Cool Blue Shed - Comedy

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The Guardian newspaper is currently giving away little “How to write…” guides. Monday’s edition contained a booklet entitled How to write comedy. The tuturial has been put together by Richard Herring, not that you’d guess that from the paper’s front page, which happily placed the words Catherine and Tate above the booklet’s title. Now the heading doesn’t explicitly state that Catherine Tate wrote the tutorial, but then my copy of Crime and Punishment doesn’t explicitly state that Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote that. I just kind of guessed that he did, as his name is printed on the cover. That’s the leap I normally take when I look at the front cover of a book. Title and name - I make a connection between the two. I suppose that one must be responisble for the creation of the other. Maybe I’m supposing too much. Maybe if I see a name printed on the cover of a book, I shouldn’t automatically assume that that name is in any way connected with the authorship of the book. Maybe publishers put names on books just to make them look nicer. Maybe that’s what happened with Shakespeare. Maybe the publisher had a collection of plays from various sources and wanted to put them into a single volume. And he needed something for the front cover. Shakespeare. William Shakespeare. That’s got a nice ring to it. That’ll help it sell.

Getting back to the guide. The various sections are now up on The Guardian website, so here are the links to Richard Herring’s How to write comedy.

Where funny ideas come from
Herring starts his piece with the following quote: ‘Analysing comedy is like dissecting a frog. Nobody laughs and the frog dies.” He attributes this quote to Barry Cryer. Jimmy Carr’s book The Naked Jape attributes the same quote to E. B. White, author of Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Webb. I’ve also seen it attributed to George Carlin, who incidentally I didn’t know had died until I just looked him up on Wikipedia. How come that wasn’t a big news story here in the UK? Anyway, regardless of whoever said the thing about the frog first, what follows is a short piece on the tricky nature of ideas and the struggle to get good ones. I like the comments about procrastination. I am one hell of a procrastinator. I should have started this post hours ago, but I’ve been watching George Carlin performances on YouTube. And listening to my iPod. And then there was the moment when I was just stood in my kitchen, wondering what I was doing in there.

How to write a joke
Jokes, I think it’s fair to say, don’t really come to you if you sit down at your computer and stare at the blinking cursor. Blink, blink, blink, it will go, relfecting the hollow sounds being made by your brain. You need to get out. And as every guide to writing will always say, you need to carry a notebook.

Honing a joke
I think this is probably the most important part - performing the joke. Some people just can’t do it. My mum cannot tell a joke to save her life. It’s just beyond her. My dad, on the other hand, can make a terrible joke sound extremely funny. It’s all in the telling.

Writing sketches
For a brief while, when I was still a teenager, I tried my hand at writing sketches. I sent some off to Spitting Image and Channel Four. I didn’t get anything accepted - not persistent enough - but I did get some nice repsonses, including one from Nigel Planer’s brother. This section also contains a few tips from David Mitchell and Robert Webb.

Writing for stand-up
There’s no other way. You’ve got to contact your local comedy club and book yourself an open spot. Be brave, little one, be brave. Get out there and show them who you are.

The comedian’s toolbox
Ooooh, careful, eh? Toolbox? eh? Toool - Box. Eh? A box for a tool. Eh? Careful. Sorry, I don’t know what came over me there. In this section you’ll find a few ideas to keep in mind, such as the “rule of three”. There are also some joke writing tips from Jo Caulfield.

What next?
Basically lots of hard work. Sorry, that’s just the way it is. This section also includes some tips for writing for radio.

Joke’s on you
Catherine Tate’s introduction. Yes, she did write something. The Guardian’s front page wasn’t a total fib. Echoing some of the comments in the first section, Tate notes that she finds it difficult to sit down and start writing. Once she’s there, fine, but getting started… that’s the tricky part. Glad I’m not the only one.

I’ve finished writing this post now. Time for a cup of tea. I think I deserve one.

Click to view YouTube clip.

Just found out that Doug Stanhope is over here for a short tour. A week at the Arts Theatre in London has just ended, so I don’t really know why I’ve bothered to tell you about that. Nothing like having your finger on the pulse, eh? Announcing a short tour after most of it has happened. Still, there are three days left and I can tell you about those. This Thursday, Friday and Saturday (25 to 27 Sep) Doug will be appearing at the Dance House Theatre in Manchester. Then it’s back to the States for a handful of dates in October - details here.

