Cricklewood Greats Page 3

Quote: Badge @ February 6 2012, 2:46 PM GMT

I seem to be in the minority. It wasn't awful, it's just that everything in it has been done better before. I don't think there was even a hint of originality about it.

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I missed it but will view it when it's on again just to see, but with no conviction I'm going to see anything new. The little clip I saw confirmed that it's mainly a rehash of a very familiar comedy subject and style of delivery for many sketch show teams and comedians in the past. In fact it's possibly one of the most done to death comedy routines in British comedy, surely. It's hard not to look at Capaldi and not think of Eric Idle delivering the same spoof but with a bit more comedy swagger and tongue in cheek as he did in The Ruttles, and his Alan Whicker spoofs in Python.

It does seem quite a cheek for the Beeb to put money into making a new 'pilot' show which is essentially a rounding up of many original sketches from various artists, done in the same endlessly recycled Muir and Norden created spoof documentary style, which they should have patented, had the law allowed them to. So I'm not sure if Capaldi is just deluding himself a bit here, in thinking this is his, or is aware he digging up well trammelled ground and doing it as a kind of tribute to the original artists.

But even if it is the latter, then it's a poor excuse just get your own show on air, exploiting your acting success in other (BBC) shows. Yet another could be in order here, but I will wait till I've viewed it before I slate it completely, citing the many sketches he has simply stolen from and put different names to. Even that Dr Worm stuff rings so familiar, I'd be surprised if Coogan hasn't been on the phone to him complaining.

Sorry to dig this up, but I saw this repeated last night.

I have to say that, yes I agree it wasn't particularly funny, but I was fascinated by it. I think it was simply because it was almost indistinguishable from a real documentary (and in fact I was quite looking forward to it. "Ooh" I said "I might learn something here, and get a glimpse of what makes Peter Capaldi tick while I'm at it"). I assumed it was real until I realised that the collector was Julius from The Thick Of It.

(Then I had to make a mental note: Capaldi did *not* suffer from eczema as a child, unlearn that 'fact'. Unless, of course, he did, and it was a clever bit of method-comedy, in which case my burgeoning Capaldi mental fact-file is already f**ked and I will just have to forget the whole thing).

It was very Iannucci-esque, which I guess actually means Roche-esque since he has written for Iannucci and for this. But it reminded me in a way of Time Trumpet (Which Roche didn't write for, strangely) - although Time Trumpet is much more obviously a spoof, like this it does rely on the viewer knowing that it is a spoof. If you were, say, visiting from another country or just not very TV literate, and watched either this or Time Trumpet, it would probably take you a long time to realise it was not real, if you ever noticed at all.

But I think Cricklewood Greats is possibly the most intentionally 'straight' bit of 'comedy' I've ever seen. Is this arguably a new sub-genre of mockumentary.

While typing that last sentence, Getting On sprang into my head. So, maybe it IS a new sub-genre.

I liked it, but didn't feel the pastiches were good enough. I preferred Harry Enfield's Norbet Smith A Life, which was similar but better, especially the carry on pastiche.

As a friendless child with anxiety based eczema who has seen a lot of dreary British films I decided to go with it.

A few high points; Lyndsey Marshal as the Gracie Fields character was excellent and laughed at the Kenneth Williams diary spoof.

Speaking of Norbert Smith its on 4OD-

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/norbert-smith-a-life/4od