There’s a new YouTube video of Tony and Ridley Scott as you’ve never seen them before!
The pair do bear a striking resemblance to Gareth Tunley and Alex Kirk, who you might remember from Milton Jones’ House of Rooms. Watch the video and judge for yourself as the lads describe how they got into the film business and the fine art of grouting.
The Shortlists for nominations for two award ceremonies were announced today: the Rose d’Or Awards and the RTS Awards - and there are nominations for several TVO-connected shows!
In the Rose d’Or Sitcom Category Life’s Too Short is up against Friday Night Dinner; both shows included an appearance by Matthew Holness, and Colin Hoult appeared in Life’s Too Short. Robert Popper has also been nominated in the Writer-Comedy Category of the RTS Awards for Friday Night Dinner.
TVO’s favourite history programme Horrible Histories has been nominated in the Children’s Category of the Rose d’Or and the Children’s Programme Category for the RTS Awards!
Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror is nominated for the Comedy Award of the Rose d’Or.
BBC’s Rev. is nominated in Writer-Comedy, Scripted Comedy and Comedy Performance Categories at the RTS Awards. The reason we’re mentioning it here is because James Bachman had a small role in one of the episodes.
Also at the RTS Awards, The Crimson Petal & The White, starring Chris O’Dowd, is nominated in the Drama Serial Category.
Finally, Darren Boyd is also nominated for the RTS Comedy Performance for Spy, and as you know, the lovely Dolly Wells also stars in Spy.
We’ll be sure to let you know how they all get on when the gongs are handed out.
© CBBC
Fans of CBBC’s Pixelface may have spotted another TVO artist on today’s show: Rufus Jones guested as “The Pilot”!
If you haven’t caught the show yet (and therefore have no idea what we’re talking about), Pixelface is a sitcom spin-off from the sketch show Sorry, I’ve Got No Head. Set in the imagined world inside a games console, it follows the on-and-off-screen lives of a group of computer game characters.
It also stars Gareth Tunley, and a previous episode has featured another TVO favourite, Colin Hoult.
To watch today’s episode with Rufus Jones, titled ‘Come Fly With Me’ (another cheeky Booshniverse reference?) head on over to iPlayer.
Comedian and film reviewer Richard Sandling presents a stand-up comedy show about films, so if you love comedy and love films this show is for you! The show features trailers, special guests and recreations of favourite film scenes.
You can see it at the Leicester Square Theatre on 11 April, 16 May and 13 June. Tickets and further information are available here.
The show was performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last year, watch the trailer below and see if you can spot some familiar faces.
Calling all fans of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy who possess something to draw or paint with and something to draw or paint on!
© E4
To say that Luxury Comedy is a visual feast is something of an understatement. It’s hardly surprising then that the show has inspired many fans to pick up their felt tips and get drawing.
We’ve been seeing all kinds of wonderful fan art based on and inspired by Luxury Comedy, and some of you have been kind enough to tweet us your pictures. We therefore thought it’d be a fitting tribute to the series to host a gallery of Luxury Comedy-related pictures, created by fans.
To coincide with the final show on 8th March we’ll be showing a selection of your art here on The Velvet Onion. So if you, or someone you know, has produced a sketch, painting, collage…in fact anything vaguely creative that’s connected to Luxury Comedy, please send it to us at submit@thevelvetonion.com by midday (GMT) on Wednesday 7th March. And we’ll share it with the world!
Please note that there’s no grand prize as such (beyond your creative output appearing on our hallowed home page, to be seen and admired by TVO acts and fans alike). So come on then, what are you waiting for – it’s time to dig out the tin of Caran D’Ache!
If you’re in need of some midweek inspiration, then look no further that E4′s Luxury Comedy site, which features tons of (constantly updated) clips and pictures from the show. They’ve recently put up a selection of behind-the-scenes photos, which are well worth a look (like the one below!):
© E4
© James Cook
Following a recent spate of successful shows in South America, James Cook is heading back over to this side of the Atlantic for some performances in London and Ireland.
He’ll be playing as part of the bill on 3rd March with Noblesse Oblige at Electowerkz, Islington London. The show starts at 7pm and tickets cost £10. Other acts include Neurotic Mass Movement and Scant Regard. The promotional blurb for the show promises “dark, exotic electronica”, so if that’s your kind of thing head over here for more information and to buy tickets.
Next, you can catch Cook in a solo gig at Boyles Pub in Slane, Ireland on 16th March. The show starts at 9pm, and for information updates see the event Facebook page (but there’s not a lot on it at the moment).
And finally, he’ll be performing on Saturday and Sunday 17th & 18th March at the Irish Craft Beer Festival, George’s Dock in Dublin. For start times and more information visit the event Facebook page.
And if you’re a James Cook fan in South America who’s been getting used to his presence, rest assured he’ll be back. As he’s said on twitter: “Feel a little sad as i leave South America. I feel i have a lot of friends there. But i will return sooner than you might imagine…” We’ll let you know as soon as we hear what he’s got up his sleeve!