If you’ve not heard of Doug, the excellent clip above will give you a taste. If you’re fan of Bill Hicks, Lenny Bruce and what the Americans used to label “sick comedy”, I think you’ll like him.

Here’s a review of one of the London shows.

Official website is at www.dougstanhope.com.

boburnham.com/videos.php

“We’re kicking off in style with a programme that hits the highest notes, and a season that really reflects the sort of entertainment we want to see (and we think you want to see) in the West End. It’s tempting for us to call this a revolution - so we’re going to.”

That’s a quote from the website of London’s newest theatre - the Leicester Square Theatre - which is located on Leicester Place, just north of Leicester Square itself. As part of their inaugural season, the Leicester Square Theatre is staging “London’s biggest comedy festival”, The Big Joke, which as well as featuring an impressive number of festival favourites, will also see the London stand-up debut of Roseanne Barr. Now, for a first season that’s just showing off.

Also headlining a London show for the first time is Bo Burnham, an 18 year old from Massachusetts, who has become something of an internet sensation after posting up a few songs on YouTube and Myspace. Unlike a lot of “internet sensations”, in this case I’d say that the term was deserved.

Some of these songs are now up on Burnham’s own website and, if you haven’t seen any of his stuff already, I urge you to take a look. Ok, so some of it is a little rough, a little juvenile perhaps (he is only 18), but there’s no denying that Burnham has got that certain something that all good comedians have got. He’s assured, confident, but likeable too. He glances into the camera, gives occasional knowing smiles, pauses to allow an idea to be fully digested. Although performing to a video camera in his bedroom, he performs like a comic who has learnt his craft over years of playing to live audiences. It’s impressive stuff.

Bo Burnham will be at the Leicester Square Theatre from Friday, 10 October to Sunday, 12 October.

A quick look at some of the comedy on UK television over the next 7 days. Set the PVR, sit back and relax.

Monday 22 Sep
The Wrong Door - BBC3 - 9:30pm
The fourth episode of BBC3’s sketch show where the hook is the liberal use of CGI effects. The CGI has been impressive, but so far the writing hasn’t quite matched it. There has, however, been the odd gem here and there.

Massive - BBC3 - 10:30pm
Episode three of the sitcom about two lads setting up a record label. I wasn’t a fan and judging by comments on various message boards, I’m not alone. It’s also clear, from the same message boards, that there are some people out there who absolutely love it. Maybe it’s an age thing.

Three Men In Another Boat - BBC2 - 11:50pm
Another chance to see Dara O’Briain’s and Rory McGrath’s struggle to find their sea legs on board Griff Rhys Jones’s refurbished yacht. Not as good as the trio’s re-staging of the classic Jerome K. Jerome book from a couple of years ago, but a nice way to spend an hour nonetheless. Part two is at 11:50pm on Tuesday 23 Sep.

Tuesday 23 Sep
Losing It: Griff Rhys Jones on Anger - BBC2 - 9:00pm
Not really a comedy show, but anything with Griff in it is worth a look. Aparently, mild mannered Griff has a bit of a temper.

Comedy Classics: Rising Damp - ITV - 10:35pm
The BBC have been trawling through their comedy archive for years now, so ITV probably have a bit of catching up to do. The UK’s main commercial station may not be able to match the Beeb for the number of comedy classics it has produced, but there have been some high points and it doesn’t get much higher than Rising Damp. Should be well worth a look and it might give Don Warrington a few extra votes in Strictly Come Dancing.

Wednesday 24 Sep
Withnail and I - Film4 - 11:35pm
Bruce Robinson’s black comedy about two out of work actors living in a squalid Camden Town flat during the last few weeks of the 1960s. When it was first released in 1986, it did fuck-all business, but it has since become one of the biggest cult movies in British cinema.

Thursday 25 Sep
Mock The Week - BBC2 - 9:00pm
It’s the closest thing British television currently has to satire and when it’s really firing it’s hard to beat. This is the last in the present series and, according to rumours, it could be last to feature Frankie Boyle, which would be a shame. The highlight for me of the whole series was the appearance of Canadian comic Stewart Francis.

The Cup - BBC2 - 9:00pm
Another series ends tonight. This is the last in the series following the parents of an under-11’s football team.

