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Britcomedy Digest Vol 2 no 04
==================================
B R I T C O M E D Y D I G E S T
==================================
VOL. II OCT 1995
No. 4
A monthly electronic newsletter on British comedies.
What's Inside
=============
The Comedy Store Players Celebrate Ten Years
Eddie Izzard -- Part 2
Reviews:
* Eddie Izzard Live at the Shaftesbury Theatre
* Bottom: The Big Number 2 Tour
"Knowing Me, Knowing You"
Regular Departments:
===================
Mailbox
Britcomedy News
Spotted on the Internet
etc.
Circulation/Back Issues
Staff
=====
Managing Editor..................Melinda 'Bob' Casino
Co-Editor........................Michelle Street
Assistant Editor................ James Kew
Copy Editor......................Cynthia Edwards
Contributing writers: Jan Staff, Michelle Street, Caroline von Oosten de
Boer, Richard Vranch.
HTML logo by Nathan Gasser.
Britcomedy Digest (ISSN 1077-6680) Copyright (c) 1995 by Melinda Casino.
Reproduction for personal and non-profit use is permitted only if this
copyright notice is retained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without
permission. Britcomedy Digest may be uploaded without the editor's
permission to bulletin boards as long as it remains fully intact.
NOTICE: In order to preserve the integrity of Britcomedy Digest, use of
the "BRITCOMEDY DIGEST" name to gain interviews, etc., is forbidden
without the express permission of the Managing Editor.
EDITOR'S PAGE
=============
Since I'm in an Alan Partridge frame of mind I'll greet you with a hearty
"ah-HAA" from the good ol' Uncle US of Stateside. So what's up over here
this month? Well, even though my unhealthy obsession with the Melanie
Griffith/Tony Flags (excuse me, Antonio Banderas) romance* continues, the
show must go on and we've managed to put together an October BD full of
lots of treats and hopefully no tricks.
But first I do have some good news to report in the "much more sensible
and believable" romance department. My two BD compatriots, James "Thank"
Kew and Melinda "No Relation To The Upcoming DeNiro Movie" Casino were
joined in holy wedlock (along with, one must assume, their most excellent
collection of Britcomedy videos) on October 7th and I'd just like to take
this opportunity to wish them a happy life together and good luck in the
future.
What's in store in this month's BD? I must send a special thanks out to
Richard Vranch of "The Comedy Store Players" and "Whose Line Is It
Anyway?" He kindly took time out of his schedule to write an article
about the Tenth Anniversary of the Comedy Store Players and not to be
missed is the section where he smacks Tony Slattery around. (All right,
all right... I'm kidding)
Eddie Izzard fans will be happy -- nay, ecstatic -- as we have both the
conclusion of Caroline vonB's interview with Eddie as well as Jan Staff's
review of Izzard's current West End show. If you're into "Bottom" there's
also a review of the "Big Number 2 Tour" currently oozing its way through
the UK, more than likely fueled by gas power. There's also Alan Partridge,
Britcomedy News, and well... you get the picture. Just dig in and read.
-- Michelle Street
Co-Editor
* They were last spotted smooching away in Paris. I was sure you'd want
to know. :)
MAILBOX
=======
Does anyone have any information on actor Karl Howman who starred in the
BBC's "Mulberry" (1992/93) and for several seasons (c.1988-1990) in "Brush
Strokes"? He has a new series in production with Scottish Television: "Bad
Boys." I am writing an article on (what else!) British comedy and have had
miserable luck getting biographical information about him.
Margery Wilson, <WILS@mit.edu>
EDITOR'S RESPONSE: Fans can email Margery at the address above. While
you're at it, if you would be willing to write an article on "Mulberry"
and have the fame, prestige and power that results in having it appear in
BD, do email the editor at <melinda@badger.idiscover.co.uk>.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I really love "Chef." Please do an article on the members of the cast, any
information about the show, etc.