© Matt Berry/Myspace
There are six days left to listen to Matt Berry on Stuart Marconie’s Freakier Zone from Friday night on BBC Radio 6 Music.
Matt talks about his latest musical project, Music for Insomniacs, which is coming out soon and sounds very intriguing! He also gives us the exciting news that his new album is due out in October, so it sounds like it’ll be a great year for Berry music fans!
Matt also shares some of his favourite tracks on the show and talks about his musical influences.
You can listen to the show here, where you can also find out more about the show and the music played.
© Channel 4
Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror is out on DVD on Monday (27th). The three-part series, mostly written by Brooker, and starring Julia Davis in the second episode, was shown before Christmas and was very popular.
To mark the occasion Mr Brooker has been interviewed by Den of Geek. He talks about Black Mirror and his new one-off spoof detective series Touch of Cloth, which airs soon on Sky.
It’s an exciting time for Charlie fans, as he has also been nominated for the TV Award at this years Chortle Awards.
You can pre-order your copy of Black Mirror now at The Velvet Onion Store.
© Qwertee / TomTragor
A limited edition t-shirt homage to The IT Crowd can now be yours to own via Qwertee.
The design, entitled Crowded by TomTragor, is available for just £8 (plus postage) until late on Saturday evening – whereupon it will be discontinued, and entered into the site’s voting system for a possible return.
Featuring a string of classic quotes from the show, and pixel versions of stars Chris O’Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson, Chris Morris & Noel Fielding (sadly no Matt Berry!), the shirt is surely a must for any real-life Roy’s out there…
For your chance to own this tee, which has been given the IT Crowd’s official Twitter seal of approval, visit www.quertee.com now!
© The Forgery Club
A sprinkling of TVO favourites are set to take over the Udderbelly on London’s Southbank as part of a special Forgery Club event.
Hosted by Pros From Dover, who of course feature TVO regular Richard Glover, the event on Friday 13th April will see the likes of Hot Brew, Steve Oram and Rachel Stubbings on the bill alongside Luke McQueen, Jamie Glassman, Spencer Jones, Moonfish Rhumba, The Real MacGuffins, McNeil & Pamphilon and Nathaniel Tapley.
This bumper Forgery Club begins at 10:45pm, and tickets start at £15 (£14 cons). They can be bought via the Southbank Centre website – and more details on all forthcoming Forgery Club events can be found on their swanky new website!
© 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Sky’s recent adaptation of Treasure Island is now available for pre-order on blu-ray and dvd.
The two part mini-series which aired over the new year period featured an all-star cast including Elijah Wood, Eddie Izzard and Donald Sutherland – and TVO’s very own Julian Barratt was on board as gamekeeper Thomas Redruth.
There are currently no details on any extra features for the release, which is pencilled in for June 11th, but both standard and hi-def versions are up for pre-order now in our TVO Amazon Store for just £17.99 (blu-ray) and £11.99 (dvd).
© Linda Nylind/The Guardian
An exciting casting development for Sharon Horgan‘s forthcoming BBC3 show Dead Boss has been announced: comic legend Jennifer Saunders!
The Comic Strip and Ab Fab legend will be playing a prison governor, described as a “sexual Margaret Thatcher”. Horgan’s character is that of an inmate falsely imprisoned for the murder of her boss – and Saunders is set to be a psychotic yet elegant enemy.
Formerly known as Life Stories and briefly known as Bitches, the show is one of two Horgan projects in development – with her collaboration with Julia Davis, Bad Sugar, also expected on screens shortly.
The links to Booshdom continue, as the show is being directed by none other than Steve Bendelack, who shot The Boosh pilot episode all those years ago. Bendelack is perhaps best known for his work on The League Of Gentlemen, and one of The League, Jeremy Dyson, is on board as script editor too.
© French & Saunders
Dead Boss is not Saunder’s first foray into the realm of Booshdom, either. Her last project with former partner Dawn French was Jam & Jerusalem, which featured Simon Farnaby in a prominent role, and the recent Absolutely Fabulous revival featured our very own Lucy Montgomery too! Not only that, but her make-up artist of choice is none other than Christine Cant of Mighty Boosh and Luxury Comedy fame. The ties of Booshdom run deep indeed…
The series is expected on our screens in April. Stay peeled for more info.
© The Royal Shakespeare Company 2011
Tim Minchin’s Matilda, featuring Paul Kaye, won four awards earlier this week.
The musical, based on Roald Dahl’s classic novel, swept the boards at the Whatsonstage.com awards – including Best New Musical, Best Choreographer, Best Set Design and Best Newcomer award for its writer, Tim Minchin.
These awards follow earlier wins such as its nod for Best Musical at the Evening Standard awards recently.
Kaye is set to appear in the show as Mr Wormwood at the Cambridge Theatre until at least May, and the show is set to run at the Theatre until at least October. Tickets can be bought online HERE, and you can catch our interview with Paul to promote the last series of Mongrels HERE.
