Archive | September, 2010

Jack Vs Jedward

30 Sep

© Jack Dee

Pre-publicity for the forthcoming series of Never Mind The Buzzcocks featuring Noel Fielding as regular team captain once more may have come a little earlier than anticipated, with UK tabloid The Sun picking up on reports from this week’s taping in which guest host Jack Dee laid into baffling reality tv pop-stars Jedward with such vigour, the paper claims, that the show is going to have to be ‘carefully edited’ to prevent accusations of bullying.  Still, after their version of Under Pressure, who can blame him?

Of course, as with all tabloid fodder, its worth taking this one with a pinch of salt – but it will surely put the forthcoming run in good stead, and ensure that, as ever, no series of Buzzcocks goes by without some form of mini-scandal.

Jack Dee is one of several guest hosts lined up for the forthcoming series, alongside the likes of Tim Minchin, Catherine Tate and Mark Ronson amongst others.  And for those of you who are already dreading Jedward’s appearance on the show, that edition will also feature comedian Katy Brand (pictured with Noel & the Twins of Questionability), comic turned novelist Charlie Higson and new pop sensation Eliza Doolittle.  We’ll be bringing you more details on the series closer to its start date – October 21st.

More TV Comedy On The Horizon?

30 Sep

Will we see more of our favourites soon?

The British Comedy Guide has reported back from the Broadcast Comedy Forum 2010 with news that all of the major broadcasters are looking to develop new ideas for television after a long period of comedic drought on our tv screens which has seen many an artist we cover on these pages turn to the internet as a means of self-commission.

You can read the full report on the British Comedy Guide website – but a few notable points may have a bearing on what we here at The Velvet Onion may be reporting to you over the next few years.  First off, is the BBC’s renewed interest in making something different, with their executive Simon Wilson stating quite clearly BBC3 wanted to make ‘more unusual and different’ comedies after the success of adult puppet show Mongrels (featuring Tony Paul Way), and referenced CGI-laden sketch show The Wrong Door (which featured Matt Berry) as an example of where they may be headed.

After several years of poor scheduling choices and no real support given to the likes of Snuffbox, Lifespam, meeBox and many more shows we could mention – perhaps we’ll be seeing a lot more of our favourite faces on the BBC once again soon?  After all, recent repeats of The Mighty Boosh at a more convenient time of 9pm (instead of the previous 10:30pm) caused it to reach the top Trending Topics on social networking site Twitter – proof if any was needed that the way forward may actually be the way back.

Channel 4 has also commissioned another two series of its Comedy Lab pilots in 2011 and 2012, and several of our key artists have previously been involved in such productions, most recently in the case of Julian Barratt appearing in Penelope: Princess Of Pets earlier this year.  On a similar note, freeview channel Dave is pleased with the success of its original productions and, as well as almost certainly making more Red Dwarf, they will also be looking towards broadcasting more short pilots in the hope of finding a new hit.  We at The Velvet Onion can only hope they decide to make more episodes of the mighty Zimbani!

This year has seen a number of pilots made involving members of the Booshniverse, and some of them have yet to find an audience – Oram & Meeten’s The Last Summer On Earth for example, or David Bussell’s Missing Scene for example.  With even Sky One reporting an interest in developing fresh comedic output, one can only hope we get to see something worth our while again very, very soon…

My Old Baby

30 Sep

© Jackal Films

The latest Jackal Film from Alice Lowe and Jacqueline Wright is now online.  Normally, at this point, we’d give you a bit of analysis – but today we need to say just five words:

New Lifespam featuring Rich Fulcher.

Also featuring the wonderful Sarah Kendall of Beehive fame, you can see the latest in the year-long project below.

Once you’ve gotten over the magnificence of that – you can check out previous Jackal Films (including the tv pilot of Lifespam) on their YouTube channel – and read our review of last month’s Jackal Films Screening over yonder.

Berry For 6

29 Sep

© Sir Alan Sugar on twitter

Matt Berry was on 6 Music this morning being interviewed by Gideon Coe, who is standing in for Sean Keaveny this week. It was a great interview covering the many strands of Matt’s work.

Matt talked about the release of the The IT Crowd DVD, and reveals how he feels about Douglas.

The pair also covered Matt’s little run in with Sir Alan Sugar on Twitter last weekend!

