G&TV: Carrott’s Lib (22/10/1983) Quickies Posted by Ian Symes on 6th November 2024, 09:50 As we once again prepare to stick our fingers in our ears and try not to think about things for the next four years, let's take the opportunity to hark back to a far happier time, ie before many of us were even sodding born. We're heading back to 1983 to take in a crucial component of the Grant Naylor oeuvre. Having pretty much mastered the art of radio comedy with the first series of Son of Cliché, it was time to take on television, and the pair began successfully submitting sketches for the likes of Paul Squire, Cannon & Ball and Three of a Kind. But arguably the most quintessentially Rob-and-Doug feeling project of this era was Carrott's Lib. Starring Jasper Carrott, one of this country's greatest ever stand-ups, this was a pre-Spitting Image topical, satirical comedy, broadcast live on Saturday nights on BBC One. Paul Jackson produced the first series, but we're going to focus instead on the first episode of series two, for reasons that will become apparent. The first thing to note is the date - the series started just eleven days after the first series of Son of Cliché concluded on Radio 4, and given how last-minute a lot of those scripts were, Rob and Doug presumably had very little time to breathe between projects. This series also established a new supporting cast for Jasper: future Cadbury's Caramel bunny Jan Ravens, alongside the trio of Nick Wilton, Nick Maloney and Chris Barrie. Now where have I seen those guys together before? Huge thanks to Jonsmad for pointing us in the direction of this YouTube upload: Read more →
DwarfCast 165 – Father of Dwarf: Son of Cliché at 40 DwarfCasts Posted by Ian Symes on 23rd August 2023, 08:45 Subscribe to DwarfCasts: RSS • iTunes "Doctor Fitzwilliam: Village Rectologist" At 6:30pm on Tuesday 23rd August 1983, unsuspecting Radio 4 listeners were ambushed by the very first episode of a seminal new sketch show. Featuring a hugely talented cast, performing the work of two writers who were on the fast track to greatness, it was notable not only for its inherent quality, but for what it would eventually spawn. The programme was, of course, Son of Cliché, without which this podcast would not exist. So in a break from the usual format, we present our fortieth anniversary tribute in the form of a documentary, showcasing some highlights from the series, analysing what made it so great, and of course focusing on the moments that had the biggest influence on Red Dwarf. Think it was just Dave Hollins: Space Cadet that Rob and Doug drew upon? Think again. Read more →
The Man Who Was Nearly a Beatle (Updated: 23/06/15) Quickies Posted by John Hoare on 18th June 2015, 12:09 Consider, please, the following famous quote: "Ringo isn't the best drummer in the world. He isn't even the best drummer in the Beatles." Let's cut to the chase here. I think there's a good chance the above was written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor. I have no proof. There is no great statement at the end of this article revealing all. This is all just musings... and possibly a first step in finding out for sure. Read more →
History of a Joke Quickies Posted by John Hoare on 14th June 2015, 07:27 Cliché, Episode 2 (TX: 23rd March 1981, Radio 4) Out of tune bleeps and bloops, like Wendy Carlos on an off-day. PRESENTER: The final cadences of the last symphony of the Spanish composer Don Dimitri, who died early this morning at the age of 86. Cliché now pays its own special tribute to Don Dimitri - one of the true musical innovators of this century. Don Dimitri's life was characterised by his refusal to accept the conventions and mores of the society in which he lived. In 1926, he went to the Sorbonne to study music. Rapidly, it became apparent he could not reconcile his own ideas with those of the establishment, and after three hours at the university, he left to set up his own school of musical thought. Professor Blakehust takes up the story. BLAKEHURST: Don Dimitri's biggest contribution to musical theory was the decative. Instead of the conventional eight note scale the octave, he initiated the ten note scale - the decative. He invented two new notes: H and J. Instead of 'doh, ray, me, fah, soh, lah, ti, doh', the decative would run 'doh, ray, me, fah, soh, woh, boh, lah, ti, doh'. And in reverse: 'doh, ti, lah, boh, woh, soh, fah, me, ray, doh'. PRESENTER: And he wrote all his symphonies using this scale? BLAKEHURST: Indeed. And the instruments in his orchestra had to be adapted accordingly. Pianos were fitted with extra black keys; flutes now came in four sections instead of three; and accordions were scrapped, as the decative made them far too long for human beings to play. Trombones ceased to be a musical instrument, and now became a lethal weapon. And the lengthening of bassoons and saxophones extended the mouthpiece into the region of the lower intestine. Incidentally, in Don Dimitri's orchestra, women were banned from playing the cello. PRESENTER: What other significant changes were inspired by the decative? BLAKEHURST: Time signatures were changed. Instead of 3/4 time it was now 0.75 time. 7/8 time became 0.875 time, and common time - or 4/4 time - was now simply... 1. Don Dimitri's quartets comprised of five players, and his triangles had two sides - neither of them connected. PRESENTER: And now, the last note of the last chord of the last cadence is written. At the grand old age of 86, Don Dimitri passed away this morning. Never one to do things in a conventional way, he died in a manner he would probably have appreciated - trying to suck a kazoo instead of blowing it. He inhaled the kazoo, it became lodged in his throat, and he died to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy. We leave you now with the strains of what is universally acknowledged as his masterwork: quintet for seven instruments in H minor. The only work he ever wrote in 0.333 recurring time, a time signature which never actually allows you to reach the end of the first bar. Hence it's popular title: Dom Dimiti's Unfinished Symph. Goodnight. A warped version of I Do Like To be Beside the Seaside plays, with accompanying bleeps and bloops. Read more →
The $64,000 Question Quickies Posted by John Hoare on 9th June 2015, 12:00 "When I kiss a girl she knows she's been kissed, you know. I leave a note." Currently running on Gold, Wednesdays at 9pm is Bob Monkhouse: Million Joke Man - a series looking at Bob Monkhouse's life and career. It's a lovely programme, though for a show which celebrates Bob's incredible archive, zooming and cropping that archive to 16:9 so the picture quality goes to absolute shit is a bizarre way of showing respect for it. And whilst the second half of the first episode settled down somewhat, the first half was full of entirely pointless talking heads. Just what is Ricky Grover actually doing there? And get your greasy mitts off Bob's joke books. As part of promotion for the series, Mail Online ran this article, which I'm linking to out of a sense of obligation, but please feel free not to give them any more hits. And here's where we get to the relevance of G&T to all this - Tom Worsley pointed us towards a very interesting image from that article from one of those famed joke books. Here's a transcript: There are many things men are hard put to explain: "How were the pyramids built?"..."What is that panty girdle doing on the back seat of your car?" "The Bermuda Triangle... why is it that so many writers have mysteriously made so much money from this small stretch of ocean? Was God an astronaut - and if so, did he have a crewcut? (SON OF CLICHÉ) Read more →
What have TV Offal and Son of Cliché got in common? News Posted by John Hoare on 10th February 2007, 14:03 Watch the following. The bit that's important is right at the start, but I put the whole section on because TV Offal is fantastic. Read more →