Leticha, <Lhill@hr.hq.nasa.gov>
EDITOR'S RESPONSE: Look for a review of "Chef" in the next issue of BD!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Spotted a slight (debatable) slip in the most recent issue. When discussing
"Men Behaving Badly," it was mentioned that a third series was due this
fall/autumn. Well, it'll actually be (I believe) the *fifth* series. There
have been two series on BBC, but the show was with ITV before that. I
think there were two series on ITV as well, before they inexplicably gave
it to the Beeb.
Also, Harry Enfield originally played opposite Martin Clunes.
MAD Mosher, a.k.a. That Long-haired Git
<irpurdie@bradford.ac.uk>
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I just wanted to say that I have just discovered Britcomedy Digest and it
is fantastic! It is usually hard to keep up with all my favorite British
shows living in Australia, but this is very informative,the only problem
is it's so depressing to read the Events Guide, as I'd desperately love to
go to the "Press Gang" convention (Oct 21 ) but it's a little out of the
question to pop half way around the world for it...
Keep up the good work, I'd love to write an article for the Digest one
day...
Sarah Jenkin-Bell, <Andrew@cbr.dwr.csiro.au>
EDITOR'S RESPONSE: Glad you enjoy BD. If you'd like to write about your
favorite British comedy -- either on radio, TV, film, book, or stage --
*please* contact me at: <melinda@badger.idiscover.co.uk>. We could sure
use the writers. :)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I just read the new issue of BD. This is great! Where have you been all my
life? Where have I been all your life? Where have I been all my life?
Suzanne Saunders, <ssaunder@ix.netcom.com>
Denver, Colorado
EDITOR'S RESPONSE: If *only* we'd met a few months ago -- I was a single
woman then! ;)
BRITCOMEDY NEWS
---------------
GREG PROOPS FORCED TO LEAVE THE UK
Popular "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" performer Greg Proops has been forced
to leave the United Kingdom due to immigration laws.
The Department of Employment refused to renew the American comic's work
permit on the grounds that he had apparently not been seeking employment
in his own country. This violates immigration rules which state that
American workers in the UK must also make themselves available for jobs in
their homeland.
Proops and his wife have returned to the States but are expected to return
to Britain in the New Year.
ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES NEED APPLY
We recently received information about a club for fans of "Only Fools and
Horses." Formed in 1993, it has just over 500 members. They put out
a quarterly newsletter called Hookie Street which contains news, reviews,
photos, and interviews.
The society is in regular contact with all the actors from the show, who
contribute to the magazine. Recent exclusive interviews include John
Challis ("Boycie"), Ken MacDonald ("Mike" the barman), John Sullivan
(writer), and Gareth Gwenlan (producer). They also run competitions and
prizes which come from their own range of merchandise (t-shirts, badges,
posters, etc.) The clubs archives include autographed photos from (nearly)
ever actor in the show, original scripts and props and even a yellow
Reliant van!
For more information contact Perry Aghajanoff at
<fools&horses@mail.bogo.co.uk>.
WHY "BOB?"
"Blackadder" fans are probably quite familiar with the character of "Bob,"
the young woman who disguised herself as man and then went on to become
the managing editor of an Internet ezine. (Ok, I con-FESS... that last
part isn't exactly true.)
Ben Elton recently gave some background on this character: "When we [Elton
and co-writer Richard Curtis] created a girl character, we deliberately
chose the name Bob because we knew what Rowan would do with it. He would
be the only comedian in the world who would take that name and do what he
did to it. We take credit for this entirely!"
--> Please send news items to Michelle Street at <michelle@cathouse.org> or
<mtstreet@prairienet.org>. Special thanks to BD Ace Reporter Michael
"Scoop" Clarkson.
============================================
THE COMEDY STORE PLAYERS CELEBRATE 10 YEARS
by Richard Vranch
============================================
The Comedy Store Players improv group celebrates 10 continuous years of
Sunday night shows at the London Comedy Store on 29th October 1995. They
have also played on Wednesday nights since 1989. The shows last two hours,
and are based on audience suggestions. They don't get suggestions in
advance, and every show is genuinely spontaneous and unique.
