COMIC SHOWCASE at name-donating London nightspot which gave valuable Saturday night airtime to some particularly brilliant new comedians from either side of the Atlantic and, of course, some indefatigably awful ones. Series one was hosted by the craggy face and craggier jokes (“I’m writing a book about trousers, and yours are interesting sir – they are definitely a turn-up for the book”) of ARTHUR SMITH, introducing brilliant five minute sets from MARK STEEL, JACK DEE, and proving, for the first of many times, that PAUL MERTON is largely terrible when stifled by a script. Music came from the B52S (“it’s the Lancaster Brothers – oh hang on…”) in full Love Shack mode. Series two, now themed by C&C Music Factory’s “Things That Make You Go Hmmm” and on a cartooned set, relied more heavily on American performers, with BILL HICKS and PAUL PROVENZA on fire and DENIS LEARY getting his sickest gags repeated on POINTS OF VIEW (“My father died of throat cancer, and I was so upset…”). Impossibly awful Brixton double act CURTIS & ISHMAEL (“Rankin’ John Major Hi-Fi International!”) were hosts, with their own “How To Chill With The Bro’s” shtick providing semi-tolerable intermission material (“I waan it fi boss out me eardrum, riiiiiiiight?”) while STEPHANIE HODGE or RONDELL SHERIDAN (“who makes this decision if you’re obese or not?”) got ready. Among the British comics, even SHANE RICHIE got on, talking about pubic hair and Freeman’s catalogues, while SIMON DAY got residency status as TOMMY COCKLES (“and I was born and raised in the music halls!”). Music came from RICK ASTLEY, whose iconic appearance helped Never Knew Love shoot to No.70 in the charts, and BROS, performing dimly-remembered and universally-disliked comeback single Are You Mine?. If that wasn’t bad enough, the programme also handed DAVID BOWIE his first appearance with TIN MACHINE, and from then onwards we knew the end was nigh.
Posts Tagged With 'Jack Dee'
Paramount City
I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue
STARTED off as an excuse for the old I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again team to keep on getting their I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again money while tied up with TV projects, courtesy of an improvised panel game made up of smut, innuendo and silliness. Original rotating line-up was therefore Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie, Jo Kendall and John Cleese (with fellow ex-ISIRTA-er David Hatch as producer) being given silly things to do by former Joe Meek-produced Trad Jazz Boom hitmaker and irreverent host of BBC jazz shows Humphrey Lyttleton. Oddie, Kendall and Cleese dropped out after a series or two, making way for external witmongers Barry Cryer and Willie Rushton to make up the long-running classic four-man line-up. Key running themes developed during these early days, most of them still in use to today, include ritual humilation of town and townspeople playing host to that evening’s recording, baiting of resident pianist Colin Sell, ridiculing of comedy panel game contemporaries (“I heard a joke the other day, apparently Quote… Unquote has a Listen Again feature… good one, Nigel!”), ever more ambitious double entendres about scorekeeper The Lovely Samantha, and of course the games – some self-explanatory, others not explanatory in any way at all: Late Arrivals, The Uxbridge English Dictionary, Just A Minim, The Bad Tempered Clavier, Pick Up Song, Cow Lake Bomb, Swanee Kazoo, Letter Writing, Name That Barcode, Quote… Misquote, One Song To The Tune Of Another, Sound Charades (invariably introduced with an anecdote about ‘The Undisputed Grand Master Of The Game’ Lionel Blair), Film Club, Book Club, and of course Mornington Crescent, famed for its innumerable, impenetrable and fiercely guarded rules. Survived Rushton’s death in 1997 by bringing in clued-up guest contestants like Jack Dee, Linda Smith, Rob Brydon, Stephen Fry, Andy Hamilton, Sandi Toksvig, Jeremy Hardy, Tony Hawks, Harry Hill, Phill Jupitus and Ross Noble, bringing their own running jokes with them, and similarly countered Lyttleton’s recent passing with installation of HIGNFY-esque ‘guest hosts’, and long may it continue.
Creamguide's Pick of the Day
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Points of View
Sunday, 15.15, BBC1A full house for your PoV bingo card last week with this series’ first suggestion of launching a BBC sport channel, yet again failing to explain why they wouldn’t then launch a BBC soap channel, comedy channel and everything else, and then just have a blank screen on BBC1 for most of the day. Now we’ve covered the bases, not sure where this run has left to go.
Points of View