Friday 26 Sep
Harry and Paul - BBC2 - 9:00pm
The fourth in the current series of what has been an exceptional sketch show.

Al Murray’s Happy Hour - ITV - 10:00pm
We’re now heading towards the half way stage of series three, and I’m not sure how much more mileage there is in watching people shout “Big Bob” every week. Still, watching Murray’s interaction with an audience is always a joy.

According to Amazon UK, the following DVDs are released this week:

Saxondale - Series 2

After You’ve Gone - Series 2

In Sickness And In Health - Series 2

Last of the Summer Wine Series 11 & 12

Hi-De-Hi - Series 8-9

2 Point 4 Children - Series 1 To 3

Here are just some of the live shows you can catch over the next seven days. More dates and links to various sites can be found on the Gigs and Festivals page.

Rhona Cameron
Tuesday Sep 23 - Doncaster - Civic Theatre
Friday Sep 26 - Greenwich - Greenwich Theatre
Saturday Sep 27 - Leeds - City Varieties

Jimmy Carr
Monday Sep 22 - Salisbury - City Hall
Friday Sep 26 - Peterborough - Broadway Theatre
Saturday Sep 27 - Southend - Cliffs Pavilion
Sunday Sep 28 - York - Grand Opera House

Elizabeth and Raleigh: Late But Live
Friday Sep 26 - Hemel Hempstead - Old Town Hall
Saturday Sep 27 - Brighton - Komedia

Rich Hall as Otis Lee Crenshaw
Tuesday Sep 23 - Bury St Edmunds - Theatre Royal
Thursday Sep 25 - Morecombe - Platform
Friday Sep 26 - Ayr - Gaiety Theatre

Russell Howard
Wednesday Sep 24 -Barnstaple - Queens Theatre
Thursday Sep 25 - Croydon - Ashcroft Theatre
Friday Sep 26 - Dartford - Orchard Theatre
Saturday Sep 27 - Jersey - Opera House
Sunday Sep 28 - Salford - Lyric Theatre

The Mighty Boosh
Monday Sep 22 - York - Grand Opera House
Tuesday Sep 23 - York - Grand Opera House
Wednesday Sep 24 - York - Grand Opera House
Thursday Sep 25 - York - Grand Opera House
Friday Sep 26 - Harrogate - Harrogate Theatre
Saturday Sep 27 - Harrogate - Harrogate Theatre

Dylan Moran
Thursday Sep 25 - Inverness - Eden Court Theatre

Frank Sidebottom and Charlie Chuck
Tuesday 23 Sep - Nottingham - Rescue Rooms
Wednesday 24 Sep - Birkenhead - Pacific Road Arts Centre
Tursday 25 Sep - Sheffield - City Hall
Friday 26 Sep - Manchester - Academy
Saturday 28 Sep - Leeds - City Varieties

Mark Steel
Friday Sep 26 - Maidenhead - Norden Farm
Saturday Sep 27 - Hereford - The Courtyard

Well I for one have welcomed the news that I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue will be returning to Radio 4, probably either late spring or early summer. The future of the show has been in doubt since the death in April this year of its host, the legendary Humphrey Lyttelton. There have been rumours that I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue will go the Have I Got News For You route and have guest presenters rather than a new permanent host. The official news reports that I’ve read, however, have all said that no decision has yet been made.

Links

I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue on Wikipdeia
News item from BBC website

Tickets for two shows will be available from 12 noon this Monday (22 September 2008) form the Hat Trick website - Have I Got News For You and The Armstrong and Millar Show.

Full details including studio location and recording dates are usually released on the Hat Trick website shortly before the tickets become available - go to www.hattrick.co.uk/tickets/index_tickets.php.

Recordings of Have I Got News For You are always over subsrcibed, so if you do apply you’ll probably have to wait a few days before you know whether you’ve been succesful. And if you are successful, you should try to get to the studio well before the is recording due to start.

When did that happen? No one told me. Consequently, I still love Carry On films. Ok, I’ll be honest, they don’t make me laugh out loud much any more, at least not intentionally. But some of those puns… they’re just wonderful. Double entendres to die for.

Interestingly, what is commonly regarded as the most famous Carry On pun – “infamy, infamy, they’ve all go it in-for-me!” (as spoken by Kenneth Williams as Julius Caesar in Carry On Cleo) – was not a Carry On original. The gag was written by Frank Muir and Dennis Norden for an episode of their radio comedy show, Take It From Here. Knowing a good gag when he heard one, Carry On writer Talbot Rothwell approached Muir and Norden and asked if he could borrow it. I’m glad they said yes.