They also discussed Matt’s music and forthcoming tour, and Matt reveals how he got Sir Paul McCartney to appear on his album.

You can listen again to the interview here, where 6 Music have kindly split the show into chapters for your listening pleasure.

Buzzcocks On Air

27 Sep

© BBC and Talkback Thames

Transmission details have finally been confifmed for the new series of Never Mind the Buzzcocks featuring Noel Fielding as Team Captain, which is currently being filmed.

The series kicks off on BBC2 on Thursday October 21st, and continues in this slot for 3 weeks.  It then switches to Mondays from November 8th.  Historically the Buzzcocks slot has been 9.30 or 10pm, so we’re guessing it will be on at around the same time again.

Comedian David O’Doherty has also been confirmed as another of the guest hosts for this series.  At TVO Towers we love Mr O’Doherty, so we’re very happy bunnies!

Zimbani On You Tube

27 Sep

The pilot of Zimbani – the brainchild of Colin Hoult and David McNeill, featuring Julian Barratt, is now on You Tube. The show aired on freeview channel Dave on June 4th in the UK, but fans from abroad were unable to see it. Now’s your chance.

We’ve just heard that Colin Hoult will be performing Colin Hoult – Enemy of the World at the Brighton Dome on October 10th. This show got rave reviews at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year, and members of the TVO crew were lucky enough to see it.  Whilst its not strictly Booshy, its definitely one of the best shows you’ll see all year. For more details see the facebook event page.

“Matt Berry, You’re Fired”

27 Sep

© Sir Alan Sugar on twitter

If you follow Matt Berry on twitter you can’t fail to have noticed his involvement this weekend in a rather interesting online altercation.

In what has to be one of the strangest news stories in all of Booshdom, our story began on Sunday lunchtime with Berry haranguing Sir Alan Sugar (he of Apprentice fame) for not writing his own tweets: an accusation that was speedily rejected by ‘Sir Alan’ while calling Berry “a pillock”.

After a brief hostile exchange, during which Berry expressed further scepticism at Sir Alan’s hands-on tweeting and he, in turn, referred to Berry as a “twit”, the situation was resolved by the photo on the left.

Whether any of this is genuine is up for debate.  But if it isn’t, it should be. Phill Jupitus went so far as to compare the situation to Biggie and Tupac, and Berry has since professed his love for Sir Alan.  We here at TVO suggest Sugar’s apprentices go out and get him a copy of Snuffbox on dvd, pronto!

Camden Brew Tomorrow!

26 Sep
© Hot Brew

Hot Brew, the eccentric musical creation of Alice Lowe and Antony Elvin, will be performing at Etcetera Theatre Club. Camden Town, London this Monday (September 27th) as part of the United Comedy evening.

The rest of the line up for the evening are:

Elliot Tiney (Idiots of Ants)
George Ryegold
The Three Englishmen

So if you are in need of cheering up on an Autumn Monday evening, this is the place for you!
The show starts at 9:30pm. Tickets are £5.00.

You can read more about the event on the Facebook page.

For more details about the venue and directions on how to get there, head to their website.

A Double Dose Of Booshniverse On BBC2

26 Sep

© BBC

These days, as television stations face the harsh realities of the credit crunch, we seem to be seeing less and less of our favourite faces on the box.  Surrealistic, uncompromising comedy has no place in an environment which simply has to play it safe.

How pleasing then, to be able to inform you that not several members of Booshdom will be appearing on BBC2 this Tuesday night!

First up at 9PM is The IT Crowd‘s very own Katherine Parkinson – who is part of the regular cast of Alan Davies new sitcom Whites.  Set in the kitchen of a country house hotel, it follows the trials and tribulations of head chef Roland White (Davies) and his long suffering sous chef (Darren Boyd of Hippies – who recently gave a memorable cameo in Four Lions).  Parkinson plays restaurant manager Catherine, and you can glimpse her in the preview clips on the show’s minisite.

