Flight of the Conchords vs Tony Martin

[13 schoolyards]

gee you're a hard nut to impress when it comes to comedy arent you 13?
Tell me some of your all time fave series (aside from TLS and TMMS)..

Ooh, where to begin... Aussie comedy-wise, The Games is really up there, as is Frontline. Anything with the word 'Micallef' in the title I love (plus Newstopia, which I've been rewatching and enjoying even more 2nd time around). And, you know, The D- Gen stuff, The Gillies Report, Clarke & Dawe on The 7.30 Report...

Of the second string stuff (off the top of my head) , Eric Bana's sketch show I liked, Chris Lilley's stuff in Big Bite was really good (it's all been downhill from there), CNNNN had plenty of good moments for mine, Safran's SBS shows were more hit than miss... even Real Stories made me smile on occasions, and C31's Twentysomething raised a smirk every now and again. Micallef's bits on Full Frontal are pretty fun as well.

Overseas shows - well, from the US it's Mr Show, Chappelle's Show, The Larry Sanders Show, Seinfeld, CYE, Dr Katz, early Simpsons, The (US) Office, Arrested Development, Wonder Showzen, The Venture Brothers... geez, there's plenty more. Loads of UK shows too. I mean, I could go on...

I know I come off as a harsh judge sometimes, but, well, life is short and there's so much REALLY GOOD stuff out there that it's hard to get excited over stuff that's just ok.

[Bean Is A Carrot]

I have to say I was a bit underwhelmed by FOTC on TV. Also that live from New York show they did, which was on BBC-4 a while back. I watched 4 episodes of the series and then switched off. The only things that amused me were the scenes with the consulate guy. He was a really funny character. Also, I didn't like the songs. I tend to prefer comedy songs that have jokes in them. The kind of stuff that Bill Oddie or Tony Martin or the Pythons did. Good tunes, funny lyrics...that's all you need.

[een]

Sounds like a fairly specific gripe there (unless Tum & Phul are generic NZ insult names, and not specific to Martin / Molloy)... anyone want to tell him where Tony hails from?

Being from NZ, I would say the whole Tum and Phul thing is one that we do get from Australians and it's quite possible that it has come from Martin / Molloy back in the day. The combination of names is fairly specific to their show, but those names are about as generic as you can get for a common name that you can easily replace the "I" with an overpronounced "U" sound.

As an aside, almost no-one over here would even know who Tony Martin was if you asked them, so saying he's a native wouldn't really help. You would not believe how hard it was to get a copy of Lolly Scramble. I had to get it ordered in special, like.

[baudrillard]

Sod this, I'm a harsher critic than 13 anyday, and there's plenty of stuff from the UK that isn't on his list! The Venture Brothers is comedy? That animated thing? Is that the one I'm thinking of? It just seemed like some serious thing to me from the bit of one episode I saw. I'm surprised to note that 13 likes Aqua Teen Hunger Force though. I thought that would be too juvenile for him. But yeah, I'll take 13 on in a critic's death-match anyday. Flight of the Concords was alright but yeah, the songs are mainly just boring as hell. The one about dancing like a robot was okay. But yeah that's 3 or 4 things I can remember out of a whole series. Not a good sign.

[13 schoolyards]

Ah, but being a critic isn't just about liking the 'right' stuff (though that's a big help when it comes to finding a critic you can agree with and use as a guide). It's also about being able to pursuade people that your views are the 'right' ones to have. (The Melbourne Age's) Marieke Hardy likes a lot of good things, but she's so crap / smug / annoying at expressing her likes that it does a very good job of putting me off the things she likes... even when I already like them.

Yes, The Venture Brothers is a comedy, and a very good one at that. And I'm not a huge Aqua Teen Hunger Force fan, but bits do make me laugh and anything with a Schooly D theme song can't be all bad.

It's only the last few FOTC epsidoes that have really worked for me, which isn't a good strike rate. But it does bode well for the second series, which (I think) isn't far off at all on HBO.

[menagers]

Don't you just think the manager of the Conchords absolutely maketh the show? In the radio series he would just enter the scene with his ridiculous upright, straight edge but totally unpretentious manner (that so many kiwis do so fabulously), and just positively win it for me. I've noticed he is the best in the telly series as well.

