These are the endtimes...a Spike Milligan thread on a comedy forum with only two contributors. What the HELL?

I bet if this was a thread devoted to the facile, box-ticking, demographic-targeted, codefied toss that passes as comedy these days (and has done since circa 1990), it'd be heaving. I'd be heaving too, in a slightly different way.

To say I am disappointed with this board is an understatement.

Because a lot of what can be discussed about him has already been discussed. People tend focus on new stuff like stand-up for the week, because even though it's utter shite, it's shite we've not seen and talked about before.

The threads not going to die completely it'll bounce back up and down, but there's not really anything specfic to talk about. It doesn't mean nobody here has any interest in him.

I hereby offer the abjective Milliganic - yours for two Pythonesques and a Thatcherite - to aid the campaign.

Watched the first episode of Q6 in the park last night, and it was an absolute joy.  I had to do that annoying thing of breaking off to twitter about it, but I have to rewind quite a lot anyway because my mind wanders so much, so I took the time to express my extreme delight.  The first 9 minutes in particular were just breath-taking!  Loved the use of Henry Mancini's "Dreamsville", the vocal-less version of which is one of the single-most beautiful pieces of music I know. 

I just had no idea what was coming next!  Absolutely no idea, things were occurring from every direction, literally so, as one of the best moments is when Milligan walks off the right side of the frame, and instantly emerges from the left.  It was one of the most surprising, inventive things I've ever seen, and so funny that I laughed out loud while sat in the duck park, not giving a crap about any strange glances it earned me.  I love the fact there's trad jokes in there too, mixed with such anarchic, creative messing around with the form.  The reversals are so deft, and funny, that you never see them coming.

I need to watch it again, to really crystallise what I was feeling during the first 9 minutes.  It was to do with the fourth wall being broken in so many ways, the whole artifice of showbiz being stripped bare from every direction.  Milligan is there as a performer one minute, a producer the next.  Mic stands swing into shot, people corpse, lines are seemingly written to give the suggestion that lines have been forgotten!  It was perfect.  It was unpredictable.  It was thrilling.

I've often said that if the BBC bothered to repeat Q6 in its entirety, heads up and down the country would explode. People everywhere, young and old, would be baffled, bemused, delighted and stunned. Q7 is less punchy and too many of the sketches are allowed to ramble, Q8 and Q9 are a lot more 'trad' in approach and in texture, but each episode Q6 comes on like a thirty-minute shot of adrenalin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSYeQeFdnl8

This thread is as dead as the man himself, it seems.

Things run their natural course. That's not to say that there's nothing more to say about Milligan, just that there's not a lot to say about him at this moment in time.

If anybody has a copy of The Last Laugh Before TV-am, please make yourself known as soon as possible. Ta.

When I asked for a copy of The Last Laugh Before TV-am (Milligan's last substantial TV work - a 1985 one-off for Channel 4 that I unaccountably omitted to tape, despite watching it avidly and discussing it in minute detail at school with fellow comedy nut Matthew Green the following morning), it was more of a forlorn hope than an expectation. I certainly didn't expect anyone to PM me within 24 hours saying that they had it on tape but no way of putting it on DVD, and if I could help, I was welcome to the tape. Many thanks to that friendly lurker. The tape arrived in this morning's post, and will be dubbed to disc when I get a bit more time later today. Shortly after that, it will be torrented like a bastard.

Never seen it, barely remember anything about it. Please come back and tell us it was worth the wait.

Loved the Q shows (or compilations) that were repeated during the summer of '93 or '94. I had never seen anything of Q previous to then and they really did blow me away. I had been watching Python for a good 10 years previous to this, thanks to my father taping repeats during the early 80's, but Q was something else entirely.

I've still never seen full episodes and long for the day of a dvd release. I bought the mid 80's BBC video 2nd hand (in fact a couple of copies, one given long ago to an ex board member here) which just fueled my love for the show even more. I have stayed away from torrenting, as i hope, one day, it will get a full release and seeing the whole thing for the first time complete will be something special.

