From Media Guardian, yesterday. I am a bit behind the times…

Morris writes with Peep Show duo
John Plunkett Tuesday August 28, 2007 MediaGuardian.co.uk

Chris Morris, the creator of Brass Eye, is joining forces with Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, the writers behind Peep Show.The trio are working on an as yet untitled project, the details of which are being kept secret. But given their respective track records, the collaboration between the three will be hotly anticipated. Bain and Armstrong are currently working on the fifth series of Channel 4’s Peep Show, while Morris’s last TV project was Channel 4 sitcom Nathan Barley.
The Peep Show writers are also working on a second pilot of the show for US TV.
The first, for Fox, did not become a series and had little involvement from its UK production company, Objective. The second pilot is being made for American cable network, Spike.
Armstrong refused to reveal further details about the project with Morris. “I can’t say anything more at the moment. Chris will announce further details when he wants to,” he said.

Bain and Armstrong made their big screen debut earlier this year with Magicians, featuring Peep Show stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb. Their other writing credits include The Thick of It, That Mitchell and Webb Look for BBC2 and Smack the Pony. Nathan Barley did not receive the acclaim of Morris’s previous work, including Brass Eye, The Day Today, and Jam. He was most recently seen on screen in Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd, written by Graham Linehan.

Objective was bought by All3Media earlier this month in a deal estimated to be worth up to £50m. It also makes Channel 4’s Star Stories and Derren Brown’s TV shows.

With thanks to Chris from Bandwagon Best for pointing it out, here’s another Rather Great DVD that is coming forth..

It’s out on 29th October.

It appears that Thursday evening on BBC2 is to be the James Bachman Hour. Following a new episode of Saxondale (which I gave a second chance this week and am sticking with, after a shaky start last year) at 9:30pm is a repeat of That Mitchell And Webb Look (at 10) , instead of what right-minded people hoped would be the new series. Still, at least the Radio Times made it one of their picks of the day and for a repeat to get that accolade is pretty damn rare:

That Mitchell and Webb Look Thursday 30 August
10:00pm – 10:30pm
BBC2
1/6
Lovers of Radio 4’s That Mitchell & Webb Sound will almost certainly adore the TV version, first shown on BBC2 last year and the surprise winner of the 2006 best comedy series Bafta. All of the stupidity, surrealism and fun of the radio version make a smooth transfer to television, and stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb have a whale of a time, whether playing corpulent snooker commentators or selfdoubting Nazis. Sketch shows can be hit and miss, but this scores more bullseyes than most.

RT reviewer – Alison Graham

I was going to post this tomorrow but Chris left a comment about it so here it is now:


5th November sees the next (4th) Peep Show DVD and therefore yet another box set.

Abigail Burdess aka Mrs Webb aka one half of Bachman & Burdess from The Two Faces Of Mitchell And Webb aka… (you get the idea) is up in Edinburgh at the moment doing her one woman show. As she is of the female persuasion and is in the singular. Anyway, comedy website Chortle have reviewed it as as I’m not going myself I thought I would be lazy and post it here:

Abigail Burdess’s character show is the very definition of a mixed bag. Some brilliantly funny moments share equal billing with some tired old nonsense in a very scattergun show. For every old joke about astrology or sucking on a Fisherman’s Friend, there’s a brilliant Brit-rap in the style of Lily Allen or a great range of utterly inappropriate greeting cards. Her creations tend to be exaggerated caricatures, whether it’s the hippy Buddhist with strangulated vowels and indeterminable accent, the ruthlessly hard-edged Scottish businesswoman, or the creepy Leeds hoodie. But they tend to be pitched at just the wrong level, gratingly annoying rather than flamboyantly over-the top. Tellingly, the show works best at the extremes of energy: when she’s being absolutely outrageous, or quietly low-key.

At the bottom end of the spectrum, the modest character linking each sketch with quirky nuggets of usually hilarious home-spun wisdom from her grandmother is endearing. The trite mechanic is that she suffers a multiple personality disorder, and the other characters are figments of that, but it’s irrelevant. At the other end, the judgmental Brummie diversity trainer provides good un-PC laughs after a long build-up and the finale – a Bart Simpson inspired ventriloquist act that literally brings the house down is a riot, even though one of the central jokes (that it’s done in a burkha) isn’t entirely fresh.