 

 

 

© BBC

 

Following Whites at 9:30PM is the return of Harry and Paul – the sketch show which reunited 80s/90s sensations Harry Enfield & Paul Whitehouse and has divided critics ever since.  As with previous seasons, the show features a wide array of supporting actors whom you may have seen before – including Simon Greenhall [I'm Alan Partridge, the voice of Alexander Orlov!], Catherine Shepherd [The Peter Serafinowicz Show, The IT Crowd], Sophie Winkleman [Peep Show, Red Dwarf, AD:BC], Daniel Kaluuya [FM, Psychoville], and most excitingly of all – The Actor, Kevin Eldon and Alice Lowe!

So there you go – two perfect excuses to soak yourself in Booshdom, see some great new comedy, and count the days until Buzzcocks returns… enjoy.

Crowd Your Onions! It’s More IT Crowd Wallpaper!

25 Sep

© Talkback Thames / Steven Peskett / The Velvet Onion

To celebrate the release of series four of The IT Crowd on dvd this Monday, The Velvet Onion is proud to provide our dear peelers with yet another exclusive wallpaper.

Thanks to Talkback Thames and photographer Steven Peskett, we have already offered you a stunning desktop wallpaper earlier this summer, and now you can officially Onion up your desktop with our rather funky reworking of Steven’s incredible promo image featuring Chris O’Dowd, Katherine Parkinson, Richard Ayoade and Matt Berry.

The It Crowd 4.0 is released on Monday 27th September on dvd, with standard and limited edition boxsets of all four seasons also available.  For further information on contents, see this earlier peel.

To download your wallpaper select the required resolution, right-click and choose ‘save as’ or ‘download link as’.

1900 x 1200 1680 x 1050 1440 x 900   1280 x 800   1280 x 1024 1024 x 768 800 x 600

Original image copyright Talkback Thames / Steven Peskett. Used by permission. Modification by Agata Nowakowska exclusively for The Velvet Onion.

Oxjamming With Alice & Co

25 Sep

© Oxjam

Alice Lowe has been announced as part of the bill at the forthcoming Oxjam Comedy Festival in Kilburn, London.

The event, which takes places over 4 days from 10th-13th October, is part of the successful string of Oxjam events in aid of Oxfam – the world famous charity against poverty and injustice.

Alice has joined the opening night’s line-up, and the event will also feature the likes of Trevor Lock, Tony Law, Alex Zane, Gail Porter, Rufus Hound and star of Jackal Film Lovesong, Rachel Stubbings – plus many, many more!  Tickets are just £5 advance, with door prices at £6, and all the info you need is on the festival’s Facebook Event Page.

The Sound of Submarine

24 Sep

© Warp Films

There’s been plenty written about the story-telling, characterisation and visual poetry of Richard Ayoade’s debut feature film, Submarine – and all of it positive! But so far there’s been a lack of information about the movie’s audio. Well wait no more, Ayoade fans!

Broadcast Newsroom, a website for the broascast industry, has written a  short piece about the film’s sound production by Hackenbacker.  Sound is often the unsung hero of the moving picture, and in this case the techniques used subliminally invite the viewer to become more deeply involved with the characters and story.  To read the piece in full, click here.

The Robots Runaway Into The Night

23 Sep
© Robots In Disguise

Robots in Disguise will do a DJ set at Road Trip in London Friday, 22 October. It’ll be a tribute night for the Runaways and if you come in costume, you might win a special prize!

The night will also include a performance from Psycho Delia and The Ward, making it a night you cannot miss. In the words of The Runaways “bad nights cause’n teenage blues, get down ladies you’ve got nothing to lose”.

Price: £5.00 on the door / £4.00 with flyer / £3.00 guest list

For more information on the event and on how to get on the guest list, head here!

Game On With The Mighty Boosh

23 Sep
© BBC/Baby Cow Productions

Radio, TV, book, album, film and an iPod App. What on earth else is there that could be done? The sky seems to be the limit when it comes to The Mighty Boosh.

Apparently, Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt have filed for a new trademark for their Boosh brand. Last week an application tumbled down in the US Patent and Trademark office. The application mentions “‘computer game programmes; video game programmes and computer software”.  Before all our gamers get too excited it might be important to mention that it also covers things such as “postage stamps, personal organisers, children’s fancy dress costumes and decorations for Christmas trees”. No guarantees but it sure makes our inner child do cartwheels out of joy. Read more about this at the Computer and Video Games site, where you can also see the application with your own two eyes (unless you are a Cyclops because then you only have one eye).

