Comedy

 

I can't believe I've missed this and I don't know how long ago it was annouced but Ricky Gervais and company are releasing three more special podcasts entitled Parts I, II and III of the Podfather. The shows will be available on the following dates from The Guardian website: 31 October, 23 November, 25 December. Theses details were announced on Ricky's offical website. He doesn't give much away save for the fact they will be availble for free from The Guardian's site.

Sunday 29 October sees a one-off return of the classic BBC sitcom, The Royle Family. The sitcom, which features working-class Manchester family the Royles, was well-known for its method acting and realism rather the standard sitcom format.

The episode, entitled Queen of Sheba, is an hour long, starts at 9.00PM and sees Jim Royle toying with the idea of purchasing a Plasma HDTV.

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant return to BBC2 on Thursday 14 September at 9.00PM with a second series of their hit sitcom, Extras. Extras see Gervais play the character of Andy Millman, an actor who works an a TV and film extra in the hope it will be pave his way to a successful career in acting. Despite the fact he works closely with (real-life) stars he never seems to land the parts he really wants. Maybe it's the down to his incompetent agent (played by Merchant) or maybe it wouldn't be a comedy if he did.

Although not as ground-breaking as The Office, Extras is an original and funny sitcom. The formula works well and is funny in its own way. Although the character of Millman is different to that of David Brent some of the mannerisms of Brent are evident.

Series 1 guest starred Ben Stiller, Ross Kemp, Vinnie Jones, Kate Winslet, Les Dennis, Samuel L. Jackson and Patrick Stewart. Series 2 promises more stars: David Bowie, Chris Martin, Orlando Bloom, Daniel Radcliffe, Sir Ian McKellen, Germaine Greer, Diana Rigg, Moira Stewart, Richard Briers, Ronnie Corbett, Robert Lindsay, Keith Chegwin and Stephen Fry

Visit the offical Extras home page here.

I've just listened to the third episode of Season Three of The Ricky Gervais Show and here are my thoughts . . .

The setup is pretty much the same: Ricky, Steve and Karl chatting for half an hour. So far, there's been no input from the listeners: no emails have been read out and there has been no sign of Monkey News or Rockbusters. The only feature that is still there is Karl's Diary, exceprts of which are read from by Steve. In addition to that, Series 3 brings something akin to Karl's diary, his poetry. Yes, Karl has started to write poetry.

So far the series is certainly very funny but for me it doesn't quite have the same hilarity as the previous two series. I was always a huge fan of Monkey News and I think the show definitely suffers in its absense. Karl's poetry is funny but I can't imagine it having as long a shelf life as his diary which is still as funny as it always was. The chit-chat is like it always has been. The usual topics of how Karl's week has been and what he thinks of animals and various scientific theories still make me laugh. The banter between the Ricky and Steve is still there, as strong as ever, and Steve's contribution is . . . not much really. He doesn't hamper the show really, I just don't think he contributes much to the hilarity. If you took Ricky or Karl out the show wouldn't be worth listening to - I think it would be almost as funny if Steve wasn't there. I'm saying I dislike Steve (The Office and Extras are great sitcoms) I just think he makes a better script writing than he does broadcaster.

Overall, I don't think series three is quite as good as series one and two. Maybe, it's wearing thin, maybe I haven't listened them enough times yet or maybe you can have too much of a good thing (if you add up the XFM archive and all the podcasts there must be over fifty hours to listen to). Given the feedback on the Pilkipedia Forums I'm in the minority.

It's what us fans have been waiting months for - Seasons 3 of the Ricky Gervais podcast. I'm downloading the episode from Audible as we speak. There is going to be a new episode every Tuesday until 26 September (so six episodes in the series).

I'm so excited about this - will there be more Monkey News?

You can get season 3 for £3.75 and series one to three for £6.99. Believe me - this is some of the funniest comedy EVER!

I'll blog my review later on. Right now I've got half an hour of comedy genius to listen to . . .

