Deuser or Die » Must See

Video: Ausschnitte aus dem Soloprogramm “Mist, mir geht´s gut”

KJ Deuser — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 09:03:54 +0000

Ausschnitte aus dem aktuellen Programm “Mist, mir geht´s gut” aus dem Kölner Senftöpfchen Theater

Must See: The Goodies

Steve Dix — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 15:52:01 +0000

Goody Goody Yum Yum

It’s forty years since the first episode of „The Goodies“ was broadcast on the BBC, but you wouldn’t know it. For some (t)reason, the BBC rarely acknowledges the existence of one of it’s most popular comedy programmes. Originally entitled „Super Chaps 3“, „The Goodies“ were concieved, written and performed by Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie. All three were Cambridge graduates, and had come to comedy through the „Cambridge Footlights“ comedy revue society, where they had met and worked with John Cleese, Eric Idle and Graham Chapman, later of Monty Python fame. Their first success came with the radio show „I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again“.

Walking the Cat

The idea that the Goodies would do „anything, anywhere, anytime“ was concieved so that the theme of the programme was as loosely pinned-down as possible, with the three living in their shared home in the London suburb of „Cricklewood“, and travelling on their supremely unwieldy „Trandem“ – a three-seater bicycle that they apparently never managed to ride for more than 100 metres, according to Bill Oddie. Brooke-Taylor played a pro-royal upper-class Union-Jack waistcoat-wearing conservative, Garden (who studied medicine) a slightly-mad scientist type, and Bill Oddie portrayed a left-leaning 70′s hippie character. The series lasted from 1970 until the early 1980s, racking up no less than 70 episodes including two christmas specials,although it suffered unfairly from comparisons with Monty Python, and the general attitude that it was a „Kid’s programme“ aimed at children, despite being shown after 9pm at night. The humour was highly visual, meaning that it translated easily – episodes made their way to Germany as part of „Englebert and the Young Generation“.
Memorable episodes include „Kitten Kong“, where a kitten is injected with growth serum by Graeme, and demolishes the Post Office Tower in a satire of „King Kong“, „Kung-Fu Capers“, where Oddie, complete with oversized flat cap, demonstrates the Lancastrian art of self-defence – „Ecky Thump“ – by beating people senseless with a black pudding, and „U-Friend or Foe“, which pretty much satirized then-current SF Blockbusters „Star Wars“ and „Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind“. The „Kid’s Show“ criticism was well and truly addressed with a pointed satire of Apartheidt („South Africa“) where South African police paint anything dark brown white, including Tim Brooke-Taylor’s tie.

Anything You Can Do

Unfortunately, due to some strange machinations at the BBC, the Goodies were rarely – if ever – repeated or even issued on DVD or video. The BBC claimed to have stopped making the show as the costs were high due to the special effects frequently demanded by the script, but, if that’s the case, why not repeat them to defray the costs?

Teaching the Dodo To Fly

The show is regularly repeated in Australia, where it has an enormous fan-base.

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Update: BBC finally repeat the Goodies after 25 years > read more

Must See: Dave Allen

Steve Dix — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 13:30:16 +0000

Steve Dix stellt uns heute eine weitere Comedy-Legende vor: den großartigen Dave Allen – der Comedian im Portrait plus drei Videoclips

Goodnight, and May Your God Go With You
In the early 70’s comedy wasteland of working men’s clubs, tired mother-in-law jokes and greasy perms, one comedian stood out head and shoulders above the rest : I speak of Dave Allen, an Irishman who became famous in the UK and Australia due to his brand of cutting wit and observational humour.

Allen had first appeared in the public eye at the very same Royal Command Performance directly after the Beatles, when Lennon asked the the audience “Will the people in the cheaper seats clap, and the rest of you just rattle your jewellery” – not the easiest thing to top, but he managed it.
Allen’s trademark was to regale his audience with his dry wit whilst smoking, sitting on a stool, with a glass of what looked like whiskey (but was actually juice).

Giving up smoking [Video]

An atheist, Allen would often make cutting remarks about the Roman Catholic faith that he had been raised in. It often got him into trouble, but what most of the complaints didn’t realise was that Allen poked fun at the antics of the Priests, rather than the belief. He played up to his reputation, often discussing taboo subjects such as sex, but always managing to bring his own viewpoint into play, making his material refreshingly original.

