not being funny
The human brain was on Jeremy Vine. Apparently, scientists have found a way to make thoughts audible. You could hear the brain talking on the radio and the voice they had given it made it sound alarmingly like Scooby Doo. Scooby Doo drowning. They were getting it to repeat words, and I longed for them to make it say 'Shaggy' so that I could confirm this resemblance - 'Raggy?' - but no. And they weren't taking requests.
I went to see Stewart Lee, who was also talking about Scooby Doo because he said he had only seen two films recently - Archipelago (an art film 'about a middle-class family on a disappointing holiday') and Scooby Doo On Zombie Island, which he had had to watch with his son about 800 times. He did not say whether these films had anything in common, but, having already noted the promising geophysical 'synergy' in their titles, I'm sure that I can find something. Watch this space.
What I like about Lee is that, whereas most comedians are content with just getting a laugh, he is not afraid to demand more and better quality laughter from his audience. He identified sections of the audience that weren't performing well, and told them to 'up their game'. He was right to be concerned, if the person next to me was anything to go by. He laughed only once, and spent most of the second half asleep. But then he was young, and insufficiently embittered.
The other act I saw this week - although, strictly speaking I never did see him - was 'Brian the Cockney Sovereign' playing at the Green Man's Cockney Night. Somewhere at the other end of the pub he was belting out such East End classics as, er, When I'm Cleaning Windows and, um, Ring Of Fire. When I tried to imagine 'The Cockney Sovereign' all I got was some kind of grotesque Mighty Boosh-style character. Or, even more terrifying, something from Noel Fielding's new Luxury Comedy series. Very aptly named, this programme - well, apart from the 'comedy' bit anyway. 'Luxury' implies a degree of self-indulgence, which - or so the bits I have seen indicate - is not too far off the mark. Indeed, so relentlessly 'out there' is it that at first I wondered if Fielding, without his comedy partner to restrain him, had actively gone insane.
But perhaps - and Stewart Lee is something of a pioneer in this respect - the ultimate goal of comedy is to go beyond laughter. In which case, Fielding's show may yet be hailed as a classic - along with The Royal Bodyguard, of course.
I went to see Stewart Lee, who was also talking about Scooby Doo because he said he had only seen two films recently - Archipelago (an art film 'about a middle-class family on a disappointing holiday') and Scooby Doo On Zombie Island, which he had had to watch with his son about 800 times. He did not say whether these films had anything in common, but, having already noted the promising geophysical 'synergy' in their titles, I'm sure that I can find something. Watch this space.
What I like about Lee is that, whereas most comedians are content with just getting a laugh, he is not afraid to demand more and better quality laughter from his audience. He identified sections of the audience that weren't performing well, and told them to 'up their game'. He was right to be concerned, if the person next to me was anything to go by. He laughed only once, and spent most of the second half asleep. But then he was young, and insufficiently embittered.
The other act I saw this week - although, strictly speaking I never did see him - was 'Brian the Cockney Sovereign' playing at the Green Man's Cockney Night. Somewhere at the other end of the pub he was belting out such East End classics as, er, When I'm Cleaning Windows and, um, Ring Of Fire. When I tried to imagine 'The Cockney Sovereign' all I got was some kind of grotesque Mighty Boosh-style character. Or, even more terrifying, something from Noel Fielding's new Luxury Comedy series. Very aptly named, this programme - well, apart from the 'comedy' bit anyway. 'Luxury' implies a degree of self-indulgence, which - or so the bits I have seen indicate - is not too far off the mark. Indeed, so relentlessly 'out there' is it that at first I wondered if Fielding, without his comedy partner to restrain him, had actively gone insane.
But perhaps - and Stewart Lee is something of a pioneer in this respect - the ultimate goal of comedy is to go beyond laughter. In which case, Fielding's show may yet be hailed as a classic - along with The Royal Bodyguard, of course.
posted by martin at 10:57 AM
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