Here’s a rather good article about the Carry Ons that recently appeared in the Telegraph.

Links

Search for Carry On on YouTube
Carry On Line
The Whippit Inn
What A Carry On
Carry On Forever

Search for Carry On at Amazon UK or Amazon USA

I was a little worried about the prospect of the second in the new series of Harry and Paul. The initial outing had been so good that it seemed only reasonble to suppose that the rest of the series wouldn’t be able to match that. I needn’t have feared, for in the end all was well. Episode two probably wasn’t quite as good as the first, but it was still by far the best piece of comedy I saw all week.

Particularly nice for an old comedy obsessive like me were the parodies of two 1970s classics that bookended the show. The final sketch was a reworking of the Monty Python’s Whicker Island. In the original, a documentary is presented of an island inhabited entirely by clones of the jet-set celebrity-interviewing BBC journalist Alan Whicker, who was a very popular celebrity himself at the time. Harry and Paul updated the concept, flying over Whicker Island Google Earth style and touching down on Clarkson Island - an island inhabited by Jeremy Clarksons. The sketch went on far too long, but then again so did the original, so maybe that was the idea.

A better sketch started the show, where 70s trio The Goodies were transformed into The Hoodies. A dead simple idea, but a wonderfully funny one. Speeded up film of Harry Enfield, Paul Whitehouse and Simon Day riding around on a tandem and mugging old ladies made me curl up on the sofa and giggle like a child. If anyone involved in making that scene ever reads this post, I’d just like to say thanks.

Has anyone else noticed the BBC’s obsession with Manchester?

Not with the real Manchester mind, but with an idealised Manchester - a city that is loveably down to earth, free from pretension and yet is also at the epicentre of popular culture - a mythical wonderland of scallywags, schemers and cutting edge art.

Massive is BBC Three’s big sitcom hope for the early Autumn schedule (I guess the name gives it away). Massive is set in Manchester and centres on two loveable down to earth characters trying to earn a living from the music biz.

Comedy and music have long been close bedfellows. I’m surprised the UK doesn’t have a high-profile monthly magazine devoted equally to both subjects. The connection goes back years. We’ve had the likes of Rock Follies, The Blues Brothers, Bad News, This Is Spinal Tap, Tutti Frutti, The Commitments, The Young Person’s Guide To Being A Rock Star, The Last Chancers and Celeb. With the exception of the last, that’s not a bad list.

After the success of Gavin and Stacey, BBC Three must be on the look out for another hit with crossover potential. Massive is basically the story of two twenty-something Manchester lads in dead-end jobs who dream of starting up their own record label. Life gets interesting for Danny (Ralf Little) and Shay (Carl Rice) when Danny’s gran dies and leaves him £10,000 - enough to start “Shady Music”.

Massive writer Damian Lanigan appears to know his history of the Manchester music scene and there’s a sense that some of the scrapes that Danny and Shay get into are based on the exploits of Tony Wilson and co. But we’ve already had that world preserved for us in the form of Michael Winterbottom’s excellent 24 Hour Party People. Do we need to see it rehashed into a half-hour sitcom format? I don’t think so. Especially if, as in this case, the sitcom isn’t very good.

The characters of Danny and Shay are bland. They’re into their music and they like drinking. That’s about it, really. At the other end of the scale, the two girls that make up the band HereKittyKitty and the Manny the DJ (Paul Kaye) are close to being nothing more than simplistic caricatures. HereKittyKitty are a singing version of Viz’s Fat Slags. They’re fat and they’re coarse. Isn’t that funny! Er… no. DJ Manny takes a lot of drugs. Isn’t that funny! Er… no.

Between the bland and the caricatures is a collection of Shameless style characters that provide a focus for sub plots (first rule of forumlaic sitcom writing - introduce a sub plot). This is probably where Massive works best, with Johnny Vegas doing a nice turn as Shay’s dad. But that’s still not enough. And neither is the pleasing use of indie tracks for background music.

Massive simply isn’t very good. It’s a lazy idea hampered further by lazy writing. The more I think about it, the more piss-poor it becomes.

