Just Another Info-Dump

It's a while since I wrote one of these What's Hot posts, but there is so very much to tell you all about right now it would be remiss not to. I know, I really should do these with more regularity but what can I say? Maybe I will now, who knows...

So what are we reading/watching/listening to?

You should all have listened to the fourth series of the utterly brilliant Those That Can't. The final episode is still on the Iplayer for a day or two, so catch it even if you have missed the rest. We were all rocked by Chris Corcoran's announcement that series four is to be the last ever, especially as this is by far the best series yet. I guess going out on a high is for the best, but I for one am very sad! Should you have missed previous instalments, there are links to series' two and three here . Links for this series will be available once the current episode drops from the IPlayer. There was good news from Elis James on his appearance with Louise Elliott today in the form of an upcoming second series of the utterly fantastic Social Club FM! A big whoop all round for that!
Whilst on the subject of the fabulous Mr James; series two of Pantheon of Heroes is being recorded next month, to be aired some time in December. Tickets for the recordings are available here! There is also a show airing tonight on BBC Wales about his career to date. The pics below link to some youtube vids of outakes from the recording of the show.


Another of those things I should have told you about sooner was the second series of Everyone Quite Likes Justin of which the last episode again is sadly all that remains for you to hear. This has been a brilliant series, far better than the last although it does seem it was given a rubbish timeslot, so I hope the listener figures have been good throughout.

Back on our TV screens at the moment is Gwlad yr Astra Gwyn. If you did not pay attention the last time, be sure to give the show a try now. It has English subtitles (although not through the red-button setup, but through Sky accessibility) so there is no excuse even if you do not speak Welsh!

Last week I was lucky enough to see Greg Davies' Back of My Mum's Head Tour, at which he was supported by the equally great Ed Gamble. See the review for the details, but do make the effort to see the show if it tumbles by your town!
I was also able to see Wil Hodgson who is very funny indeed. (Review to follow in my usual lazy, procrastinatory way!)

There is a huge amount of brilliant live comedy in the area right now. Sadly, I am not in a position to see as much as I would like as the hub-creature is still in a bad way following his surgery but I will share with you everything I do get to! (or will at least try!)

Anyhoo... there is much more to be honest. Comedy is hot news right now, with a great deal of new TV and radio shows as well as the usual glut of comedians dragging their Edinburgh-honed shows far and wide. I shall endeavour to be more organised and share things as they arise so I am not left with 812 things to tell you about!

But for now that's enough to go along with!

Greg Davies: The Back of my Mum's Head Tour

The evening’s entertainment opened to a set from the utterly brilliant Ed Gamble. Although I had seen him previously as the “other half” of duo Peacock and Gamble, I hadn’t seen a live solo set from Ed before.
As anyone with any familiarity with his work would expect, though, he was extremely funny. He interacted brilliantly with the audience and was certainly one of the more confident support acts I have seen. He displays a level of self-assurance which cleverly stops literally on the line bordering cockiness, always delivered with a smirk which looks as though it quite literally allows him to get away with absolutely anything. Content-wise, there was nothing which fell short; perfectly streamlined material delivered flawlessly yet without the over-rehearsed feel that can sometimes come of such a tight write.

Details of the current Peacock and Gamble tour can be found here: Peacock and Gamble
You’ll see links to Ed’s and Ray Peacock’s individual gigs there too!



So to the main event.

With more stories of Greg’s family and friends, this show is quite literally hilarious from start to finish with his audience drawn fully into his world. In fact when I reviewed the DVD of his previous show I did comment on the way he makes us invest emotionally in his tales and this show is in much the same vein. Obviously it comes of his drama background, but he makes literally every word matter in a way I have seen from no other comedian. Every word he speaks hangs in the air long enough for everyone to catch onto it so that the entire audience were with him from start to finish.