If I like something be it on radio, CD, online or DVD I like to listen to / watch it a lot. Time after time a truly good whodunnit or a cleverly scripted comedy will continue to keep me entertained.

At the begining of the year I found a link to the Guardian Unlimited website that had some podcasts available for free download under the name of "The Ricky Gervais Show". I swiftly downloaded the latest episodes as I was a huge fan of The Office (penned by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant) and I also had loved what I'd seen of the show's producer Karl Pilkington from an extra features on one of Ricky's DVDs.

It turns out Karl is a comic legend! I listened to the podcasts again and again . . . and AGAIN!

I've now discovered lots more Karl Pilkington goodies in the way of another podcast series and an archive of several series from XFM which hardcore Gervais / Merchant / Pilkington fans will be familiar with.

I was so impressed with the quality and longevity of the shows I've written an article on Karl as I truly believe him to be one of the funniest people around at the moment!

Read the article here.

Get series 1 and 2 of the podcasts from here. (You have to pay for podcasts - they are no longer free but they are bery good value)

Listen to the XFM archives here.

Tonight BBC 2 aires a new comedy series of seven episodes from the pen of Steve Coogan (most famous for his Alan Partidge character) and the lesser-known Neil MacLennan (I only know him as a writer of Monkey Trousers).

According to the BBC website Saxondale is "an ex-roadie with anger management issues and a pest control business". Alison Graham of the Radio Times has reviewed tonight's episode; she comments, "it's a testament to writer/creator Steve Coogan's abilities that you stick with Saxondale - both the man and the comedy - to the end of this opening episode, because the character is so completely repellent. He's unsmiling, with a drably monotonous voice and dreadful personality. Tommy Saxondale is, in short, horrible and everything about his life is downbeat."

I'm looking forward to this; although I don't think it will come close to the quality of Partridge it looks like it will be moderately entertaining.

Episode 1 of Saxondale is on BBC 2 tonight from 10:00 to 10:30.

Play are having a sale on the following comedy DVD boxsets: The Simpsons (series 4 - 6 are easily the best), Family Guy (never seen it), Futurama (consistantly superb) and King of the Hill (not very good in my opinion). The Simpsons and Futurama are timeless classics and with at least 50% of each box set featured in the promotion now has never been a better time to start collecting.

Details of the promotion can be found here.

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, (ISIHAC) the self-styled antidote to panel games, returns to Radio 4 this coming Monday. The series will run for the usual six episodes feature regular panelists Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Barry Cryer and will be hosted by legendary Chairman Humphrey Lyttelton. As usual, Colin Sell is at the piano. Although the line-up of guest comics isn't on the website it will no doubt feature the likes of Jeremy Hardy, Stephen Fry and Jack Dee.

If you've never heard this show before I strongly recommend you try it out. It's by no means a typical panel game (hence the aforementioned label "self-styled antidote"); in fact a lot of it is pre-written / rehearsed. The panelist desperately fumble their way through rounds of word games, acting and music making fun of themselves and each other. Each game is interspersed with the dry and unenthusiastic wit of Littleton. Musical rounds feature the accompaniment of Colin Sell who is always the butt of a joke or two.

I had the pleasure of seeing a show recorded in Hull about 18 months ago. With "Humph" well into his eighties and looking very frail I never thought it would get to see a live recording again. The night was fantastic - I was in tears of laughter and to top it off Andy Hamilton was guest panelist. He's an experienced, versatile comic with a particular talent for satire (he used to write for Drop the Dead Donkey as well as many other high profile sketches shows and sitcoms). To top the evening off I saw the team leaving as we vacated the theatre and managed to get Barry Cryer to autograph my ticket!

The first broadcast is on Mondays, 18:30 - 19:00 and is then repeated on Sundays, 12:00 - 12:30. If those times don't suit you the most recent show can be accessed via the Listen Again link on the ISIHAC website.

Despite the fact the core team are at the age when senility should have kicked in they are to a lot people, myself included, the funniest people in the country.