Nevertheless, everything sounds wonderful and we at the Velvet Onion cannot wait until we see the fruit of this!

Julia, Jessica and Old Vic

22 Sep

© Radio Times

We’ve just heard that Julia Davis and Jessica Hynes will be performing a live version of their improvised radio show, Peppatis, as part of Bristol Jam at the Bristol Old Vic, 26th October – 6th November.

Wondering what it’s all about?  Well Bristol Jam has been described as “Bristol Old Vic’s unique, genre-defying festival of improvised performance”, and this year’s acts include comedy, music, dance, pupperty, and all sorts of brilliant stuff in-between.  To read more click here.  We’ll let you know as soon as we hear what dates the duo are performing.

For anyone who hasn’t heard the genius that is Peppatis, you can download episodes here.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to kirei87 for this information

Cast Your Vote: National TV Awards

21 Sep

© Talkback Thames

Calling all Booshniverse fans!  Voting for the 2011 National Television Awards has now opened, and a few Boosh-related shows have been shortlisted.  IT Crowd is up for Best Comedy Programme, and Never Mind the Buzzcocks is up for Best Entertainment Programme.  Russell Howard’s Good News is also nominated in the Digital Choice category, which features Zimbani’s Colin Hoult.

Generally speaking, the shows and artists nominated in these awards tend to be quite mainstream, and those with the largest fan base usually win because they can pull in the votes.  So it would be doubly-great if we could help create a few surprises on the night!  To get voting, click on the NTA website here.

Lincoln Launched!

20 Sep

 

This week sees the launch of a new project planning to put the town of Lincoln on the filmmaking map.  The appropriately named Lincoln Studios is the brainchild of one Derek Evans, the co-owner of Ultimate Tan (formerly The Suntan Centre), whose goal is to create the English Hollywood.

Now, if you’ve skipped over that video, you may be wondering what on earth this has to do with The Velvet Onion.  Well, a closer look at the website should reveal all… this is really the latest project from Steve Oram, who as our video viewers can see has recruited Tom Meeten and Simon Farnaby to his cause.

The first results are a sci-fi epic known as Praecox, featuring Oram & Meeten alongside comic actor Alexander Kirk.  And with the promise of further Lincoln films in the future, its certainly worth keeping an eye on what ‘Derek Evans’ and co have in store.

You can see Praecox below, and don’t forget to check out the Lincoln Silms website over yonder.

Man Was Built But From Clay

19 Sep

Coming Soon To Jackal Films!

Details of the latest Jackal Film are being made public at last – and there are two surprise special guests in the latest work from Alice Lowe & Jacqueline Wright.

First up is the arrival of stand-up comic and actress Sarah Kendall.  The Australian funny lady previously appeared with Lowe in the cult E4 sketch show Beehive and we at TVO are very excited about her first Jackal appearance.

But the main draw for many of you will be the super duper special guest appearance by none other than Rich Fulcher - marking the first time a Boosh member has appeared in the project.

Filming took place today, and the completed film will be online by the end of the month.  In the meantime, check out previous Jackal Films on their website, read our review of the recent Q&A screening, and revisit a classic sequence in which Alice played David Bowie in the mighty Snuffbox…

La La In Australia

19 Sep
© life.com

Australian Peelers will be pleased to hear that La La Land – the American mockumentary series, starrring Marc Wooton and  narrated by Julian Barratt, starts on SBS TV tomorrow (20th September).

Schedule details are here

For those who missed it when it was shown in UK, the series is available on DVD

Fielding Plates Up

19 Sep

© Suki Dhanda

The Guardian has caught up with Noel Fielding at the Soho Patisserie, Maison Bertaux, where his current art exhibition, Bryan Ferry vs The Jelly Fox is on display.

As art fans and celebs (including Ringo Starr’s son, Zak Starkey)  swipe up his work, and the coloured ‘sold’ stickers spread amongst the many wall scrawlings, Noel had a chat and cuppa with journalist John Hind to talk about the brilliance of tea, tour shenanigans and more of the usual Fielding-type chatter.

To have a read pop along here.

Remember that Noel’s exhibition is up until January 5th 2011, so have a gander (and a pastry) if you haven’t yet! You can head over to the website of The Hooligan art dealer, Tania Wade for more info.

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