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Instant Snuff

5 Feb

© Severin Films

Snuff Box has been added to Netflix Instant Play.

Currently only available to American Netflix subscribers, Snuff Box in its entirety is available in DVD form as well as in an instant stream.

The series, starring Matt Berry and Rich Fulcher as a hangman and his assistant, and featuring guest appearances from Richard Ayoade, Alice Lowe and more, has gained quite a cult following in the States. This latest addition follows Snuff Box’s initial launch in the U.S., which in addition to the U.S. DVD release included a promotional tour in Los Angeles and New York  late last year.

Of course, UK Peelers feeling left out can always pick up a copy for themselves at the TVO Amazon Store.

Luxury Comedy In A Bargain-Basement Age

24 Jan

© Channel 4/Secret Peter

Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy is a show like no other you’ll see on television in 2012. It’s a show that has spent years gestating in the heads of its dual creators, Noel Fielding and Nigel Coan. It’s a show that combines live-action with animation in a crayola-drenched world filled with cartoon characatures that seem to have leapt straight out of the imagination of Fielding – as his longterm friend and colleague Dave Brown so eloquently put when talking to TVO last year – the show is a bit like downloading Noel’s brain.

More than a year in the actual, physical making, Luxury Comedy brings together a number of talents from that wider world of Booshdom we’ve been shouting about since our inception, and who we’ve all collectively been enjoying on stage and screen for the past fifteen years. Whilst its fair to say the show can never topple The Mighty Boosh in the hearts of many, the trick to watching Luxury Comedy is to block out all thoughts of that looming shadow of a cult classic and just enjoy the madness on its own terms.

© Channel 4/Secret Peter

Take for example, the character of Dondelion, images of which have been released to the press. On the surface, a cynical viewer may suggest he is a cast-off from the Boosh – a lost side-project from the days of the Zooniverse.  They would be wrong. Dondelion, like every other character Noel and Nigel have created – and there are many – is a brand new beast, the only similarities being that he has come from the same brilliant mind that co-created all those Boosh characters of yesteryear.

We’ve been living with the pilot since the summer of last year now, when Noel and his team at Secret Peter kindly invited The Velvet Onion to visit the set and document our findings. It’s multi-coloured, surrealistic world admittedly took us all by surprise on first viewing, but whilst not everyone was immediately in hysterics, repeat viewings found the laughs increased and, amazingly, a whole new realm of quotes and catchphrases subconsciously crept into our everyday lexicon.  We’ve been yelling “Fish Finger For Later” at one another since then, and random injections of “Paulsaid”, “LEEEGGGGOOOOHHHHH!” and rambling speeches about bikes, Gary Glitter and single baked beans have interjected our daily thoughts to the point where we started to wonder if we had developed a new form of madness. The show may be like downloading Noel’s brain, but more specifically it seems, for diehard fans that download will embed itself into the infrastructure of your mind’s root folders like a particularly shiny virus.

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Comedy Lessons From The Booshniverse

16 Jan

© LoCo

If  you’ve ever wanted to learn about comedy and film, the artists and acts we follow on TVO is a pretty good place to start!

LoCo is hosting Kickstart Your Comedy Career, a series of talks taking place on 26th and 27th January 2012 at BFI  Southbank in London. The two-day course is aimed at new and emerging comedy film-makers: you’re recommended to have made at least one short film and /or sitcom pilot in order to attend (please note that the course is not suitable for those solely interested in live comedy and stand-up, and it’s not aimed at fans of the artists appearing). Numbers are strictly limited to 50, so that everyone will have a chance to speak to the panellists and make important personal contacts.

Amongst a host of fantastic speakers TVO favourites Paul King, Alice Lowe and Oly Ralfe will be appearing. Ben Wheatley (Sightseers, Kill List) will also be one of the speakers at the event.

For more information about the talks and to purchase tickets (£100 for two days) visit LoCo’s website here. For anyone interested in a career in comedy and film, this is a great way to accelerate the learning process and make some useful contacts.

January Brew

12 Jan

© Becky Johnson / The Velvet Onion

TVO favourites Hot Brew are set to appear in Bethnal Green and Camden at the end of this month.

On Thursday January 26 at 8:00pm they are playing at Monthly Mirth Aid – Comedy Night  at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club. Come along and spend some time with Crispin and Ooona. Steve Oram as Mary will also be making an appearance so be ready for that! The show also stars Jess Gunning who was in the Julia Davis & Jessica Hynes  pilot Lizzie & Sarah.

To find out more about this very special evening go to the website.

