a danger with this loose format that conversation might not necessarily be free-flowing but this was expertly avoided by Davies who did an excellent job at steering clear of awkward pauses in discussion. In fact, the overall feel of the programme was very natural and chilled out which I thought was really nice. There was no pushing to have anyone’s voice heard over another person’s and everyone seemed very supportive of each other which is refreshing in comparison to the vibes you get from shows with more competitive, maybe harsher formats. An important impression I got from watching As Yet Untitled was that the attention was very much focussed on the stories and the people in the stories, and not so much on the comedians telling them. This meant that nobody appeared to be pushing particularly hard to be the funny one and in this way, I think the show definitely achieved its objective of seeming like a green room.

There were many funny anecdotes shared throughout the five episodes, including Bob Mortimer’s explanation of his and Vic Reeves’ comedy style, where in the early days, if the audience weren’t laughing, the double act would throw their shoes at them. We also heard the wonderful Katherine Ryan’s tale of the creepy inflatophiliac and Noel Fielding’s reason for disappearing from his own stand up tour (he ended up spending the day working in a vintage second-hand shop in Brighton, I mean, where else?). Bill Bailey’s account of his New Zealand airport kazoo confiscation was whimsical, as can be expected from Bailey and Phill Jupitus’ numerous celebrity impressions were spot on. Ross Noble’s tales about his accident-prone kids and Josie Long’s flawless diet plan were highlights of the final episode.

It was easy for the television audience to get carried away amongst all these hilarious anecdotes, which proves what an authentic mood there was, and every now and then I would remember how different the show actually is and feel really impressed at the smoothness of it all. At any point where a normal chat show may have become awkward, such as when they transition between topics or invite a special guest on, the conversation just continued on in the same fashion which shows integrity. The only flaw I could find, or perhaps the only stunted part of each episode, was trying to round it all off at the end. Of course, these would have been heavily edited to fit the time frame but the scramble to find a title could be done with more finesse in the future.

I adored this new show and the many guests on it; my favourites including Noel Fielding, Bob Mortimer, Katherine Ryan, Josie Long, Jason Byrne, Ross Noble, Bill Bailey and Marcus Brigstocke. I will be pretty annoyed if there aren’t more episodes made soon!

June: Comedian Of The Month #5, John Robins

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Each Comedian of the Month on MoodyComedy is a comic who has never previously featured on the website. Reasons for selection can include various current projects the comedian is involved with, or perhaps recent appearances on television programmes or podcasts. There is no strict criteria however, as Comedian of the Month simply stands as a collection of recommendations, highlighting interesting and original aspects of certain comedians and their work.

John Robins is an English comedian who I believe should already be a household name and it is a travesty that he isn’t as of yet. His 2013 Edinburgh show is downloadable online so I took the opportunity to properly listen to some of his stand up, having only seen him on television shows beforehand.

After listening to John Robins: Where Is My Mind? I was struck by a number of realisations. Firstly, why had I not listened to this before? John’s material was heartwarming, clever and hilarious and I’m annoyed I was missing out previously. Secondly, I was suddenly extremely looking forward to July 10, as I have tickets to see his and Sara Pascoe’s 2014 Edinburgh previews.

This show combined the story-telling genius of Rhod Gilbert with the relatability of maybe Jon Richardson or Josh Widdecombe and there was a heavy theme of self-deprecation, as John talked about his awkward teenage years and criticised his current way of living. I think it’s always good to hear a comedian who’s act doesn’t necessarily revolve around making themselves look good, because while John was busy slating his own personality and life choices, the audience, myself included, were slowly falling in love with him. (The crowd on the track clearly thought he was wonderful as they laughed continuously throughout, even to the point where John had to check if one of them was dying.)

Listening to Robins relay his funny anecdotes, it was impossible not to notice how smooth his transitions were, with perfectly timed call-backs throughout. This element made an hour plus show pass by in seemingly twenty minutes or so, which is a skill that few comedians have, and I could have listened to more afterwards.

