Flatfaced moonman and quickfire comedy expert Jimmy Carr is set to star in a new BBC series of Commercial Breakdown.

Aha - the comedy graveyard beckons, eh Carr?

If you have never caught a Commercial Breakdown (previous recipients of its unique career-damaging magic are Jasper Carrott and Jo Brand) then you’re very lucky. It claims to be an unmissable collection of the world’s funniest, wildest and weirdest television adverts, each one a mini-masterpiece in its own right.

Historically, however, it has always been a bit of a lame duck, with enhanced laughter tracks and bad scripts for the comic linker - in this case Carr.

Of course, this new incarnation might see the concept raise its game, with Carr a renowned perfectionist. Certainly the content of the first show sounds interesting, featuring an ad in which John Cleese attempts to talk enthusiastically about pretzels.

Commercial Breakdown With Jimmy Carr begins an eight-part run this Sunday, June 15th, at 10.20, BBC One.

Share This!

Nice to see Kris Marshall is recovering from his recent accident - following the sad loss of Humphrey Lyttleton last week I was a little reluctant to wish him well in case this very blog had some sort of curse attached to it.

Of course it is life and death.  We can quite easily wish someone to get well soon regardless of what subsequently happens to us, simply because we have a fondness for that someone, and don’t want to lose them.

Comedians come and go, as do musicians.  It’s rare to see careers continue for so many years as we saw with Humph, and sad as it is that we lost him, he must have had a very varied and enjoyable life.

After all, he enjoyed the silliness of I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, and you could hear in his voice that he loved the show.  To have something as big as that to keep you going and entertained in such advanced years - well I think that is something we should all strive for.

So best of luck Kris Marshall in your recovery, and get well soon.

Share This!

You won’t feel that you have any choice once you’ve sat through this - BBC News have announced that Mong and Bint’s James Corden and Mathew Horne have signed up to make a new comedy sketch show for BBC Three.

I shit you not.

Worse, the once respected television corporation have described it as: “traditional comedy entertainment show in the style of Morecambe and Wise”

Which is tantamount to sacrilege. What business do a moon headed clip and his fat mate who couldn’t write an original gang if he was possessed by Marty Feldman have attempting to be Morecambe & Wise?

Jesus, what the hell is going on here? What next?

This really is an insult not only to Eric and Ernie but to our sensibilities. Mong and Bint is as funny as Auschwitz, award or no award - how come the pair of nomarks have this particular gig when Vic and Bob aren’t on TV, when legitimate double acts around the country are converging on Edinburgh this summer to get their work noticed?

The BBC is letting us all down, not least Corden and Horne who are way out of their depth.

Demand your licence fee back! (Or just don’t watch it)

Share This!

So massive congratulations to Harry Hill, whose TV Burp has received a worthy honour from the British Academy and earned its wings at last, after several years of Saturday tea-time madness.

He deserves nothing less for at the very least arranging fights between different foodstuffs, slow elderly people and animals, and providing superb comedy relief on a Saturday before Primeval starts.

Hill himself was typically bonkers on the night, but it was a superb result only tempered by the ridiculous arse kissing that took place giving Gavin and Stacey success in the face of stronger and funnier competition.

Congratulations also to Bruce Forsyth, who after celebrating his 80th birthday this year was awarded a BAFTA Fellowship, the academy’s highest honour.  All those spinning wheels and prat falls, dancing having a rant at the camera must have seemed worth it, eh Brucie?

Share This!

There’s nothing better in the summer months that to get away to the seaside and do things that you wouldn’t normally - such as visit a live comedy show.

You can go to Blackpool, Brighton, Torquay, Scarborough - they all run shows by old hands at end of the pier, old fashioned comedy.

They’ve all done it, from the unfashionable Cannon & Ball to legends like Ken Dodd, Morecambe and Wise, Tommy Cooper - the list goes on.

Comedy has a long tradition in Blackpool, which has its own comedy club, while this summer sees acts as diverse as Roy “Chubby” Brown, Billy Pearce and Ricky Tomlinson.

Whatever treasures are to be found in Greece, Spain and Turkey, none of them can add the tradition of live comedy shows to sun, sea and English fryups.

Share This!

Ah…. Harry Hill’s TV Burp continues to entertain every Saturday evening, with the unique slant on the week’s television drawing in millions of viewers every Saturday tea time.

Hill does get a lot of coverage here on Quintessential Comedy, but there’s a reason for that – he’s bloody good.

Backed up by a great team of writers, he makes the audience laugh and laugh on a weekly basis, something almost unheard of in the modern age in a prime time slot.

He’s been on screen for 14 years, and there’s absolutely no reason why he cannot continue to entertain viewers for at least another 14.

It may be early days, but I would personally rank Harry Hill among the great British comics.

Share This!

We hear so much about the “tragic” comics – Tony Hancock, for instance – that the tragedy tends to overshadow the body of work that they leave behind.

Of course it makes a good story for the media to talk about lonely comics, holed up in hotel rooms, away from their families and friends, topping themselves.

Dwelling on these actions, however, enforces the tragedy, and increases the legend, which always results in us being unable to forget these characters.

Personally speaking I’m not a big fan of Tony Hancock’s; but there are others, such as Kenneth Williams, who might well have committed suicide, whose loss was a sad one for many British comedy fans.

Yet these types of figures don’t (I hope I’m not tempting fate here) seem to be with us anymore in the world of comedy, at least.  There are obviously the mental health problems that Paul Merton suffered, and other comics have terrible times on the road, from the club circuit all the way to the top.

Is it that these days comedians are made of sterner stuff?

Share This!