Of the original members, only Neil Mullarkey remains. Dave Cohen and Kit
Hollerbach soon left (replaced by Paul Martin who became Paul Merton) and
in 1986 Mike Myers went off to Second City, then Saturday Night Live and
Wayne's World.
The six players are now Neil Mullarkey, Paul Merton, Richard Vranch, Josie
Lawrence, Lee Simpson and Jim Sweeney. If anyone has to miss a show they
are replaced a guest, for example Greg Proops, Mike Myers (when in London)
Andy Smart, Tony Hawks, Mike McShane, Siobhan Finneran, Caroline Quentin
and Tony Slattery, to name only a few.
All six Players have appeared on the TV improv show "Whose Line Is It
Anyway?" The early shows featured the Players heavily since they already
had 3 years experience of improv, though Lee and Neil only appeared once
each (in Series 2, 1989) and Richard only gets to improvise the music --
very frustrating since Richard is an actor who plays a full part in the
games as well as the music at the Comedy Store. Despite the claims of
various disgracefully inaccurate WWW "Whose Line" sites, there are only
six Comedy Store Players, as listed above, and John Sessions was never one
of them! They've tried to get these errors changed. Any suggestions?
The Players also do theatre shows around the UK to crowds of up to 2300,
and they all combine improv with a variety of other work...
Neil is about to star in a TV sketch show, and he has just directed a
theatre show. He also writes screenplays and books, and used to have a
double act with Mike Myers.
Paul made his name as a brilliant stand-up comic, but he now has a
successful topical comedy show on BBC TV called "Have I Got News For You?"
He recently did a live tour and a season at the London Palladium in a
sketch show written and performed with Lee and Richard.
Richard has presented a science series on Channel 4 TV, and has toured the
world from Mexico to the Occupied West Bank as an actor in various comedy
shows. He has a Physics Ph.D. and a double act with Tony Slattery.
Josie is currently Kate in "The Taming Of The Shrew" at the Royal
Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, and is recording the third
series of the popular cricketing TV comedy "Outside Edge." Like Paul, she
had her own series on Channel 4 TV, and has done several movies.
Jim has been improvising professionally for 21 years, as well as appearing
in children's TV shows (something all the Players have done at one time or
another), plays and comedy series. He was in the original cast of Richard
O'Brien's follow-up the "The Rocky Horror Show."
Lee has done lots of acting in plays (which he often co-devises), TV
series and films. He recently began a new job as the Breakfast DJ on the
new commercial radio station in London, Heart 106.2 FM.
All the Players do commercials, voice-overs and BBC radio panel games.
Yet you'll have to come to the Comedy Store to see them all together, a
group of old friends having fun doing improv. It's never been recorded
for audio or video, and the 400 seats do sell fast. It's still a bit of a
cult thing, and as long as the Players are having fun, and the audience is
laughing, they'll keep doing it.
###
The Comedy Store is located near Leicester Square at Haymarket House, No. 1
Oxendon Street, London SW1. Their web page is at
http://micromedia.co.uk/comedy.
KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU
----------------------- by Michelle Street
It all began when my friend George kept going and on about this show
"Knowing Me, Knowing You." I didn't have much of a clue as to what it
was, but he said it was great and promised to send me the cassettes.
True to his word, three tapes arrived a few weeks later on a beautiful
spring day. I decided to listen to the first episode on my Walkman while
I took a stroll.
Bad move. If I didn't have a reputation as the village loony before, I
did following that walk. I'm not saying I was laughing hard, but there
were people yelling out their windows: "Hey, you wanna shut up? I'm
trying to hear my new Metallica CD!" Many more just peered out their
curtains and shook their head.
I then listened to the other episodes in the privacy of my own home and
understood why George had raved. This was damn funny stuff. It is not easy
to parody something which, in essence, has already become a parody of
itself but, like Garry Shandling's "The Larry Sanders Show," this show
succeeds beautifully in taking the piss out of the chat show format and
the peculiar people who inhabit it.