The following evening, Friday 27th they will be gracing Anything Bloody Goes at The Colonel Fawcett in Camden. For more information see the events facebook page

2011 Pops Off With a Bang!

8 Jan

The final months of 2011 were an exciting time for the Booshniverse. Join us for now for the final instalment of our four-part retrospective as we relive it all over again. . .

October

© BBC

October began buzzing with Booshy delights. The month’s start saw previews for the upcoming 25th series of Never Mind The Buzzcocks.  Meanwhile, Matt Berry and Rich Fulcher continued on their North American Snuff Box DVD tour in Canada, Los Angeles, and Fulcher in NYC.

While London Madcaps prepared to get their books scribbled by Noel Fielding and Dave Brown, the BBC were busy at work filming the Victorian spoof drama Bleak Old Shop of Stuff. The series, starring TVO regulars Katherine Parkinson and James Bachman, as well as Stephen Fry, is meant to start airing in the New Year. The Sightseers, the Alice Lowe/Steve Oram film collaboration was also underway by mid-October. For the nostalgic at heart, cult DJ extrodinaire Pogo released “Zoo Zoo”, a Mighty Boosh mash-up.

© IAMX

The first of four TVO Scribblings wristband competitions was announced, with peelers in London, and soon thereafter Edinburgh vying for guaranteed admission to meet the Shambletons. Psycho Delia mixed some tunes, and IAMX fans were pleased to see the band’s triumphant return to a London stage in one hell of a show! Friend of TVO, Hayden Black, saw Goodnight Burbank, his series that started as webisodes with cameos from the likes of Rich Fulcher and John Barrowman, make its North American televisual debut. Familiar face Alan Partridge, the infamous alter ego of Steve Coogan, announced his returning to both radio and TV.

© Steve Agee

Blackpool’s Comedy Carpet was unveiled, Booshy jaunts included! Lucky American peelers got the opportunity to catch the Matt Berry/Steve Agee film Angry White Men as it enjoyed a limited release in California and North Carolina. In yet another bout of nostalgia, Vlad the Impaler returned to the handlebars of Serge and the rest of Kasabian’s musical bicycle.

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Booshniverse At The BAFTAs – And Beyond

8 Jan

© Warp Films

The long list of films voted for by BAFTA members for entry in the 2012 Orange British Academy Film Awards has been announced, and there are a few Booshniverse-relevant favourites in there!

Richard Ayoade‘s critically-acclaimed debut Submarine is in the list for Outstanding British Film; and Anonymous, featuring Tony Way and Bunny & The Bull‘s Edward Hogg, is included in the lists for Best Original Screenplay, Production Design, Make-up And Hair and Costume Design.

Arthur Christmas, featuring the vocal talents of Rich Fulcher and Julia Davis is entered for Best Animated Film and Best Original Screenplay, and the much-lauded Girl With a Dragon Tattoo, which features Tony Way as hacker Plague, is listed in thirteen categories! Tyrannosaur, a Warp Films production (and therefore dear to our hearts!) is also listed in five categories.

Nominations in all categories will be announced on 17th January, and the winners will be announced at the Orange British Academy Film Awards on 12 February. For the full BAFTA long list click here.

© Optimum Releasing

While we’re on the subject of film awards, the ‘Critics Circle’ nominations have also recently been announced, and once again, the Booshniverse has fared well: Ayoade is up for Breakthrough British Film-maker and both Craig Roberts and Yasmin Paige are nominated for Young British Performer of the Year – all for Submarine.

Modern horror, Kill List, directed by The Sightseers’ Ben Wheatley, and featuring TVO faces Gareth Tunley, Alice Lowe and Steve Oram, also gains nominations for British Film and Supporting Actor of the Year. Tyrannosaur again features, with two nominations.

Click here for the full list of nominations for the Critics’ Circle awards. The awards ceremony takes place in London on 19th January.

Congratulations to all of the nominees. We’ll let you know how they all fair on the respective awards nights, so keep you fingers crossed!

A Not-So-Summery 2011…But Here’s A Summary Of July-Sept

4 Jan

When you think of last summer, what do you think of? Rain? Rioting? Well don’t think about that – if your memory fails you, first have a look at our reviews of January to June, and then let’s take a look at what happened in the world of Booshdom from July to September, in Part 3 of our review of 2011...

JULY

© Watch

2011 may have been a dreary and somewhat brief summer, but July kicked off with some magic as Dynamo showed off his skills to Noel Fielding, stunning him with a rogue deck of cards right in the palm of his hand!

The comedy world also saw acts big and small peeking out into the non-sunlight as they prepared for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival! It was a busy month for comics, including Rich Fulcher who arranged warm ups left right and centre. As they all profusely scribbled down their work in the build-up to the festival, the musical Booshdom also picked up its pace. Robots In Disguise released their fourth album (funded by their fans!) Happiness vs Sadness. We were eager to listen to it ourselves and bring you a song-by-song evaluation of it.

