Rhod Gilbert's Work Experience

Click this image to go to the BBC Arts page to make your own Rhod doll!

Series three of this brilliant show is currently airing on BBC1 Wales, with repeats on BBC2 yet to come for the rest of the UK. That said, it is obviously available on the Iplayer for catch-up, so be sure to take a look.

Anyway; I am sure I have spoken of the show before and you ought to have watched some of the previous episodes- but for those amongst you who have not seen it, here’s a mini-breakdown:

Each week Rhod Gilbert takes on a different job, immersing himself into the role in his unique way and injecting his own brand of humour and mockery into the daily grind of his hosts.


The selection of jobs is thus:

Series one was the kind people we all take it for granted have a fairly easy job but in actual fact don’t. In this series, he was a bin-man, a mum, hairdresser and soldier.

Series two was the sexual fantasy series, seeing Rhod work firstly as a farmer -okay, not particularly sexy at first thought, but think more carefully! Rugged and outdoorsy; strong and manly whilst also showing his sensitive side with the animals… with me now?! Next he donned the finery to work as a butler, before getting his kit off to be tattooed and pierced, then leaving us with the image of Firefighter Rhod. And I’ll leave you with that mental image for a moment or two.



Back with us now?

Okay, so now to series three. You have unfortunately missed the airing of the first two episodes in which Rhod worked as a teacher at a fantastic school and as a Zookeeper at the Welsh Mountain Zoo in Clwyd, North Wales; although there is the BBC Two repeat to look forward to (I think it’s usually a couple of weeks after the last episode airs in Wales) and obviously the Iplayer. Yet to come we get to see Rhod as a Drag Artist and Policeman (honestly, I suspect series four might have to end on the Gladiator episode or something! There must still be Gladiators, aren’t there? … and obviously I mean the ‘killing Christians’ type, not the ‘very camp 80’s muscle-bound meathead’ ones you may be thinking of)

As you would expect from Rhod Gilbert, the show is hilarious. There really is something about the way he interacts with those he works with which brings out the best in everyone to the point where even the most mundane of daily chores becomes an adventure into the unknown. I also find myself taken with his humility; he is never afraid to show his fallibility and doesn’t ever duck out of doing the demeaning parts of the job on the basis of his status.
Equally hilarious of course is the simile-laden narration as Rhod talks us through his working day.


I don’t think I need say more than that – tune in Monday’s 10.35pm to catch the last two episodes, watch (and rewatch) the current two on the Iplayer…

Just wanted to add a little update here in the form of images. The final episode was unfortunately not shown due to legal issues. Not being a person to speculate or start rumour, I am simply conveying what information is available at the moment.

1st August: A small update since I see there are a few search hits for information on the final episode: Still no news as regards when we can expect it I am afraid.
The official line is simply that there are legal issues which need to be resolved and I will not make any attempts to guess what these issues might be - why is the least relevant factor, to be honest!

NEWSFLASH!!
The awaited Policeman episode will be shown this coming Tuesday, 10pm on BBC1Wales


You can buy the series one and two DVD here:



Absolutely brilliant DVD... well worth the money for the extras alone!



If you need to learn more about the show, each image below links to the relevant BBC programme page:

Rhod Gilbert: Flaming Tattoo (Guest Review)

We have a guest reviewer today: please welcome Chris Williams to the blog. Check out his own blog at From the Stalls Chris is reviewing another Rhod Gilbert preview show for his upcoming tour The Man with the Flaming Battenburg Tattoo.

Last week was Rhod Gilbert’s charity gig at the Parc & Dare Treorchy. Firstly well done for raising over £6,000 for the Valleys Kids charity.
He was late but we didn’t really mind, even his reason for being late was funny, he apparently “just left late” and he literally went on stage straight from his car, hadn’t had anything to eat and needed a pee. He spent a few minutes on the venue and telling us why he likes playing the valleys, and the audiences (we “just take the piss” apparently), including an incident with a parking space and man in his dressing gown (and nothing else).
The material seemed familiar, as it would to anyone who watches and listens to Rhod on TV and radio - I mean who could forget that particular ‘Work Experience’ episode that this tour’s name comes from? But it wasn’t too familiar, I personally forgot about the show he was on at Christmas so the bit about his girlfriend’s present to him was fairly new. As it was a preview show he said some of it worked and some didn’t but personally couldn’t find fault with any of it, saying that though the “Toasty Jeff/travelling chef” possibly went on a tiny bit too long but was still hilarious. The whole thing was a hilarious anger-rant filled two hours leading up to the video punch-line we’ve come to expect; this one was funnier than the last. If this was just a work-in-progress the polished show should be awesome!
At the end of the gig he auctioned off a pair of tickets (£200 to the same charity) to see him in London, the audience managed to get him to pay for the travel but couldn’t get him to pay for an hotel too.