Religion [Video]

Dave Allen’s show continued well into the 90’s, even though by now the UK comedy scene was full of imitators and copyists. Naturally, he was an inspiration to the alternative comedy scene, having almost single-handedly pioneered the observational comedy style. Without him, there would have been no Jack Dee, no Royal-bashing, no religious jokes, and no Father Ted.

Flying [Video]

He died in his sleep at home in Kensington 2005.

Must See: Hitting Bottom

Steve Dix — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 07:30:24 +0000

Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson first met in the late 1970′s, at Manchester University, where they were studying drama together. Under the name „20th Century Coyote“, they started performing anarchic comedy plays together. Hearing about the fledgling alternative comedy scene in London, they moved down and became part of the „Comic Strip“ club, which produced a group of performers who would become synonymous with alternative comedy in the UK.
Their first main exposure together (not counting Mayall’s solo appearances as „Kevin Turvey“, a rather naiive Brummie character) was in 1981 in „The Young Ones“, an anarchic BBC comedy about a group of students living together. Mayall played a left-wing sociology student named Rik, whilst Edmondson played a comically violent punk named Vyvian Basterd. The programme was extremely popular, although that didn’t stop them killing off the characters at the end of series two. Subsequent follow-up „Filthy, Rich and Catflap“ didn’t catch on in quite the same way, although the characters played by Mayall and Edmondson were basically similar to their characters in „The Young Ones“ and their earlier plays. : Mayall continued playing a grotesque, self-obsessed obnoxious self-deluding outcast, whilst Edmondson continued playing a violent career-alcoholic. These characters would continue throughout all their work together – as „The Dangerous Brothers“ on Channel 4′s „Friday Night Live“, through some notable „Comic Strip“ films, and finally, culminating in „Bottom“.
„Bottom“ was originally concieved after the pair had appeared as the two tramps „Vladimir“ and „Estragon“ in Samuel Beckett’s absurdist play „Waiting for Godot“ – a play where suddenly nothing happens all the time. „Bottom“ was to be a similar statement on the absurdity of life and how much of it is spent waiting for things to happen, which never do. Given the hyperactivity of the two stars, who also wrote the show, it became a kind of „Godot with fart gags“. Mayall plays Richard Richard, yet another of his grotesquely self-interested caricatures. Richie is a virgin, and constantly bemoans the fact. His flatmate, Eddie Hitler, is another of Edmondson’s violent, yet likeable, alcoholics. Part of the likeability of Eddie is largely due to the fact that he has to put up with Richie, which would cause most people to become violent and/or alcoholic. Both characters are long-term unemployed (and unemployable) and living from hand to mouth, hence the title. Ritchie relies on the charity of his aunt, who owns the flat they live in, and Eddie relies on the charity of Ritchie – he’s supposed to pay rent, but has never actually managed to get around to it. „Bottom“ could have become a somewhat tedious proposition, as a lot of it is effectively slapstick humour. However, the sheer vitality of the two performers pull the unlikely plots and the base humour through. Three series were made, and a fourth was in planning and had been written, but was cancelled by the BBC. Mayall was later heard to claim it had been a victim of „Political correctness“, which is ironic, considering their part in popularising the non-sexist, non-racist attitude of alternative comedy.
„Bottom“ wasn’t going to go easily, however, and the pair revamped the concept as a stage show, which lead to not one, but five separate „Bottom“ show tours, and ultimately, the film „Hotel Paradiso“, which sees the two take over the running of a hotel next to a nuclear power station.
After the film, largely directed by Edmondson, the pair decided to call it a day. Mayall had been injured in a bike accident, which had left him in a coma, from which he was recovering during the shooting of the film, and which strained his working relationship with Edmondson. The two no longer work together professionally – Edmondson now concentrates on his band, „The Bad Shepherds“, whilst Mayall has taken a number of straight acting roles. They remain firm friends, and have both expressed an interest in doing one more „Bottom“, but not in the forseeable future.

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Text by Steve Dix

Comedy Guide: E-Book kostenlos zum Download

Chris Liebig — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 12:27:39 +0000

Unsere wöchentliche Video-Kolummne Newspresso macht heute und nächsten Montag kurz Pause. Als Ersatz haben wir aber ein richtiges Schmankerl aus dem Archiv gezaubert: Der Must-See-Comedy-Guide. In diesem Reader findet ihr eine ganze Reihe an Portraits aus der Comedy-Welt. Parrallel dazu gibts etliche Video-Clips die euch die besprochenen Legenden in Bewegung zeigen. Aber guckt selbst…

Die Must See Compilation Vol. 1 – der Comedy Guide
Das 20-seitige E-Book fasst alle bisherigen Artikel zusammen und ist das ideale Begleitheft für einen unterhaltsame Comedy-Tour durchs Netz.