When I tune into a new comedy series written by an established name, I expect to be entertained.

So when I spot the name David Renwick, Simon Nye, John Sullivan – perhaps Richard Curtis, Ben Elton, Rowan Atkinson and even Steven Moffat – I expect to be entertained.

Now of course not everyone is capable of creating a hit every time; Steven Moffat’s Chalk was a bit hit and miss, and Sullivan’s Green Green Grass should probably be put out to pasture permanently. Generally speaking though, those mentioned are usually good value and massive assets to the industry.

So, in honour of the writing talents of broadcast comedy, here is my top ten:

1. David Renwick – For One Foot in the Grave alone, episode after episode of twisting comedy genius.
2. Steven Moffat – now well known as the man behind some of the strongest Doctor Who episodes, Moffat also brought us Press Gang, the superb Joking Apart and Coupling (don’t mention Chalk too loudly)
3. Paul Whitehouse & Charlie Higson – these two men have heavily influenced the modern sketch comedy genre, whether via The Fast Show, Reeves & Mortimer, Harry Enfield or various radio skits. Their contribution mustn’t be overlooked.
4. John Sullivan – twenty-odd years of Only Fools and Horses might have taken their toll on Sullivan, but he still created some of his best episodes towards the end.
5. Ben Elton – Immense contribution to British comedy both as a writer and standup comedian. His contribution to Blackadder II provided the series with a massive turnaround and made it a hit, and while his own rousing, revolutionary standup ability challenged the Tory government of the 1980s and 1990s.
6. Richard Curtis – Ben Elton gave us the better three series of Blackadder, as well of course as providing some of the top British movies of the last 50 years. He also brought us The Vicar of Dibley, so like his colleague above he is by no means perfect
7. Simon Nye – I love Nye’s work, but it always seems to receive such poor treatment by the broadcasters; Men Behaving Badly was cancelled after two series by ITV before jumping to BBC One, while Hardware was badly supported and broadcast for some reason at 10.30 on a Sunday evening.
8. Ricky Gervais & Steven Merchant – I don’t like the guy but I’m not stupid; The Office is a superb portrait of so many middle managers the country over, a dramatisation of luck and charm over ability and competence.
9. Lucas & Walliams – I was watching these two back in their UK Play Rock Profiles days; their depiction of Prince as a Glaswegian drunk was utter comedy gold.
10. Andrew Collins – who? Older readers my not know Collins, but he pops up a fair few times across the airwaves, often in those Top 100 shows, like “Top 100 PG Tips moments EVER!” or somesuch. He’s also responsible for some of the best laughs and strongest writing on television in the last two years, moulding Lee Mack’s quickfire delivery in BBC One sitcom Not Going Out into the best British comedy serial for years.

On the edge – David Quantick, John Cleese, Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley – really – and Chris Langham. Of course I can’t really mention him.)

I know there are going to be some surprising entries here – let me know what you think.

Share This!

Just tuned in for the first time to Clive Anderson’s Chat Room; a simple, honest formula with a good selection of guests providing radiophonic mirth on Saturday lunchtimes.

What we have is basically a topical discussion chaired by Anderson and contributed to by a group of comedians and veteran broadcasters, as well as some minor contributions from the audience; think Question Time with laughs.

 On Saturday March 8^th we the audience were treated to Gyles Brandreth (bear with me), Andy Parsons, Helen Lederer and Paul Sinha – not a name I’m currently familiar with.  Former Liberal party leader Charles Kennedy was for some reason absent.

So what we have is a sideways and frankly honest look at the issues of the day; texting while driving, widening motorways, European Union Referendum, and anything you can think of, really. 

If we had some sort of recommended five star “Tune In” system, Clive Anderson’s Chat Room would be up there with 5 stars. 

The remainder of the series features:

Programme two - 13 March:
Arthur Smith, Kirsty Wark, Dom Joly and Miles Jupp

Programme three - 20 March:
Dave Gorman, Carole Malone and Frankie Boyle

Programme four - 27 March:
Kelvin Mackenzie, Julie Kirkbride MP and Griff Rhys-Jones

Programme five - 3 April:
Ed Byrne, Will Self and Nick Clegg MP

Programme six - 10 April:
Tony Hawks and Miranda Sawyer

Meanwhile you can find out more about the show at the BBC webpage.

Share This!

As far as transatlantic comedy goes, it really hasn’t ever been any funnier than The Muppet Show.

Jim Henson’s amaxing creations had been entertaining kids around the world in the educational Sesame Street before ATV supremo Lew Grade offered Henson a deal that would see the show filmed at Elstree in England, networked to ITV stations around the UK and then sold overseas via Grade’s ITC Entertainment.

The result was television and comedy gold.  Once ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev had appeared with the Muppets, the series turned into a marionette Morecambe and Wise Show, with big names flocking to appear; John Denver, Elton John, John Cleese, Alice Cooper, Liberace, Raquel Welch, Danny Kaye, Sylvester Stallone, Lynn Redgrave all appeared, all were gently mocked, and all were remembered for it.

I could go on with the list; eventually the biggest movie stars of the day – the cast of Star Wars, even Superman himself and the James Bond of the day turned up for the Muppet Show treatment.

Disgraced comedy writer and performer Chris Langham worked as the only British scriptwriter among a largely American cast and crew, and also bizarrely appeared as the guest in one episode when Richard Pryor was busy setting himself on fire. 

The Muppet Show is still just as funny today as it was from 1976-1981, and deserves serious reappraisal.  The 1990s attempt at a remake, Muppets Tonight was initially well received, but sadly failed to make any real impact. 

DVDs are available too!

Share This!