For my own review on this tour, click here!

Sunday Summary 15/01

I do have some proper posts to put up later, but I know those of you only here after the closure of my other blog are used to the Sunday Summary and as such here ‘tis! (not that I make any promises to maintain the regularity or promptness you are used to, but I shall try!)

So:

Highlights of the week:

• A brilliant new focus which has me with a brimming folder of character profiles, new ideas, different ways of making old ideas work etc.
  
• I have developed a new resolve after whiling away some of the time I had allocated for not completing my tax return on calculating the costs of freebies over the last year – and as such sent a few people on their way. Odd to call this a highlight I know but in actual fact it’s a mark of a newly strengthened character, since the ability to say no has long eluded me (read into that what you will!)
  
• The re-enforcement of just how fantastic my girls are as they (the older ones, anyway) tried to persuade me that I should take the trip I was planning for the summer and broke down exactly how they would cope without me! (I’m not going, because I can’t justify the huge cost for just a week away, but regardless the fact they are so supportive is amazing!)
  
• I know I have said it before, but I have found the perfect house! And it falls in a location approved by the Dark Destroyer of Dreams, so even better! (oh and I will be in Wales in a few weeks; hopefully it will still be available then so I can go have a snoop!)
  And for relevance here:
  
• Some real moments of funny in:
  
  • Some time of reminiscence as well as a few laughs from my rediscovery of the hilarious Harold Lloyd
    
  • Obviously, The Rhod Gilbert Show which was absolutely hysterical this week – which great though that is, meant I was unable to work whilst listening as I usually do… but I needed to laugh more than I needed to write!
    
  • Stella, the fab new comedy drama from Ruth Jones
    
  • House of Rooms – this week’s brilliant channel four offering from Milton Jones
    
  • Some true old-school chuckles on Sky Arts in the form of Saturday Night Live episodes from the late ‘70s and the fabulous Monty Python films
    
  • The return to the Iplayer of series one of ‘What To Do’!
    

So all-in-all, a pretty good week as they go!

Now to complete the coding on those other posts and make them ready to upload…

Try As I Might

I am aware that of late this blog has taken rather a turn for the serious, but life is like that sometimes.

I was reminded recently of my post regarding death in comedy and yes, there are punchlines to be found. The trouble is you have to feel inclined to look for them, secondly when you have spent the best part of ten years mourning someone yet still they are not gone you tend to use up every ounce of funny you can draw from the situation.

That said, I am trying; there are a million unfinished posts just waiting to be uploaded, mostly waiting for the timing to be right or for me to find/create some fitting media to accompany them.



In the meantime, back to task:

Seeing as Christmas is fast approaching, the whole comedy world is releasing a book or DVD. I have been lucky enough to be surrounded with people who love to laugh as much as I, so they have kindly loaned me copies of their purchases in order that I can review as much as possible without the need to buy everything; and that is very much appreciated as my home needs laughter right now!

I have to say, I have watched nothing that has disappointed me so far. Check the all new Amazon widget (to the right) for a vague idea of the things I have seen thus far.

Reviews will be forthcoming in the next few days as I re-watch some things and frantically beg for copies of others. I constantly feel the need to apologise for ads on this blog, but in all seriousness; this is my work. I write for a few agencies for free in addition to the commission stuff I do and this is just another on the list of “things I do for love” (and no, I won’t do that!) So please do use the links, even if you aren’t buying what it directs to, I still get credit for your purchases. So if you are heading to Amazon any time soon, please do it through one of my links.

And whilst you are there, buy this:




It’s only £2 and is a fab read!! Ok, I am still fangirling over Chris Corcoran in a big way.

*digression alert*

See, here’s the thing… child two was using my computer a little while ago to download more images for her drawings. One of those was the lovely Chris Corcoran. So now, whenever I download anything and the little window thing opens up to ask where you want it, there he is!



But that isn’t the only thing…

I genuinely don’t know why/how, but her other pics don’t show up on my slideshow screensaver – Chris does… don’t ask, because I can’t figure it out. They are all in the same location, and everything; but I’m not complaining. The thing is, if I leave the office for a while, when I return his is always the picture on the screen. Like he’s just there smiling back at me “I’ve been waiting for you!” … And I know, that’s just a little creepy, but that’s the kind of thing that keeps me going (and not in that way, dirty!!) in a time when everything seems so utterly pointless.

