Penguins & Pessimism

DVD Review: Ed Byrne – Different Class

A while ago, I reviewed Jason Manford’s debut live DVD. I said that it was the best I had seen in a long time and that it was easily the best of the Christmas 2009 stand-up crop. I may be forced to eat those words now, having watched Ed Byrne’s new offering.

As referenced in his act, he actually released a stand-up DVD several years ago, entitled Pedantic & Whimsical, which I considered buying at the time, but never got round to getting. This DVD didn’t exactly sell well at all and thus Byrne remains a relatively unknown comic. For me, he appears on Mock The Week enough for me to recognise him, but I hadn’t really seen enough of his stand-up prior to this to be able to decide whether or not he would be any good.

So, with very little prejudice, I launched myself in to the world of the slightly nerdy Irishman.

Main Feature

Different Class tackles many themes, but as you might expect, the main idea Byrne addresses is the concept of class. He ponders his own class and highlights the differences between the various classes and how it is possible to identify the class that you fall in. The entire first half is a collection of material based around this theme, but he quite happily dashes off on tangents that relate to his own pedantry, which he relates to the audience beautifully and with excellent comic timing.

There is also a golden five minutes of material about how a DVD entitled The WAGs Workout beat his previous DVD in sales and how much he resents the concept of the WAG in general, even referring to them as “worthless cunts”, to rapturous audience reaction. Byrne manages to be charming and light-hearted, even when breaking into a rage (usually fuelled by his desire to be pedantic and witty), a fact which means that the cutting remarks he fires at particular people never seem offensive.

The second half of his show is a showcase of Byrne’s marriage material. Some of this material is truly fantastic and many of his observations are completely pinpoint, sharing his real experiences with the audience in ways that cause huge laughs from the audience. Despite the fact the subject matter hardly diverts from this topic, there is never a stage where you think that the well has run dry or that the topic is wearing thin. He fires off jokes with the same momentum as if he were flying across topics, taking apart each aspect of weddings and wedding planning systematically. It is a true exhibition of stand-up.

There are so many laugh out loud moments in the show that Byrne must rank as one of the best comics out there right now. It is rather infuriating that after spending as many years on the circuit as he has, he is still unrecognisable to most people. It’s a shame that he still doesn’t get the respect he deserve, whereas horrendously overrated comics like Gervais and Izzard grab plaudits everywhere. I take solace in the fact that they may well be yesterday’s news in five years, whereas Ed’s flame will keep on Byrne-ing.

So I made a terrible pun. What you gonna do?

Extras

You aren’t exactly spoilt for choice with the extra features on this disc, with only two being offered which is slightly disappointing. However, the main feature is longer than your average stand-up DVD feature, so you don’t feel like you are being conned out of your money.

The first of these features is rather tantalisingly named “Fake Orgasm”. When I had finished laughing at the name of this feature, I opened it and was greeted by an intro from Byrne, stating that this is a clip of him years ago doing one of his old routines on a TV show.

Cut to Byrne with somewhat weird hair on a bright TV stage. The actual routine is fairly good, but you can see why he doesn’t use the material any more. Nonetheless, it is a welcome extra dose of Byrne that adds to the sublime main feature beautifully. It also allows us to have a giggle at the expense of how Byrne used to look and an excuse to ridicule the performer is something that can never be sniffed at by a viewer.

The second feature is a DVD commentary over the main show. Usually these are bland and uninteresting and often they are not used on live comedy DVDs because they tend to render the original show unwatchable while the commentary plays due to the fact that stand-up comedy relies on being heard as opposed to just seen.

However, and very cleverly, this commentary features Byrne and fellow comedian Jimmy Carr bantering in a room as they watch the footage of the show. It is impossible to watch the show while it is on, but the banter between the two is well worth listening to and is definitely not a time waste. Also rather nicely, they have provided a little window in which you can watch Carr and Byrne, instead of the conventional method of playing the audio over the top. This is welcome and adds a layer of personableness (real word?) to the commentary as it feels almost as if you are in there with them as they chat.

The one thing that is a notable absence from the special features is a Live At The Apollo clip. I would have liked to see this included with the disc as it almost comes as standard with comedy DVDs now, and I would love to see some more of Byrne’s stuff.

The Verdict

The main feature is honestly the best I think I have ever seen on a stand-up DVD, so I would love to give it even more than the full 10/10. However, I can’t and unfortunately I would have liked to have seen more special features and so can only give a 7 for them, dragging the mark down.

