October 2010
1 post
Graham Was The Sort Of Lead
An extract from the first part of a two-part Douglas Adams interview, from Starburst issue 31, 1981, in which he discusses some of his pre-Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy comedy associations:
After you left Cambridge, one of the things you did was collaborate with Graham Chapman of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
That’s right. I wrote with him for about eighteen months on a lot...
February 2010
1 post
My Knowledge Of Art Is Infinitesimal
Groucho Marx’s introduction to From Frozen North To Filthy Lucre by Ronald Serle with commentaries by Jane Clapperton (Viking Press, 1964):
My knowledge of art is infinitesimal. I know that Rembrandt was deaf (no, that was Beethoven), I know that Van Gogh got hungry one day and cut off his own ear and that Toulouse-Lautrec walked around on his knees. And that’s about it.
So for me...
December 2009
1 post
Terry Gilliam - A Biography by Michael Palin
Michael Palin wrote this biography of Terry Gilliam for the Brazil presskit. It has never been reprinted anywhere until now
TERRY GILLIAM - A BIOGRAPHY
BY MICHAEL PALIN
TERRY GILLIAM, the shy diminutive genius of the British film industry, is, in fact, an Englishman inside an American body. Born and raised in Minneapolis, Los Angeles and New York, he came over to England in the mid...
August 2009
1 post
“Breaking news at this hour!”
– Catchphrases That Somehow Never Caught On: PFFR
June 2009
12 posts
John Cleese and Michael Palin interviewed on The... →
With thanks to the original uploader
The Quietus Reviews: Monty Python's Flying Circus... →
Immense kudos to De Wolfe for putting this CD out. Buy it here
My excellent cockney accent
Letter to the Daily Mail, 15th July 1982:
The real thing!
In her TV review of Twentieth Century Box, Mary Kenny reaches the conclusion ‘as in My Fair Lady’ that my excellent cockney accent ‘just can’t be real’.
Mary thinks I either learned it from a ‘Teach Yourself Cockney’ cassette or else I am Hungarian.
Quite obviously Mary grew up in a quaint...
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog makes his first... →
If anyone could send us a link to clips which can be viewed outside the US, we’d be most grateful!
Vintage Stand-Up Comedy →
“Out of print, spoken word stand-up comedy from the 1930s through the 1990s. Plus… the occasional musical funny.”
SOTCAA is back! No, seriously this time →
Oh No, It’s The Neighbours!
From page 29 of the Evening Standard, 22nd November 1990:
Dramatis Personified The thespian’s lot is not a happy one-or so Nicholas Craig would have you believe. His creator Nigel Planer talks to FRANCIS WHEEN about the agonies and the agonising of the actor NICHOLAS Craig is an actor, with the emphasis strongly on the second syllable. Whatever part he is rendering – Lord Foppishness in School for...
Life's Too Short To Keep Talking To Executives: A...
“I’ve got lots of projects. I love thinking of ideas and coming up with the projects; I find that much more satisfying than just staying on, trying to sell a thing I wrote years ago. I just leave ‘em there, so people can find them.” - Eric Idle, Starlog #142, May 1989. 1981 - The Pirates of Penzance: Kim ‘Howard’ Johnson reports in Prevue #44, February/March...
The main difference between the modern actor and...
From The Radio Times, 17-23 November 1990, page 11:
COMIC STRIPPED? A FOP, A DANDY in a fedora, above all an actor – thespian Nicholas Craig is the terribly creative alter ego of Nigel Planer. In a new series of spoof documentaries, Craig draws back the curtain on his theatrical life.
‘Every night of the week, twice on Wednesdays and Saturdays, someone’s life is changed by a live theatrical...
“Why can’t the bastard just stick to plasterers...
From The Guardian, 28th November 1989. Note the reference to Harry Enfield’s Norbert Smith: A Life:
Nigel Planer, actor and parodist, tells Robert Gore-Langton of his progress from Neil to Nicholas and a one-man show Darling, you’ll be wonderful WHILE Nigel Planer stars in the new Dennis Potter BBC series, Blackeyes, his alter-ego, the award-winning Nicholas Craig, (“acto ergo sum”), will...
One supposes one has to put down some yawn-making...
From The Guardian, 27th August 1988:
Actors bared between covers Dennis Barker DEAR hearts, such goings on! A very forward man named Nicholas Craig, calling himself an actor, invited one to a cup of coffee in the lounge of the Holiday Inn, Swiss Cottage – an area in which one occasionally sees men of the theatre go clanking round the streets in leather and chains – to discuss his new book, I,...
January 2009
4 posts
Dr Jekyll and Mrs Hyde: an unproduced Peter Cook...
This day last year Smarter Than The Average posted its first real blog entry, an analysis of the unproduced Peter Cook screenplay Dr Jekyll and Mrs Hyde. What better excuse, then, to reprint the article, with a few newly-discovered additions.
One of the greatest misconceptions in the history of comedy is that Peter Cook simply didn’t write enough of it, choosing to eschew comedy-writing in his...
