At Last: Smith and Jones, Vol 1

[Tanya Jones]

Bobby Llew popped up on quite a few of their shows, so here’s hoping he’s on at least one of the sketches chosen for this ‘Best Of’. Naturally, I’d rather have the full series, but beggars can’t be choosers…
http://www.zetaminor.com/dvd/incoming_db/listing.php?id=129

Topic

[Tyrell Corporation]

Not The Nine O’Clock News – The Complete Collection, the gentlemans choice.

[Tanya Jones]

What do you mean?

[pfm]

This is brilliant news. Though I’m glad they’re doing Best Ofs because frankly I remember loads of ‘Smith & Jones’ being crap (well it seemed crap to me at the time). There are fantastic sketches in there though, of course. I never really liked the intros to the show where they were ‘themselves’ in front of the audience.

[Tanya Jones]

John recently downloaded the fourth (I think) series, and it made us laugh all the way through, so I think S&J have a undeserved reputation for not being very good. It had more laughs than Mitchell and Webb or The Peter Serafinowicz Show, both of which we liked. I really like the chemistry between the two, and it was great to see that they still had it when I went to the recording of the Sketchbook in 2005.

[Tyrell Corporation]

What I mean is, I wish the BBC would release a complete collection of Not The Nine O’Clock News.

Even if some of it, most of it, is horribly dated politically charged nonsense.

[Jonathan Capps]

> Even if some of it, most of it, is horribly dated politically charged nonsense.

Oooh, that’s fightin’ talk! I don’t deny a lot of it is heavily based on the political climate at the time, but I really don’t think that makes it ‘dated’ in a negative way. In fact, as is always the way, it’s often very relevant to our world today.

[Tanya Jones]

I can’t stand the phrase ‘dated’, as if something from the past is meant to look and sound the same as something from today. Also, it was a satire, which needs to have politically-charged stuff in order to meet the Trade Descriptions Act. If you don’t get the references, do some research; it’s pretty damn easy in the Wikipedia age. Or ask me, as I’m a Politics graduate ;)

Also, as Cappsy says, it’s surprising how much of it is still relevant in any case; you don’t need encyclopediac knowledge of British politics to figure it out. I think one of the reasons there hasn’t been a full release of NTNON is because John Lloyd is scared people won’t ‘get’ the satirical stuff. I hope there’s good sales of the full series of Spitting Image, as that’ll be likely to persuade him otherwise.

[Tyrell Corporation]

People try too hard here.

[Ian Symes]

Yeah, fancy trying to make intelligent and relevant points in a discussion! The twats.

[Tyrell Corporation]

It’s just too early in the morning for me to coherently agree with them.

Base denominators, ah the sweet relief.

[Pete Part Three]

I can’t actually remember ever seeing the original episodes of NTNON, having seen the edited compilations on TV and DVD too many times. Those compilations are pretty much Hit & Hit (which is unthinkable for sketch shows), so I’m assuming a bit of cack was pruned away.

[Tanya Jones]

I’d be cautious about assuming that ‘cack’ was cut, given John Lloyd’s fear of getting too topical. From what I remember (I’ve seen a couple of full eps over the years), it’s consistent enough for a full release, even if you have to check up on a few jokes. After all, I didn’t start watching Spitting Image with a full knowledge of cabinet ministers; that took cross-referencing with news reports and asking my dad when I was watching it as a young ‘un. We need a show like that today, as I can’t name more than a couple of ministers now, which is shocking considering I’m now a fully-grown and educated adult. It’s not healthy for democracy.

[Tyrell Corporation]

There’s no need to be able to name them now, as they are a collection of Yes Men and backstabbers.

Hmm, just like the Thatcher cabinet.

[Tanya Jones]

You is top man at teh satires.

[Tyrell Corporation]

Thnx Gui!

[hummingbird]

> I can?t name more than a couple of ministers now

I doubt I could even name that many.

But I agree with what you’re saying. I watched Spitting Image avidly as a teenager, and at the time it had a real impact on my political awareness. I recently spent a whole evening watching old clips on youtube, and it does take you back: you do remember what was going on at the time, and it was still relevant and funny. So I definitely think there’s a market for NTNON. It’s nonsense to say that people won’t get the gags.

BTW, I can name more of the ministers on Spitting Image that I can of the current cabinet. That can’t be right can it?

And what ever happened to Steve Nallon?

[Author]

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