Sometimes I find it's well worth relaxing and enjoying something for what it gives you. I found myself LOVING an episode of that normally "thisissocrapIcan'twatchitatall" series, The IT crowd, because it had the enigmatic Noel Fielding in it, dressed, well, dressed basically as Severus Snape but if that means nothing to you then, as a goth in a frock coat. He and a socially awkward woman found themselves irresistably drawn to each other, and the result was very amusing. I'll probably never watch another episode though.

Spent ages on YouTube last night watching various Mr. Show sketches, because Schoolyards listed it and I remember Tony saying it was a fave. At first I thought "what is this crap?", but then without warning it just started making us laugh. I could not say why really. I liked the "I'll Marry Your Stupid Ass" sketch. Some of YouTube offerings were much better than others, was there a superior series or something?

[baudrillard]

Bob and David wrote the first 2 series themselves, and I think by the 3rd and 4th series there were other writers. But the show was a little hit and miss. However when it did hit, it really did. It's a well respected show by just about everyone who's seen it because it really can be incredibly surreal and off the wall. Sad to see that Bob Odenkirk doesn't do that much now, except for bit parts, like the Adult Swim series - fuck I forget what it's called - it has "the Mayor" in the title, and David Cross still does standup but it makes me feel sad that he's only been in Arrested Development. I prefer sketches to sitcoms I guess. More free-wheeling and again, off-the-wall humour is possible. It's sad because I have two pilot episodes of Bob Odenkirk's failed series NEXT! I used to have just one but recently grabbed two episodes in higher quality and with some extras that didn't make it into the pilot. You have to see the scene with Ray Romano, it's possibly the most hillarious "interview" you'll ever see in your life.

[13 schoolyards]

Ooh, I'd love to see those episodes of Next, baudy - let's get in touch.

Bob & David have reteamed for a 'sitcom' (of sorts) for HBO called David's Situation - well, they've done a pilot, not sure if it's been picked up but fingers are firmly crossed around these parts. And how could you forget David's role in Alvin & the Chipmunks (actually, he makes a habit of turning up in so-so movies)? Or Bob's role in Friend's spin-off Joey? Tom Goes to the Mayor is pretty funny in parts, and Bob's many apperances (mostly live-action in what is basically an animated series) are always worth a chuckle.

And yep, the Conchords manager is easily the best thing about the show. The ep where he gets to sing is own song is... well, not that great overall, but his song is brilliant. The IT Crowd never worked for me goths or not, sad to say,

[stupidmeatball]

Baudy, I believe the show your thinking of is Tom goes to Mayor, which is a great show. Venture Brothers is a comedy, basically the concept of "what happens when Johnny Quest grows up in his fathers shadow", most of the Adult Swim stuff is gold, like Robot Chicken and Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law.

[baudrillard]

That reminds me I only have season 1 and 5 of Seaquest 2021. But seriously, I went to a chain video store, unfortunately the only one of possibly two of the largest chain video stores in the city. And was horrified to realise that the only thing, film or tv, as in entire series' that I can't download are practically comedies from the 80s. I picked out a Gil Scott Heron DVD out of the music section, a recent-ish Woody Allen film and a friend grabbed a horror film, and then I realised we had to pick another three. I wasn't impressed, the one arthouse/alternative rental video shop in this state has shut due to there rule of the the invisible hand of the marketplace. There are no stores that even import DVDs here anymore. And tht's when I reflected that there was only about 5-10% of the entire shop I couldn't have downloaded from 3-4 sites. The new releases were awful, no wonder I've not known what to download, but between the foreign film section - which was one single panel which horrified me, there wasn't even any comedy or any music DVDs they had I wanted to rent. I nearly rented the 2nd and 3rd season of Frontline because I was that starved for options it made me realise picking something in the DVD store these days is a painful as pulling teeth.

I ended up grabbing Crackerjack, Bad Eggs and Boytown simply for the commentary tracks. And I nearly ended up getting CYE S5 just because my friend hadn't bought it yet and it has two making of docos on it.

oy vey!