Simon Munnery seems to be spending a fair bit of time close to my home town at the moment. A couple of weeks ago, he was performing stand-up at the Rhythm Festival, just down the road, and tonight, whilst I’m sitting here typing this, he’s performing with Miles Jupp in Elizabeth And Raleigh: Late But Live at the Stahl Theatre in Oundle, just down the road. Oundle is only a small place. I never knew it had a theatre.

(Returns after checking on Google.)

Ah, it doesn’t. The Stahl Theatre is part of Oundle School. Oundle School is one of those posh schools that politicians send their kids to instead of the state schools that they say they’re going to send their kids to before they actually get round to having any kids.

Wonder what the good folk of Oundle are making of the show. The area of East Northants can hardly be said to have a thriving arts scene. I haven’t seen it advertised anywhere. I wonder if anyone has turned up. Maybe it’s being performed for the kids. Seems a strange choice of venue for a show that, during August, was one of the late night offerings on the Edinburgh Fringe.

Elizabeth And Raleigh: Late But Live was written by the great Stewart Lee and more details can be found on Lee’s website. The performance at Oundle is part of a UK tour. More dates can be found on the Gigs and Festivals page of this blog.

Two more tales of comedians getting themselves into trouble as recently reported in the press.

Jean-Marie Bigard, one of France’s best known stand-ups, and supposedly a good pal of French president Nicolas Sarkozy, spoke openly on a radio show about his view that the US Government were behind the September 11 attacks. With Sarkozy attempting to build a better relationship with the US, one of his friends coming out with stuff like that could hardly have been helpful. Bigrad has since apologised. I wonder who told him to do that (and whether there’s a tape of the phone call).

Meanwhile, in Italy, Sabina Guzzanti could be looking at a jail term after making jokes about Pope Benedict. Speaking at an anti-politics rally, whatever one of those is, Guzzanti criticized the Pope’s hard line stance against homosexuality, saying that he’d “go to hell and be pursued by two big, gay and very active devils.” Well, it made me chuckle, but there have been lots of calls for these remarks not to go unpunished.

As a lover of free speech, this sort of thing always annoys me. No one should be safe from the comments of the jester.

Last week was a good week for comedians getting into trouble.

Russell Brand caused a bit of a stir for taking the piss out of the ultra clean, worryingly wholesome Jonas Brothers whilst hosting the MTV awards. A strange situation this. A Brit unknown to the vast majority of Americans gets to host one of their biggest music award shows. Meanwhile, The Jonas Brothers are in London where no one has heard of them either. Brand takes the piss, he’s big news in the States and the Jonas Brothers are big news over here. We’ll leave it there, I think.

Closer to home, some of the dailies have been relishing the tale of Lee Hurst smashing up an audience member’s mobile phone during a performance in a pub in Guildford. Now, I wasn’t there, so I have no way of knowing what happened, but some of the press reports have resorted to words like “exploded”, “rage” and “stormed”, so it probably wasn’t anything like that. According to the story, Hurst thought that he was being filmed. Apparently, the person with the phone was sending a text message to a babysitter. That must still be annoying if you’re working your heart out on stage.

The story has prompted Richard Herring to describe his own phone related “outburst” in The New Statesman.

Neither of these incidents, however, can quite match up to one that I recently read about in Oliver Double’s excellent book, Getting The Joke. Apparently, whilst performing in a club in Watford in 1977, the late, great Bob Monkhouse became annoyed by a man who persistently shouted “fuck off” during his act. Monkhouse climbed onto a railing that led from the stage to the back of the room and right past the table where the heckling man was seated. When he got to the table, he kicked the man straight in the head. Now that really is a story.

New page added - Comedy Gigs and Festivals.

Every sketch show needs a hook. The Wrong Door’s hook is that it makes use of CGI.

There is no denying that some of the CGI in The Wrong Door is of a surprisingly high quality for a BBC Three sketch show. I doubt whether the show has been given the biggest of budgets, so the people in charge of the visual trickery should step forward and take a bow. Job well done.

Sadly, the writing doesn’t come up to the same standards. There are too many instances where a promising sketch fails to live up to that promise. What starts out as an interesting premise soon becomes dull. CGI cannot make up for poor storytelling.