The "star" of "KMKY" is Perrier Award winner Steve Coogan, who plays Alan
Partridge. An extraordinarily talented comic and impressionist, Coogan
started out doing voices for "Spitting Image" and first introduced the
character of Partridge as a sports presenter on the Radio 4 comedy series
"On The Hour."
One gets the impression that Coogan is more comfortable facing the audience
as one of his many characters than as himself. Like Peter Sellers, he
completely inhabits every character he creates. From the details and
subtle nuances, it is obvious that Coogan has given a lot of thought and
care to character development.
And what a character Alan Partridge is. He is described as the talk show
host from hell and proves it every time someone sits down to be
interviewed. He is openly smug and disdainful towards his guests. He tells
them to "shut up" and goes so far as to accuse one of his guests of being
unable to father children.
The characters who brave Alan's show are a motley assortment, including a
member of the royal family, one of Hollywood's legendary show-biz couples,
and an eighty-four year old Lord with whom Alan has the following
exchange:
Alan: You've just published your autobiography. What's that about?
Lord Morgan: It's about my life, you ass.
A little later Alan asks Lord Morgan about his adolescence.
Alan: What was that like?
Lord Morgan: Like childhood... but with more pubic hair.
Finally, Alan asks why the Lord has been such an outspoken defender of
pornography:
Lord Morgan: What a man chooses to do in the privacy
of his own attic is his business alone.
Perhaps the best episode has Alan getting flustered by nine-year old child
prodigy Simon Fisher. Pretentious and snotty to the bone, Simon makes the
fatal error of showing off his knowledge:
Simon: Have you seen "Hamlet?"
Alan: Yes, I have.
Simon: I saw it with Alan Rickman. Who did you see it with?
Alan: My wife Carol.
But a clip around the ear from Alan sets Simon straight and by the end of
the program he has been so harangued by Alan and the other guests that he
wets his pants.
Just reading the scripts does not give you a good impression of what goes
on here. As in much of British comedy, the laughs don't come from
one-liners but from the quality of the acting and the subtleties of
character. This is definitely a case of
it's-not-what-you-say-but-how-you-say-it. Listening to Partridge cheerily
introduce a guest as "still suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome"
is absolutely priceless.
That isn't to say that the scripts aren't a terrific skewering of show-biz
pretensions and artificiality. They *are* and part of the fun is figuring
out what real life figures are being parodied. The character of Shirley
Dee, an aging sexpot with connections to the underworld, is probably based
on "Carry On" star Barbara Windsor, who had connections to the Kray
Brothers. And perhaps the character of the "funny voice man impressionist"
Steve Thompson is Steve Coogan's look at his own early career.
It's all part of the bluring of reality and art which KMKY does so well,
sort of similar to the "Saturday Night Live" commercial parodies. This was
taken to even greater heights on the parody news programmes "On The Hour"
and "The Day Today," so it should come as no suprise that all of these are
all the product of a group of people who, like "The Young Ones/Comic
Strip" group, enjoy working together and have formed a clique.
The gang who provide fabulous support to Coogan are Patrick Marber, Rebecca
Front, Doon McKichan, and David Schneider. In fact, since they are
responsible for creating so many different characters their job is almost
harder than that of Coogan, who stays put, so to speak, as Partridge. They
deserve a lot of credit for the show's success.
Also given credit for extra material is the man with the coolest name in
the universe -- Armando Iannucci. (If he has problems getting dates with
*that* name then there is something seriously wrong.) Iannucci is a bit of
a jacks of all trades. He was the producer of KMKY and also worked with
Chris Morris and Peter Baynham on "The Day Today" and "On The Hour." And
he had a weekly column in "The Guardian" newspaper. Last summer saw his
debut as a presenter when he fronted a satirical show called "Saturday
Night Armistice." Despite his presence along with that of both David
Schneider and Peter Baynham, the show didn't quite live up to
expectations.