© Becky Johnson

IAMX were also in the midst of releasing their new single Bernadette and at the same time brought us two alternative versions of the music video – we would expect nothing less from perfectionist Chris Corner!

This summer was also a lucky time for the Velvet Onion in terms of tracking down some great talent. We attended a Q&A with the cast of How Not To Live Your Life, then Richard Ayoade also answered some of our questions following the release of Submarine. Then there was even more excitement with the release of our chat with the delectable Hot Brew!

Someone who’s also always up for a debate is Steve Coogan, who voiced his opinions on Newsnight this month regarding the recent closure of News Of The World!

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CBooshies Return

3 Jan
© bbc.co.uk

CBBC’s I’m Sorry I’ve got No Head spin-off – Pixelface, starring David Armand and Gareth Tunley, started a new series today, with special guest star TVO favourite Colin Hoult! If you missed out, it’s on BBC iPlayer, and the second episode is next Tuesday (10th) at 4.30pm on BBC1. The first series is being repeated on Saturday mornings at 8.05am on BBC2.

Fans of Horrible Histories, starring Alice Lowe and Simon Farnaby, will be pleased to see it repeated on Fridays on BBC1 at 4.30pm, and on CBBC on Saturdays and Sundays at 1.25pm.

More exciting happenings on CBBC next Monday (9th) when there’s a new sketch show written by Vic Reeves and Steve Burge (from Burge and Way). Ministry of Curious Stuff stars Vic and Dan Skinner (Angelos from Shooting Stars) who lead a team of special investigators. In the first episode the team work out the chances of dinosaurs ever returning to roam the earth and find out if robots will ever take over the world. To discover the answers and see Vic dressed as a Kung Fu Monkey Warrior and as a girl who catches fairies, tune in to the CBBC channel at 5.45pm! As usual, the show will also be available on BBC iPlayer.

Spring Back In Time: A Look Back At April-June 2011

2 Jan

So far our review of 2011 has covered January to March. Today we bring you the sequel: April to June. Aaaah, Springtime…the time of fresh starts and new beginnings! And it turned out to be a very busy time in the Booshniverse too!

April

© BBC

April started with the news of Chris O’Dowd’s appearance in The Crimson Petal and The White, a Victorian drama adaptation miles away from The IT Crowd! It was a fantastic production with a great cast and Chris was excellent in it.

The London Comedy Writers Festival took place this month, with input from TVO favourites Alice Lowe, Jaqueline Wright and Colin Hoult. It was a very busy month for Alice, she starred in  Tap at the Window, appeared with Antony Elvin at Popcorn Comedy, and had the pilot  Alice’s Wunderland broadcast on BBC Radio 4. At the time we were lucky to bag an interview with her which you can read here. We also reviewed Jackal films 2010 calendar project.

Colin Hoult announced the second New Adventures show and Paul Foot was in Australia, tweeting as he went.

TVO enjoyed a bit of a spring clean itself in April with a revamp of the TVO Amazon store, making it even easier to cater for all your comedy needs!

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The Velvet Onion Calendar 2012

29 Dec

The Velvet Onion are pleased to bring you our exclusive 2012 calendar!

We’ve been working with a number of our friends both in front of the camera and behind it, to bring you twelve great shots to print out and stick up on your wall between January 1st and December 31st.

With a fantastic new design from Velveteer Lauren “Lozzy” Taylor, inspired by the beautiful design work Peeler Kerrie Leisch provided for the site back in 2010, we really hope you like the results – which are available for a free download by clicking on the picture above!

Thank you to everyone involved, and to all of you – our dearest Peelers – for a truly fantastic 2011… here’s to another great year in the realm of the Onion!

Kill List On Disc!

26 Dec

© Studio Canal

Ben Wheatley’s thriller Kill List is released on dvd and blu-ray today.

We first told you about the film just ahead of it’s theatrical release in the late Summer, after a string of rave reviews from just about every major publication that bothers to review movies.

Wheatley’s second feature, it was released just as his third, The Sightseers went into production – and the former director of The Wrong Door and Time Trumpet enlisted its stars, Alice Lowe and Steve Oram to make cameo appearances in Kill List, alongside fellow TVO allumni Gareth Tunley.

Now, following a win at the BIFA Awards, the film is released on dvd and blu-ray in the UK, boasting two commentaries, a making-of documentary and a number of interviews with the cast and crew.