To be fair, there are some gems to be found within each half hour. I particularly like the superhero whose gift is to suspend time. Unfortunately, he is unable to convince anyone that he has this power, as whenever he stops and starts time, the rest of the human race is oblivious that anything has happened. I also like the invisible man, played nicely by Lloyd Woolf. When trying to escape a dull evening of watching Harry Potter movies with his girlfriend, he hangs his glasses from the ceiling with some string in order to give the impression that he’s still in the room. It’s a nice gag that plays on the premise of the show itself.

Most of the humour, though, is not that sophisticated, which is a shame. Nice try, but it’s not quite there. Yet.

Links

The Wrong Door on Youtube
Mr and Mrs Wheatley

Three of the regulars from Mock The Week will be embarking on UK tours this autumn. Frankie Boyle and Russell Howard will both be criss-crossing the country with their solo shows throughout September, October and November. Dara O’Briain’s schedule is much lighter, with 6 shows currently planned for October and November. Full details of the tours are listed below. Other Mock The Week regular, Andy Parsons, has announced a tour for 2009.

Frankie Boyle - Autumn 2008

Wednesday 1 Oct 2008 – Crawley (Hawth Theatre)
Friday 3 Oct 2008 – Edinburgh (Festival Theatre)
Saturday 4 Oct 2008 – Edinburgh (Festival Theatre)
Sunday 5 Oct 2008 – Sheffield (Lyceum Theatre)
Monday 6 Oct 2008 – Harrogate (Harrogate Theatre)
Tuesday 7 Oct 2008 – Lincoln (Engine Shed)
Wednesday 8 Oct 2008 – Leamington Spa (Royal Spa Centre)
Saturday 11 Oct 2008 – Halifax (Victoria Theatre)
Sunday 12 Oct 2008 – Birmingham (Alexandra Theatre)
Monday 13 Oct 2008 – Derby (Assembly Rooms)
Thursday 16 Oct 2008 – Kendal (Lakes Leisure)
Friday 17 Oct 2008 – Preston (Guild Hall)
Saturday 18 Oct 2008 - Aberystwyth (Arts Centre)
Sunday 19 Oct 2008 – Port Talbot (Princess Royal Theatre)
Tuesday 21 Oct 2008 – Northampton (Royal and Derngate)
Wednesday 22 Oct 2008 – Bedford (Corn Exchange)
Thursday 23 Oct 2008 – Brighton (Dome)
Friday 24 Oct 2008 – Colchester (Charter Hall)
Saturday 25 Oct 2008 – Winsford (Civic Hall)
Sunday 26 Oct 2008 – Buxton (Opera House)
Tuesday 28 Oct 2008 – Dunstable (Grove Theatre)
Thursday 30 Oct 2008 – Peterborough (Broadway Theatre)
Friday 31 Oct 2008 – Carlisle (Sands Centre)
Saturday 1 Nov 2008 – York (Grand Opera Mouth)
Sunday 2 Nov 2008 – Salford (The Lowry)
Monday 3 Nov 2008 – Hull (City Hall)
Friday 7 Nov 2008 – Newcastle (City Hall)
Saturday 8 Nov 2008 – Bradford (St George’s Hall)
Sunday 9 Nov 2008 – Southend (Cliffs Pavillion)
Tuesday 11 Nov 2008 – Hayes (Beck Theatre)
Wednesday 12 Nov 2008 – Cardiff (St David’s Hall)
Friday 14 Nov 2008 – Torquay (Princess Theatre)
Saturday 15 Nov 2008 – Taunton (Wellsprings Leisure Centre)
Monday 17 Nov 2008 – Leicester (De Montfort Hall)
Tuesday 18 Nov 2008 – Cheltenham (Town Hall)
Thursday 20 Nov 2008 – Chatham (Central Theatre)
Friday 21 Nov 2008 – Stoke on Trent (Victoria Hall)
Saturday 22 Nov 2008 – Cambridge (Corn Exchange)
Sunday 23 Nov 2008 – Bristol (Colston Hall)
Tuesday 25 Nov 2008 – Basingstoke (The Anvil)
Wednesday 26 Nov 2008 – Dorking (Dorking Halls)
Friday 28 Nov 2008 – Skegness (Embassy Theatre)
Saturday 29 Nov 2008 – Oxford (New Theatre)
Wednesday 3 Dec 2008 – Telford (Oakengates Theatre)
Thursday 4 Dec 2008 – Portsmouth (Guildhall)
Friday 12 Dec 2008 – Worthing (Assembly Hall)
Saturday 13 Dec 2008 – Wolverhampton (Civic Hall)