After being both on Radio 4 and (as Alan Partridge always dreamed of while
on the radio) BBC2, a new series of "Knowing Me, Knowing You" would no
doubt be welcome by its fans. However, Coogan seems determined not to let
himself get typecast as Partridge. He has made a couple of successful
programs playing the characters of Paul and Pauline Calf, most notably
"Three Fights, Two Weddings, and A Funeral," which was nominated for
several BAFTA awards last year. Coogan also toured, showing off some new
characters, which resulted in the "Steve Coogan Live and Lewd" video.
Up next, however, Coogan is set to play "Mole" in the Terry Jones
version of "The Wind In The Willows." He'll also return to TV in the
eagerly anticipated "Coogan's Run."
To read some of the KMKY episodes, and explore some other Alan Partridge
web sites, visit The cathouse.org British Comedy Pages at
http://www.cathouse.org/BritishComedy/.
###
Thanks to Paul Rhodes for supplying additional information.
KING EDDIE THE FIRST... DOING HIS OWN SWEET THING
-------------------------------------------------
by Caroline von B, <vonb@xs4all.nl>
The conclusion of an article about the life and career of Eddie Izzard.
When I talk to him on the phone, Izzard sounds decidedly "southern/posh" to
my only half-trained ears. His voice was different on stage and again for
"Have I Got News for You" and Radio 4's "Missed Demeanors." If his "self"
is so strongly present, then which is the voice that goes with said
"self"?
"Oh really? Well I think I have my noooormal... well I don't know, perhaps
I'm just Zelig... the Woody Allen character, but... I can change it
around, I do find that if I go down a market place, I will sort of crush
the vowel sound a bit more, or something... I'll move it around. And also
when I go into stand-up I sort of jump around from weird strangulated
voice to another one. But I think that... there's supposed to be a central
one that's me, but perhaps it gets lost in there."
Sometimes the central Eddie tends to resort to French on-stage --
everybody knows his "la singe est dans l'arbre" skit -- and during the
interview. He has his eye on Europe and he recently played two nights in
Amsterdam. Does he feel the need to expand?
"I like languages. Eventhough my Dutch only goes as far as 'poffertjes'...
which I've had for the first time, even though I'd seen them before... I
didn't realise... I had some in Amsterdam and.... they're hugely doughy! I
like languages, I like to try and have a go in different languages
eventhough if you do it in Dutch everyone will just go 'yes, we can speak
English, just shut up!', and so I wanted to play there and other places in
Northern Europe, I think, you know, in Belgium people might go for
stand-up as well. I mean I'd like it if stand-up was all across Europe,
but it's tricky because of the language thing and people thinking: 'How
dare you come in and fucking speak in a different language!' I'm wary of
that, but I just know, you'd have to learn such a truckload of different
languages, you know... rock and roll, everybody can just go around a do it
and sing in English and everyone just goes 'yeah, fine no problem.' But
the Dutch seem to swing with it, cause everyone's English is so good."
This is a common misconception. The thing with the Dutch is that a large
percentage of them have a basic grasp of English. Not many have enough to
be able to follow 2 hours of stand-up comedy. During the interval in
Eddie's show, some Dutch people, who couldn't keep up, left, leaving the
odds strongly in favour of the Brits -- around 60 to 70%. It caused some
hilarity when Eddie expressed his surprise at the audience's level of
comprehension. "That's because we're all English!" someone replied. Would
Eddie be prepared to slow down to draw a bigger audience?
"Really? I had slowed down... but yes, I would go even slower, but when
you just come straight in it is ... I just misjudged it. But yeah, I would
go as slow as need be, I wanna get as many Dutch people... I don't wanna
come and play to English and American people. Yeah, I would slow down as
much as need be, to get as many people as possible, without getting down
to a crawling number. I just want to keep coming back and building and
building, as opposed to just going there once and going away and expecting
something to just happen. I mean in London, well, I started in 1980, now
it's 15 years later now I've managed to get an audience..."
If all goes well, he'll soon be drawing another audience altogether as he
starts showing his stuff on the big screen.
"I wanna play kind of Tim Roth/Gary Oldman kind of areas. That's where I
want to go into... that's what I like. Film is a big love of mine.