So, I do think it is the best stand-up performance of the year, but the DVD extras are too weak to make it the best stand-up disc.

Feature: 10/10
Extras: 7/10
Overall Rating: 17/20

Has Mock The Week Gone Off The Boyle? No Chance!

Last year, Frankie Boyle announced that he had left Mock The Week. He had been a regular on the show since it started in 2005 and his brand of dark humour was the reason that many people found the show so entertaining. Almost inarguably, he was the driving force behind placing Mock The Week at the top of the panel show pile. Many people (including me) were super pissed at the fact that he had gone and I think we all had images of them picking a shit panellist to replace him and the show then going downhill faster than a fat skier.

However, this has not been the case at all. In fact, the BBC made the choice not to choose a regular member for Hugh’s team, instead making it another slot for a guest. This was possibly the best decision the BBC have ever made. Any new panellist would automatically have been compared to Frankie and it would be likely that the comparison would not exactly be favourable. The fact that this panellist changed every week meant that none of the guests outstayed their welcome and seemed like a replacement for Frankie.

I think the reason that Frankie seemed like the beating heart of Mock The Week was because he never stopped talking for the whole half an hour. The entire show has always been a case of “he who shouts loudest wins” with every single panellist being forced to make as much noise as possible in order to get their jokes in. Usually, Frankie was the one who came out best in this situation. It is this that I think is the reason why Andy Parsons is so underrated (see my review of his DVD here) by those who have not seen him outside of the show.

But without Frankie, it seems that a lot of that atmosphere has died down. It now seems like the show is more of a level playing field, with every person able to make themselves heard, meaning that everyone comes out well and it doesn’t seem like the show is entirely centred around one of the panellists. This is a much better way for the show to work and it means that some of the newer comedians just starting to appear on TV are actually getting airtime. A prime example of this is Chris Addison who, in his several appearances this series, has managed to get quite a lot of exposure on the show. This means that people who had never heard of him before are now familiar with his work.

It is great to see some of the new comedians on the circuit be given the chance to air their material on television and they are actually getting a chance to do so now in Frankie’s absence. Scenes We’d Like To See is a much more interesting round now that it isn’t just a game of tennis between Frankie and Hugh and the other rounds have a much nicer atmosphere without so much black humour.

So as much as Frankie Boyle is hilariously funny and a great entertainer, I would probably go as far as to say that Mock The Week is better off without him.

Hit And Miss In The Music World #1, Part 1 – The Hits

I have recently been keeping a closer eye on the music world, swayed by the fact that there is so much shit out there. I am mystified as to how most of the absolute tosh that gets into the charts these days gets any further than the back room of some dingy club somewhere. In fact, I am increasingly sure these tunes are written just for drunk teens to grind against each other.

This is the first of two blog posts about the way the music industry stands at the moment. Unusually for me, this will be a positive post, focusing on the good songs I have heard recently and the positive aspects of music. So here we go!

Whooping With Glee

Glee is taking the world by storm. The US goliath of cheesy “it’s shit, but we love it” television is sweeping charts all over the world. The show is basically about the band of geeks that form a school’s glee club and their experiences as they battle towards the regional championships. Thanks to the cast’s brilliant version of Don’t Stop Believin’, the track hit sixth and seventh in the UK singles chart with the original version by Journey trailing the cover. Since then, the Glee version has rocketed, reaching as high as second place in the UK charts. The success of something so delightfully cheesy restores my faith in the fact that music doesn’t have to involve speaking fast into a microphone to be popular!

It’s Just Jack We Need

I actually love this song. In a market filled with meaningless sex references and hollow love songs, The Day I Died is an absolutely refreshing, upbeat number about a much less upbeat subject; death. The whole song tells of how amazing the protagonist’s last day on Earth had been, telling of the events that led to him being hit by a car and, in one of the most beautiful uses of musical silence I have heard in a long time, dying. You cannot help yourself singing along with the song’s happy, bouncy and sometimes funny lyrics. This is of course until the killer line “I guess I never saw that taxi” hits like a lightning bolt, shattering the upbeat mood and making the hairs on the back of your neck prickle. Couple this with a beautifully crafted video starring James Nesbitt and you have the recipe for some quality music.

Perfectly done.