***

Russell Howard - Autumn 2008

Thursday 18 Sep 2008 – Leeds (City Varieties)
Friday 19 Sep 2008 – Oxford (Playhouse)
Saturday 20 Sep 2008 – Basingstoke (Anvil)
Sunday 21 Sep 2008 – Southend (Palace Theatre)
Wednesday 24 Sep 2008 – Barnstaple (Queens Theatre)
Thursday 25 Sep 2008 – Croydon (Ashcroft Theatre)
Friday 26 Sep 2008 – Dartford (Orchard Theatre)
Saturday 27 Sep 2008 – Jersey (Opera House)
Sunday 28 Sep 2008 – Salford (Lyric Theatre)
Wednesday 1 Oct 2008 – Leamington Spa (Royal Spa Centre)
Thursday 2 Oct 2008 – Llandudno (Venue Cymru)
Friday 3 Oct 2008 – Aldershot (Princes Hall)
Sunday 5 Oct 2008 – Edinburgh (Kings Theatre)
Monday 6 Oct 2008 – Lincoln (Lincoln Comedy Festival)
Wednesday 8 Oct 2008 – Cambridge (Corn Exchange)
Thursday 9 Oct 2008 – Swansea (Grand Theatre)
Friday 10 Oct 2008 – Reading (Hexagon)
Saturday 11 Oct 2008 – Salisbury (City Hall)
Sunday 12 Oct 2008 – Ipswich (Corn Exchange)
Wednesday 15 Oct 2008 – Leeds (City Varieties)
Thursday 16 Oct 2008 – Brighton (Concert Hall at Brighton Dome)
Friday 17 Oct 2008 – Northampton (Royal and Derngate)
Saturday 18 Oct 2008 – Bournemouth (Bournemouth International Centre)
Sunday 19 Oct 2008 – Swindon (Wyvern Theatre)
Wednesday 22 Oct 2008 – Manchester (Opera House)
Thursday 23 Oct 2008 – Hull (City Hall)
Saturday 25 Oct 2008 – Sheffield (City Hall and Memorial Hall)
Sunday 26 Oct 2008 – Birmingham (Alexandra Theatre)
Tuesday 28 Oct 2008 – Belfast (Elmwood Hall at Queens University)
Wednesday 29 Oct 2008 – York (Grand Opera House)
Thursday 30 Oct 2008 – Telford (Oakengates Theatre)
Friday 31 Oct 2008 – Stafford (Gatehouse Theatre)
Saturday 1 Nov 2008 – Bolton (Albert Halls)
Sunday 2 Nov 2008 – Tunbridge Wells (Assembly Hall)
Thursday 6 Nov 2008 – Bristol (Colston Hall)
Friday 7 Nov 2008 – London (Hammersmith Apollo)
Saturday 8 Nov 2008 – London (Hammersmith Apollo)
Sunday 9 Nov 2008 – Newcastle upon Tyne (Theatre Royal)
Monday 10 Nov 2008 – Nottingham (Royal Centre)
Wednesday 12 Nov 2008 – Portsmouth (Guildhall)
Thursday 13 Nov 2008 – High Wycombe (Wycombe Swan)
Friday 14 Nov 2008 – Dorking (Dorking Halls Theatre)
Saturday 15 Nov 2008 – Bridlington (Spa Theatre and Royal Hall)
Sunday 16 Nov 2008 – Blackburn (King George’s Hall)
Wednesday 19 Nov 2008 – Folkestone (Leas Cliff Hall)
Thursday 20 Nov 2008 – Bedford (Corn Exchange)
Friday 21 Nov 2008 – King’s Lynn (Corn Exchange)
Saturday 22 Nov 2008 – Peterborough (Broadway Theatre)
Tuesday 25 Nov 2008 – Crawley (Hawth Theatre)
Wednesday 26 Nov 2008 – Cardiff (Wales Millennium Centre)
Thursday 27 Nov 2008 – Cheltenham (Cheltenham Town Hall)
Friday 28 Nov 2008 – Aberdeen (Music Hall)
Saturday 29 Nov 2008 – Bradford (St George’s Concert Hall)
Sunday 30 Nov 2008 – Coventry (Warwick Arts Centre)
Wednesday 3 Dec 2008 – Liverpool (Royal Court Theatre)

