Sitcom

The Mighty Boosh, Revisited

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The 18th May 2014 marks the ten year anniversary of the first episode of The Mighty Boosh and as it is my favourite programme of all time, I thought I should do something a bit special to celebrate. I feel that the rush of everyday life can get in the way of appreciating the show in all its glory so have decided to revisit every episode from the very beginning. There will be an individual post each of the show’s 20 episodes, staggered over a few months, as I want to keep a variation of posts on the site. If you haven’t watched The Mighty Boosh before, this is your push to do so as it is honestly one of the loveliest, funniest and most original shows there has ever been.

© babycow

© babycow

But first, a little overview of the show for those of you who somehow haven’t seen it, or maybe just want a recap.

The Mighty Boosh is the birthplace of many of my favourite comedians and is a work of visual, as well as comedic art. The frontmen, of course, are Vince Noir (Noel Fielding) and Howard Moon (Julian Barratt), an unlikely pairing of two complete opposites. Howard, a sombre, mellow jazz maverick with a great interest in poetry and stationery, and Vince, doe-eyed bimbo sunshine man, obsessed with fashion and celebrity culture. Series One is set in the Zooniverse where the duo live with Naboo, the mystical shaman (Mike Fielding) and Bollo, the sarcastic gorilla (Dave Brown). The Zoo is run by foul-mouthed dancing queen Bob Fossil (Rich Fulcher). A well-rounded group I’d say. Throughout this series, the Zoo undergoes many difficulties as well as being visited by many questionable personalities such as Dixon Bainbridge (Matt Berry).

Series Two signalled a change for the Boosh Boys upon their move to the flat above the Nabootique, a gift shop. Bollo has been promoted to shopkeeper’s assistant and Bob Fossil has disappeared off the scene (although Fulcher reoccurs as various characters throughout). And finally, Series Three is where the boys are given reign over the shop, while Naboo goes out on various errands. In most episodes, Naboo returns with Bollo to find his shop in disarray and it is up to him to fix whatever went wrong. Oh trusty Naboo.

babycow

© babycow

The programme features many familiar faces (that I will go into as they appear during the episode guides) but most of the characters are played by Noel, Julian, Dave, Mike and Rich. I’m sure you are aware of the variety of characters involved, ranging from Tommy Nooka with his head of cheese to sexual predator of the sea, Old Gregg. The episodes are also broken up with the most wonderful little songs, called Crimps, that can lighten the mood no matter how desperate the situation.

Stay tuned for part one of The Mighty Boosh, Revisited!

THE REVISITED SERIES

TV Review: GameFace

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roisin

Yesterday evening brought Roisin Conaty’s pilot episode of the show she wrote and stars in, GameFace to 4OD. I absolutely adore Roisin so knew it would be brilliant. Her role as Jo in Man Down (featuring Greg Davies) was utterly hilarious and it’s one of my favourite sitcoms of the past few months.

The pilot followed Marcella: a young, under-achieving party lover who is attempting to put her life back on track by starting driving lessons and attending therapy to enable her to have a ‘fresh start’ on her birthday. She describes herself as a ‘Lone Wolf’ but this is misinterpreted as ‘Lonely Wolf’ by her therapist (if that’s what I should call him), and I think this is something that could be followed up if and when a series progresses from the pilot because obviously the audience will eventually develop emotional attachments to the main characters.

Many familiar faces popped up throughout the episode including Joel Dommett (Conaty’s Impractical Jokers Pal) as the pizza boy, in one of my favourite scenes of the episode, and Mike Wozniak who played the part of Brian in Man Down. There were also lots of people I didn’t recognise which is always good as I’m always up for broadening my horizons.

As well as the pilot being very very funny, Roisin made me feel like a normal human by saying something along the lines of:

“Breakfast isn’t that important. If you’re hungry you’re hungry, if not just get on with your day.”

I’m SO glad someone else said it as this is the one thing in my life that makes me feel most like an outcast (ha).

I really can’t wait for a series to be made of GameFace as I love Rosin Conaty, the scripting was excellent and there were many unique aspects to the programme that I liked such as the parts where Marcella is sat in her therapist’s office and there are flashbacks to the events of her previous week. There is definitely space for the storyline to develop and I can’t see how I’d ever get bored of this wonderful new show!

