Yeah, I also found that article weird. I couldn't quite see what was wrong about the Reginald Hunter joke about the Holocaust because he was obviously talking about Rwanda.

Peep Show team embark on their first film project

Does that mean that there won't be another Peep Show Series?

nope coz the schmucks at channel 4 axed it

That's another film to add to the "excited about" pile. Is it me, or are we starting to see an increase in home grown comedy films since Shaun. That makes me happy.

This was written by Hugo Rifkind in the Times yesterday:



It's hard to know if he was just kidding because some comedians find it hard to 'switch-off' their act, but that's really bad. And not even slightly funny.


What I don't get is why it's offensive for Non-Jewish comedians to make references to them, but completely acceptable for Jewish people to. Whether it's funny or not is another story, but as long as it's not in a really harsh and serious context, it shouldn't be any different. Mainly though, it's humourous of Jewish comedians to make fun of themselves, because it's self-deprecating and audiences like (a fair amount) of that. So if you had dodgy hair or were an awkward height or something, you could make a joke of that and get the same effect.

i thought they were given a third series after talk of it being axed and everyone was happy because they had it and they didnt not have it

Third series has already been and gone.

They have a 4th series, I'm sure of it.

oh yeah whoops! my bad I meant 4th!

Apparently C4 has commissioned it, and so the wait begins.

Read the March 1st article here.

Well, the sketch show they mention there has been filmed (assuming that's one and the same), so if it's going ahead, it'll hopefully be quite soon.

Amstell New Host Of Buzzcocks

Good choice.

All kinds of ace. His guest spot was a highlight of the last series.

Super duper. I missed his guest spot, this'll certainly make up for it.

Yeah, they commisioned the fourth series about a month after they said they would cancel it, the fan reaction persuaded them to make another one and they are going to start work on it soon. I imagine they'll get the series filmed before they start work on Magicians since it'll take a few months to get the pre-production stuff going and Mitchell and Webb will have some free time now the sketch show is nearly done.

I don't find Reg's routine offensive.

Except the bit in his Nottingham show about sticking his finger up my arse the night he slept on my sofa.

That never happened!

But you're not Jewish. People can be much more sensitive when stuff's directly related to them.

I've not seen him do it, so I can't really comment.

You have to be careful when you start telling people what they can and can't make jokes about, censorship is a dangerous business.

People know (or should know) what they're getting when they go to see Reg. If they're sensitive they can go and see The Krankies or Bernie Clifton instead (both on at this year's fringe, Clifton's supposed to be excellent).

I once saw Clifton on an old episode of Wheeltappers & Shunters. I'd only ever really known him for doing the 'Ostrich riding' stick but he did some stand up and prop comedy and he was excellent. This was the 70's remember, when most jokes started 'Two puffs walk into a bar and the barmaids got massive tits.........'. He rose well above that level.

Little America

I think I'm going to be sick.

At least it is being done by the original people.

Mitchell and Webb were in the Observer magazine today and they confirmed that Series Four of Peep show starts filming in January, which will probably mean it will be aired in Autumn like the last two series were, they have started work on Magicians but it didn't seem like they had got very far with pre-production so it will probably be filmed after Peep Show, and That Mitchell and Webb look starts being shown on BBC2 on the 14th of September.

Thats Reassuring Nice work mianian!

YES!



NO!

Matt and Dave have done some excellent piss takes of American culture before, their American sitcoms were great, 'My Two Gay Dads' being a particular highlight.

I've never thought 'Little Britain' really showed off their true genius. With a few exceptions it was pretty standard fare and became more than a little repetitive. Anything that stretches them is fine by me, I'm not worried.

After the first series it was as if they stopped trying and thought "these characters work, let's just keep doing them". They are good and maybe Little America will be as well, but my hopes aren't high. With any luck I'll be pleasantly surprised when it comes out.

Personally, I just think their demographic went all wrong and they didn't cope with it very well.

BBC3 was not a very popular channel and it's shows had a tendency to develop niche audiences but be otherwise misunderstood.

So when Little Britain took off and became mainstream it probably took them aback and they weren't quite sure what to do, and rather than developing the show like they would have done with BBC3 freedom, they felt the nation's eyes watching them as they produced series two, and that was when it became far more reliant on grotesque humour and ridiculous make-up than it did on social satire. As a result the second series was weaker than the first and the third was abysmal. But I think if I ever saw it on sale I'd pick the first season up on DVD.

I could never get on with Rock Profiles though. It was just a bit... stupid. And the Shirley Bassey sketches are enough to make anybody's ears bleed. I know that's the point, but once would have sufficed.


I'm going to Parkinson in two weeks and Matt and David are two of the guests, so that should be interesting.

Be On Russell Brand's New Show


The only hitch is that you have to be naked.

Saw advance trailers on BBC2 the other evening for the new series of Extras as well as That Mitchell And Webb Look - both looking very promising.

THIS IS BIG TALK, I'M RAYMOND TERRIFIC!

That's the fella. Kind of reminded me of The Day Today-era Morris.

More Borat Movie News with teeny tiny spoiler (just mentions a scene in the movie)

Eddie Izzard Stars in U.S. Crime Drama series

The show sounds great, but was the person who wrote that article drunk?

Chortle's News Round-Up

The Guardian Weekend has a hilarious picture feature with British comedians recreating famous images. Julian and Noel are in it, as are Mitchell & Webb and Simon and Nick.

Have a look here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/flash/page/0,,1867169,00.html

The Test Card ones are genuinly disturbing.

Clowns truly are the scariest thing ever.

He has no arms!

Bugger. I just realised that I missed Episode 1 of Dave Gorman's new series of Genius on Radio 4 - did anybody manage to catch it? And was it any good?

Ha, that's brilliant!

Kinda copied the idea from here though...

It's still on the BBC Radio listen again thingummy on the website...

Oh yes! Cheers, Kei.

That is so brilliant! I loved the Green Wing Queen.

Top notch.

I shall be trying to scrub the Johnny Vegas one out of my head for the remainder of the day.

those photos are great ! johnny vegas one is disturbing

Stephen Merchant looks more like Cliff than John.

Heehee. I particularly love the Merchant and Gervais ones.

I forgot to say, there's interviews to go with each picture as well: http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/0,,180242,00.html

I must say, Ricky Gervais comes out with some incredible wankery about comedy and sounds disappointingly self-important. Stephen Merchant barely gets a look in.

Well, that sounds about right - at least he didn't do his usual "all comedy in the U.K. is rubbish except The Office" bit.

Bush & President of Kazakhstan Discuss Borat