Both versions are available now in The Velvet Onion Amazon Store – priced just £9.99 for the dvd, and £11.99 for the blu-ray/dvd combo.  If you’re still undecided, and five star reviews from the likes of Total Film aren’t enough to persuade you, you can check out the trailer below.

We hope to bring you more news on The Sightseers, currently in post production, as soon as possible… stay peeled!

Horrible Christmas

23 Dec
© Lion TV/Citrus Television

Horrible Histories Christmas Special is on  Christmas Day at 7.35am and 5.30pm. The BAFTA winning show starring Simon Farnaby and Alice Lowe takes a look at Christmas traditions and songs through the ages, and highlights some of the more gruesome festivities. If you’re too busy to watch on the day it’s available on BBC iPlayer.

Remember there is a wide variety of TVO related entertainment over the Christmas period. Take a look at our post to refresh your memory.

Hot Brew EXCLUSIVE: It’s The Last Christmas

19 Dec

© The Velvet Onion (Original Photo © Jimmy Crippen)

The Velvet Onion is proud to present it’s first ever mp3 download via the folky wonderment that is Hot Brew!

Oona & Crispin Wheatflake first came to our attention in Alice Lowe and Jacqueline Wright‘s excellent docu-short Roots, and since then, the pair – who bear an uncanny likeness to Alice and Antony Elvin – have been firm favourites here at TVO Towers, even allowing us into their humble abode for an exclusive interview earlier this year.

Now the duo have utilised their hessian string communication devices to attach a recording, made of vegetable peel, to the electronic mail system – and are offering you, dear Peelers, the chance to download it for free.

Spread the word, because their Christmas message comes with a serious point to make about the future of mankind.

You can hear it below, and download it for free HERE!

This Is More Jinsy

17 Dec

© 2|Entertain

This is Jinsy, the comedy from Sky Atlantic featuring Alice Lowe, Colin Hoult and many others, has been commissioned for an eight-part second series. It will be filmed next year and shown in 2013, for more details see this link.

Have a look at our article about This is Jinsy here, and the first series is available from The TVO Store.

Sky have also commissioned a new series of the award-winning  Spy starring Robert Lindsay, Darren Boyd, Mat Baynton (Horrible Histories) and Dolly Wells (Luxury Comedy). There will be 10 episodes in this series and a Christmas special.

Both commissions are part of Sky’s plans to increase its investment in original British content by 50% over the next three years.

British Comedy Awards Winners

17 Dec

© BBC

Last night saw the awards ceremony for the 2012 British Comedy Awards, hosted by Jonathan Ross.  A few Booshniverse-relevant artists went home with trophies; here’s our run-down of the winners:

Stewart Lee, famous for directing The Boosh’s first Edinburgh outing, won two awards: Best Male Comic and Best Comedy Entertainment Programme, for Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle. Horrible Histories, which features Simon Farnaby and Alice Lowe, picked up yet another gong – for Best Sketch Show. In doing so, it beat the Paul King-directed Come Fly With Me and This Is Jinsey, also featuring Alice Lowe and Colin Hoult.

One of the highlights of the evening has to be Armando Iannucci’s Writer’s Guild of Great Britain Award! As a key contributor to On The Hour, The Day Today and numerous Alan Partridge outings (amongst many others!), he’s helped pave the way for great modern comedy along with a host of Booshniverse greats such as Chris Morris and Steve Coogan.

For the full list of nominees and winners visit The British Comedy Guide website. Congratulations to all the winners this year!

BIFA Awards

6 Dec

© Warp Films

As we mentioned previously, there was a strong Booshniverse connection to the British Independent Film Awards ceremony that was held on Sunday. Chris O’Dowd hosted and IT Crowd co-star Richard Ayoade and his debut feature film Submarine were nominated for several awards.

We are pleased to announce that Richard received the  Best Screenplay Award for Submarine.

Michael Smiley (Spaced), received the award for  Best Supporting Actor for his role in modern horror Kill List, directed by The Sightseers’ Ben Wheatley, which features TVO faces Gareth Tunley, Alice Lowe and Steve Oram (in cameos).

And Tyrannosaur,  produced by Warp Films who also produced Submarine and Kill List, won Best Film, Best Director and Olivia Coleman won Best Actress.

For a full list of winners head over to the BIFA Website.

Film Awards For Chris (And Richard?)

17 Nov

© www.bifa.org.uk

Chris O’Dowd is to host this year’s British Independent Film Awards for the first time, on Sunday 4th December at Old Billingsgate. He takes over from James Nesbitt who will become a patron this year. This is the Awards 14th year and the films nominated  include Senna, Shame, Tyrannosaur, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Kill List, Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy and Submarine.