It is unfortunate that there will usually be a dick in the audience somewhere – ours was next to me and was irritatingly speaking out where he believed a story might be going and trying to second-guess punchlines but again because of the way Greg performs I even stopped noticing that! (Lucky really, because I was wearing my killer heels and could easily have removed one and stabbed the guy in the eye with it!)
Alongside the extremely funny stories, we were also treated to the role-play of a conversation with his parents in which audience members took part and a rather emotive song (yes, he sings and plays the guitar too!)
Okay, he did claim the song had just been written that day and might not be part of the show proper, but honestly I never know what to believe. If it remains in the show then great because it was very funny and made a lovely close to the evening. If not, I don’t care because I have seen it and that’s what matters to me!
It is difficult to give a more detailed review without wildly giving away the content, so all I will say is that the show is absolutely fantastic and you should definitely go and see it if you get the opportunity.

Comedy Awards 2011: Post-Match Analysis

I have to analyse the events of last night’s British Comedy Awards because for the most part I seemed to do quite poorly.

The most important news is that I horrendously lost the penny gamble. It was going very well, as we had a huge roll-over from many un-won rounds, only for the brilliantly understated “Twenty Twelve” to help me scoop the pot.

Trouble is that traditionally the last award is a chance for the stragglers to play catch-up (especially when they are in such a sulk as was the first-born!) so the penny bets are scratched and everyone places as much as they choose on the closer. Were I in a better frame of mind, I’d have done some sums and worked out how much to gamble to ensure I still won, but both girls went all-in; I doubt I would have stood a chance regardless. Horrible Histories being given the sketch show award for a second year sealed my non-winning fate. On the plus side, I did not come last; but as we know, in award shows there are only winners and losers: second place counts for nothing.

So the home-bound competition dealt with, what of the awards themselves?

I am not going to analyse each decision, because I did enough thinking when making my predictions. For the most part, I felt even those awards going against my hopes and expectations went nevertheless to deserving people, so I won’t be harping on about “Why the hell?” but I do have a few things to acknowledge…

It was amazing to see Armando Iannucci receive an award. Odd it was the Writers Guild award rather than, say, Outstanding contribution or something, because to be honest what he has given the world of British comedy is beyond what he has brought to the table as a writer, but I guess there is time yet for more acknowledgment. It is quite simple to see when looking at the array of comedy around right now just how influential Iannucci has been throughout, both in television and radio so to have that recognised in any form is amazing.

On the converse, I did find the choice of The Inbetweeners as winners of the Outstanding Contribution to be odd indeed. To have made an outstanding contribution, surely you would have to have influenced others and done something to aid the further development of comedy in general. Whilst a brilliant show, has The Inbetweeners yet had time to do this? Of course, the claim could be that they have contributed the wealth of talent that is (in particular) Greg Davies, Simon Bird and Joe Thomas (and I am aware others have worked on other projects too, but these three especially stand out right now) and as such this is Outstanding Contribution, but would this not be the point of the Best Sitcom award they received last year? In all fairness, there are plenty of shows which have contributed far more over a greater amount of time.

It was brilliant to see Stewart Lee receive the award for the Best TV Comic. I really did not think he would be chosen because of his non-conformist nature; a fact he acknowledged himself in his speech, stating that it discredited his entire career (I am paraphrasing; I am far too lazy for proper reporting). That said, I am overjoyed he won, in spite of the fact I had opted against him (having no faith in the system, see?!)

I found the decision to give the best female comic award to Victoria Wood a strange one. I do wonder how much of that was because of her past contributions rather than just off the back of her new show, especially given that many people had not even heard of her new show least still watched it.

I was sad that Greg Davies did not win the Breakthrough award; although I do think whoever won, I’d have been thoroughly disappointed for the non-winners… and part of me has to wonder whether they were all a little relieved not to have had to deal with the seemingly (in case there is something actually wrong with the guy) drunken antics of Freddie Starr. I have to say, I think Dan Skinner dealt brilliantly with the situation; still managing to make his thank you’s, whilst ushering Starr from the stage.



These awards also highlight something else which really grates at me; being the concept “If it doesn’t happen on TV, it doesn’t exist”.

My regular readers will be [painfully] aware (I do know I can be something of a nag!) that I much prefer radio. I guess it comes of being so obsessed by words rather than by their visual representation, or maybe it is simply down to my constant need to multi-task; whilst listening to the radio I can be writing, taking a bath, cooking dinner etc, whereas TV is more demanding of a person’s time.