Die Artikel in Must See Vol. 1 sind in vier Kategorien unterteilt:
• Features: Herausragende Nummern von Comedians auf der Bühne oder im TV.
• Portraits: Internationale Comedy-Legenden im Portrait
• Specials: Über Cartoons, Musik, Puppen und Kanadier
• Shorts: Eine Compilation besonders lustiger Videoclips

Das komplette E-Book kann im PDF-Format hier heruntergeladen werden und umfasst 20 Seiten (2,7 MB): Must See – der Comedy-Guide (Vol. 1), Juli 2009

Dies ist der Videoplayer für alle Videos:

[Videoplayer]

Dieser Inhalt wurde am 24.07.2009 zum ersten Mal veröffentlicht. Das E-Book steht unter einer Creative Commons Lizenz zur Verbreitung offen. Für die Inhalte auf YouTube übernehmen wir keine Haftung.

Must See: Douglas Adams

Steve Dix — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 14:26:13 +0000

Two memories :

Number One : October 1979 : walking into Martin’s the newsagents after school, and discovering that all six shelves of the paperback section were filled with a book with a strange cover, and an even stranger name : “The Hitch Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”. The world turns upside down. (Mind you, at that age, your world tends to turn upside-down with considerable regularity, due to girls, music and frantic wanking schedules)

Number Two : Sitting at work in Deutz over the road from the Köln Arena, 12th May 2001, I recieve an email from an old college friend “Douglas Adams is dead!”. The world turns upside-down, but not in a nice way.

Douglas Adams is well-known throughout the world for the “Hitch Hikers” and “Dirk Gently” books, but very few people outside the UK realise that he was an excellent comedian and comedy writer long before the “Hitch Hiker” phenomenon, and contributed scripts and performances to many British radio and TV shows. Amongst his most-celebrated early work is the infamous “Kamikaze” sketch, about a Kamikaze pilot being briefed for his 20th mission – having failed to find a target on the previous nineteen.

Adams also collaborated with Monty Python star Graham Chapman, who, by all accounts, was famously difficult to work with. Nevertheless Adams managed it, and made two brief appearances in Monty Python’s Flying Circus (as a surgeon in the 42nd episode, and as a “pepperpot” holding an atomic bomb in the 44th) as well as contributing a sketch about a doctor forcing a patient, who has been stabbed and is bleeding to death, to sign lots of unnecessary forms and paperwork before being treated – something he later recycled in the computer adventure game he co-wrote with Infocom Games, entitled “Bureaucracy”. He collaborated on several other projects with Chapman, including the TV Pilot “Out Of The Trees”, which featured the original version of “The Private Life Of Genghis Khan” (later rewritten and expanded, and available in the Adams collection “The Salmon of Doubt”), as well as a sketch where a young man (played by Simon Jones, later to play Arthur Dent in the Radio and TV versions of HHGTTG) picks a flower, leading to a chain of events that cause the collapse of civilisation and the planet to explode. the Chapman-Adams team also wrote an episode of the 1970′s comedy show “Doctor on the Go” (based on the popular “Doctor” books by Richard Gordon). Adams also contributed a number of sketches to “Not The Nine O’Clock News”, including one where an interviewee, named Douglas Adams, trys to plug his book “How to get your book plugged on TV”.

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Ein Text von Steve Dix

Must See: Simpsons Couch Gag

Steve Dix — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 07:29:27 +0000

It’s a familiar opening title, but somehow things are subtly different : could the mysterious tag “Banksy” on billboards have something to do with it? “The Simpsons” titles go on, reaching the point where the entire family are on the sofa in front of the TV – a point where the show’s famous “couch gag” is usually unveiled.

Suddenly the camera pulls back to reveal this is a poster in a nightmarish 3rd world slave labour camp, where the show is produced. The oppressive regime responsible is shown to be in the pay of 20th Century Fox. It turns out that this is none other than the work of celebrated Graffiti artist Banksy, whom the Simpsons team had tracked down and asked to contribute a “couch gag”.