***
Dara O’Briain - Autumn 2008

Wednesday 1 Oct 2008 – Preston (Guildhall and Charter Theatre)
Saturday 4 Oct 2008 – Belfast (Waterfront Hall Auditorium)
Thursday 9 Oct 2008 – Brighton (Concert Hall at Brighton Dome)
Friday 31 Oct 2008 – Wolverhampton (Civic Hall)
Thursday 6 Nov 2008 – Douglas (Villa Marina and Gaiety Theatre Complex)
Sunday 16 Nov 2008 – Swansea (Grand Theatre)

Links

Frankie Boyle on Youtube
Russell Howard on Youtube
Dara O’Briain on Youtube
Frankie Boyle - Official Site
Russell Howard - Official Site

Search for Frankie Boyle at Amazon UK

Search for Russell Howard at Amazon UK

Search for Dara O’Briain at Amazon UK

Following on from their “comeback” show last year - entitled Ruddy Hell! It’s Harry and Paul – Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse are back on the BBC1 Friday night schedule with a new series, this time just called Harry and Paul. The reason for the title change is that the show has changed too. Whilst the former mixed location shoots with studio scenes, this time it’s all been filmed on location. Whoever made that decision should be congratulated. Where Ruddy Hell was fairly good, Harry and Paul has been very good. Or at least the first episode was, as that’s all I’ve seen so far.

The show reminded me a little of Fry and Laurie’s output in the early nineties in the way that scenes were allowed to breath. Not everything had to be laugh out loud funny. Gags weren’t crowbarred into every sentence. Sketches did not always end on a punchline. This was a show that you could sit back and savour. The quality of the filming was excellent as too was the attention to detail, such as altering the sound quality during a surreal black and white sketch involving a children’s writer listing the books he’d written. Good to see some surreal stuff on the telly at long last.

The funniest sketch was probably the spoof of Dragons Den, but my favourite scene involved two friends sitting on a riverbank, fishing. Both were working class. One had been to see a performance of the play Equus at the Donmar Warehouse. It transpired that he clearly enjoyed the experience and wanted to talk about it, but he was embarrassed by the idea of discussing culture with his mate.

“Eh? What, me see a play? ‘Course I haven’t. ‘Course I haven’t. I saw bits of it, yeah.”

What I loved about this little sketch was that it really did sum up how culture is treated in Britain. If you like culture, you’re a stuck up ponce, whatever one of those is. Stand in a pub and say “I saw a great play the other day,” and you stand a good chance of being interrupted by someone putting on a fake posh voice and going “oh, lah-de-dah, he saw a great play, I say chaps, fucking marvellous, what?” So you learn to keep quiet.

It’s a different kettle of fish, of course, when it comes to sport. Then you can be as intelligent as you like. You can go into as much detail as you want, come up with theories, put together well thought out arguments and people will generally think that you’re a great guy. Not so with art, sadly.

Unfortunately, this series of Harry and Paul will also be remembered as the last television series to be produced by Geoffrey Perkins, who over the last twenty or so years has been at the centre of British comedy in one way or other. Sadly, Perkins died on 29 August following a road accident in London. The first episode of Harry and Paul was dedicated to him.

Links

Search for Harry Enfield on YouTube
Search for Paul Whitehouse on YouTube

Search for Harry Enfield at Amazon UK or Amazon USA

Search for Paul Whitehouse at Amazon UK or Amazon USA

Welcome to the third of these little shelves of mine - The Comedy Shelf.

There’s a bit of history behind this one.

About two years ago I felt that there wasn’t much in the way of “serious” comedy discussion on the web, so I started my own website called “The Comedy Shelf”. The idea was to create a hub for all comedy, providing links to far flung corners of the web, highlighting current news stories and hosting a message board and maybe even a chat room. Eighteen months into the project and only about 1% of the work required had been completed, despite the fact that I was spending hours on the thing. It got to the point where my health was suffering. I don’t want to bore you with the details, so I won’t.

But I liked the name “Comedy Shelf”, so when it came to re-designing the Cool Blue Shed, I went with the shelf idea - a music shelf, a shelf about me and now, at long last, a comedy shelf. It’ll just be an occassional blog about any comedy related subjects that I care to write about. That’s it, really. See you soon.