It was an absolute pleasure to hear John Robins’ stand up show and I feel refreshed and even enriched having done so. The events of the hour spanned over many years yet fitted together seamlessly and beautifully. Not only did I enjoy the time spent listening to Robins, I also feel like I’ve learned something as a result.

For more information, visit John Robins’ website and follow him on Twitter.

 MAY COMEDIAN OF THE MONTH

BBC iPlayer: Original Comedy Shorts

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A wonderful thing happened on BBC iPlayer on June the 1st: six comedy shorts were released exclusively online with input from many of the most brilliant people in comedy right now. This kind of thing is so vital for keeping comedy on television and online alive as we need to keep pushing the boundaries of comedy in order to keep it successful and influential.

Each comedy short is around five minutes long and they are all completely stand alone episodes (though it would be great if someone could pick them up for series in the future). My favourites were Micky Flanagan’s Foxageddon, Matt Berry in Lone Wolf and Bob Mortimer and Frankie Boyle’s Cookery Show mainly because of the comedians they involved, but I also thought Morgana Robinson’s impressions Channel M were wonderful, as always (her Amy Child impression is spot on).

I can imagine Micky Flanagan’s episode evolving into some kind of Lead Balloon–esque series in the near future as Flanagan’s comic delivery is very unique, which you’ll know if you’ve seen any of his stand up. His character here has the same comic voice as his stand up which I thought really aided the episode because there was less ground work that needed to be done to set the scene. The episode was funny because it is entirely stupid, which I guess is just refreshing for an audience who are used to satire etc. Also, the fact it featured Kerry Godliman (Derek) was a brilliant thing as I think she is very talented.

Frankie Boyle and Bob MortimerBob Mortimer is a hero of mine and I was very looking forward to seeing what he could produce in a five minute time frame. I wasn’t disappointed; it was a whimsical, nonsensical cookery world and it was a beauty to watch, as Mortimer always is. I also noted that Bob was involved in almost all of the other comedy shorts: sometimes as producer and sometimes as writer and this proves what a clever, hardworking genius he is. It was also interesting to see Frankie Boyle playing a slightly different role, as a television presenter who hates peas:

“What is it, Frankie, is it the peas, or the thought that the knife might be on the brink of extinction?”

I can picture Frankie working on some kind of childrens’ show in the future and before watching this, I would never have thought so (for obvious reasons). I think Boyle and Mortimer are both incredible comedic talents, with an interesting partnership on screen and really hope something comes from this comedy short, as with many of the other episodes, but especially the cookery show.

I also love every show Matt Berry is involved with as the man is undeniably a fabulous comedic actor. Lone Wolf is an extremely funny mini-documentary that follows a wolf pack as they hunt their next meal but the voiceover is Berry-style: foulmouthed and hilarious. Again, I can see this making a fantastic feature in a sketch show or even a show on its own.

You can watch all the comedy shorts on BBC iPlayer here and I definitely recommend you do!

TV Review: Derek, Series 2

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Due to Ricky Gervais having such a broad following, he inevitably gets a lot of unnecessary abuse from people who disapprove of his comedy but it’s obvious that this show puts him more at risk than ever. Derek (Gervais) is a man with learning difficulties who works in an old peoples home with his friend, Hannah (Kerry Godliman) who runs the establishment.

Derek has moments where it is incredibly funny, but I don’t think that was Gervais’ main aim. The messages this show leaves behind are way more important, though the laughs keep it ticking along nicely. There was no plateau in this series despite my fears because series one was so beautiful.

I was a bit upset that Karl Pilkington’s character, Dougie, left early in the first episode and didn’t come back but there was a guest appearance from Joe Wilkinson, as Kev’s brother, that kind of made up for it. Kev has been an interesting character for me because through know fault of David Earl himself, I didn’t really like the character of Kev, I didn’t think he really added anything to the show. However the last couple of episodes of series two completely turned that on its head for me as Derek taught us that everyone has good in them and everyone is worthy of your time. The arrival of sarcastic and arrogant Geoff (Colin Hoult) really showed Kev in a new light, especially the fight scene in episode six.