Bristol UK-born Graffiti-artist “Banksy” is infamous for making statements via Graffiti artwork, such as his paintings on the West Bank “Security Wall” in Bethlehem (“it’s there for your own safety” – eh, Berliners?) – Soldiers being searched by little girls, two male policemen caught in the act of a passionate kiss, or the silhouette of a fox chewing on the disembodied head of Colonel Saunders. The art is rapidly assembled using spraycans and stencils, with the same stencils are used on several different works. Often copied, but never equalled, the resultant graffiti is satirical : a funny, yet sad view of state of modern life – and a fine example of the use of humour to comment upon all our failings.

Bild: © Banksy

Must See: Norman Wisdom

Steve Dix — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 09:47:38 +0000

Für unseren Comedy Guide “Must See” hat Steve Dix, unsere britische Comedy-Enzylopädie, aus gegebenem Anlass ein Portrait der Slapstick-Legende Norman Wisdom geschrieben. Der begnadete Komiker, stilprägend für Größen wie Lee Evans, starb am Montag im Alter von 95 Jahren.

Big in Albania

British comedian Sir Norman Wisdom O.B.E. died at 95, on 4th October 2010. He is perhaps best-known for his slapstick comedy films of the 1950′s and 60′s. Norman carefully constructed a comedy character – a childlike bumbling idiot in a suit two sizes two small – that he named „the Gump“. The Gump was usually paired with a father-figure character named „Mr. Grimsdale“, and this gave Wisdom his catchphrase – an anguished cry of „Mr. GRIMs-daaalee!!“ as the situation around him deteriorated to chaos. Most of the films usually pitted Norman as a little everyman against uncaring figures of authority. It was a formula that worked so well, that his films were the only Western films allowed to be shown under the Communist regime in Albania. Comedian Lee Evans has often been compared to Wisdom, and Charlie Chaplain stated that Norman Wisdom was his favorite clown. The character was almost universally liked by children, and lead, in the 1970′s, to his films being frequently repeated on TV as children’s entertainment.

Wisdom had experienced a horrible childhood, and was thrown out by his father, aged 13. After periods of work in the Merchant Navy and as a coalminer, he ended up destitute and living on the street. In desperation, he attempted to join the Army as a bandsman. On having his bluff called due to his lack of musical knowledge, he responded to the recruiter „I can learn“. He did, and learnt both the clarinet and the trumpet. During the war, he worked in a command bunker in Britain, where he connected phone-calls between Prime Minister Winston Churchill and other allied world leaders. He was once reprimanded for calling Churchill „Winnie“.

After the war, he decided on a career in entertainment. Starting as straight-man to a magician, he assembled the character of „The Gump“. Within two years, he was a star, rapidly going on to do television and commanding huge audiences. Film was inevitable.

Most of his films, even today, are met with sneers by film critics, mainly due to the slapstick style, which dated the films heavily. The films were, however, hugely popular with the public, making more money than the „James Bond“ films that were out at the same time. By the end of the 1960′s, their popularity wained, and so attempts were made to modernise them, ultimately removing the Gump character and casting in relatively more „straight“ characters. This made the resultant films even more unpopular, as the fans wanted to see the Gump screaming „Mr. Grimsdale!!“. The films ended, and Wisdom retreated to television, where, ironically, he took up the character of the Gump again. Subsequent examination, however, reveals that the films are a great deal better-written than you would think, and are a great deal more satirical than they’re given credit for. He recieved the Order of the British Empire and a knighthood for his services to entertainment.

Must See: Kenny Everett

Steve Dix — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 07:40:24 +0000

Das heutige Must See dreht sich um Kenny Everett. Mit der “Kenny Everett Video Show” sorgte er für einigen Aufruhr im britischen Fernsehen der 70er und 80er Jahre. Mit seinem manischen Humor und ausgefeilten technischen Tricks hatte er schon die Radio-Comedy revolutioniert. Nun nahm er sich das Fernsehen vor und schuff eine Kult-TV-Serie die sich immer am Rande des machbaren bewegte.

Steve Dix stellt euch den großartigen Kenny Everett vor. Garniert mit einer Reihe sehr lustiger Ausschnitte aus seinem Werk.

1978 : “Star Wars” finally got as far as Staffordshire (in those days it took almost a year for the latest films to open in the provences) but already something else was also spreading like wildfire through the ranks of teenagers : The Kenny Everett Video Show. The show starred former Pirate radio DJ Kenny Everett, who had built up a firm following due to his antics on Radio London, then Radio 1, and Capital Radio. Everett had already revolutionised British radio with his humour, ad-libs and brilliantly-conceived practical jokes – such as using phase cancellation to remove lead vocals and replace the singers with himself. Now it was time for TV to get a well-deserved kick up the arse.

