The latest BBC Comedy web exclusive packs more TVO names into its three minutes than you can shake a small, nasal pianist at.
Featuring Tom Meeten as Jools Holland, as he leads us through a variety of silly-named artists featuring on his show this week, eagle eyed viewers will spot James Bachman, Shelly Longworth, Alice Lowe, Steve Oram and Waen Shepherd amongst those raiding the dressing up box.
You can see the clip exclusively on the BBC Comedy website. Due to licence-free related limitations, the clip may not be available worldwide, and our website software doesn’t like to try and embed it, sadly… but the clip is just one click away, so check it out!
Keep your eyes peeled at the BBC Comedy YouTube channel, because this, and previous video from the BBC Nought gang, Question Time After Party, may yet turn up there…
Almost forgotten Channel Five sitcom Angelo’s is given a new lease of life next month, with the release of the complete series on dvd.
The show ran for one six-episode series in 2007, and was written by and starred Sharon Horgan - a name which should be familiar to the discerning peeler. Frequently collaborating with Alice Lowe, Horgan co-starred with Alice in Rob Brydon’s Annually Retentive and in 2009 became the voice of Lifespam after Lowe was unable to squeeze in a physical part for her. This association continued with Jackal Films projects last year – returning to narrate the Lifespam spin-off My Old Baby, and guest starring in the demonic Bretheren.
Horgan also co-starred in Free Agents - a Channel 4 sitcom featuring Matthew Holness, but of course is best known for her BBC sitcom Pulling.which featured guest appearances by Alice Lowe and Gareth Tunley. She also played Chris O’Dowd‘s mother in his Little Cracker for Sky One last Christmas – so her TVO credentials are sound! With her star in the ascendant, Horgan recently hosted an edition of Have I Got News For You?, and was recently announced in the role of Homily Clock alongside Christopher Eccleston, Stephen Fry and Victoria Wood in a new BBC adaptation of The Borrowers set to air over Christmas.
It is perhaps, no surprise then that Angelo’s - a show which was previously somewhat ignored by the channel and audiences alike – is being revisited now for a dvd release. And if Horgan’s own links to the world of Booshdom were not enough – the cast also boasts Alice Lowe, Shelly Longworth and Simon Farnaby amongst its regulars, alongside Steve Brody, Paul Garner, Kim Wall, Javone Prince, Hyperdrive‘s Miranda Hart and Mongrels‘ star Paul Kaye! There’s even a blink and you’ll miss it appearance from Colin Hoult!
The dvd features a making of documentary, as well as audio commentaries by Horgan, producer Damon Beesley and director Chloe Thomas, plus the original short that inspired the show, Trafalgar Square and Angelo’s Taster Tape. Priced at only £7.99, you can pre-order it from The Velvet Onion Amazon Store now – with a release date of July 12th.
Until then, here’s a clip of Simon Farnaby as rubbish street-artist Kris, to whet your appetite…
A whole host of familiar faces appear in the latest short from BBC Comedy.
Purporting to feature the after-party shenanigans that follow political debate series Question Time, Tom Meeten, James Bachman, Shelly Longworth and Steve Oram bring you Question Time After Party with hilarious results.
A brand new short featuring a host of TVO favourites has appeared online.
Last year we told you about an exciting new project entitled The Last Summer On Earth, written by and starring Steve Oram and Tom Meeten alongside Alice Lowe, Simon Farnaby, Tony Way, Waen Sheperd, Barunka O’Shaugnessy and Shelly Longworth and even more familiar faces too!
Now a pilot episode has been posted online by production company SoTelevision, and features an opening link delivered by none other than Julia Davis!
Davis appears as the editor of FilmFace Magazine, Bebe Löam – introducing a lost epic from director Mia Kaufman, which featuers the rest of our glorious gang. It’s beautifully shot and very very funny, and well worth your attention. Hopefully this isn’t the last we’ve heard of the show, with this first episode acting as backdoor pilot and a tantilising “To Be Continued” slogan emblazoned across the climax of the clip.
