Game of Thrones and Peaky Blinders star Aidan Gillen stars as comedian Dave Allen in BBC2’s upcoming biopic Dave Allen at Peace. The snappily-dressed Irish comic who died in 2005 was best-known for his 1970s comedy series, Dave Allen at Large, which featured a combination of sketches and Allen’s signature ‘solo joke telling while sitting on a stool with […]
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Not long after Monty Python’s Flying Circus premiered on KERA-TV in Dallas, one of my earliest memories of watching British comedy on public television was to ‘religiously’ watch Dave Allen at Large. A somewhat non-descript sketch comedy series featuring an intellectually brilliant Irish comedian that sat in a high bar stool with a seemingly bottomless glass of […]
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While Dave Allen was, at the height of his career, one of Britain’s most controversial comedians, he also still remains one of the funniest in my book. The Dublin born comedian regularly provoked the conservative wrath for his frequent pointing out of political hypocrisy and his disregard for religious authority. For the majority of his […]
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Ok, I know I went a bit overboard ranting last Fall over the fact that I saw no reason for CBS’ Elementary series after the genius that was the BBC’s Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. After all, what’s the point of creating another 21st century ‘Sherlock’ when the first was was the definition […]
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The Past – Alan Hawkshaw, Dave Allen at Large The great Alan Hawkshaw, who created numerous 60’s and 70’s television theme songs, playing his original composition, Blarney Stoned, which was the theme song to Dave Allen at Large at the Jazz cafe in London. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGTA1tO-HJo& The Present – Simon Pegg and Nick Frost should have done Star Wars […]
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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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