Quote: Veronica Vestibule @ November 27 2010, 11:16 PM GMTThe Grauniad (God bless it) says the song pokes fun at working class culture but it doesn't: it pokes fun at scumbags who see a baby as nothing more than a must-have fashion accessory equivalent in value to a half-decent mobile phone.
The difference between the two is...? 
Quote: Aaron @ November 28 2010, 7:54 PM GMTThe difference between the two is...?
The difference between working class people and scumbag teen mothers?
Or babies and mobile phones?
No matter. I'll answer both questions at once.
Most working class people change their babies more frequently than they change their mobile phones while scumbag teen mothers change their mobile phones more frequently than they change their babies.
I love it! Great stuff.
I usually skip the annual 'Best of' runs but decided to watch this one. That was kind of a shame, because it highlighted how the show has slipped over the last few years. The episode they picked is I believe from about the point where it was starting to get notice and ITV were beginning to stop treating it like an abused step child. There were so many little elements that the show has generally done away with now. In particular, actual longer skits involving Harry and less falling back on running jokes. I like riffing on existing footage (I'm a fan of MST3K) and likewise I enjoy the running gags (that kind of 'Just long enough for the audience to forget' humour is one of Hill's strengths). But they've come to dominate the show in a way that doesn't help the 'it's really dumbed down' criticism. In the last few years in particular, it's like they're worried the studio audience will complain if they don't get to see Knitted Character, Heather, etc in the recording they went to and so they get thrown in way too much. I've really been glad they've rationed the Knitted Character so far this run. We saw him at the start but the long absence made it all the more amusing when he showed up for a cameo last week.
I enjoy the show but I've reached generally the same opinion as its star: it's had its time and really if it was retired now it's not like we couldn't say it reached its full potential. The writing needs to get back to its former standard or it's really no better than the 'Look, stuff you remember!' standard of modern parody movies and Family Guy cutaways.
Quote: Gelgoog @ December 4 2010, 11:21 PM GMTThe writing needs to get back to its former standard or it's really no better than the 'Look, stuff you remember!' standard of modern parody movies and Family Guy cutaways Peter Kay.
Quote: Gelgoog @ December 4 2010, 11:21 PM GMTI usually skip the annual 'Best of' runs but decided to watch this one. That was kind of a shame, because it highlighted how the show has slipped over the last few years. The episode they picked is I believe from about the point where it was starting to get notice and ITV were beginning to stop treating it like an abused step child.
That, and all 'best of' episodes, are not repeats of whole old episodes - what they are is Harry this year in 2010 introducing clips that have been shown/made fun of in previous episodes with Harry re-reading/re-creating the jokes that surrounded the clips from when they were first shown.
A year or two back this was "must-see" telly for me, but it's lost that status in a very short space of time. I don't know why. It might be me.
It definitely doesn't have the weird quirky charm it used to have that was totally whacko.
Here's Harry doing standup in '92... WITH HAIR! Bizarre. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZYT-1tYRGc !
Quote: Lee Henman @ December 6 2010, 4:21 PM GMTHere's Harry doing standup in '92... WITH HAIR! Bizarre. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZYT-1tYRGc !
Perhaps even more bizarre...
Quote: David Bussell @ December 7 2010, 8:00 PM GMTPerhaps even more bizarre...
Wow! That was even more bizarre.
Quote: johnny smith @ December 5 2010, 8:03 PM GMTThat, and all 'best of' episodes, are not repeats of whole old episodes - what they are is Harry this year in 2010 introducing clips that have been shown/made fun of in previous episodes with Harry re-reading/re-creating the jokes that surrounded the clips from when they were first shown.
I knew this was the case for the DVDs but I didn't catch that it was true for the aired episodes until I watched the episode again. There were subtle differences which gave it away. In particular, the two Hitler jokes had noticeable difference in the video quality/stage lighting for the host segments. Even so, I still feel it shows a general decline in quality. I know that's easy to do when you cherry pick the best moments from individual episodes and put them out as a single episode, but there was still a noticeable difference between those moments and what we've had the last few weeks. I could certainly do without ITV making it an unofficial spin off to their reality show nonsense (what other reason for stuff like Wagbo?) and though some might consider it taboo, I'd even like to see the fights gone. That's something else I noticed- the fights are always introduced now with "Now, I like..." whilst in previous years they were a bit more subtle/clever in how they led into it. The closest they've come to that is him making fun of EastEnders for seemingly trying to get referenced for one. When it's got to the point that audience members can be heard to try and beat him to yelling 'FIGHT!', you know something needs to be done.
This show feels stale and is more dominated by Mr Blobby style costumes and pratfalls than Harry's funny side remarks about programmes.
Still I suppose he has warm up the X-Factor's core audience.
Something that's been niggling me- that joke he made a few weeks ago about the cheese on Wallace and Gromit? It's the exact same joke the show itself made about that clip.
Yeah, Harry's never been one to shy away from making the exact same comments that the shows do. He also often presents clips as if they're serious scenes, when in actual fact they're meant to be comedic within their original programme.