Shitheads I like doing, in serious acting anyway, and playing American
characters and doing an American accent, so therefore not doing an
'English-person-abroad' kind of thing, I'd like doing that as well. But
I've got to feel my way in those parts. I'm doing a film called 'Secret
Agent' later this year, directed by Christopher Hampton who just did
Carrington -- which made a lot of noise down at the Cannes film festival.
He won 'prix-de-jury' and Jonathan Price won best actor. And Gerry
Depardieu is in it, Bob Hoskins and Robin Williams. It's a small part,
it's only two/three days filming, so I'll just be at the back waving. But
I just love film."
Taking his act to the big screen may seem a big step, but nothing can beat
the giant leap of coming out, which is what Eddie did ten years ago at the
age of 23 and again on-stage, three years ago.
"It's a difficult thing to do, because it's so visual," Eddie tells me.
Not many people come out transvestite -- and it's even more rare in
showbiz. There's the Dutch novelist Maarten 't Hart, who, a few years
back, came out for the whole country to see, at a literary gala night.
There was the film director Ed Wood, currently the subject of a feature
film. It's important to Eddie, taking a lot of focus (which he says
shouldn't really happen, but unfortunately does) yet it is the one thing
he would least publicise himself on. It would confuse too many people. On
stage, he wants to be as casual, as "fuck off" as possible about it -- but
admits that one of the reasons he'd rather not see the audience during
performance is that it could throw him, especially if he's doing
something difficult on being transvestite.
When I probe him about his stand-up and whether he will always make being
tv part of it he answers: "Maybe, maybe not. It's something that's true
and it's me." Does he feel a responsibility? "No, no responsibility. Just
information, you know, what do people know about being tv? Nothing." Would
he be prepared to go as far as explaining in detail what it means to him,
just to educate people? "Yes. Probably in print, more likely than on
stage, on stage it would get really boring..."
In Holland, transvestism has become marketable. It has become "in" to be
tv or rather, "in" to be a drag queen. We have a prime time television
show called "The Transvestite Show," which is really a drag queen thing --
electing a "Miss Transvestite" and "Best Drag Act" each week. In
Amsterdam, drag cabaret and tv-bars have become quite popular. Irish
singer Gavin Friday, who is no stranger to flamboyant attire himself, sees
it as a fin-de-siecle thing, "As the world goes under, they are the
pom-pom girls." It's a romantic view -- but there is another side. There's
a kind of commercialising going on which is okay -- introducing different
lifestyles to the masses, but doesn't seem really very helpful for the
average closet tv, who sees himself up against a larger-than-life image.
Entertainment without information can only confuse the man in the street.
"Yeah. There was a period, just recently, where it went through this, with
gay people and aids... all these drag balls happening... Journalists
always look for movements, and perhaps there was a wave just because
everybody started talking about a wave... but I just came out, in '85. I'm
doing my own sweet thing. If this thing doesn't happen, if there is a
'scene' and a bubble burst in that 'scene,' that has nothing to do with
me. My thing is just purely coming out and just trying to knit being tv
into society, cause that's the trouble. Gay and lesbian people have
knitted being gay and lesbian into society. They say: 'Look, this is our
sexuality, it's got nothing to do with our work, more to do with play, or
life, or whatever. We work in a bookshop, we're only good at selling
books, that's the point, and then we have a sexuality which has nothing to
do anyone except us.' You know, and then... heterosexuals they go off and
play rugby or play bridge and go and snog people of the opposite sex in
straight bars and they do their thing and it has nothing to do with their
job. So that's what they've done: they've separated sex and sexuality from
what they do for a living. That's what I'll do: I'll work, and I'll wear
the clothes I want to wear and it's got nothing to do with my stand-up and
from now on, in fact, I'm not going to talk about it. I only talked about
being tv there in Holland, because otherwise people would go 'What the
fuck's he wearing that for?'"