On which note, time for a coffee, as I don’t think I’ve had anywhere near enough caffeine yet today …

Oh yeah, one other thing: Following on from my rather vague (for once intentionally so!) review of Rhod Gilbert's show last week, he has now announced dates for the full tour. Check out his website : tickets are on sale next week... and YAY! there are a few shows within a couple of hours' drive of here, so I have a week to decide which road I would rather spend two hours staring at...

To All Appearances

I may just have found the perfect way of getting rid of the door-to-door religion salesmen!

I am generally far too polite for my own good and end up chatting to them for an age when they come around, but for the most part I do not mind this too much. As with my attitude towards the type of comedy which challenges our thought patterns, I view these visits as a great way to affirm my own faith; particularly when my own belief system is being as heavily challenged as right now. Spending time only with those who share your own beliefs leads to a certain complacency so I relish the opportunity to defend my opinions to those who view things differently. It is also endemic of my eclectic nature that rather than holding to a particular belief system I follow a path of my own making by taking parts of formal religions so it is nice to hear how things are viewed by certain groups of people.

Occasionally, however, I would rather not be stuck on the doorstep for almost an hour discussing my views on what the bible says about the current economic climate. This morning is one such day.

Having been through a particularly difficult phase with the hub-person yesterday, I will admit to being scared of what I might wake to this morning, so opted for the sofa. Worried about him, though, I found myself awake much of the night, heading up a few times to listen at the door to check all was well. This means I slept the sum total of about four hours to wake at around ten – a fact I am sure will offer great reassurance to my regular readers given my need for a predictable Saturday!

Then a knock at the door.

Now, we are currently being subjected to an onslaught of charity do-gooders* begging for bank details, so I contemplated ignoring it. Unfortunately, though, the knock came as I was headed past the door, so I knew I would have been seen. I answered, then, to a man I could barely recognise through my bleary eyes and with the glare of a bright winter’s morning although the magazines in his hand showed it was, in fact, my regularly visiting Jehovah’s Witness. “Sorry to have disturbed you in this state!” – ummm… ok. Not quite sure what he meant by that – I had flung a sweatshirt and leggings over my nightwear (the office is cold today!) so wasn’t especially in a state of undress or anything, but clearly was not looking great! So he just handed over the usual magazines; no reference to articles of interest, no query as to whether I agreed with the current passage of bible study, just a “here you go, I’ll leave you in peace”.

Confidence knocked for the day then. Although a glance in the mirror showed exactly what had scared him so. Only three small factors, but enough to make me seem as though I had a thoroughly enjoyable Friday night: I have a degree of ptosis which looks far worse when I have not slept well (and I haven't!); I also have the driest eyes on the planet (once had a 10-minute blot paper test and there was absolutely no moisture) so they are red and sore-looking before I apply medication; add to this the fact that I am having the worst kind of bad-hair day having opted to forego blow-drying my hair before settling down to sleep last night.

Attractive creature, eh?!
Funnily enough, as I write this Rhod and Chris are currently discussing people lying in dating ads to make themselves seem more attractive.

Before I sidetrack, then, onto something else, I will conclude what I set out to say: namely that in future if I am wanting to avoid talking to the man at the door I will simply rough up my hair, rub sand in my eyes and affect a greater droop of my eyelid.






Anyway – connected with the subject of appearance and since it fits with this morning’s intellectual debate from Messers Gilbert and Corcoran, what of the whole issue of lying to impress when signing up for internet dating sites?

Is there really any point? I mean it’s all very well, I guess if you are looking for nothing beyond exchanging a few emails; but if you are truly looking for a partner why would you make claims to be someone you are not? You are not likely to form an actual relationship if you have to start with apologising for every lie you have told on your application, are you? Surely what you would want to do is sell yourself short so when they meet you their first thought, rather than disappointment is “Not as bad as I expected!”

Or maybe it’s a sign of my current state of mind that “not as bad” sounds like quite the compliment.

*I should make it clear that I have nothing against the idea of charity, but I have huge issues with the current wave of door-knocking beggars. The smugness they respond with when you say no. “Do you not think the future of our children is important?” – of course I bloody do, but I choose to show this by actions which benefit others rather than by throwing money into a scheme which is unlikely to ever be seen in this area anyway. I also know that the person currently judging my attitude towards parting with “just enough for a daily paper” (which as it happens I do not buy anyway!) most likely does not have a monthly standing order either and is taking money from the charity for the time they are running around the streets guilting people into handing over their cash.


And since I want Amazon credit to treat myself to some new books, please clicky some of the linkies...


If you've not watched this film yet, then you really should click, buy, watch 'cos it's fabulous!

Rhod Gilbert: Flaming Battenburg Tattoo

Like many others at the moment, Rhod Gilbert is previewing new material and I was lucky enough to get hold of some tickets for a show not too far from here. It is not possible to review properly, simply because we were not given polished material, but in terms of delivering on a promise, well we were told there would be some stuff that worked and some that didn’t and I have to say there is little I felt fell short.