"The culture of disrespect is typified by Rowan... →
Sparky - Shaolin Style →
December 2008
4 posts
Twelve O'Clocks, And All Is Well
A while back you may remember we blogged about a pilot for a Krazy Kat television series which was never picked up. Since then Cartoon Brew have, after reminiscing about the short in November, found and embedded the short from YouTube. To finally see the short brought out some mixed emotions in people, and the comments to that post make interesting reading, in particular those of J.J. Sedelmaier.
...
The Immaculate Conception of Monty Python's Life...
Never mind that Jesus Christ fellow - this Christmas let’s celebrate the birth of Life of Brian. Printed upside-down on pages 32 and 33 of Andy Warhol’s Interview Magazine, Volume VII Number 6, July 1975: and now for something completely different MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS by robert hayes Those mirthful miscreants, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, having terrified the...
Bill Hanna: Yogi's Father
From the Sydney Morning Herald, Monday 22nd April 1985:
Bill Hanna: Yogi’s father
By ADRIAN SWIFT
BILL HANNA is the only 74-year-old in the world who can wear a Yogi Bear necktie and get away with it.
Hanna, a kind-faced, silver-haired grandfather, is the former half of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon empire, the company behind such all-time animation greats Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear, The...
Bob Spiers (1945 - 2008)
From page 21 of the Independent, Saturday 7th January 1993:
Always look on the dark side From Seaside Special to Absolutely Fabulous by way of the Comic Strip, the director Bob Speirs [sic] has changed the face of British television comedy. John Lyttle tried to find out the secret of his success
Bob Spiers has spent the morning rehearsing with French and Saunders. “Let’s see, the next...
November 2008
13 posts
The True Story Behind the Monty Python Foot: An...
There was a very special event held at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts last night (Sunday 23rd November 2008) as part of their Comica 2008 season. Three of the all-time great underground comics artists – Gilbert Shelton, Spain and Art Spiegelman - delivered a ramshackle, rollercoaster of a round-table discussion, taking us from their work on bubblegum cards of the early fifties to their...
An Evening Without An Evening At Court, or Why...
Read part one here.
Read part two here.
So what happened to John Cleese and his relationship with Amnesty International after An Evening At The Court? Expectedly, after The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball Amnesty had lost all enthusiasm for doing all-star charity benefits; not only had they effectively buried the Secret Policeman name after all the controversy, but there was now so much...
An Evening Without An Evening At Court, or Why...
Read part one here.
The next Amnesty show after The Secret Policeman’s Ball, tentatively titled by Billy Connolly Another Policeman’s Ball, was proposed to go ahead in December 1980, but was postponed for nine months because of the performers’ other work conflicts. It was not due to a lack of enthusiasm by any means – according to Martin Lewis, as quoted in the 13th November 1980 edition of the...
An Evening Without An Evening At Court, or Why...
Following the stupendous success of Amnesty International’s fourth benefit gala The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball in 1981, other extremely specialised charities started to jump on the comedy benefits bandwagon, raising money for what seemed like every worthy cause in the country – from enormous campaigns to help human rights in El Salvador (Benefit Concert For Human Rights In El Salvador, held on...
Space Jam Prevents Brain Drain
Britain has produced a lot of animation of which it can be proud. But do you also know of its contribution to Space Jam?
From page 10 of Section 5 of the Sunday Times, Sunday 16th March 1997:
Bugs Bunny moves to cyberspace
BRITISH animators have been able to work on a Hollywood blockbuster without leaving their London offices, thanks to a new high-speed computer network, writes Mark Prigg.
Warner...
Foray into England
In May 1988 legendary voice actress June Foray made a visit to London, when the National Film Theatre brought her over to introduce a selection of cartoons in their season of animation production Behind The Lines. Here’s how her seminar was described on page 36 of the May 1988 NFT booklet:
CARTOON VOICING
Sun May 22 4.00
June Foray in Person
June Foray is Tweety Pie’s granny, she’s Witch...
The Voice That Launched A Thousand Quips
From page 4 of TV Guide, Saturday 27th November 1999:
insider
THE VOICE THAT LAUNCHED A THOUSAND QUIPS
A cartoon’s ending credits usually cue a kid to get a snack. But as a boy growing up in Detroit, Billy West thought that was the most fascinating part of the show. “I would see two names listed under Voices. Or one,” says West, 48. “But I had heard 20 different things. I flipped out. I thought...
Handy Cartoon For The Populars
One wonders if these reviews of 1940 would have been a bit more excited had they realized that this cartoon would be the birth of a series that would last in one form or another up to the present day – Tom and Jerry.
From page 56 of Motion Picture Herald, Saturday 9th March 1940:
Puss Gets the Boot
(MGM)
Ising Cartoon
In this Rudolf Ising pigmented pen point of a cat and mouse game, the little...