You can catch the fifteen minute short film below, and TVO will endeavour to keep you posted on any future developments.
Tonight on Radio 4, Alice Lowe invites you all to visit Alice’s Wunderland.
In light of this, Velveteer Mog elected to take a quick look back at the work of Alice & Jacqueline Wright’s Jackal Films throughout their 2010 Calendar Project. Below is her personal review.
In 2010 comedy writer and performer Alice Lowe and director Jacqueline Wright released a film per month under the guise of Jackal Films – that’s twelve shorts in total. Although we announced each of their monthly releases as they came out last year, we reckoned Jackal Film’s achievement was due a retrospective.
My original plan was to take notes while I watched each film, in an attempt to identify and record the most salient points about each one. “January: silly + brilliantly done” was as far as I got before I got utterly sucked in, forgetting to write anything else. Luckily I may have nailed it in one statement: “silly + brilliantly done” is a pretty accurate description of what Jackal Films is all about.
The silliness comes from Alice Lowe’s surreal, unhinged performances. She inhabits each character completely and then pushes it as far as it can go. Then she pushes it some more, somehow still managing to avoid caricature. Thanks to the delicate nuances of each performance and Jacqueline Wright’s perfectly-pitched unintrusive direction, the characters Alice plays are bizarre and extreme, yet at the same time strangely credible. In March’s film, The Birdhandler, Alice isn’t someone pretending to be a bird; she is a bird.
Women who look a certain way are expected to behave in a certain way on TV, and when they don’t it’s incredibly refreshing. There’s something inherently funny about an attractive woman (as Alice is) not taking herself seriously – by some way! I’m not sure if Jackal Films will care for the comparison, but it’s arguably what defined the funniest moments on ‘Smack the Pony’. Simply put, watching women being silly, when they could easily get away with just being simpering or sexy, is terrific fun! August’s Celeberama is a testament to that.
The Velvet Onion has learnt of a very exciting new project hopefully coming your way in the near future – The Last Summer On Earth.
Written by the sublime double-act of Steve Oram and Tom Meeten – whom many of you will know from their previous short films and live shows together, as well as appearances in The Mighty Boosh as Donny the Tramp and Lance Dior respectively – the project also features Simon Farnaby and Alice Lowe alongside frequent collaborators Barunka O’Shaugnessy and Shelly Longworth, plus popular comedians Tony Paul Way, Waen Shepherd and Richard Sandling.
Filmed as a pilot for SO Television, it’s early days for the show so far, and as such there isn’t much more we can tell you. Hopefully it will not only be broadcast, but be given a series commission – with that amount of talent on board the tv execs would be fools not to fall in lust with the project! We’re sure an awful lot of you out there would love to see all these comedic giants working together, so here’s hoping!
As soon as we can find out any further details on the project, we’ll chuck some peel at ya.
The latest film in the JackalFilms project is now online!
Birdhandler stars the ever-brilliant Tom Meeten as an egg-eating avian fanatic with a very special creature in his care. Written by (and co-starring) Alice Lowe, and directed once again by Jacqueline Wright, Birdhandler is another fine treat from JackalFilms – and had me in hysterics within minutes. There’s a great little twist and cameo appearance at the end, and Alice sure knows how to gurn with the best of ‘em!
Watch it below, and check out the other JackalFilms projects on their website.
@ellecaps We're spread out across London, Manchester, Gateshead, Sweden & America... so the tea may go cold before it gets around. ;-) peeled 12 hours ago
@ellecaps Work suggests we get paid to do things we find a chore. Neither of which are true. ;-) peeled 12 hours ago
Normal service shall be resumed this weekend. Stay peeled for all your latest news updates! xx peeled 1 day ago
@Alexbkirk Hello, sir! Good to meet you last night - you were fantastic! peeled 1 day ago
@LiisaD No need to move - just come on down next time! We had people come from all over the place - including abroad... :-) peeled 1 day ago
The latest film in the JackalFilms project is now online!