Our favourite Prog Rockers, Circulus, will be performing on Friday 2nd March at The Queen’s Head Inn 19 Landgate, Rye TN31 7LH.
The show starts at 8.30pm and will feature the full 40 minute film of Michael Tyack’s psychedelic interaction with the Michael line, a powerful earth energy which runs between Norfolk and Cornwall. The film will be followed by question and answers and a live performance.
You can see a preview of the film here.
© Unknown
The perky-eared amongst you may have noticed Julian Barratt‘s silky northern tones narrating BBC2′s new documentary The Tube this evening.
The six-part series takes viewers behind the scenes of the world’s oldest, biggest and busiest underground train network. In the first episode a major track replacement operation threatens to disrupt the weekday service, while a busy Saturday night sees a woman pushed on to the live tracks at Leicester Square. Stirring stuff! And you can view it for the next seven days on BBC iPlayer.
The next episode will be broadcast on BBC2 at 9pm on Monday 27th February.
If you’re reading this here on The Velvet Onion, chances are you’re a fan of a certain type of comedy. But have you ever wondered why there’s not a lot of it on TV these days? We have, and so has comedian Joey Page.
Velveteer Paulyne caught up with Joey to discuss this conundrum as well as other things, and together they took it upon themselves to put the world to rights. Here’s what happened:
© www.evoarts.org.uk
Everyone’s comedy thirst is quenched in different ways. As time moves forward and trends evolve, new niche styles of comedy eventually reach the mainstream – at which point we the viewing audience are force fed them every day at primetime. For instance, we’re bombarded with comedians talking about their spouses and what happened to them last week – it’s an easy crowd pleaser. But there’s a lot more comedy out there that deserves a look at (and doesn’t get it). With The Velvet Onion hoping to prompt some of our Peelers to seek out new comedy experiences, it feels like the perfect time to introduce the concept of New Wave Comedy.
New Wave Comedy is a form that takes one out of the everyday world of direct, and often mundane, experiences and puts them into a dreamland full of colours and magic…and who wouldn’t want that? Way back when, The Goon Show and Monty Python took the surreal high ground; more recently we’ve had Garth Merenghi’s Dark Place (whose spoof-sci-fi attempts where highly underrated), and of course there’s The Mighty Boosh, who brought the offbeat magic to sold out arenas as we watched it grow and grow.
Even with the Boosh attaining such a high status in the comedy world, we’re yet to see New Wave welcomed with open arms by either the media establishment or even the general public. The struggle New Wave comedians face on the live circuit is unknown to most people, but it’s something Joey Page knows very well. Joey has lived at the centre of this world for six years, and has only recently enjoyed his first TV exposure via Never Mind The Buzzcocks, where, somewhat ironically, the complete absence of any TV clips of Joey to introduce him with was turned into a lighthearted joke (they showed other artists with the surname ‘Page’ instead).
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© Channel 4/Secret Peter
We have reminded, teased and shouted about it enough and now the day has finally come – here is our exclusive documentary from set of Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy.
Velveteers took cameras, mics and their bodies over to the set and probed the cast & creators of the out-of-this-world E4 show.
Over the past few weeks we have been teasing you with clips, and now at long last, you can see the video below!
Richard Sandling is back with his newest bout of pop culture news coverage.
In Sandling’s viral video The Carvery, he summarises the week’s most important entertainment news – from singer Adele’s battle with Karl Lagerfeld, The Sun’s recent “witch hunt”, Blues Brothers casting news, and why the chain restaurant, Nando’s, is currently more powerful than the British government.
Like his previous videos which we’ve told you about, the most recent instalment of Carvery borders on controversial, with Sandling himself unafraid of saying the things we the viewing audience might shy away from admitting ourselves.
But don’t let us make up your mind! Take a look at the hilarity for yourself… and keep your eyes and ears peeled for more from this funny man.
Steve Coogan has landed the title role in the upcoming film The King of Soho.
The Michael Winterbaum-directed film follows the life of porn publisher and impresario Paul Raymond (Coogan), who rose to infamy in London during the 60s and 70s.
Joining Coogan in the cast are the British actresses Anna Friel, Tamsin Egerton, and Imogen Poots. Each woman plays an important role in Raymond’s titillating life: Anna Friel will play Raymond’s scorned wife, Jean; Egerton is Fiona Richmond, the woman Raymond cheated with; and Poots will be Raymond’s drug-addled daughter, Debbie – with whom he also shared a sexual relationship.
This is Coogan’s fourth time collaborating with Winterbaum; they’ve previously worked together on such acclaimed film-based projects as 24 Hour Party People, The Trip, and A Cock and Bull Story.
Coogan stated, “I’m very excited to be working with Michael Winterbottom again. Like 24 Hour Party People, we want to capture the life of an extraordinary man living in extraordinary times.”
The film, which is being produced by Film4 and executed produced Studio Canal, is due to be released in 2013.