Burdess, one half of Live at the Mausoleum, has just enough great jokes in her debut solo show for it to be worth a look. But she needs firmer direction, tighter editing and more of a sense of purpose about her comedy attitude if she wants a show that really stands out.

Reviewed by: Steve Bennett

We got to to TV Centre way too early as usual as you never know whether the tubes will be rubbish, pitiful or appalling. Today they were great which did not compute and led to us eating sandwiches in a queue of two at four. The queue grew when some men who had been in a pub turned up way too early for the Mark Wootton thing that was being recorded that night too. They didn’t seem to know much about what they were going to see but then if they did they probably wouldn’t have come… I told them who he is (annoying), what he has done before (meh) and a bit about the two pilots for the new show that were both not sell-outs in the world of freebie tickets.They seemed a tad unimpressedand I thought they wished they were seeing Mitchell and Webb instead.

We were then joined by Clive (from the hardcore fans of the front row) and his friend Daren (with only one R). Cue more eating, standing and seeing last week’s warm-up aka Pete Cain go past. I was spotted by a MySpace M&W fan (Sonia) who has become a bit of an an online chum and then greeted by a friend of Mr Mitchell himself who recognised me as “the blogger” and told me that she liked the blog. More infamy! But nice.

We eventually go through security and into the bar. I achieve the completely geeky goal of getting a ‘1′ sticker on my ticket as I am the sad bastard who gets stickered first. Little things do please little minds, oh yes.

All goes well until they announce the usual spiel about numbers 1 to 50 to go to the door. It’s always been Door B and that’s where we sit but damnit (in a Jack Bauer style) it’s Door C tonight. So we’re right at the back and whingeing like children. Inside the studio I can see that the usual filming for DVD documentaries is being done but I don’t have a very good view… unlike the view of the screens which is excellent. Swings and roundabouts. But no slides. In a change to the usual routine, Super Producer Gareth Edwards does a grand entrance! Is he going to do his infamous ‘fire exits’ routine? No, as Warm-Up Pete does those, but he is introducing a random bit where they film the audience clapping for a sketch involving a bad chat show. Pete picks on James from the audience front row for his usual ‘dark material’ bit, we are near the back so hurrah.

Studio Set 1:
Rob is wearing a long wig, David has a short wig, they go to the set around the back which nobody can see. It’s the ‘Ad Music’ sketch from the radio episode 2. Is this the new ‘Touching Cloth’? It’s a bit of an odd choice to film but we like it enough.

VT1:
Three chunks of a sketch that was rehearsed at The Drill Hall involving a Hollywood remake of a classic book. We love this one and it’s nice and long (but chopped up) as well as very silly. Jo Neary is in it as the female lead.
Two ‘behind the scenes’ bits which are a bit cruel to David.
A new sketch that gets a bit racist.
Something involving Numberwang but not in a bad way at all.
An old radio sketch (S2E6) with the lazy writers and their Heartwarming British Underdog movie. This is another long sketch. We like long sketches.

Warm-Up Pete does his “killing people” routine.

Studio Set2: A chat show, hosted by Barunka O’Shaughnessy and David.
This is a sketch from The Drill Hall that everyone loved. It’s still good although Dan Gordon has now been renamed Phil Gallows as maybe his old name was a bit too similar to the target. Hmmm… There are a few fluffed lines from both David and Robert and then’s it’s almost VT time again.

Warm-up Pete mentions me being the first in the queue when he wandered past earlier in the day and thinks my 84 t-shirt (with Optimus Prime on it) is an “R4 t-shirt.” I’m too far away to explain clearly and am not shouty enough. I seem to always get involved.

VT2:
More behind the scenes sketches.
A new Sir Digby sketch with a familiar gag about a certain sandwich shop.
A new long sketch (yay!) that is a bit historical and weird.
The first of three shorts set in a lab.

Studio Set 3: The news set from week one is back! They do, as like before, mostly remakes of recent radio material.
Radio Episode 1’s “Over To You 1” in ONE TAKE!!!
Radio Episode 1’s “Over To You 2 and 3″ with lots of re-takes due to Rob’s fiddly dialogue and some hair and make-up issues. David’s wig is hurting and “Imminent molecular evaporation” is very hard to get right.