The whole feel of the old peoples home is wonderful, inclusive and warm. For example, in episode four, a deaf lady called Pat comes to visit the home in the hope staying there. The whole group already knew sign language and welcomed her with open arms; it made my heart melt. This is the episode where the group visit the zoo and the wonderful actress that is Holli Dempsey (Vicky) meets a man she fancies and it’s all she talks about all day. However, when something more serious pops up, Vicky drops all of her girl talk and is willing to help and I think that’s such an important lesson to teach. Kindness is scattered all over this show, even in the little joke about the man who lost his hair and it ‘grew back’ straight away, though it was clearly a wig. Everyone stuck up for him though, because that’s what good people do.

Kerry Godliman is an absolutely brilliant actress and I have thoroughly enjoyed watching her blossom in the role of Hannah. She is a beautifully stable character for the more erratic ones to bounce off and her importance shouldn’t be underestimated.

I can sum up Derek in these few lovely quotes from the show:

‘Everyone needs something to love, something to do and something to wish for.’

‘Animals always try their best, you never see a lazy ant.’

‘I don’t know if there is a heaven, I’m suspicious.’

Everyone should watch this show, and I think criticisms of it are lazy and unfounded, Gervais has truly created something wonderful.

May: Comedian Of The Month #4, Diane Morgan

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Each Comedian of the Month on MoodyComedy is a comic who has never previously featured on the website. Reasons for selection can include various current projects the comedian is involved with, or perhaps recent appearances on television programmes or podcasts. There is no strict criteria however, as Comedian of the Month simply stands as a collection of recommendations, highlighting interesting and original aspects of certain comedians and their work.

This month’s comedian is Diane Morgan and particularly her alter-ego Philomena Cunk who makes regular appearances on Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe. Despite the fact that the show isn’t actually running at the moment, Diane Morgan has been relevant for me this month because I found a bit of her stand up online (although I couldn’t really find a lot).

Philomena Cunk

Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe is very satirically dense and although this is important in comedy, it can often get a little too heavy. This is why characters like Philomena Cunk and Barry Shitpeas are so brilliant for the programme: they bring the silliness to a sometimes very depressing world. Philomena always has the most incredible lines that really catch you off guard, with her little mini-documentaries about The Internet or What Is Time? They are completely stupid, and the things she says aren’t intellectual in anyway; that’s why I love her.

Diane manages to convey a beautiful silliness within five seconds of screen time which is reminiscent of many comic heroes such as Vic & Bob and Harry Hill. This mood can be shown through words, or even just a raise of the eyebrows, which is a skill not many have mastered (think, Paul Foot or Bill Bailey). Here is a clip from the latest series of Weekly Wipe, it is the first episode in the series of Philomena Cunk’s Moments of Wonder (‘Time’).

For more information, visit Diane Morgan’s website and follow her on Twitter.

 APRIL COMEDIAN OF THE MONTH

Review: Jeff Leach – FIT

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On May 31st I went to Artrix, one of my favourite comedy venues, to see the brilliant Jeff Leach and his support, Tania Edwards. It was a new-material show, Jeff Leach: FIT, so was on a very small scale, which is better for me because tiny gigs are the best gigs (why I love the Slade Rooms in Wolverhampton).

I hadn’t seen anything from Tania Edwards before, so it was great to see some material I knew completely nothing about so it could surprise me, and she was delightful. Tania is very soft-spoken which I thought was nice as a lot of comics you see are intent on damaging our eardrums with their shouting which is fine, but a change is always welcome. She talked about her Indian boyfriend and what their kids would look like and really made me laugh with her queries about how you would fix a pepper spray onto their inhalers to beat off the bullies in the playground. I’m definitely going to find out more about Tania’s comedy, you should ALL have heard of her by now!

Jeff LeachI took two of my sisters, Katie and Megan, and Scott, Katie’s boyfriend with me and because Scott is a lunatic, I even enjoyed the interval where we were researching how many Wine Gums it would take to kill someone (apparently it’s only capable via choking or hitting people with them). He was gutted he wasn’t heckled because he had a whole story ready about how he was called Hugh and was a plumber.