The evening was every bit as hilarious as you would expect; I have mentioned previously how much I actually enjoy the preview shows because I really like the raw, unrehearsed feel. I also like the way you could easily see every show of the run and never see the same thing twice, although having worked as hard as I did to get tickets to this one I do not think I could endure the process too many times to risk finding out for sure!

I will not go into any detail on the material, as this would spoil things when the show is finally cut together, but I would say little needs changing in my opinion. I was quite struck at the irony of spending two hours listening to someone rant about how they no longer feel the need to rant, but I really do not think it would be the same if he were to perform any other way, so I hope he hasn’t really mellowed as much as he claims! It is a vital part of the character we all see him as that we get to ridicule his response to things as well as recognising the nonsense of the situation he describes.

Some of what he delivered did not feel new to me, so I spent much of my time thinking “When did I hear him do that before?” – but this is more a sign of my fangirl nature than that he is not delivering on a promise of completely new material. I do make a huge effort to catch every TV and radio performance and even a writer as hard-working as Gilbert could not possibly come up with the vast amount of material needed to make every single performance unique.

So there you are; I would say your chance to see a preview show has probably passed unless new dates are announced as tickets sell quickly, but keep an eye on Rhod’s website for announcements of the main tour and definitely make the effort to go along – although if you are reading this blog, you will no doubt be doing that anyway whether I tell you to or not…

There are many of Rhod's performances to be found on youtube, but I particularly love this one!



And this is on my Christmas list, since my seperate copies have vanished!

Or you can pre-order the DVD of this new material, due for release in time for next Christmas:

Woe-is-me Weekend

I always hated routine. I swore down I’d never be one of those “coffee on Wednesday, movies on Friday” kind of people… in fact when I was younger those people irritated me no end because you had to think about what day it was before deciding whether to visit them – and I never remembered that until I was almost at their house… I used to spend my time wishing they would just get a damned life!

I don’t like to think of it as getting old, rather finding a new perspective, but in a phase of my life where so much is taken up by random occurrences and such, it is good to have just one day in the week you can rely on.

Saturday is my comfort blanket amidst the chaos of hospitals, school functions and taxiing people around hither and thither. So seriously, the man who messes with my Saturday…

FEEL MY WRATH!!


It is a simple one, but nevertheless enough of a routine to make Saturday a calming, relaxing day.

I wake naturally, sometime around 9.30 and am breakfasted in time to spend an hour in the company of James Martin before heading into the office to work whilst listening to Rhod Gilbert until lunchtime, at which point I will decide whether this is a work-in-pyjamas day, a couch-potato day or even the kind of day I might decide to do something constructive (although usually avoided on a Saturday!) Mostly it becomes the former since I am in the office already and in a work-minded mood.


Not so impressed this morning, then, to have slept in; especially since I had plans which were to commence the moment Rhod's radio show finished.

Getting finally settled in the office at around 11.30, breakfast in hand, I thought it would be reasonably easy to get back into the flow. Until a phone call at 12.15 from the doctor's surgery asking why the man-person had not arrived for his flu innoculation - oops!! I honestly thought it was next week. No worries, says she... just get here within the next half hour!

So I had to wake him, get him dressed, washed and medicated and out the door pronto.

Seemed pointless, then, to wait until later to do all I wanted, so my leisure day has pretty much passed by in a whirl of shopping, (which I hate!) kids fighting over unimportant nonsense and a moany hub-creature because he had only had about 3 hours sleep when I woke him.

Thankfully my mood has lifted slightly as all is peaceful now - I left two children in town (intentionally, honest... I didn't just forget to bring them home!) the hub is sleeping again and child three is making jewellery to sell at a charity event tomorrow.


Not only that; I have been downloading a lot of images for tomorrow's event (I'm facepainting so need to have a few ideas to work from!) and as Miss Middle has been gathering more pictures for her current drawing fad, every time I download something I get to see the sexy eyes of Chris Corcoran staring back at me. Can't ask for more, really, can you?

Well - obviously, I could ask for a whole lot more, but in terms of rebuilding a destroyed Saturday, it's enough for me!

And some more drawings to look forward to seeing too! She's fab, isn't she!!

See... very easily pleased!!


And since I have mentioned both Miss-Middle's drawings and the fabulous Rhod Gilbert in this one post, I shall give not one, but two pics she drew! I know you are probably tiring of my constant references to her artistic nature, but I'll be honest, I am milking it for all it is worth whilst she isn't making me pay royalties and they are really good! Just don't anyone explain the principle of commissions to her.....

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!