VT3:
Another new Numberwang sketch which again is not a repeat of previous ideas. Phew. With Olivia, James, Mark, Toby and Colosson The Robot. This is another long sketch.
The other two short lab sketches.
Some more behind the scenes stuff.
Three linked short mockumentaries. With CG shots!
A new and long and funny and weird sketch that is rather pink.
A new Lazy Writers sketch that made us laugh a lot: WWW.Whatever.com.

Back to Studio Set 3 again for a remake of the sketch from Radio (Series 2 Episode 4) involving a man whose wife died in train crash interviewed about train safety.

VT4:
A new police-themed sketch.
Another horse sketch, like ones in previous recordings.
Two more sketches from the tasteless reality show idea that began at the last recording.
Some more behind the scenes stuff.
The return of Jason Format from series 1 in an unsurprising new format. In two parts.
A new sketch about extreme negative feedback that has some great slapstick in it.

And then back again to Studio Set 3 for a remake of the radio (series 1 Episode 5) sketch where an MP is interviewd about his bill to increase the wages of MPs.
After lots of reshoots for dialogue plus hair and make-up touch ups, fiddling with ties and so on it is all over. It’s ten 0′clock. I really need the toilet by now…

… and that IS Numberwang. I checked.

That Mitchell And Webb Look series two will not transmitted until February!!! Bah!

It’s rather odd to find yourself tagged in a picture on Facebook and end up in an album list that includes some (of your own specific) heroes of comedy. But that’s what happened. Here I am at Studio 8 last Friday evening. It’s like one of those Spot The Ball competitions from the newspaper from the 1980s. Except I do not resemble a ball at all.*

‘Dan, caretaker of That Mitchell and Webb Log spots I am photographing the front row of the audience and its cargo of super-fans.’

Cheers, Bachman. I shall mention that the new series of Saxondale begins next Thursday for that.

*Well, maybe a little bit.

I got to TV Centre a little bit later than last week as there was a delay due to “a train smoking at Mile End.” Naughty train. By the time I got there, after finally listening to the first episode of Flight Of The Conchords (at last! Very good) there were already a few people queueing. Luckily, two of them were Husband Jamie and That Cheryl so I joined them and ate some bananas while we waited for various other people to join our enormous group. And they did. In the bar and seating area I decided to buy Bruiser from the BBC shop as I hadn’t got it yet and it was signed. Such a fanboy! I said hello to the Dalek that was guarding the precious things and then sat down for a bit longer.


Skip (not literally, more of a slow stroll, with some people in front of us wheeling suitcases for reasons unknown. Maybe they though it was an airport. Well there was a WH Smith near the studio!) to Studio 8 where we go in and get some nice front row seats that have a good view of the set but a lousy view of the screens. Can’t have everything, I guess. Warm-up man Pete comes on and is not Jeff/Geoff from last week. He informs us that he is going to be doing “dark material” as that is what we allegedly like. He then chats to the man with the over-sized hat and the suitcase who has not got on the plane but ended up in the front row of a comedy recording. As you do.

David and Rob come on. David does the odd thing about helping people watching this alone at home to join in with the laughter and Rob mentions the “hardcore lot at the front” which brings us no shame at all. The first studio sketch is something that was performed at The Drill Hall practice session thing and involves clips of films and some men talking aobut them. No spoilers here (except the line “Do puppies have Christmas?”) but we liked it the first time we saw it and we liked it again.

After the live bit comes the first chunk of VT:
A new sketch where David does a new voice (Yay!) for an eccentric that is split into many parts.
The first half of a new sketch involving a lack of pants.
The return of something we liked from series one, the early days of television, in the shape of Elevenses Television.
Some more of David’s eccentric.
The other part of the one involving nudity.

VT chunk the second followed:
A new ‘behind the scenes’ bit.
David’s new eccentric character again.
That horse from last week in a different situation.
The ‘Little Date’ man in the library sketch, from radio series 3 episode 6 (with Judith from Ideal aka Jo Neary) .
Eccentric, again.
A new sketch involving satire of reality shows that wasn’t actually all that funny. Sorry.

