What are you reading right now? Page 226

Little Me by Matt Lucas. A quick read. Neatly formatted in alphabetical order, rather than chronological order. The self-effacing approach to name-dropping ("clang") gets tiresome fast. Note to celebs writing autobiographies: Readers don't care if you name-drop while relating anecdotes. Matt, tell us more about hanging out with Barry Humphries.
What's interesting is that looking back on a few characters of Little Britain, he says "it was a different era" and [paraphrasing] "you couldn't get away with it these days" or "we would have to change that these days". In particular, he says the "I am a lady" stuff was hurtful to trannies, and the TingTong character was crude, insensitive and should have been cut. Likewise, he feels his Pakistani character, Taaj, (from Come Fly With Me) should be played by an Asian actor, if the show/character is ever revived.

Personal highlight of his career was singing with Dennis Waterman. And he's Jewish (but supports Arsenal, not Spurs) and is a big Queen fan. Interesting to learn of the inspirations for a few of the Little Britain characters. Mildly interesting to hear of how boring it was to be on-set in Hollywood unless clowning to the crew.

I remember reading David Walliams autobiography and he said he didn't like him.
He was always late for filming or appointments with directors and had the attitude that he was the star.

Yes, Lucas admits as much in his book. From becoming insufferably pompous after landing a comic role in a school play, (which led to a show at the Fringe, where he was even more smug) to being (initially) stubbornly resistant to Graham Linehan making changes when Little Britain made the transition from radio to TV.

didnt you kill my mother in law? A history of alternative comedy

Quote: lofthouse @ 20th October 2017, 7:32 PM

didnt you kill my mother in law? A history of alternative comedy

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Practically the only buke on the subject. It amazes me how little film and book material has been dedicated to the Young Ones, when you consider how vital they were. The Pythons have had tomes written about them.

Quote: Michael Monkhouse @ 21st October 2017, 7:58 AM

Practically the only buke on the subject. It amazes me how little film and book material has been dedicated to the Young Ones, when you consider how vital they were. The Pythons have had tomes written about them.

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Roger Wilmut's From Fringe to Flying Circus was a more interesting read. I bought Didn't You Kill My Mother in Law when it came out and was a little underwhelmed (partly because I was then unfamiliar with a few of the subjects). Some interesting back stories, but not much else of interest. Yes, there has been much more written on the Pythons than The Young Ones, possibly because the former were a bit more cerebral and as individuals produced a far greater volume of work, rather than just a legacy of shouty is funny. Palin's diaries alone likely stretch beyond the combined literary output of the Young Ones.

Yeah what's with that??

I wanted a book on the subject

Goes on amazon expecting dozens of titles on the subject

And there's like two!!

Thought it was very odd

Exactly! The Young Ones DVD extra features were PATHETIC, especially when you remember how important they were. I promise this is the last ever time I point to my article http://www.chortle.co.uk/correspondents/2008/07/14/7057/once_in_every_lifetime,_comes_a_love_like_this...

Quote: Kenneth @ 19th October 2017, 12:23 PM

Little Me by Matt Lucas. A quick read. Neatly formatted in alphabetical order, rather than chronological order. The self-effacing approach to name-dropping ("clang") gets tiresome fast. Note to celebs writing autobiographies: Readers don't care if you name-drop while relating anecdotes. Matt, tell us more about hanging out with Barry Humphries.
What's interesting is that looking back on a few characters of Little Britain, he says "it was a different era" and [paraphrasing] "you couldn't get away with it these days" or "we would have to change that these days". In particular, he says the "I am a lady" stuff was hurtful to trannies, and the TingTong character was crude, insensitive and should have been cut. Likewise, he feels his Pakistani character, Taaj, (from Come Fly With Me) should be played by an Asian actor, if the show/character is ever revived.

Personal highlight of his career was singing with Dennis Waterman. And he's Jewish (but supports Arsenal, not Spurs) and is a big Queen fan. Interesting to learn of the inspirations for a few of the Little Britain characters. Mildly interesting to hear of how boring it was to be on-set in Hollywood unless clowning to the crew.

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This really surprises me because it really felt like something from a different era at the time after all the poncey politically correct stuff from a few years earlier.