Regardless… I am digressing once more…

One day I might decide to start editing out the digressions in order to make this whole blog seem more professional, but since they give a little insight into my thought processes, I wonder if I ought to just leave them… more to ponder on I guess!

So anyway:

Where is all the great radio comedy in these awards? The name implies an all-inclusive tone “The British Comedy Awards”: the awards for the entire comedy industry of Britain… so what of those working their asses off week-on-week on the stand-up circuit? What of writers churning out novels, magazine and newspaper columns, blogs etc which have huge followings and are consistently funny throughout?

I am getting far too deep for so late on a Saturday, but this is not just about the awards; it goes far deeper than that. It does irk me hugely when I tell someone I am going to see a particular comedian, or ask “did you hear X on the radio the other day?” only to meet with blank looks because having not been on a panel show or Live at the Appollo makes this person a no-one. Even more annoying when I reel off credits: wrote this; was on this; did that show with Y: still no response.

Or maybe it is simply more indicative of my fangirl nature that I expect everyone to be the comedy geek I am becoming?

Either way, I feel I have wandered so far from the point now I might need to take out a mortgage to buy a train ticket back, so I guess that is my cue to consider this post finished.


Obviously, the Youtube listing is light on radio shows, but a dig around brought up this Christmas gem from The Unbelievable Truth hosted by the brilliant David Mitchell... for my money one of the best radio panel shows, with a new series due to start at the end of the month.

Greg Davies: Firing Cheeseballs at a Dog

Pretty much as one would expect, this DVD is brilliant!

Greg Davies' delivery is brilliant; methodical, deliberate and engaging; drawing the audience completely into his world and making feel complete empathy towards him.

There are a few emotional moments within this performance which I would like to think are real, although the cynical side of me would suggest that they might simply be part of the act – I have to say I would feel incredibly cheated of my own emotional investment in his tales were I to discover this were the case, though!

I have so much more to say (as I am sure you will expect!) but I am keeping these short so as to get them all done in a timely fashion!

I know people are wanting to know what to buy and Christmas is almost upon us, so I will simply close by saying that if you appreciate a good, hearty laugh this should definitely be on your Christmas list.

Ask Rhod Gilbert

BBC 1, Wednesdays 10.45pm

Those who know me will have expected this review long ago, but it has taken many re-writes to make it not seem gushy! Much as I try to remain objective I do feel there is little these guys can do that I would not love so I have watched it over and again trying to bore myself to the point I can find something negative to say; but still I have nothing.

The show has a feel of intimacy to it, as though rather than watching people try to be funny you are just in the pub having a chat with them. With a huge array of panel shows featuring the same faces time and again each fighting for their camera time, this is a refreshing approach. And okay, nothing has really changed since the last series and I am aware I have (quite recently) criticised other shows for this very thing – but much as I hate the cliché thing: if it ain’t broke… blah blah!


This first episode featured guests David Hasseloff, Kimberley Wyatt and Phill Jupitus. I have to admit, having seen Jupitus live a few times I expected more of him than we saw in this programme, but I feel he was very much overshadowed by Hasselhoff! I have never particularly been a fan, even in the days of Knight Rider (Airwolf was more my thing, Michael Knight was far too clean-cut for my liking!) but I have to say I found him highly entertaining through this episode – not enough to persuade me to watch BGT (or X-Factor? – No it’s definitely BGT – see, researched a fact and came right back, I can do it!) but I would no longer turn a show off just because he happened to be on it.

I did notice during the first series that most of the questions posed were repeated from the brilliantly funny Irish comedy "Great Unanswered Questions" but thankfully that seems not to be the case this time around. It is far easier to roll with the jokes when you do not already know the true answer!

Ok, for some the humour might at times be a little puerile, nonsensical and juvenile but to my mind that suits the loose, easy flowing format well. This series is unpretentious and unapologetic, treating everyone with equal contempt regardless of status and as such brings out the best in its guests.


So there you are; another fabulous series! Watch it – many times – it gets funnier I assure you!


Showing Wednesday nights at the bizarre time of 10:45pm and repeated Sundays around midnight – or on the Iplayer at any time of course!


And for no other reason than to show off as usual; another of my baby's drawings!