OH! I Like It, But Don’t Trust Me

Despite their horrific name, the first single by 3OH!3, Don’t Trust Me is actually a pretty damn good song. To start with, the constant refrain of my brother was “I’m a vegetarian and I ain’t fucking scared of him”. In general, my brother repeating a song over and over really turns me away from it. This time however, I was overcome by curiosity and decided to give it a listen. The more times I went through it, the more it grew on me, starting as an annoying shouty, sweary mess and ending as a catchy and appealing song. Enjoy this story of success as you won’t get many of these from me, particularly about music as I generally tend to hate absolutely everything.

Shame the follow-up was so epically shit! In fact, the odd thing is that the useless second single Starstrukk is absolute rubbish, yet it has achieved even more mainstream success. This proves my point that music is currently a huge mess.

I Could Not Believe My Ears

As an internet person, I have been surrounded by fans of Owl City for months now. I thought they were going to stay as a kind of geek band that never got into the mainstream, so I was amazingly surprised when Fireflies became number one. Suddenly a band that I had heard in passing for ages were the singers of the most popular song in the country. The repetition factor meant that I started off disliking it, but I like it more every time I listen to it. My enjoyment of it may well be aided by the fantastic cover by YouTube singing sensation Sam Tsui. But yeah, it is genuinely a good song and it is certainly better than most of the shit that there is out there.

And speaking of the shit out there, a post is soon to follow in which I highlight some of the worst songs and phenomenons around in the music industry at the moment, probably tearing each and every one of those songs apart horribly. That one will certainly be fun to write an I hope it will be fun to read to. Prepare for expletives though.

Show Review: Avenue Q @ The Gielgud Theatre

As some of you will know, I attempted a comedy blog a month or so ago. I have already stopped updating and I am far too busy to keep it up. I will copy the very few posts I actually made over to this blog as I am actually very proud of them.

When you hear the word musical, what is your first thought? I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was men of questionable sexuality prancing around on stage and women with infeasibly high voices caterwauling away to various tunes so loaded with cheese that the bosses at Dairylea are shitting themselves.

Avenue Q is not like that. Not in the slightest.

If you were to associate a musical with puppets having loud sex and swearing at each other whilst another repeatedly masturbates to porn in the background, then that is a bit closer to one of the musical numbers in Avenue Q. I don’t think that I need to follow that sentence with an explanation of the fact that Avenue Q is definitely not suitable for children. Strong language, sex references and indeed sex litter the show, so unless your children are incredibly mature, it isn’t the best idea for an evening out.

I finally got to see the show on Saturday evening having wanted to see it ever since I first heard of its existence. Before I start the proper review, I would like to say it was INCREDIBLE!

I have been in possession of the soundtrack for almost a year now and thus know every word of all of the musical numbers and have always considered them funny. It’s incredible how much funnier they are in the context of the show and complete with a bit of performance.

For those who don’t know, the acting is a mixture of actors and on-stage puppeteers who do the voices for the characters whilst also operating them using a variety of different methods. There were even certain occasions where the actor voicing one of the puppets was in fact holding and voicing a different puppet at the time. It’s an intriguing way of working and one which works well and does mine laughs.

The lead actor in the current run is Daniel Boys who is, in every way possible, awesome. He was awesome during the show and he was awesome when we met him afterwards signing stuff and posing for photos. In fact, all of the actors were brilliant during the show, both vocally and in terms of comic timing. Some of the most humorous moments came from simply silence and a turn of the head or a quick gesture with the puppet. It was textbook theatrical comedy at its absolute best.

Avoiding the obviously hilarious characters like Trekkie Monster (the porn-loving furry fluff ball) and Christmas Eve (Japanese failed therapist), the best characters of the show were a delightful pair known as the Bad Idea Bears. Their purpose was to appear at inopportune times and persuade Princeton (the protagonist) to carry out bad ideas (such a buying a case of beer instead of something useful) in a deceptively cheerful and lovable manner. At one point, they tried to encourage Princeton to hang himself in a true exhibition of comic timing. Towards the end of the show, they announce that they have reformed and discovered Scientology, a joke that got mild reaction from the audience, other than our (internet-based) segment of the crowd who broke into rapturous applause.

It was an absolutely stunning show in every sense and it is one I would definitely recommend if you are ever looking for a musical to see or just something to make you laugh.

Rating: 10/10

DVD Review: Andy Parsons – Britain’s Got Idiots Live

As some of you will know, I attempted a comedy blog a month or so ago. I have already stopped updating and I am far too busy to keep it up. I will copy the very few posts I actually made over to this blog as I am actually very proud of them.