[Amsterdam is the place where people would be least likely to stop and
wonder about someone's appearance. -- CvB]
"It's just information, you know. Once people have worked it all out... it
will never be everyone. There'll still be people, 10, 15, 20 of them will
be saying: 'What, so you're a drag queen?' 'No! Fucking hell! There's been
thousands of column inches on this, haven't you fucking read anything?'"
Eddie's line of reasoning is that by western standard there are no female
transvestites -- and therefore he says there are no male ones either. He
has come out tv, but does not call himself tv. He does not wear 'women's
clothing,' he just wears what he wants to wear. But isn't it more about
how people feel themselves, rather than how the world perceives them? If
there are men who feel the need to genderfuck, there are women as well.
There is no label for women with similar needs - and although not even
having a label to stick on yourself can be quite confusing, women can get
away with more without attracting too much attention. There's less fear of
getting your head kicked in, or people shouting at you. All in all it
perhaps is a little easier on women.
"Yes. This is my point. There are two sides to it. One is how people feel
and the other is how people perceive it. Tv people are a minority, and it
is really... I think the bigger problem with trying to knit being tv into
society is dealing with people who are not tv and how they perceive it.
Because they are the people who have no information at all, so how can
they make a judgement? Tv people have their own decisions or hang-ups and
whatever and that's a separate thing. If I can put out logical points for
the people who are not tv, so they can go 'oh yeah, that's a point, we are
cooler on women who wear trousers, so why are we so fucked about men who
wear skirts'... if you can put that out so they go 'Yeah, why do we do
that, we're kind of odd doing that,' and just point out indiscrepancies
like that, then maybe people can just bring down barriers. Or force
themselves to bring down their own barriers, which is what you got to do
-- because you can't force them, they have to choose to bring it down
themselves. Then perhaps you can make some progress with people seeing
'Oh, it's more relaxed now, and there are people and they're tv, and
they're tv and no one is giving them hassle, so I'll come out.' And that's
what you got to encourage. We got to get people, you know, in their teens
and in their early twenties look towards coming out."
And with that, the terminally busy Izzard bids us farewell -- off to
consider more projects. He mentions wanting to write a book at some stage,
but admits he hasn't come to terms with the writing process yet. His
sit-com "The Cows," co-written with Nick Whitby, should come to a small
screen near you by September this year.
###
The author maintains "The Eddie Izzard Sort Of Groovy Homepage" at
http://www.xs4all.nl/~pj/izzard.html.
====================================================
Review: Eddie Izzard Live At The Shaftesbury Theatre
by Jan Staff
====================================================
Eddie Izzard is back! And where better to see him than in a place where he
enjoys himself as much as the audience enjoys him -- on stage in London's
West End.
I had the good fortune to do just that when I attended Eddie's "Definite
Article" tour at the Shaftesbury Theatre shortly after it opened on
October 10th. But Eddie fans need not worry -- there is still plenty of
time to see him before the final curtain call on December 16th, though
whether tickets will be available is another question. They are selling
very quickly, and the show is receiving very good reviews. As well it
should.
In certain respects this a case of "the more things change the more they
stay the same." Without giving away too much, Eddie has altered the
entrance he used on previous tours and the new one is magnificent. A less
desirable change, however, is that the amount of social commentary that he
allows himself has decreased. This is regrettable because he has the
ability to express some brilliant insights on important topics.
Nevertheless, Izzard fans will certainly appreciate the usual "bollocks on
top of bollocks" presented almost the same as his last two video releases.
Basically, Eddie is as "Izzardish" as before or maybe even more. He's
purified his timing, his appearance, and his "acting" since his last stage
show -- all for the better.
And those of you who aren't an Eddie fan? Go see this show if possible or
at the very least get ahold of one of his live videos. Chances are good
that you'll come away a convert.
===================
Review: BOTTOM LIVE
by Jan Staff
===================
At first I thought Edina Monsoon must be in charge of publicity for the
tour appropriately titled "Bottom: The Big Number 2 Tour." When I
collected my ticket the day of the show there was no sign of that
evening's performance. No poster, no program, no anything.