God, Man And The Devil - On Film
From the International Herald Tribune, Friday the 18th of August 1967:
Mary Blume:
God, Man and the Devil - on Film
Stanley Donen, left, producer-director of “Bedazzled,” shares a joke with the film’s writer-actor team Dudley Moore, centre, and Peter Cook, during a break in filming near London.
LITTLE GADDESDEN, Hertfordshire - A most unlikely group of theologians, headed by American film...
Some Day Their Writs Will Come
From page 10 of Time Out, 29th November to 6th December 1989:
Some Day Their Writs Will Come
Brave folks in the production offices of the BBC2 TV series ‘Alexei Sayle’s Stuff’ these days. A few weeks ago the programme featured a sequence in which the demure and virginal Snow White was discovered warbling prettily by the side of a wishing well. Sayle, in Attila the Hun...
October 2008
5 posts
The Troubled Production History of Girls On Top
Alluded to as Four-Play in a profile of Ruby Wax in the 27th May 1983 issue of Television Weekly (much later, Martin Aston’s article in the 9th November 1985 issue of Melody Maker revealed that another potential title was Bitches On Heat), the first news of production taking place on Girls On Top comes in the 11th August 1983 issue of Television Today. Here it goes by the name of Four Fs To...
We're bloody busy
Apologies to all those smashing enough to check here every day, but the STTA editors are rather snowed under for the time being. And have limited internet access to boot. Peel them eyes for another great post that misses its topical timeframe soon…
Bedazzled - Unused Opening Scene
Here is the original, unused and to date unpublished opening scene of Stanley Donen’s 1967 film Bedazzled, written by and starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. This scene is the entirety of the first page of a screenplay dated 13th April 1967.
INT. STANLEY DONEN’S OFFICE STANLEY DONEN is leaning casually against the mantlepiece in his elegant office. He becomes aware of the audience...
AV Club interview with Jules Feiffer →
Still Monkeeing With The Censors
The last post on this blog was an article in which a musician talks about America’s attitude toward Spitting Image in 1986. Today, for a change, we post an article in which a musician talks about America’s attitude toward Spitting Image in 1985. Let it never be said that we don’t offer our readers variety here on Smarter Than The Average - OK, Gary Bushell?
In 1981 ex-Monkee Michael Nesmith...
September 2008
14 posts
I Tried To Be A Puppet On Spitting Image But...
Previously on this blog we’ve posted the rare occasions where, when asked, Angus Deayton has proved surprisingly chatty about his time in The HeeBeeGeeBees. But what about the band’s lead singer-songwriter Philip Pope - is he also as forthcoming with recollections?
We’ve only been able to uncover one printed interview with Philip Pope, published in the Record Mirror to promote...
On-Set at The Muppet Show #3: Making the Maniacal...
The final of our three articles written by people who had visited the set of The Muppet Show is this annoying whimsy from the Wednesday the 17th of May 1978 issue of Punch, written by the man who, ten years later, would become Punch’s twelth editor. The running reference to Mahna Mahna (officially the title is two words, though the original record was called Mah-Na Mah-Na) is because nearly...
On-Set at The Muppet Show #2: The Parrot's Revenge...
Our second of three articles written by a journalist standing next to bearded Americans with cloth anthropomorphisms on their arms. This one comes from the final episode of season two, on which John Cleese was a guest - indeed, halfway through the article abandons its Muppet reportage completely to focus on Cleese’s upcoming projects, including an innocuous, calm-before-the-storm mention of...
On-Set at The Muppet Show #1: Uppity Muppets
Over at ToughPigs.com they have something rather special - an exclusive location report from the latest Muppet movie (okay, TV movie). That such a thing should exist at all in 2008 is exciting enough, but past the initial thrill this piece is also a rollocking good read - informative, intelligent, witty and providing a view of the Muppet world few are privileged to experience firsthand. O, would...
Actors Aren't Egotistical by Jack Benny
From Screen & Radio Weekly, Sunday the 13th of February 1938:
Actors Aren’t Egotistical
By Jack Benny
A Radio Comedian Turned Screen Actor Here Gives You His Evaluation of His Co-Workers and, in the Benny Manner, Emerges with All Banners Flying in His Defense of This Maligned Profession.
Jack Benny, as everybody but an unidentified man in French Indo-China knows, appears on NBC...
Playing Truant With Portillo
To finish off our week of archive articles in tribute to the late Geoffrey Perkins, we have what was probably considered a lightweight, throwaway fluff piece at the time, but in retrospect turned out to be a rare snapshot of Perkins’ personal life. Strangely, the catalyst for this appears to be Don’t Quote Me – clearly the series increased Perkins’ status as a minor celebrity. Whilst you’re here,...
ONLY A SPIT AWAY
Transatlantic satire and ‘Spitting Image’
Ian Macdonald interviews SPITTING IMAGE producer Geoffrey Perkins
Satire doesn’t usually travel. Last year David Frost tried a US revival of his ancient British format TW3, and flopped. On the other hand, he tried a US version of SPITTING IMAGE which won praise from the critics and top ratings. UK audiences also got a chance to see the...