Quote: Chappers @ 21st October 2017, 3:51 PM

This really surprises me because it really felt like something from a different era at the time after all the poncey politically correct stuff from a few years earlier.

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What a drag it is. As he says in his book:

There had been a time a few decades earlier when some white comics thought the very act of playing someone black was funny in itself, and then there was a time when that rightly fell by the wayside and hardly anybody played anything other than their own race. But we made Little Britain and Come Fly with Me in a small window of time when many considered it acceptable once more to play people of all colours.
When Vic and Bob played Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye, they darkened their skin. Harry Enfield did the same when he played Nelson Mandela. Chris Morris did it in The Day Today. Eddie Murphy played an old white Jewish man in Coming to America and Lenny Henry played Steve Martin. It was a different era.
I understand the response that some modern audiences have to this aspect of our work. Of course I wouldn't have turned up in Coronation Street playing someone of another race, but within the world of our show, where we wanted to reflect the multi-culture of Britain - and in the context of what our contemporaries of all races were doing or had recently done - it didn't feel aggressive or divisive and I don't remember it being taken that way either, at the time.

Perhaps the worst thing in his book is the chapter devoted to being a fussy eater. OK, food is his main vice, but his writing approach is infantile. Take this unpleasantly asinine frippery from his over-long "comedic" rant about his distaste for cheese:
In fact, cheese upsets me even more than when you read in the Daily Mail about a spinster getting bludgeoned to death by a crack-addled teenager and it turns out she only had 12p in her purse. That's how bad it is.
Wah! Hilarious!

Quote: Michael Monkhouse @ 21st October 2017, 3:46 PM

Exactly! The Young Ones DVD extra features were PATHETIC, especially when you remember how important they were. I promise this is the last ever time I point to my article http://www.chortle.co.uk/correspondents/2008/07/14/7057/once_in_every_lifetime,_comes_a_love_like_this...

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Would that you always wrote with such beauty.

I used to write for Chortle Correspondents every month and then I didn't any more. You have to remember (well you don't) that back then the Internet was still exciting and you almost felt like you were publishing.
There's Rik Mayall's autobiography but unlike John Inman I can't be arsed. Comedy and rock biographies rarely attract me because a) the work isn't so layered and b) the stories tend to be repetitive or boring. Ingmar Bergman's life history gives a fascinating insight into the work; I don't need to know how many drugs Iggy Pop was snorting in 1980 for me to enjoy the abums more. I'm sure I pointed this out before, but the exception was John Lydon's because he has a story to tell, instead of 'Yeah, I wuz mates with someone who knew someone who bonked someone who didn't bonk someone who lived in a flat and Sid Vicious lived in a flat too. Here's my story.' Paradoxically, the most intersesting parts are when he expresses his opinions and isn't just telling the rock 'n' roll story yet again.
I suspect Python attract more tomes cos they were so ground-breaking and the sheer volume of work dwarfs my beloved Young Ones. Mind you, quality not quantity: people forget how hit and miss The Flying Circus was...

Quote: Michael Monkhouse @ 22nd October 2017, 12:13 PM

There's Rik Mayall's autobiography

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His autobiography is unconventional at best, unreadable shouty tripe at worst. Perhaps it's all supposed to be one long joke for fans. Not for me. As he states in the only quasi-serious part, recalling his bike accident: "I'm not an author. I don't like books and I don't read them."

Quote: Michael Monkhouse @ 22nd October 2017, 12:13 PM

the exception was John Lydon's because he has a story to tell

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Which one? The No Black Irish Dogs one or Anger is an Energy?

No Irish etc. I was hooked, What an in intelligent guy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0q98NlzvCQ Second one's good too but I ain't read all of it.
You're right about Mayall's - I just had a look and it is total shit. I know it's all in the spirit of fun - nothing wrong with that - but I was genuinely interested in how he became such a star. Instead I got a series of out-takes from the criminally overrated Bottom. I'll pass on this one.

My favourite part in Salinger's 'Franny and Zooey' is where he quotes, 'Desire for the fruits of the work must never be your motive in working.' So I guess he didn't ask for any royalties from that one.
Still on the Matheson. I'm like my cuddly bear who can't give up anal. A-dicked-ted.

Been hanging out with some old wives. Full of interesting stories, but I'm not sure I believe all of them.