Spiderman Needs The Toilet

Most teenagers started watching because of the pop connections and the gyrations of the dance group Hot Gossip, and his large-breasted sidekick Cleo Rocos, but the manic humour of the skinny little DJ quickly became popular. “Cuddly” Kenny’s characters hovered on the edge of what was then acceptable : Sid Snot, the leather biker, Mr. Angry, a furious bowler-hatted city gent who was revealed to be wearing women’s underwear, Brother Lee Love – a satire of over-the-top American preachers, complete with two enormous polystyrene hands, Captain Kremmen, Hero of the Spaceways, a baby (played by Everett taking huge breaths of helium to make his voice an octave higher) and last, but not least, Marcel Wave, a randy French lover with ever-present Champagne bottle. The mix of Everett’s manic humour and technical trickery was groundbreaking. The sketches were often literally ad-libbed on the spur of the moment, with the only audience being the cameramen. The absence of an audience worked surprisingly well, contributing to the manic mood of the whole thing.

Sid Snot / Angry of Mayfair

Did I say that parents hated it? Another reason for us teens to love it. Mary Whitehouse, leader of the “National Viewers and Listeners Association”, a self-appointed committee to clean up TV, complained vehemently about the show in the press, although hindsight has shown her to be utterly homophobic (Everett was gay). Everett later claimed to have thanked her personally, as her complaints increased the show’s viewing figures enormously. Her response is not on record.

Captain Kremmen

Eventually, Thames TV, who made the programme and were scared of Whitehouse complained about a scene set in a torture chamber, where Kenny was whipped by a leather-clad Rocos as being “a step too far”. Everett immediately moved to the BBC, where the show, now renamed “The Kenny Everett Television Show” pulled in even more viewers, despite being given a live audience, which somewhat muffled the feeling of manic invention. New characters, such as Gizzard Puke and Hollywood Starlet Cupid Stunt (a “spoonerism” – two words with their syllables reversed – one being “Stupid” and you can work the other one out yourself) appeared and the later show time allowed Everett to get away with even more.

Eventually, however, Everett became tired of the enormous amount of work in both writing, performing and fighting the meddling BBC hierarchy (whom he satirised as part of the show) and decided to quit whilst he was ahead in 1988 and return to radio. Certainly the BBC had profited greatly from his work : the show was widely seen not only in English-speaking countries but also in Yugoslavia, Zimbabwe and Swaziland. Even the Conservative party, then under the thumb of the humourless Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, employed him to address a rally – a huge mistake as it turned out as his performance – dressed as a giant blue rosette with giant Brother Lee Love hands – was widely quoted out-of-context and caused enormous problems for them.

Reg Prescott Makes A Cabinet

Everett longed for the solitary life of the DJ, where he could work on his ingenious jingles and comedy tapes privately, and so spent the remaining years back at Capital radio. Sadly, his private life had already caught up with him. After a long and painful struggle, Everett died from an AIDS-related disease in 1995.

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Unser Gast-Autor Steve Dix ist Brite, Comedian und Mini-Fan. Mit Johnny Hollywood organisert er Hollywood’s Comedy Nights die am 6.10.10 auch im Rahmen des Köln Comedy Festivals stattfindet.

Must See: Ed Byrne

Steve Dix — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 07:00:14 +0000

Endlich mal wieder ein Artikel für unseren Comedy-Guide Must See. Steve Dix, Brite, Comedian und Autor stellt uns heute den irischen Stand-Upper Ed Byrne vor.

Ed Byrne : Wearing the Clever Trousers

It’s August, and we’re on our way home from Edinburgh Fringe. On the radio, comedian Ed Byrne is being interviewed about the Fringe, and somehow he’s gotten onto a favorite subject of mine. He explains that his girlfriend’s snoring is quite stentorian – something we have in common. His girlfriend thinks it sounds like a kitten purring. No, says Ed, it sounds more like a cat drowning in porridge. I am hooked.

The Use of Irony : A Guide for Alanis Morrisette

Ed Byrne comes from Dublin, and has played six sell-out Edinburgh Fringe shows (but not the one I went to, worse luck) as well as playing overseas in Canada, France(!), Australia, New Zealand and the United States, including five appearances on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”.

Back to the Future

His style is a chatty but acute insight into a world gone mad, exposing the ridiculous inherent in everyday life.

(Steve Dix, www.stevedix.de)