Discussion of BCG feature articles Page 2

Quote: JJlovescomedy @ 11th March 2023, 10:45 AM

I hate to be a stickler for accuracy but in the 'James Bond and Comedy' article on here, it claims "James Bond marks his 70th birthday this year, having first burst forth into the public sphere in author Ian Fleming's 1963 novel Casino Royale" as a matter of fact the novel Casion Royale was first published in 1953

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Thanks JJ. I have corrected that now.

Quote: beaky @ 12th March 2023, 11:15 AM

To return to the title of the thread, Graham McCann's Comedy Chronicles are brilliant, worth the subscription to comedy.co.uk alone.

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Thanks beaky. We put a lot of time into getting those right - not to mention Graham's time researching and writing them!

Of course, if anyone fancies giving a little more, we can try to bring you even more articles in future. :-)

I love Graham McGanns' articles, its led me to read many of his books I think the best comedy chronicle was Leonard Rossiet a difficult talent I think it was called.

Very interesting article on here https://www.comedy.co.uk/features/what-happened-to-event-tv/

Its about two brillant sitcoms and "The Office".

Latest Comedy Rewind feature is on my favourite comedy film I'm All Right Jack, well done Chris. If you're a fan of this pinpoint satire then this is a good read. Didn't know of Sellers' old school type advances at who was his daughter in the film, the very sexy Liz Fraser, but not surprised given his ladies' man reputation. Still laugh at her being a 'spindle polisher', that's Carry On-worthy.

Also didn't know of the (slight) tension between Sellers and T-T, as I've always thought their scenes together were a highlight of the film, so maybe that's why. Never seen so many well known actors at the top of their game than in this film, lots of great side roles and cameos. Very influential film and has a great title song that's hard to get out of your head.

HGT's new piece is good, it has an enthusiasm and a lightness of touch I enjoyed.

I haven't listened to much old radio, but I went through an intense phase a few months ago of listening to The Goon Show 24/7 (largely thanks to Goon Pod). It gets talked about in terms of its influence on sketch shows, but as a sitcom as well, it's a masterclass in characterisation.

I too absolutely adore Graham McCann's Comedy Chronicles articles. Being the absolute comedy nerdgeek that I am, I love the sheer attention to detail and the amount of work he's done behind the scenes in regard to the deep dive research etc. I had a little bit of beef with McCann in the past because he seemed rather sniffy about online discussion boards during a latter chapter of the book he wrote about Only Fools and Horses, but maybe I misinterpreted it? It almost certainly refers to the amount of repeats on cable channels which are shown out of sequence etc - being the purist I am, I like to watch a show from S1 Ep1 onwards and preferably the orginal series - e.g. Man about the House - George and Mildred - Robin's Nest.

In regard to the 'best' Bond, well, I'm with Partridge with this one - it's Moore. He's the era of Bond I grew up with and I loved because it was so 80s, camp and downright silly. His eyebrow deserved an Oscar nomination in its own right. I don't like Connery at all because of his previous comments about condoning violence towards women. Dalton was great, albeit a bit of a change in pace; Lazenby was apparently rude and disrespectful to the late, great Dame Diana Rigg; Pierce Brosnan was excellent and finally Craig is sublime. Previous posters are spot on by saying that Fleming's orginal bond was cruel, brutal and a misogynist of the highest order. I still get chills when I think about a scene in one of the Moore films - Bond's girlfriend is murdered by the baddies by them setting two huge Dobermans/scary dogs after her in a forest. This really freaked me out as a child.

Quote: jsg @ 7th March 2024, 3:12 PM

HGT's new piece is good, it has an enthusiasm and a lightness of touch I enjoyed.

I haven't listened to much old radio, but I went through an intense phase a few months ago of listening to The Goon Show 24/7 (largely thanks to Goon Pod). It gets talked about in terms of its influence on sketch shows, but as a sitcom as well, it's a masterclass in characterisation.

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Thank you jsg, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your very kind words, and you probably won't realise it, but you have brought me back into the BCG fold, which I haven't posted on since last year for various reasons, one being totally jaded with submitting posts.

"but as a sitcom as well, it's a masterclass in characterisation." (The Goon Show)

I couldn't have put it better myself, and hope certain persons, who should know better claiming to know about comedy, would listen to it as not a "load of silly voices" as there are plots, with ahead of its time satire and plain madcap silliness, and there's nothing wrong with that!

And we're in good company, when you realise Michael Palin no less had a Goon Show as one of his 8 choices he wanted when he was on Desert Island Discs from 1979, and which is still available to listen to now..................

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mwvb

Also, I hope that other friends, and enemies for that matter, on these forums, read my missive and enjoy it enough to post in a similar vein to yours in appreciation.

Good to see you back Herc, and I'd agree the Goon Show was "a masterclass in characterisation" as was Hancock's half hour. Why else would they be "Classics" and have such an influence ? But I did once have to explain why the Ying tong song wasn't racist to a Chinese friend, apparently you can go to jail if you tell a joke folk don't like over there !

I too really enjoyed reading (and being able to publish) Herc's piece. It's lovely to have a spotlight on radio, which is often overlooked.

