I’m re-posting this 2020 blog post to remember the greatness of Terry Jones. He passed away four years ago on January 21, all too soon. ======== January 23, 2020 — These R.I.P. posts seems to be coming at an alarmingly fast rate these days and while all of them are devastating to those of us […]
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While, clearly, a majority of my formative years were shaped by the greatness of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, there was a small amount quietly tucked away that I remember was reserved for The Benny Hill Show. On the surface, the slapstick, mime and double entendre sketches were definitely cringe-worthy but there was a underscored brilliance behind […]
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A recent study by the BMJ found that a walking style made famous in a sketch by the Monty Python comedy troupe is actually vigorous exercise. Studies published in the annual holiday edition of the British Medical Journal, which traditionally highlights legitimate but offbeat research, indicate that a brief but brisk ‘silly walk’, similar to that made popular by […]
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It’s repetitive…it’s predictable…it continues to be brilliantly funny every year and it’s worthy of an annual mention on Tellyspotting every New Years Eve. On the surface, Dinner for One is a short British cabaret sketch from the 1920s that has become a German New Year’s tradition. Whether or not you understand the cultural significance of this, Dinner […]
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Much like watching It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Story, Tuna Christmas or, as evidenced by a recent admission, Die Hard, one of my annual Christmas traditions is to listen to John Cleese’s adaptation of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas from podcast No. 28. Never mind that there have been endless readings over the years by the likes […]
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File this one under ‘reason #(I’ve lost count)’ that I would love to live in the UK. In keeping with their long-standing tradition of airing brilliant telly on Christmas or Boxing Day, Sir David Jason hosts The Story Of Only Fools and Horses at Christmas, the 90-minute feature documentary reflecting on the show’s Yuletide episodes, including […]
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First it was Lead Balloon, now it’s Bad Move. Somehow, Jack Dee can easily make you feel like you don’t have a bad life after all. Nothing can compare to what he faces around every corner every minute of every day. Dee’s on-screen characters are a daily reminder that things could always be worse. In Bad Move, Dee’s […]
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After years of futile trench warfare, the final scene of Blackadder Goes Forth was a result of General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett (Stephen Fry) giving the order for the “big push” — which translates as a suicidal charge across the battlefield towards hundreds of German machine guns. IMHO, it’s probably one of the most powerful […]
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After 12 series, 74 episodes, 1 feature-length film and 35 years after the series premiered in 1988, it looks as if Red Dwarf will be taking a page out of the Inspector Morse/Endeavour playbook and will soon be getting the prequel treatment. RD co-creator Rob Grant revealed recently he is working on a prequel called Red Dwarf: Titan. Pretty much all […]
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It appears as though Frasier Crane has finally re-entered the building he left almost two decades ago as the long-awaited Paramount+ sequel to Kelsey Grammer’s Frasier series has begun on Paramount+ for the 10-part series. This time, however, the building is in Boston where the character had originated in Cheers but with “new challenges to face, new relationships to forge and […]
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