Submarine, directed by O’Dowd’s IT Crowd co-star Richard Ayoade has five nominations including  Ayoade himself for the Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) and Best Screenplay.

That’s not the only TVO connection;  modern horror Kill List, directed by The Sightseers’ Ben Wheatley, features TVO faces Gareth Tunley, Alice Lowe and Steve Oram (in cameos).

 Although Tyrannosaur doesn’t include any  TVO regulars,  it’s produced by Warp Films who also produced Submarine and Kill List.

For more information about these and the other nominations go to the BIFA website.

Stubbing Out Alice

12 Nov

TVO favourite Alice Lowe pops up in an online video from the Stubbing Out Problems series by Rachel Stubbings.

You may remember that Rachel previously appeared with Alice in the Jackal Film Love Song last year.

Alice is busy at the moment filming Sightseers, a film written by and starring Alice and Steve Oram, and directed by Ben Wheatley. Film 2011 visited the set last week and you can catch it on iplayer from around 12.30.

Seeing The Sightseers

9 Nov

© Alice Lowe

The Sightseers will be previewed exclusively on Film 2011 tonight.

The film, directed by Kill List head honcho Ben Wheatley is written by and stars Alice Lowe and Steve Oram, and tells the blackly comic story of a nerdy caravanning couple driven to madness in the Yorkshire dales.

The project has been a pet cause for Alice & Steve for some time, after a tv pilot, directed by Paul King, was made several years ago, and spotted by Edgar Wright, who then helped attach Hot Fuzz producer Nira Park to the project as the series became a film.

Making cameo appearances in the movie are regular cohorts and much loved friends of TVO – Tony Way, Antony Elvin and Tom Meeten - so naturally we can’t wait to see what the end results look like – and tonight, we get a sneaky peak on national television!

The show, presented by Claudia Winkleman, airs tonight at 11:20pm on BBC1, and will be available on iPlayer for 7 days after transmission.

Dvd? Dvd? This Is Jinsey? Come On Eileen? Dvd? Dvd? Dynamo? Barking? Dvd?…

4 Nov

© 2|Entertain

Monday sees the dvd release of two recent additions to tapestry of Booshdom, and a long lost forgotten piece of history.

First up, is the complete first series of This Is Jinsey.  The show – written by and starring Chris Bran and Justin Chub - premièred on Sky Atlantic in September, and features TVO’s very own Alice Lowe and Colin Hoult in its ensemble cast, alongside a huge array of big name guest stars.

As Sky Atlantic is a premium channel in the UK, few of our readers have been able to see the show – so we imagine demand for this new cult classic is pretty high.  Oddly, despite the show being filmed and broadcast in HD, there is currently no blu-ray release scheduled.

The dvd, boasting a ‘lost episode’, two featurettes and an episode commentary, is available for pre-order in The Velvet Onion Amazon Store for just £12.99.

© Foul Films / Blinder Films

Also available on Monday, in more traditional Boosh mode, is low-budget British film Come On Eileen.

A long time in gestation, and sadly only receiving a limited theatrical release, the film nevertheless has a huge ensemble cast which includes Noel Fielding and Julia Davis - whilst music from Robots In Disguise features on the soundtrack!

Again, this is available on dvd only – there are no plans at present to release a blu-ray edition.

Nevertheless, with the dvd being only £6.99 in The Velvet Onion Amazon Store, it’s hard to resist.

Whilst we’re on the subject of Noel on dvd – you may want to pick up the rather entertaining first series from magician Dynamo [recently a guest on Buzzcocks].  As we reported earlier this year, Noel and his partner Lliana Bird were cornered by the Bradford-born magic-man and wowed by his talents: with the footage featuring on this disc.

One for the die-hards, perhaps, but the show, which like …Jinsy, was only available on the premium channel Watch, is more than worth a look – and you can pick it up on dvd or blu-ray from The Velvet Onion Amazon Store now!

© Acorn Media

Finally, Monday also sees the release of Barking - a little known 90s sketch show made for Channel 4 which features a host of big-name stars before they hit the big time.

Barking was made for Channel 4 back in 1998, and as if to prove that nothing really changes, was immediately dumped in a graveyard slot and denied a second series.  Sound familiar?

Spearheaded by Catherine Tate, David Walliams, Peter Kay, Omid Djalili, Mackenzie Crook and Marcus Brigstock – the show also featured the trio formerly known as Stay Alive Pepi – Rhys Thomas, Steve Burge & our very own Tony Paul Way.

This, too, can be pre-ordered on The Velvet Onion Amazon Store for just £9.99 on dvd – and you can find out all the info about the show you’ll ever need over yonder.

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