Watched The Last Laugh Before TV-am last night. It's really really interesting. It has that vibe that so much early C4 comedy had, of being made on a budget of flumpence, with the sort of set design you'd expect from an experimental theatre or an agit-prop left-wing cabaret above a pub. Indeed, it has Emil Wolk in it, no stranger to experimental theatre in rooms above pubs, and a turn from Ra-Ra Zoo who reinvented circus for the agit-prop left-wing cabaret audience. However, in its sparsity and cheapness, it has a direct link back to things like A Show Called Fred and Son of Fred, where all that mattered was the idea, however deranged. So, having gone through the BBC LE system for Q, Oh In Colour and TALOIA, Milligan's last major bit of TV comedy was almost a trip back to where he started. Also, the hand of John Antrobus, Milligan's collaborator on the script is noticeable. Neil Shand was always more a trad gag writer, while Marshall and Renwick had their own outlook. Antrobus and Milligan were cut from the same cloth, and it shows here. So, it's a meeting of generations, which mostly works, and it's a shame it wasn't developed for a series. Wolk is a great foil for Milligna (who seems to be having a hell of a lot of fun making the show - which is always good to see) and Chris Langham's on top form here, particularly reading out the total laughs scored by each performer over the credits, in the manner of an election returning officer. Nice sketch towards the end with Milligan and Wolk as a husband and wife respectively ("What are you doing my dear?" "I'm knitting." "What are you knitting?" "I'm knitting a script with some better lines for me in it."). Incidentally, Mark Steel is in it, and has precisely one line. At no point does Milligan black up, and the only mildly dubious comment - which is, in any case, fine in the context of the sketch - is immediately checked by Wolk with "Racist line alert". You'll be able to judge for yourselves before too long. In summary, yes, Rudi. Well worth the 25 year wait.

Ooh cracking! Where is one likely to find such an artifact not available through the usual commercial and retail outlets, I wonder?

At the moment, it's on a disc in my machine. Just be patient.

Patient?! I didn't even know I was ill.

While I can't stand THE GOON SHOW (an occupational hazard of knowing a lot about showbusiness from years gone by is encountering silly old men in pubs who still do the voices and quote lines), what I've seen of A SHOW CALLED FRED and SON OF FRED, in screenings at what I still think of as the NFT, I've really enjoyed. An early chance to appreciate Sellers' range, and a great sense of energy from Dick Lester. As Ed Sikov's Sellers biography MR. STRANGELOVE (best described as Roger Lewis for nice people; the real Lewis has gone too far with his recently avowed adoration of Richard Littlejohn), it really is MPFC thirteen years earlier. And had no real ending as such, predating TW3's running-till-closedown. Always a pleasure to see the Alberts, great favourites of William Donaldson.

Footnote from Palin's Halfway To Hollywood, concerning his interview with Spike for Comic Roots:

At one point in the interview I told Spike how I'd only seen Peter Sellers once. 'I passed him in the corridor at Wembley Studios.' To which Spike replied crisply, 'Very painful'.

Quote from: Jake Thingray on July 25, 2010, 02:18:13 AM
what I've seen of A SHOW CALLED FRED and SON OF FRED, in screenings at what I still think of as the NFT, I've really enjoyed.

Quite right too. As with Rutland Weekend Television years later, the limitations of doing it in a tiny studio with next to no money for anything became a strength. Valentine Dyall wandering out into the corridor and buggering off into the canteen, etc. I still think of it as the NFT as well.

Quote from: Lfbarfe on July 24, 2010, 02:38:48 PM
At no point does Milligan black up, and the only mildly dubious comment - which is, in any case, fine in the context of the sketch - is immediately checked by Wolk with "Racist line alert". You'll be able to judge for yourselves before too long. In summary, yes, Rudi. Well worth the 25 year wait.

Is that the 'Ten Little Ni**ers' sketch referenced by Humphrey Carpenter in the book Spike?

Going slightly off topic here, does anyone remember The Cut Price Comedy Show from the very early days of Ch4? Probably seem mince if I watched it again now but I used to love it when I was a kid, in spite of my dad saying "I don't know what you want to watch this rubbish for". Lolly stick jokes performed by performers who couldn't give a toss just does it for me. See also the Steam Video Company.

Quote from: Nelson Swillie on July 26, 2010, 03:10:03 PM
Is that the 'Ten Little Ni**ers' sketch referenced by Humphrey Carpenter in the book Spike?

Yes, that's it. Spike in a library.

QuoteGoing slightly off topic here, does anyone remember The Cut Price Comedy Show from the very early days of Ch4? Probably seem mince if I watched it again now but I used to love it when I was a kid, in spite of my dad saying "I don't know what you want to watch this rubbish for". Lolly stick jokes performed by performers who couldn't give a toss just does it for me. See also the Steam Video Company.

Yes, I remember the Cut Price Comedy Show. I remember it being crappy, but that would seem to have been the point, which I probably missed at the time. The main joke I recall is Royce Mills conducting an audience poll by giving them all ping pong balls to throw at the stage in response to a question. If it's A, throw now, etc. He really truly said "It's time to show me your balls". One of TSW's few productions for a national audience. Funny that.