TV Review: Doll & Em

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Yesterday, I visited my best friend, Phoebe, and we watched the final two episodes of the gorgeous show that is Doll & Em. I knew I would love this show because I had seen a pilot clip of Dolly & Laura (a very simliar concept with Dolly Wells and Laura Patch) before from quite a few years ago, which features Noel Fielding (my absolute favourite), and I definitely wasn’t disappointed. Doll & Em follows two best friends, both aged fourty-something. They are Dolly, a clumsy, almost naive but entirely loveable lady who has just broken up with her longterm boyfriend, and Emily, the successful Hollywood actress with a load of famous phone contacts. At the start of the first episode, Em decides to hire Dolly as her personal assistant as an excuse for the two of them to spend more time together while the actress films for her latest movie project in LA.

phoebe & becca

Phoebe (left) and I (right)

The show is endearing, hilarious and extremely uncomfortable in places because Dolly often manages to say or do the wrong thing that leads to her either looking an idiot to the Hollywood stars or completely showing up Emily. The funniest moment for me happened pretty early on, where Dolly goes for a swim in the pool outside Emily’s apartment and ends up getting locked out there all day. Both Doll’s clumsiness and charm really come out in this scene and it had me and my friend laughing until we were in tears. The fact this show appeals to both of our senses of humour is great and I definitely feel that Phoebe and I have a similar relationship to that of Doll and Em (though we have never had an argument and neither of us are good at acting). This might be why I like it so much, it’s almost a sneak-peek into the future of our own friendship in a weird way.

What really makes the programme work is the fact that Doll and Em, much like Phoebe and I, have been best friends since they were little girls in real life and it really shines through beautifully. Their personalities are entirely different yet they bounce off each other brilliantly and have such a close relationship that it borders on dysfunctional. Also, I have loved Dolly for a long time due to her role in Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy but had never come across Emily Mortimer before… until it was pointed out by a hilariously slow customer at the restaurant where Dolly works that it was her in Shutter Island. I love that film, and almost feel like I have achieved something from learning this information: I feel like I already know Emily in the way I already knew Dolly.

doll and em

Doll (left) and Em (right)

The absolute cherry on the cake was the appearance of Noel towards the end of the final episode. Although he is acting so has toned his fashion sense down ever so slightly (he still wears a poncho, of course), when the camera pans out you can see the glimmer of his silver chelsea boots which I thought was fantastic. The final few scenes of the series featured Noel, which is always a positive, but the performances of both ladies were flawless: I could feel the love they have for each other radiating through the screen.

I’ve never seen a programme quite like Doll & Em and I can really tell it is a product of love, both for the show and for each other. I will be over the moon if this beauty is commissioned for a second series and I can imagine there being a wonderful film adaptation of Doll & Em one day.

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Noel’s scene

TV Review: The Walshes

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The Walshes was a recent three-part sitcom about a dysfunctional yet loveable Irish family.

I was initially drawn to thThe Walshesis series because it was co-written by Graham Linehan, who is the absolute genius that brought us The IT Crowd. and Father Ted. The cast is made up of Diet of Worms: a comedy group that I had never previously heard of but will be looking into in the future. I especially liked Shane Langan, who plays Graham, as he was absolutely adorable and reminded me of a startled, timid sheep. I loved him from the beginning. I also thought Carmel, played by Phillipa Dunne, was very funny and Ciara (Amy Stephenson) was believable and generally sweet.

The fact it was only three episodes long was interesting because I feel any longer than that and it may have begun to slip into regular-sitcom-mode which is generally the point where I stop watching. So, due to the fact that The Walshes was only a mini-series, I found a lot more enjoyment in it: but maybe that’s because I lose interest in things quite easily.

I don’t watch Mrs Brown’s Boys (I don’t find it funny in the slightest) but wasn’t particularly reminded of it whilst viewing The Walshes despite there being comparisons drawn between them: I think this is a lazy conclusion to make. Sure, they are both Irish-family-sitcoms, but The Walshes was so much more.