If there is any stand-up comic that gets a really raw deal out of TV appearances, it’s Andy Parsons. Despite being a regular on Mock The Week since the dawn of time, he is still known to most as “that bald guy who isn’t as funny as the others”. The reason why he doesn’t get the level of airtime as the others is because he isn’t cut out for the war zone situation that show conjures up. The entire half hour involves the comedians shouting over each other to try and fight their material into the show, a pursuit which Parsons doesn’t exactly excel at.

The pursuit where Parsons comes into his own is stand up. He has had a prolific run of Edinburgh shows and several successful tours. His material consists of topical stuff, mixed with smatterings of the hugely in vogue observational style made popular by comics such as Russell Howard and the king of comedy at the moment, Michael McIntyre. None of what he says is particularly controversial so he won’t be causing very much controversy, but what he does continuously do in his shows is keep the laughter going.

Britain’s Got Idiots Live is his debut DVD release, a disc that has been thrown straight into an outstandingly crowded market over Christmas with almost all of the top comedians firing out their best shots at parting the public with their cash. Similarly to his appearances on TV, I’d imagine that this DVD could well be lost in the crowd, which would be a shame as it is truly a solid performance and a solid DVD release.

Main Feature

The main feature is a solid 90 minutes of comedy. There isn’t really any point at which a really big laugh ensues, but Parsons is different to most comedians in that respect. Most comedians will happily spend five minutes telling a story to an almost silent crowd, anticipating a huge laugh when the story pays off. Parsons however prefers to fire off shorter jokes and keep the slightly lesser laughs rolling in.

The front cover of the DVD proclaims Parsons to be “the king of political comedy”, a moniker that he will be more than happy to take up and I must admit, it is more or less deserved. Although, he perhaps suffers by bringing his hammer of satire down on the kind of issues that don’t really interest the layman. His pinpoint observations about the absurdity of British politics and the people that run the country are very welcome indeed and gain some of the best laughs of his routine.

An area you wouldn’t expect Parsons to excel in is audience interaction, but he actually does so very very well. From his bantering with the stupid city boys on the front row (”I see I’m playing to a mixed ability audience”) to him realising he couldn’t take the piss out of the woman who worked at Barnado’s, all of the interchanges seemed to work well, although it did seem at times that he was relying on the jokes he had established with these interactions a bit too much and often to cover up some of his own weaker material, not that there was much of it.

In fact, one of the strongest bits of the show (and the spurring point for a lot of his later interaction) was an intriguing technique that involved him showing a film of some audience members taking their seats in the auditorium with Parsons commentating over the top as it went along. These were the people he tended to single out later on and he managed to mine some very good material out of them.

Plus, he called Peter Mandelson a cunt. Need I say more?

Extras

Usually, the menus on comedy DVDs are very simple affairs to navigate. Unfortunately, this DVD has possibly the worst menu ever conceived (click for full size).

The concept is simple enough, but the colour of the font has been chosen awfully. The design reminds me of something conjured up by a small child using Photoshop for the first time. It means that is impossible to know what option you are choosing unless you have great eyes and the way some of the text hides behind obstacles is the laziest editing I have ever seen. Don’t even get me started on the fucking ice cream splat!

It gets worse when you go down to the special features menu (click for bigger size), which is almost completely illegible.

These extra features themselves are more worthwhile than those on a lot of comedy DVDs. There is of course the almost customary Live At The Apollo appearance, which contains largely recycled material, but is nonetheless a welcome addition to the disc. Added to that is a fairly entertaining outtake from the show during which Parsons attempts to re-do a joke, to no avail.

There is also a commentary to go over the live gig, but it takes a slightly different form from the normal formula as it is done in the form of an internal monologue with random thought interjections throughout the gig. This means that you don’t have to sacrifice understanding of the show to listen to the commentary, which is a great idea.

The final feature is somewhat odd, yet strangely entertaining at the same time. It features Parsons state how little he cares about DVD extras whilst some people listen and watch to the bitter end regardless of the content. As if to illustrate this, Parsons proceeds to silently and slowly paint a wall for around five minutes, at which time the video cuts off. Oddly amusing.

The Verdict

A solid debut disc for Parsons and there is no doubt that his strengths lay outside of panel shows and that is natural home is most certainly the stage. Unlike many DVDs of comedy, the extras actually offer something interesting and are worth watching. It’s just a shame he doesn’t get the publicity he deserves.

The disc fails to get all the marks as the material sometimes feels a bit too safe and that menu screen really is terrifically awful, which drags down the score for Extras.

Feature: 8/10
Extras: 7/10
Overall Rating: 15/20