If anyone's missed it: https://www.comedy.co.uk/radio/features/steam-radio-a-personal-memory/

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 21st August 2023, 11:30 AM

Latest Comedy Rewind feature is on my favourite comedy film I'm All Right Jack, well done Chris. If you're a fan of this pinpoint satire then this is a good read. Didn't know of Sellers' old school type advances at who was his daughter in the film, the very sexy Liz Fraser, but not surprised given his ladies' man reputation. Still laugh at her being a 'spindle polisher', that's Carry On-worthy.

Also didn't know of the (slight) tension between Sellers and T-T, as I've always thought their scenes together were a highlight of the film, so maybe that's why. Never seen so many well known actors at the top of their game than in this film, lots of great side roles and cameos. Very influential film and has a great title song that's hard to get out of your head.

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Thanks for these nice comments about my piece, Mr Kipper! I only just saw them.

Thank you, Herc, I really enjoyed reading your well crafted and extremely well researched article. I'm a Gen Xer myself but that doesn't stop me being interested in the comedy foundations. I seem to recall watching an episode of 'The Footage Detectives' with the now late Mr L [a fellow Boomer] - Noel and Mike were discussing Jimmy Clitheroe, the former believing him to be a bit creepy.

Welcome back!

Quote: MrsLogicFromViz @ 8th March 2024, 8:28 PM

Thank you, Herc, I really enjoyed reading your well crafted and extremely well researched article. I'm a Gen Xer myself but that doesn't stop me being interested in the comedy foundations. I seem to recall watching an episode of 'The Footage Detectives' with the now late Mr L [a fellow Boomer] - Noel and Mike were discussing Jimmy Clitheroe, the former believing him to be a bit creepy.

Welcome back!

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Thank you Mrs L for your welcome back and appreciation of my article on something I dearly love.

Yes, am regular watcher of Footage Detectives on a Sunday tea-time too, while the roast is in, and you won't know this, but I have had six letters read out by Mike so far on TV & film trivia etc., and am usually recording some film or another off the station to watch later - some are on in the early hours of the morning, of course; but admit I go too far as I now have 6 DVDs of all the "Look at Life" series plus many of the "Glimpses" series on DVD too - just how sad is that!! But I just love 'em - especially looking at the fashions and cars.

Don't agree with Mike though about Jimmy Clitheroe - I think he's great, and somewhere in my vast collection I have a CD with 126 of his radio programmes on. One of the funniest ones, for me, is when he and Alfie (Danny Ross - brilliant) try to cheat by getting the answers to a quiz by ringing up the doddery old night porter (played by Deryck Guyler) at the newspaper office - the telephone conversation has me in stitches. 😆

I've posted this before, but do so again, as it shows just how funny Danny Ross was - a comic actor so underrated. His prat fall in this is superb! :- (from the superb "Love Match" - watch it if you can. Lots of stars in it - even Robb Wilton gets a look in - so funny)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vH9gm6YmvE&t=18s

Yes good article on the Steam Radio. But mine stopped working when I tried to make tea in it. Still trying to get my money back. 😠

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 9th March 2024, 12:30 AM

I've posted this before, but do so again, as it shows just how funny Danny Ross was - a comic actor so underrated. His prat fall in this is superb! :- (from the superb "Love Match" - watch it if you can. Lots of stars in it - even Robb Wilton gets a look in - so funny)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vH9gm6YmvE&t=18s

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Danny was great and The Love Match is a real favourite. Utterly wonderful. I wish someone would restore it and release a Blu-ray. And how dearly I wish more in that series of plays had been filmed and survived. Brilliance.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 9th March 2024, 12:30 AM

Thank you Mrs L for your welcome back and appreciation of my article on something I dearly love.

Yes, am regular watcher of Footage Detectives on a Sunday tea-time too, while the roast is in, and you won't know this, but I have had six letters read out by Mike so far on TV & film trivia etc., and am usually recording some film or another off the station to watch later - some are on in the early hours of the morning, of course; but admit I go too far as I now have 6 DVDs of all the "Look at Life" series plus many of the "Glimpses" series on DVD too - just how sad is that!! But I just love 'em - especially looking at the fashions and cars.

Don't agree with Mike though about Jimmy Clitheroe - I think he's great, and somewhere in my vast collection I have a CD with 126 of his radio programmes on. One of the funniest ones, for me, is when he and Alfie (Danny Ross - brilliant) try to cheat by getting the answers to a quiz by ringing up the doddery old night porter (played by Deryck Guyler) at the newspaper office - the telephone conversation has me in stitches. 😆

I've posted this before, but do so again, as it shows just how funny Danny Ross was - a comic actor so underrated. His prat fall in this is superb! :- (from the superb "Love Match" - watch it if you can. Lots of stars in it - even Robb Wilton gets a look in - so funny)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vH9gm6YmvE&t=18s

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I've always wondered who the regulars correspondents were! I always fancied writing in pretending to be my mum, who's a Boomer, but she'd fnd out that it was me. It is a real slice of the past, ditto the 'Look at Lifes'. It's a shame that there's not an equivalent for Gen Xers.

I'll gave a look at Jimmy Clitheroe's work on YouTube if it's on there. I adore comedy history and June Whitfield was a goddess.