It started out innocently enough as the story of, one, Brian Cohen, born on the same day as, and next door to, Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, in truly probably the first recorded instance of ‘separated at birth‘, Brian was immediately mistaken for the Messiah. Produced, written and starring the brilliant minds of Monty Python, Life of […]
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Over the past several months there seems to have been a number of well-deserved programs revisiting classic British comedy series such as the celebration of the 30th anniversary of A Bit of Fry and Laurie, a look at the early days of Morcambe and Wise and the return of Ronnie Corbett in The One Ronnie. For my […]
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Every so often, you run across a site on ‘the internets’ that you just have to share. This particular site came to our attention recently when we were taping the host segments at TC8 in BBC Television Centre with Moira Brooker (Judy, As Time Goes By) and Philip Bretherton (Alistair, As Time Goes By) for the […]
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British comedy has seen a number of changes over the years. Whether it takes the form of stand-up, sketch or situation comedy, it’s all comedy that draws on the past and the roots of comedy in general. One can’t help but think of the comedy troupes like Monty Python, The Goodies and The Young Ones […]
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In London Sunday, taping the host portions of the upcoming PBS special, Behind the Britcom: From Script to Screen at BBC Television Centre. The cool thing is that we are taping in Studio TC8 which was home to the likes of Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, The Good Life, Keeping Up Appearances, Are You Being Served and […]
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In late September of 1975, English writer/actor, Richard O’Brien, gave the world the greatest cult film of all time, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Starring fellow Brit, Tim Curry, along with the great Barry Bostwick, Susan Sarandon and Dallas-born, Meat Loaf, I remember seeing this while working at a rock radio station in Austin years […]
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Trolling around the internets today we stumbled on an interview with Eric Idle for the Scotland on Sunday website referencing Idle’s hit musical, Spamalot, was coming to the Playhouse in Edinburgh beginning tonight, 18 October. Having seen the original some years back in Chicago with the likes of Tim Curry, David Hyde Pierce and Hank […]
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The British comedy team of Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding, a.k.a. The Mighty Boosh, were recently presented with a difficult task. Explain the core component of British comedy as we know it. Not too daunting a task to try and put into words. Using their own hugely successful series, The Mighty Boosh, as an example, Barratt […]
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Good writing = longevity in the world of British comedy One can’t help but think of the classics that have stood the test of time such as Fawlty Towers, Blackadder or Monty Python. Excellent writing delivers not only a classic comedy, but one that is also as relevant, or more, today than they were when first […]
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3KBuQHHKx0 With British Pie Week nothing but a distant memory in our rear-view mirror, how could we have missed this and, more importantly, why were we not invited to be a judge at the Great British Cheese Festival at Cardiff Castle earlier this week! Okay, kidding about the judge part, but would have loved to have […]
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