I happened to be in Devon the week TSW started up (we'd spent Christmas there) and they honestly described themselves as "Television Simply Wonderful". The truth turned out to be slightly more prosaic.

Trailer for Last Laugh Before TV-AM to whet everyone's appetite...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHDoP_oi1co

Quote from: Nelson Swillie on July 27, 2010, 03:24:20 PM
I happened to be in Devon the week TSW started up (we'd spent Christmas there) and they honestly described themselves as "Television Simply Wonderful". The truth turned out to be slightly more prosaic.

"Television Simply Wonderful" is used, apparently unironically, by Lennie Bennett on the opening night show - which consists of a load of ex-Westward staffers sitting around in party hats, while dancers in green and yellow leotards form themselves into the station's logo. Don't believe me? I'm particularly fond of the flashing Astons which seem more like a nuclear holocaust warning, and the attempts to make blacksmithery look like a pop video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WnS9DxDrBk

Quote from: Nelson Swillie on July 26, 2010, 03:10:03 PM
Going slightly off topic here, does anyone remember The Cut Price Comedy Show from the very early days of Ch4? Probably seem mince if I watched it again now but I used to love it when I was a kid, in spite of my dad saying "I don't know what you want to watch this rubbish for". Lolly stick jokes performed by performers who couldn't give a toss just does it for me. See also the Steam Video Company.

I remember liking it as a12 year old. What I recall is - curly-permed bloke called Lennie (Something-or-other) and his rubbish attempts at magic announced as 'Sleight of hand magic', Royce Mills reminding me of Richard Briers, apparently dangerous feats being broadcast 'for the first time... in the dark!' leading to a black-out and sound effects of crashes, etc, Roger Ruskin Spear and his beard, an attractive girl who performed a striptease... in the dark!

Blimey, that's the shit I watched a full twenty-eight years ago. YouTube is a bastard for dredging up horrible memories.

Quote from: ColonelVolestrangler on July 27, 2010, 04:25:14 PM
I remember liking it as a12 year old. What I recall is - curly-permed bloke called Lennie (Something-or-other) and his rubbish attempts at magic announced as 'Sleight of hand magic'

Lenny Windsor, winner of LWT's Search for a Star. Quite a good stand-up, as I recall. I think he's still active.

Whatever happened to Cheese and Onion?

Quote from: Nelson Swillie on July 27, 2010, 04:29:36 PM
Whatever happened to Cheese and Onion?

Funny how mention of Search for a Star brings that instant reaction. I nearly mentioned them myself, but thought better of it. Can't find any trace of Mike Onion, but here's the latest from Barry Cheese.

Is his middle name Dick?

Finally made time to sit and watch episode 2 of Q6 today down in Stormont.  I had watched the first 8 minutes or so of this after watching the first episode a couple of weeks ago, and I was sort of underwhelmed by it.  I hoped it was tiredness, gave up, and headed home.  Today, I found the same thing, it wasn't doing that much for me at the start - I'm not sure if my mind was constantly wandering, or it's just a slow starter.  Regardless, I found it just instantly clicked, and I started to get excited.  Laughed at all the trad jokes ('why are you with him?' 'he thinks I've got a lovely voice' 'he's blind!'), but partly becaue they're still mixed with this utterly outrageous, anarchic, creative invention, with every shot having something weird and interesting going on. 

The weather map bit was probably the big turning point for me, was laughing out loud at that, then they went to Stan Tracey, and then when I thought it couldn't get any better, there was the utterly inspired silent Mona Lisa sketch.  What a bit!  I'm sure I've seen that before in clip shows and the like, but coming after the weather map, and Stan Tracey, I was virtually bouncing off the bench in joy.  The closing daft scout bit was incredible too, seemed to be nice and long, which is something that you don't tend to see in modern British sketch shows. 

I rarely rewatch comedy, or listen to the same music for too long, but I'll definitely be going through these again with a fine tooth comb.  There's just so much in them, and they really surprise you at every single turn.  This one seemed completely different from the first episode, too.  No fucking recurring characters - not that recurring characters are always bad, but I wish yer Mitchell and Webbs and whoever else would say 'fuck the orthodoxy!' the way Bob and David did, and create a completely new show each week.  Takes a lot more effort and talent though, doesn't it. 

I fucking HATE recurring characters, particularly when they're crap. But be warned, Neil - Q7 contains repeat appearances by the Herbert Scrackle clan, and they're enough to send even a hardcore Milligan fan around the fucking bend.

Q6 picked apart and reviewed in minute detail...

http://bringbackcomedy.blogspot.com/2008/07/q6-wba.html