August is Channel 4’s new talent month,with nightly topical comedy, comedy shorts on E4 and a new selection of Comedy Labs pilots.

There are six 30-minute pilots among which five are sketch shows, including:
* Slaterwood, a showcase for comedian Peter Slater, one of the team behind The Unbroadcastable Radio Show, which has a monthly residency at the Manchester Comedy Store.
* School of Comedy, an adult sketch show performed by children.
* Pappy’s Fun Club - ‘It’s got a Vic Reeves’ Big Night Out feel to it, with a mixture of vaudeville and behind-the-scenes material.
* Mr and Mrs Fandango - real-life couple Tom Meeten and Barunka O’Shaughnessy play famous couples, an irreverent comedy ‘in the spirit of Kenny Everett’.

Sounds as though there is plenty to go on!

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At long last, the page you’ve been waiting for!

The original version of Quintessential Comedy featured the first in a series of articles and essays about comedy. Kicking it off was a piece on Monty Python’s Flying Circus, which finally (!) I’ve reproduced here…

Dipping back to the past, remembering the things we saw and did is almost always done through rose-tinted glasses. The same is certainly true of comedy. Looking back at popular sitcoms of the day such as Please Sir! or Man About the House leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, and while Love Thy Neighbour might be a true depiction of the age, it’s modern revisionism to claim that it was cleverer than anyone ever knew at the time. (more…)

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We wanted it, and we’ve got it - a second series of Ruddy Hell, It’s Harry and Paul (although don’t be surprised by a name change) is in production, with the comedians recording footage on July 21st at BBC Radio Theatre, 6.15pm.

Thanks to the BBC’s free audience policy, you can go along - but look out!  This show is for over 18s…

Publicity material states:

“…they return with many of the characters that made a big impact last time such as the amazingly fast talking surgeons, the Posh Scaffolders, Nelson Mandela as you have never seen him before, the I saw you Coming shop, the Polish café and many more plus some hilarious new additions”

Top hole!   You can book tickets now at the BBC website

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It’s not clear right now if this is a repeat or a new selection without linking material from Ronnies B and C, but the BBC are nevertheless airing The Two Ronnies Sketchbook this Saturday night at 9.35pm, BBC One.

You know, you cannot beat the Two Ronnies, whether it’s adventure yarn pastiche or humorous lyrics to famous songs, or just good old fashioned wordplay.

They’ve long been one of my favourite comedy double acts, and it was a great loss to the comedy world when Ronnie Barker sadly passed away.

Thankfully, however, he did it with one final last hurrah - The Two Ronnies Sketchbook - around 15 years after he announced his retirement from showbiz.

Here’s a clip from them, with one of their classic, most famous sketches, “Fork Handles”.

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As a follow up to our news of Catherine Tate appearing at the Hays Literary Festival, we’ve been informed that the actress is appearing in a new West End production…

Opening on 25 July at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London’s West End, Under the Blue Sky stars Catherine Tate in a cast list that includes Francesca Annis and Chris O’Dowd.

David Eldridge’s play is both funny and touching - three subtly connected love stories that reveal in turn the roller-coaster ride of lust in its prime, the sacrifices of a life in public service and unrequited passions. In the long shadow of the twentieth century, Eldridge’s play gives us an all too recognisable portrayal of the way in which uncertainties, misunderstanding and the unsaid lead to unexpected results for three couples who seem destined never to say the right thing. (more…)

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Sketch show queen and currently Doctor Who co-star, Catherine Tate has had a varied career, having also worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company.  As a result of her impact on comedy, the actress was invited to Powys literary festival to discuss Shakespeare, and in particular his comedies - and revealed that she struggled to enjoy the Bard’s comedies at times.

“It’s got to strike a chord with us. We can’t write Shakespeare off but wearing bells on knees isn’t going to work.”

She definitely has a point - for me the best Shakespeare is the modern-day adaptation, such as Ian McKellen’s Richard III.  There’s no reasons why the comedies shouldn’t be given the same treatment.

While we’re on, Catherine, what about Lauren?  Where did she come from?

“I tried her (Lauren) out at the Latchmere Theatre in London with about seven people in the audience. When I said ‘Am I bovvered?’ about three of the seven tittered, and I repeated it and by the end they were all cackling and I realised they’d picked up on it.”

“She used to get so much stick, she was getting the blame for the hoodie culture. I never thought for a moment that children would pick up on it.”

Ah, the press, they love to blow things out of proportion.

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The BBC have reported that Matt Lucas and David Walliams are working on two new films.

Best known for Little Britain (although their Rock Profiles series for UK Play was certainly as funny in places), Lucas and Walliams are apparently developing a new project with Working Title (Hot Fuzz) while simultaneously working with Dreamworks.

Shooting on the US version of Little Britain is apparently underway following the resolution of the Writer’s Strike in the USA.  10 new characters are apparently planned, as well as cultural revisions to some current favourites in the HBO-produced series.

Success in any of these projects would be significant; Lucas and Walliams are now able to command audiences around the world on a par with the Pythons in the late 1970s.

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Just browsing the web the other day, I stumbled across the results of Channel 4’s 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches (2006?). It’s a good mix of contemporary and classic, and despite giving the award to Little Britain I feel that the rest of the table is a pretty good reflection.

In fact the only really contentious point is the presence of The League of Gentlemen, confirming that no one seems to know whether it is a sketch show or a sitcom.

1. Lou and Andy (Swimming Pool) - Little Britain
2. Petshop/Dead Parrot - Monty Python’s Flying Circus
3. Tubbs and Edward (Road Men) - The League of Gentlemen
4. Vicky Pollard (Swimming Pool) - Little Britain
5. Four Candles - The Two Ronnies
6. Going For An English - Goodness Gracious Me
7. Acorn Antiques � Victoria Wood, As Seen On TV
8. Breakfast - The Morecambe and Wise Show
9. Ted and Ralph (Drinking Game) - The Fast Show
10. Good Aids/Bad Aids - Brass Eye

Sketchcom?

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Despite its obvious role as a few links to repeated material, I’ve been a big supporter of the BBC One show Comedy Sketchbook.

But last night something changed.

With a barbed script from 5 writers (including Toby Hadoke) Angus Deayton manages to hold together a series of sketches from the BBC and Thames/LWT archives with his usual confident Basil Fawlty-esque disdain.

Even he was unable to prevent the closing clip - despite being evidently unimpressed by it.

At 110 quid a year, I don’t mind paying for a superb mix of television, radio and internet, a reckon that despite its compulsory nature, the licence fee is good value for money.

I don’t expect to pay it and then the same day my direct debit sends the monthly installment to the government have to sit through HALE & PACE.

They have no place on comedy sketchbook for 2 very good reasons:

1. They’re not funny
2. They’re not funny

I don’t even think I know which is which - but that doesn’t matter when they’re mugging painfully at the camera singing a “Northern Calypso” which tickled my funny bone about as much as the idea of a colonoscopy does.

There’s no reason for these utter oafs to be allowed on television in a dramatic role (they went on to appear seperately in low budget dramas) nevermind under the banner of comedy.

Plumbing the depths for Little and Large is one thing - Hale & Pace should never see the back of a cathode ray tube ever again.

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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)

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