Studio Sketch 2 was next, and was actually a whole run of sketches using the office set. This involved using some material from the radio and the Drill Hall with new material and putting it all together as some new characters (Colin and Ray) who were also rather familiar.
Sketch one includes the line “Is the kidnapper there at all?” and several re-takes. We get a good view of the autocues for this and are hypnotised by the scrolling funny words. Then the stage hands changed the clock on the wall, ready for the next sketch. During that one some Ritz crackers positioning causes a re-take. The set is then re-dressed with football items. Run VT:

VT chunk the third featured:
A new sketch involving an interesting attempt at matchmaking at a dinner party.
The first two in a series of four similarly-themed short historical sketches, from The Drill Hall session..
An old popular character that is verging into Little Britain territory with his limited format.
The lovely horse, again.
Something long and weird and funny that starts with soup but ends with something bizarre.
Some more behind the scenes bits.

The re-dressing of Colin and Ray’s office set was complete so they recorded some more there. The next one was a remake of the recent radio sketch (s3e1) originally set in a pub about how people refer to their football team as “we” taken to extreme levels. We have seen it being performed before but we liked it and we provided more claps and laughter. David somehow managed to call it “footfall” at one point so we had to start again. There was a break for a costume change so it was time for more clips:

VT Segment 4:
Two more of the short similar historical sketches.
Part two of the long weird good sketch that started off with soup. Like all good meals.
Another sketch from The Drill Hall, set in a hospital (gotta get your value for money from the locations) and featuring a great Olivia Colman (who wasn’t there tonight) performance.

Back to the office set for a fourth Colin and Ray one about technology that was interrupted first by a technology problem and then later by the amount of difficult lines that were hard to get right. Some good potential blooper reel stuff here. Then a flipchart board was brought out to the set for the next bit and the office clock was changed again.

There was a tiny (fifth) VT Segment that consisted only of another one of the reality show sketches that was again all rather obvious but featured an ‘expert’ who may have been played by Barunka O’Shaughnessy. We could hardly see the screens as we were sat in the centre of the front row.

The fifth Colin and Ray sketch featured Mark Evans (from Evans & Bachman and all those radio shows, sitcoms,etc) as a “17th Century or Victorian or whatever” man. He seemed a natural so I imagine he goes out to buy coffees like that all the time. This sketch included a good rant about the Princess Diana industry which made certain people in the front row very happy. Rob messed up a massive speech, Mark had to re-take his entrance several times, they added a line about pork pie vapour flavoured coffee and went off to check if the recording was ok…

We got shown a crowd-pleasing sketch on the screens that we saw last week, then everyone came back on to say they were finished so that was the end. Our legs had gone to sleep and it took forever to leave the studio as people don’t like to hurry themselves and the people with the luggage that didn’t get on the plane trundled all the way to the tube station. I wonder where they were going?

Hmmm…
Bleak Expectations Ep 1/6
Wednesday 15 August
11.30am-12.00noon BBC RADIO 4

It’s written by Mark Evans from That You Know What Look.
James Bachman is lurking around there too.
Anthony Head from all those things you love is in it.
As is Celia Imrie.
It’s produced by Gareth Edwards.
It was recorded at The Drill Hall.

But it’s on the radio starting next Wednesday lunchtime. Hurrah for the Listen Again function then!

I got so excited I made a montage:

Nice to see the art schooling didn’t go to waste.

It’s almost Christmas and I have ideas. Tell Santa that you would like the That Mitchell And Webb Look series 1 DVD for Christmas, please. And the Peep Show series 4 DVD too. You know you want to, they’re both great. There are also the following items that may be stretching the goodwill a bit too far…

A box of the previously released three separate That Mitchell And Webb Sound series comes out on 1st October. It has an extra disc. The BBC haven’t had enough of your money yet.

On 3rd September the very short (27 minutes, fact fans!) CD of that Daydream Believers radio pilot comes out on CD for no good reason other than to make money. It is good though so I feel torn.

Magicians is out on DVD on 17th Sept and I have decided that I am not all that bothered. Ooh, controversial!