Quote: Clockface @ September 10 2009, 4:46 PM BSTBit over the top in Blackadder Goes Forth, wasn't he?
No, he was fantastic.
Stephen Fry Page 3
Quote: Clockface @ September 10 2009, 4:46 PM BSTBit over the top in Blackadder Goes Forth, wasn't he?
Of course he wasn't over the top. General Melchett was the only one of the regular characters in the series who didn't go over the top... into No Man's Land that is.
Quote: Blue Bottle @ September 10 2009, 8:59 AM BSTAnyone who begins an article by quoting someone on Facebook has lost any right to be taken seriously.
And then goes onto quote Piers Morgan -who actually is the most annoying man in Britain.
Quote: Renegade Carpark @ September 10 2009, 12:26 PM BSTSo let me get this straight, Stephen Fry is a comedian, comic actor, script writer, novelist, theatre actor, voice over artist, panel show host, film actor, documentary reporter, film director, journalist, charity fundraiser and all round British institution...
There's a lot of doubling up there though isn't there? Most novelists have been journalists at sometime in their life. Greene, Waugh, Nabokov, Coetzee... Fry?
Any actor can host a panel show as it is acting. And the same goes for voiceovers. Fry's voice isn't used for it's acoustic qualities anyway, really rather for it's familiarity. John Thompson does a lot of voiceovers, but not as John Thompson.
I won't bother to comment on Fry the film director. Other than to say he's not a film director.
He's a well educated, well-connected comedian. And that's it.
Interesting you mention voiceovers/adverts, Godot. Despite the fact that Stephen has done loads of them before, for some reason he and Paul Merton doing those 'Direct Line' ads really offends me and makes me think slightly less of them. Anyone else? Or is it just me that's inconsistent and irrational?
Stephen Fry is an old friend at our house. As a small child, my oldest loved him as Melchett, and now my youngest watches the show Pocoyo that he narrated a while back. If listening to his voice keeps my youngest entertained for a few minutes so that I can put a load of laundry in then the guy's okay by me.
He does have the effect that, whenever you hear his voice, somehow everything's going to be alright. 
The other day I was packing up some boxes and I was watching Jeeves and Wooster. My little guy came in and heard Fry's voice and was instantly mesmerized. After a while he asked if that was the "Pocoyo guy". I told him yes and he laughed for a good 5 minutes. Evidently Hayden doesn't think that the voice matches the body.
Quote: Tim Walker @ September 11 2009, 12:20 AM BSTInteresting you mention voiceovers/adverts, Godot. Despite the fact that Stephen has done loads of them before, for some reason he and Paul Merton doing those 'Direct Line' ads really offends me and makes me think slightly less of them. Anyone else? Or is it just me that's inconsistent and irrational?
I think it's normal. I had some trouble understanding why Bob Hoskins did the Argos adverts. At the end of the day, you're demonstrating that you are motivated by money rather than art, which is a strange thing to publicly demonstrate, if you don't have to.
Every time I hear a famous voice say "Every little helps" a part of me dies.
On topic, Fry's greatest achievement in my eyes is his two-part documentary about depression. Now, that was interesting.
Quote: Godot Taxis @ September 11 2009, 1:47 AM BSTI think it's normal. I had some trouble understanding why Bob Hoskins did the Argos adverts. At the end of the day, you're demonstrating that you are motivated by money rather than art, which is a strange thing to publicly demonstrate, if you don't have to.
Yes, I find it particularly hard to stomach that they started to voice these adverts during the recession. (Is this irrational enough for you?) And luvvies really should not take the Tesco shilling. (They don't shop in Tesco. To me them doing ads for supermarkets is akin to stage actors taking the cash to appear in ropey old TV sitcoms "for the little people". Paranoia and delusion? Me?)
Quote: Badge @ September 11 2009, 1:50 AM BSTEvery time I hear a famous voice say "Every little helps" a part of me dies.
On topic, Fry's greatest achievement in my eyes is his two-part documentary about depression. Now, that was interesting.
Agreed.
In my opinion, Fry should continue to do documentaries in order to keep Martin Clunes from doing them.
Quote: Tim Walker @ September 11 2009, 12:20 AM BSTInteresting you mention voiceovers/adverts, Godot. Despite the fact that Stephen has done loads of them before, for some reason he and Paul Merton doing those 'Direct Line' ads really offends me and makes me think slightly less of them. Anyone else? Or is it just me that's inconsistent and irrational?
I'm not sure whether it makes me think less of them, but it certainly always jarrs and makes me think "Why?". It just feels like the embodiment of everything they're seen to stand for, with their anti-capitalist alternative comedy and that jizzle.
Agree. I don't mind seeing/hearing Stephen Merchant raking in the cash from adverts because he has always freely admitted that he cares about money. Also, he doesn't have any obvious political leanings which would make him seem hypocritical.