British comedy-related stories
Posted Jul 24th 2009 1:03PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Web, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Hulu has been making all the right, super-sweet moves lately, at least in my book. Not only is the site streaming the marvelous British comedies
Peep Show and
Green Wing, but now
Spaced is on Hulu, too.
Spaced! You can tell I'm excited because I put an exclamation mark on it. The show has been available on DVD in the States for quite a while, but now that both seasons are online, there really isn't any excuse to not experience it. Is it obvious that I have a weird, almost evangelical need to spread the word?
Continue reading Spaced on Hulu! Now you have no excuse to be uninformed
Posted Jul 11th 2009 2:05PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, TV Royalty, OpEd, Celebrities, Reality-Free
I was going to save this extra-classic show,
Monty Python's Flying Circus, for the later part of the
Sketch Comedy Saturday series, but I just had to do this in light of recent, super-exciting news. As I hope most of you know,
Monty Python will be having a reunion. Sure, John Cleese and Graham Chapman won't be there (for two, completely different reasons) but it will still be nice to see Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam get back together, right? Magic always happens when there's more than one Python guy around. Except that time John Cleese and Michael Palin tried to do "The Parrot Sketch" on
Saturday Night Live a few years ago. That was just weird.
Continue reading Sketch Comedy Saturday: Monty Python's Flying Circus
Posted Jun 23rd 2009 9:04AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Industry, Celebrities, Reality-Free
There's no doubt that the names Spike Jonze and David Cross usually belong on the quirkier side of the entertainment world, but I still never would have expected something like this. Apparently, the two have created a comedy pilot for Channel 4. That's right: a British comedy.
The show, called
The Increasingly Poor Decisions Of Todd Margaret, will be co-written by Cross and Shaun Pye (you may know him as Andy's smarmy nemesis on BBC/HBO's
Extras) and star Cross, Will Arnett and Spike Jonze.
Continue reading Spike Jonze and David Cross take on British comedy
Posted Jun 20th 2009 5:48PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Celebrities, Reality-Free
For some strange reason, I was initially compelled to start this installment of
Sketch Comedy Saturday with "Never fear,
Little Britain is here!" I suppose there was a need for a campy intro. Then, I realized that there are actually
plenty of things to fear in
Little Britain: Matt Lucas wearing really tight shorts, old women violently projectile vomiting on everything in sight, more Matt Lucas wearing really, really tight shorts ... Really, the horrifying list goes on.
Continue reading Sketch Comedy Saturday: Little Britain
Posted May 30th 2009 10:02AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Web, Celebrities, Reality-Free
I recently -- and giddily -- posted about Hulu.com's inclusion of
Channel 4's Green Wing, one of my favorite programs. Hulu is definitely on my good side right now, as they also have the first season of
Peep Show online now. Those of you that don't have this in your list of British comedies to conquer, you should. Now. I mean, once you get over David Mitchell's extra-weird, giant, almost-black eyes, it's pretty enjoyable.
Continue reading Peep Show's on Hulu... No, not that kind of peep show
Posted May 14th 2009 5:27PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Reality-Free, British TV
Remember that
American version of Absolutely Fabulous that Fox was so high on? Well, they are high no more.
Fox has passed on AbFab after viewing the pilot. Now while I am not the kind of person to be happy about someone else's failure, this is an instance in which I'm thrilled that this show is going nowhere.
After seeing how some UK shows have been mangled in the American adaptation --
Life on Mars (although it had its fans),
Worst Week,
Coupling,
Eleventh Hour -- I am glad that the only
Ab/Fab I will ever have to savor will be the original.
Continue reading Fox says "no, sweetie darling" to US AbFab
Posted May 11th 2009 6:29PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Web, Reality-Free
You guys, you guys (Americans, specifically)!
Green Wing is on Hulu! Exclamation mark!
All right, let me back up. I am a British comedy nerd. Some of you more eagle-eyed readers may already know that one of my favorite shows is something called
Green Wing, which aired on Channel 4 way back in 2004. It's one of those programs that perfectly blends the quickness and quotability of sketch comedy with the engaging story arcs of more traditional sitcoms. There is no laugh track (thank goodness) but a beautifully quirky score that heightens the comedy instead of fighting with it. Plus, it's just plain snazzy.
Continue reading Americans! Green Wing is on Hulu!
Posted Aug 15th 2008 8:04AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Industry, Programming, OpEd, Video, Reality-Free
After years of reaching US audiences as only a series of forwarded video clips and teh internetz, the original Channel 4 British sitcom
The IT Crowd is finally coming to American TV. The IFC Channel has picked up the series and will begin airing it September 29.
I had to make an extra point to specify that this is the UK
IT Crowd and not the NBC remake starring original cast member Richard Ayoade and Joel McHale. No, no, that project is still dead. As much as I love Ayoade and McHale, I couldn't help but feel a little relieved that the show didn't take off. I'd rather get my fix from
Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and
The Soup than see them attempt to tip-toe through that dangerous territory of American remakes.