Yet somehow word had gotten round because the Brighton Dome was almost
full to capacity when the title tune started and the curtain raised to
give a glimpse of a crappy, unhealthy flat. The audience cheered and it
wasn't because they were thinking "Hey, this is just like where I live!"
No, they were applauding the expected arrival of their two favourite
bummed out blokes -- Richie (Rik Mayall) and Eddie (Adrian Edmondson).
The "Bottom" tours are an offspring of the successful television series
written by and starring Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson. If you're familiar
with their characters from "The Young Ones" or "Filthy Rich and Catflap,"
then you've got the idea of "Bottom," where potty gags and juvenile
crudeness abound.
When Mayall and Edmondson made their appearance the applause grew even
louder and the first thing I noticed was their ability to handle their
audience. They have a good sense of how the crowd is going to react and
the best ways to deal with them.
The guys use this tour to make the most of the fact that they are free
from the limitations of television. The amount of dirty jokes and extra
genitalia gags gives the impression that they used this tour to let off
steam from their more "clean" BBC writing.
The only weak point of the Bottom Tour is the weakness of the plot. There
is even less of a story being told than on the first stage tour, and it's
not really enough to justify a one-and-a half hour show. Yet that didn't
keep the audience from having a good time and participating in the fun.
"Have a wank!" rose from the crowd every time Richie asked "What shall I
do?" and there was also a resurrection of the classic "Hah! You missed
*both* my legs!" gag from "The Young Ones."
The laughter and cheering from the amused audience made it clear that they
felt they had gotten their money's worth.
To get the dates for the "Bottom Live" tour, point your web browser to:
http://www.cathouse.org/CathousePeople/MelindaCasino/.
###
QUOTE-O'-THE-MONTH:
===================
With thanks, again, to Ralph G. Johnson <RALPH@fis1.qc.edu>.
"You'll have to get married one day. You can't be
happy all your life."
CHARACTER: Alec (or Alex) Callender
SHOW: "May to December"
SPOTTED ON THE INTERNET
=======================
Thanks to David B. Feland <decibel@tibalt.supernet.ab.ca>.
=============================== ("`-''-/").___..--''"`-._
David B. Feland `6_ 6 ) `-. ( ).`-.__.`)
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (_Y_.)' ._ ) `._ `. ``-..-'
decibel@tibalt.supernet.ab.ca _..`--'_..-_/ /--'_.' ,' (If I'm "lion",
=============================== (il),-'' (li),' ((!.-' I'm dyin'!)
__________________________________________________________________________
etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc
__________________________________________________________________________
GOODIES-L is a discussion mailing list for fans of the men who sang that
classic pub song, "Jolly Rock." Join the fun by sending a message to
LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM with "subscribe GOODIES-L firstname_lastname" in
the body. (Example: subscribe GOODIES-L Bill Oddie) For more info. see:
http://www.cathouse.org/BritishComedy/Goodies/FanClub/Info/GOODIES-L.html
or send an inquiry email note to <goodies@badger.idiscover.co.uk>.
__________________________________________________________________________
WANTED: Fan seeks episode guides of all sorts, but esp. to "Allo, 'Allo"
series 6-9. Please contact Jeff at <peck@dickinson.edu>
__________________________________________________________________________
Jeffrey Rice <JRICE@pluto.pomona.edu> has put a "One Foot In The Grave"
episode guide on the web at http://www.webcom.com/~jrice/grave.html
__________________________________________________________________________
Brian Clay <brian@clay.dungeon.com> has recently expanded his BRITTAS
EMPIRE pages! Now you can "share the dream" by visiting "The Whitbury New
Town Leisure Centre" at: http://www.dungeon.com/~clay/gordon4.html
__________________________________________________________________________
Check out Susan Goetcheus' <susan@atria.com> "Whose Line is it Anyway?"
page, at http://id.wing.net/~susang/wliia.html
__________________________________________________________________________
CIRCULATION/SUBSCRIPTIONS:
==========================
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===
End