Then it was time for Jeff’s set, which was a ‘Work in Progress’ set but you couldn’t really tell; he was loud and confident as ever and even though the room was miniature, it didn’t feel empty or too quiet. As well as being hilarious (a given), Jeff’s material was lovely and had a serious undertone: questioning whether he is ‘fit’ as a comedian, boyfriend, father, person etc. It was really nice to see some real substance behind a show rather than just what someone might think would make an audience laugh, though it was kept light with Katie Price impressions and complaints about the number of bottles of hair conditioner all women have (so true).

It was lovely speaking to Jeff after the show, as always, and our photos are pretty fabulous, you have to admit. Catch him on tour here and you can follow him on Twitter and Facebook too; here is Tania’s Twitter as well. It is great to be able to support genuinely lovely, hardworking people like Jeff so do check out some of his stuff please or I will hunt you down! (exclamation mark needed to disguise genuine threat.)

 

A Week In The Life

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I thought I’d try something different today and post something I watched/listened to that was comedy-related for each working day of last week. Many of these items will probably evolve into a separate post in the coming months so this is a small taster for that I guess.

Monday: Henning Wehn: No Surrender!

There isn’t a lot on on Monday nights, apparently, so this week I start watching Henning Wehn’s 2013 stand-up show as I bought it months ago and he’s one of my favourite comedians. I only watched an hour or so on Monday because I have to fit all this in between my GCSE exams that take up so much time! But what I should say, even though I’ve said it before, is that Henning Wehn deserves a way bigger audience than he has- I think he is hilarious because he takes the German stereotype and gives us what many people secretly expect, then goes beyond that. For example, his first stand up DVD was called My Struggle and I don’t think it gets any more stereotypical than that: I love it.

Tuesday: Sweat The Small Stuff

I regularly watch popular panel shows as they are a great way of finding new comedy talent and are generally just nice, easy viewing and although I don’t make an effort to watch every episode of Sweat The Small Stuff like I do for other shows, I enjoy it here and there. Series three is currently showing on BBC Three and this week I caught up with episode five as my April Comedian of the Month, Bobby Mair, was a guest. This episode really made me laugh and Bobby definitely stole the show (though I may be biased). Every single week the challenge for Melvin and Rochelle gets more and more awkward and it’s brilliant: this one was brilliant; you should definitely check it out.

derek

Wednesday: Derek

Watching Derek is currently one of the comedy highlights of my week: it is an absolute beauty of a show and I recommend you all watch it (I’m going to write up a proper post when the series has finished). This week, Derek, along with residents of the old peoples home and manager Hannah, visited the zoo and it was genuinely such a lovely piece of television. Derek in no way ridicules anyone with learning difficulties, or old people. In fact, it doesn’t ridicule anyone the show is very inclusive. There are a few big laughs each episode, along with a few tears. I am always left feeling happy after watching Derek because it leaves us with life lessons and also makes me laugh, a lot.

Thursday: Jonah From Tonga

I’ve talked before about how wonderful I think Chris Lilley is, and yet again will probably talk about this programme more extensively in a separate post so will keep this brief. Lilley’s work feels timeless to me as although this is new programme, it has the same feel as Summer Heights High from 2008 yet doesn’t bore me in the slightest. This man can effortlessly switch from playing a teenage girl to a camp drama teacher to a Tongan school drop-out and it is remarkable. Jonah is also a character from Summer Heights High and has always been one of my favourites so I look forward to where this new show will take us.

fubar radio

Friday: Fubar Radio

Fubar Radio is a brand new radio station that I was lucky enough to grab a free year’s subscription to due to a code from Richard Herring (not personally don’t get excited though he did tweet me once). I first heard about Fubar through Joey Page on Twitter who I think is really funny so wanted to hear more from him etc and I have completely fallen in love with it. Joey could tell you himself that I am in regular contact with the show which is every Friday from 1pm until 4pm: I just can’t help myself. His show is so easy to listen to and the music choices are on top form (except for that time they kept playing Beck and I got really self-conscious). But yeah, I really enjoy listening to the Joey Page Show on Fubar and would recommend it to anyone, not just comedy fans. But seriously, if you are a comedy fan, you WILL faint when you see the rest of Fubar’s lineup.