Continue reading Original IT Crowd finally comes to America - VIDEO
Posted Aug 13th 2008 8:02AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Video, Reality-Free
The script for the
IT Crowd's third season has just been completed, and folks from the show are looking for some help to
dress up the set. Calling all geeks with decent knowledge in pop culture! If you've never seen the show before, it's basically the geekiest show about IT guys in the history of British programming. "Did you turn it off and on?" is a recurring joke, so that should say enough.
Continue reading Add some geek love to the IT Crowd set - VIDEO
Posted Mar 3rd 2008 7:00PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Industry, TV on DVD, OpEd, Celebrities
Let's start with the good news, because I like ending on a downer. American fans of the British comedy
Spaced, starring Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes (nee Stevenson), and Nick Frost, are in for a treat because the
Spaced Region 1 DVD finally has a release date! Expect the good stuff to come out July 23 of this year. I'm tempted to buy it just because it's something new, shiny, and
Spaced-related, but I already splurged on the 3-Disc Collectors' Set and a region-free player that I got just so that I could watch the series. Why, yes, I am a sad little person.
Continue reading Good news and bad news for Spaced
Posted Nov 5th 2007 2:01PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Celebrities
When I first heard the news of an
American Spaced remake, I was outraged, just based on principle. How dare McG touch one of my favorite shows of all time? How dare he even entertain the very notion? "For shame, McG," I thought, "For shame." I then proceeded to the nearest Best Buy, where I collected all the copies of
Charlie's Angels and
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and set them alight. I was then banned from entering any Best Buy ever again, but I think I made my point clear.
Spaced director Edgar Wright
recently updated his blog with his own thoughts on this situation and now I'm even more upset. The gist is this: McG and FOX are planning to remake
Spaced. Director Edgar Wright and writers/stars Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson were not contacted before the decision was made to pursue an American version. They will not be involved in the same fashion as the way Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant worked with NBC's adaptation of their creation,
The Office.
Continue reading Spaced's Edgar Wright is pissed, and rightfully so - VIDEO
Posted Jun 26th 2007 3:38PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: TV Royalty, OpEd, Celebrities, The Office (BBC)
I am so incredibly giddy about this news, I don't even know where to begin. As a hardcore fan of the original
The Office, my heart fills with glee whenever I see a mention of the show or one of the cast members. It's not that I want a third series, I just still need little things to guide me through this four year case of withdrawal. Heck, I spent the entirety of the
Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy being the only girl who wasn't swooning over Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom because I was so happy to see gangly, wooden-eyed Mackenzie Crook onscreen.
Well, good news for anyone else who is still in need of some
Office love. July 1st's
Concert for Diana in London will feature a multitude of stars to celebrate Princess Diana's life. Among those stars will be
Office stars Ricky Gervais and Mackenzie Crook, performing "Free Love Freeway" before introducing Sir Elton John.
Continue reading The Office's free love freeway lives on - VIDEO
Posted Apr 4th 2007 5:21PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, TV Royalty, OpEd, Video, In the Limelight, Celebrities, The Office (BBC)
The other day, I watched the latest season of
Extras again and laughed just as hard as I did during my first viewing. It was also during this revisitation that I realized Stephen Merchant, who plays Andy's annoying agent, is still seriously under-appreciated. So, I did the only thing that a little blogger like I can do... Dedicate an "In the Limelight" profile to him.
Merchant was one half of the writing and directing team behind the original
The Office. He appeared in the show as the Oggmonster only one and a half times (once during the Red Nose Day episode and another time as a voice over Gareth's speakerphone), so it was only natural that his writing and directing partner, Ricky Gervais, got all the attention as the star of the show.
Continue reading Stephen Merchant: In the Limelight - VIDEOS
Posted Mar 29th 2007 3:02PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, In the Limelight, Celebrities
Last year, after multiple recommendations from my English friends, I got around to watching a few episodes of
The IT Crowd. Unfortunately, it failed to live up to all the wild hype generated by my buddies, but something did stick in my mind... The crazy-haired, nasal Moss character, played by
Richard Ayoade. There was something wonderfully weird about him and, since I was so intrigued by his strange voice, I decided to look him up. Well, as it turns out, his usual voice is really that weird and nasal, which just made him a million times more better in my mind. In fact, Ayoade's the only cast member who has been carried over from the original version of
The IT Crowd to the American adaptation, reprising his role as Moss.
Continue reading Richard Ayoade: In the Limelight
Posted Mar 8th 2007 1:22PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: BBC, Celebrities, Obituaries
I have to admit that I've only seen a few minutes of Are You Being Served?, even though it seems to be on my local PBS station every other day. I don't know, I just never get into some British comedies. Sure, Monty Python and Fawlty Towers are shows I love, but some of the sitcoms I've never really given a chance beyond an episode or two.
But even I know who John Inman was. His face was unmistakable. Inman was one of the stars of the classic British comedy that was set in a department store. He played Mr. Humphries, whose catchphrase was "I'm free." Not sure of the context of that catchphrase, but Inman was voted both the "Funniest Man on Television" and BBC TV's "Personality of the Year" in 1976.
Inman died in London earlier today from complications of Hepatitis A.
[thanks to Jon for the tip]
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