Overall, I’m interested to see how this show will develop in the future as I found it very charming and heartwarming. I also hope Linehan will be writing some new stuff as I really do miss The It Crowd and need a replacement for it.

Ja’mie: Private School Girl

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I could have cried tears of elation when I heard Ja’mie: Private School Girl would be premiering in the UK on BBC Three earlier this month because all of Chris Lilley’s previous work has been hilarious and original.

jamie

The show is Australian and follows the life of Ja’mie, an egotistical bitch of a girl, played by Chris Lilley who happens to be a man yet also happens to be hotter than pretty much all girls I know. Ja’mie was originally a character in one of my favourite shows ever, Summer Heights High. The show only ran for one series which was disappointing because it had me crying with laughter. It is set in an Aussie high school and focuses on a few main characters which are all played by Lilley (the less significant characters have different actors).

Ja’mie is one of the significant and most loved characters from Summer Heights High so has subsequently earned her very own show. Ja’mie and her group of popular girl prefects are in the final few months of their time at Hilford Girls’ Grammar but are more interested in the social side, particularly the boys from Kelton Boys’ Grammar down the road. One particular guy, Mitchell, is the favourite of Ja’mie and she embarks on her mission to get him to be her’s.

Whilst caring about the social side of school, Ja’mie is also determined to earn the Hilford Medal at the end of her time there- the prize basically given to the most successful, thoughtful and popular girl in school. It is inevitable that Ja’mie will win the prize despite probably being the most hated bitch in school.

I really admire Chris Lilley’s work: his ability to take on so many different personas, his character development, the mockumentary style of the series and his uncanny ability to look hot in a dress and a wig.

House of Fools

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January marked a much awaited time for Vic and Bob fans: the arrival of the brand new surreal sitcom, House Of Fools. The programme follows the troubles faced by Bob [Mortimer] and his group of unreliable and slightly insane ‘friends’ (plus his Norwegian son, Erik) who all insist on lodging in his house whilst continually mocking poor Bob as he manages to fail in all aspects of his life.

The casting of the programme is near on perfection, featuring Matt Berry as Beef, Dan Skinner as Bosh, Morgana Robinson as Julie and of course Vic and Bob themselves. I was pleased to see a new face on the programme: stand up comedian Daniel Simonsen as Erik, whose role in the show is refreshing, maybe because the exaggerated Norwegian accent is hilarious in itself.

Reeves and Mortimer have said in interviews that the aim of the show was to take the conventional idea of what should be in a sitcom and completely turn it on its head by recreating typical situations but in a new way. For example, when a neighbour tells the protagonist that they need them to look after something very important, the audience are immediately aware of the inevitability that something will soon go drastically wrong. The double act recognised this and made it the plot line of episode two, The Pork Pie Affair, in which Julie asks the group to look after an oversized pork pie that is to be given to Bruce Willis that evening.

The programme is broken up with songs of nonsense, that Bob describes as a “shortcut to telling a plot, so we set everything up via the gift of song.” The words are constantly going round my head on a daily basis and I can’t seem to get them out so beware!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-V7479MQC4]

Some Girls, Series 2

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I tend to try and watch all new sitcoms that appear on the BBC and Channel 4 in particular as comedy is clearly thriving in Britain at the moment, but the main thing that originally drew me to series 1 of Some Girls was the fact that it starred Dolly Wells (Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy).

some girls

Some Girls follows a small friendship group through their experiences at high school; most of the girls in the group are very odd. Viva is the character with the main focus as we are introduced to her family, which includes her pregnant stepmother Anna Hitchcock (‘Bitchcock’) who is played by Wells. Anna is also the girls’ school football coach and has most of the funniest lines in the whole show. One of my favourites from this new series was along the lines of: [In a full school assembly] “As most of you know, Mr Andrews has died. For those of you who didn’t know, Mr Andrews has died”. I found her sarcasm and impatience throughout the episodes hysterically funny.

The cast is refreshingly young and skilled. Amber (Alice Felgate) and Saz (Mandeep Dhillon) are completely insane characters and have such contrasting personalities- Amber is a typical ‘dumb blonde’ character with a really kind heart and Saz is sarcastic, angry and hilarious. Some Girls is surprisingly original and enjoyable; I found myself laughing out loud a lot.