As well as all of this, I make sure I listen to my favourite podcast, The Comedian’s Comedian every morning before school as it helps me forget that I am about to go to school (yet it’s a pretty intellectual podcast so I don’t need to feel too guilty).

So that was a little comedy-style week in the life of Becca and I hope I’ve brought some new shows to your attention or just entertained you for five minutes, who knows?

TV Review: Lead Balloon

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Although this show isn’t particularly new, I still feel it deserves some praise and I’d like to get some more people to check it out if they haven’t already. Not enough people talk about the SitCom Lead Balloon, that ran from 2007 to 2011 (running for four series) and was written by the brilliant Jack Dee and Pete Sinclair and also starred Dee as the down-beat and sarcastic Rick Spleen.

I would describe it as almost an anti-comedy as the plot revolves around Rick Spleen, a failed and world-weary comedian, going about his daily life and just upsetting people as he does so. Rick lives with his lovely wife, Mel, and teenage daughter, Sam. He spends his days with friend and writing partner, Marty, who is undeniably wittier than Rick himself, and they have lunch in the same café every day- the café belonging to Michael. Sam, her boyfriend, Ben, and the house cleaner, Magda, together manage to get under Rick’s feet and continuously irritate him as he grumpily goes about his daily business. As a result of his unaddressed anger, Rick manages to make all the wrong choices and simultaneously annoy everyone in his path. Every episode presents countless disasters for Rick that are actually caused by himself in the first place.

Lead Balloon

There are two characters that I absolutely adore: Michael (played by Tony Gardner), the loveable but almost certainly ‘unhinged’ cafe owner, and Magda (Anna Crilly), the house cleaner, who is grumpy and sarcastic and has a very strong, unspecified Eastern-European accent. One of my favourite episodes was S1E3, where Michael holds a sponsored skip to raise money for a mental health charity. To cut the story short (sorry, spoilers), Michael winds up being hit by a car (Rick’s) and the way the plot plays out is truly hilarious.

The format of the programme is simple, repetitive and homely. There are many recurring jokes throughout and I’ll outline them to give you more of an overview as to what each episode entails:

  • Marty is a lot funnier than Rick.
  • Sam’s boyfriend, Ben, never commits to anything properly.
  • Sam is always after her dad’s money.
  • Michael is creepy (unknown mental health issues).
  • Mel is always right.
  • Rick will always upset most people/dig himself a hole.

There are many parallels to be drawn between Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and Jack Dee’s Lead Balloon:

“Many people have compared Lead Balloon with a similarly excruciating comedy from the US, Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. Dee, however, says that Curb didn’t directly inspire his sitcom. ‘Lead Balloon was about me taking 20 years of stand-up and putting that kind of comedy into a dramatic situation. I would claim my right to that comedy because I’ve been doing it for a lot longer than Curb Your Enthusiasm has been around, much as I love it.’ “

I love Lead Balloon because it is simple, uncomfortable and warm. I’m a firm believer that it is also accessible to pretty much anyone and it has a fond place in my heart.

Noel’s Art Club

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Twitter is often used by young and old people alike to stalk their favourite celebrities, express mundane facts and controversial opinions or to sell products to the public. Noel Fielding, however, has recently decided to use the social networking site in a new way- he has made a brave attempt at trying to spread some creativity throughout the world of Twitter and encourage people to revive their artistic side.

I love art and thought it was a brilliant idea which was picked up by hundreds of bright and adoring fans. Noel gave himself and his followers half an hour on two separate occasions to create an artistic response to a given theme (first, horses and secondly, Elvis Presley). When the time was up, he would post his creations (always absolutely wonderful) then retweet a load of other peoples’ that were his favourites. After all this, he reposted his third, second and first place.

The competition was open to everyone: artistic genius to quirky doodler and everything in between which gained an awesome response from the people of Twitter. I think Twitter should have more of this stuff going on as it is refreshing, inspiring and original. Hats off to you Mr Fielding! Now let’s have another Art Club soon yeah.

The galleries above and below feature some of my favourite responses to both themes.