Hello again, I hope you’re doing well. As I explained in my carer update post yesterday, this has been a good month overall, apart from Mum and I picking up little injuries, but we are both slowly getting better.
Because of that, I still haven’t been out anywhere exciting just yet. But there’s still some entertainment for me to mention as usual, for which the main themes this month happen to be the cosmos and comedy. So let’s crack on with it, and I hope you enjoy!
Contents
Space Adventures
As you may have noticed, I published a few in-depth posts during the month about things that are space-related in one way or another. But here’s a little summary in case you missed them.
NASA – Artemis II Mission
A fascinating piece of viewing at the start of the month was the Artemis II mission, which took 4 astronauts to the furthest point in space that any human has ever travelled, as they completed a flyby around the far side of the moon. In a world full of turmoil, it was an event that united people from all over the planet with its messages of hope, success and pride. So you can check out my Moon Joy post for all the details about that.
It’s also quite amusing and predictable that it’s drawn all the flat earthers and conspiracy theorists out of the woodwork. I found myself drawn into a Youtube wormhole of people who debunk them like SciManDan, and he certainly finds some bizarre videos to pull apart! It makes you wonder if they really believe the blatant nonsense they come out with or if they just say things for clicks, attention and monetisation.
Doctor Who – Series 7
I’m continuing to rewatch and review every series from the modern era of Doctor Who, which is especially useful to pass the time this year as there won’t be any new episodes apart from a Christmas special.
So this month I’ve gone through Series 7, which stars Matt Smith at the top of his game as the 11th Doctor, and I’ve split my review into two parts to reflect how the series was divided up. In Part 1 we say an emotional farewell to Amy and Rory as the companions, then in Part 2 we’re properly introduced to Clara. And it’s a lot of fun, with 15 ‘blockbuster’ stories and several mini-episodes, along with huge guest stars like Diana Rigg, Richard E. Grant and Warwick Davis.
It’s been quite a while since I last watched the series, so there were some stories and moments I didn’t clearly remember, and I know that’s going to be the case when I move on to Peter Capaldi’s era too. But that makes it all the more exciting to watch them again.
So next up I’m going to be revisiting the 50th anniversary specials. They include a new appearance from Paul McGann, who was the 8th Doctor, and as it happens there’s a new 30th anniversary Blu-ray of his Doctor Who movie coming out later in May, so I’m going to buy and review that as well. I have seen it before, but not for a very long time, so it’ll be a good opportunity to watch it again and add it to my collection.
Queen – Flash Gordon Soundtrack
I’ve also been getting back into a routine of reviewing the albums by Queen, and this month I published a relatively short review of their Flash Gordon soundtrack. The film itself is pretty naff, and the soundtrack’s nowhere near as great as the band’s regular recordings, but there is still a little bit of good stuff on it.
Comedy
This has been another of those months where I’ve ended up watching several stand-up comedy specials, so that’s what I’m going to focus on here, but I also mention Taskmaster at the end too.
Dara Ó Briain – Re:Creation
This new 65-minute stand-up special by Dara Ó Briain, filmed at the Vicar Street Theatre in Dublin, was released on Amazon Prime Video on 2 April, and it’s very funny as you’d expect from him.
To begin with he talks about a variety of random and very amusing things, including a lap-dancing casino, punching up or down in comedy, the nostalgia of hearing music from throughout his life, giving a speech for young people at a tech company, dating apps, intimate grooming, trying to be healthy, and what he would say to his 16-year-old self.
But the bulk of the show then continues the adoption story from his previous tour – which I saw live in person and on TV – because having found his birth mother, he naturally also wanted to track down his father.
I’m not going to spoil the details, suffice to say that he’s an excellent storyteller, keeping the laughs coming regularly while also slipping in more moving movements and a few big surprises. The story involves letters, awkward phonecalls and a trip to Canada, and he meets a lot of lovely people, some of whom are included in a photo montage just before the credits.
Rob Beckett – Giraffe
Rob Beckett’s new stand-up special premiered on Sky at Easter, lasting for 1 hour 45 minutes with ads (so an hour and a half without), and he’s also very good.
Filmed at the London Palladium, he begins by having a bit of banter with people in the front row, including a guy who has 14 children! Then later he talks to a couple about their newborn baby and video calls the woman’s mother who is looking after it.
He also talks a fair amount about his own parents during the show, including his reluctance to travel to see them as they live a long distance away, his dad’s love of butter, buying them things like an air conditioning unit and furniture, and taking them to Australia.
Apart from that, he also has many amusing observations about his own life, including how he knows he’s getting old, why he’ll never get divorced, the difficulties of looking after his pets (a cat, two dogs and a hamster), driving in the countryside (including issues with horses and cyclists), growing up in a working class family, his kids doing impressions of family members, growing pubes late in his teenage years, and recently discovering he was dyslexic (leading to the title of the show), among various other things. So it’s a great mixture of material that he delivers really well.
Bill Bailey – Thoughtifier
Another new stand-up special broadcast at Easter was from Bill Bailey, which was filmed at the Edinburgh Playhouse and shown on Channel 4, lasting for an hour with ads (so just over 45 minutes without).
Bill is of course well renowned for infusing his act with various types of music, and this is no exception, with entertaining songs about what the government could do with pensioners, finding love at the supermarket checkout, a downbeat cabaret-style birthday celebration, and a French story about a boy and a crow. There’s also a look at how AI interprets sea shanties, and a cool performance on a laser harp incorporating classical and electronica styles.
In between all of that he also talks about various other things, including Britishness, a tax investigation, phone scammers, what happened when the BBC accidentally announced his death, Elon Musk’s Nazi salute, concerns about the decline of bees and polar bears, how to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels with nuclear fusion, being born in the Westcountry (like me), and meeting a comedy commissioner who didn’t have a sense of humour.
So there’s a great variety to the show as is standard for him. I have seen some of his other specials before as well, most of which are available on Channel 4’s website at the moment. But I know they’re edited down compared to his DVD releases, which I’ve never got around to owning, so at some stage I will probably buy and review those too. He was also in a Christmas special of Doctor Who that by coincidence I’ve just reviewed, and he’s interpreted the theme tune as Belgian jazz during his live shows.
Miles Jupp – On I Bang
I’ve never seen any of the stand-up shows released by Miles Jupp before, but I always enjoy his guest appearances on TV and radio comedy programmes. I also know he hosted The News Quiz on Radio 4 for a while, which I don’t listen to much as I get all the topical satire I need from the TV shows I watch, but I did hear a few of his episodes at the time.
So when he posted a new 70-minute stand-up special for free on Youtube during April, I thought I would check it out. And it’s pretty good.
He tells the audience at the Chelmsford Theatre a shocking but fascinating story about how he suffered a brain seizure and had to have surgery to get a tumour removed. He’s very open about the details of it all, and keeps it very funny throughout, even though it was naturally a terrifying experience at the time.
So we hear about the initial effects as it took hold, how it affected his vision and perception of the world, how it felt to be banned from driving and drinking alcohol, having CT and MRI scans, the letter he wrote to his family in case things went wrong, the preparations before the surgery including tests for Covid and MRSA, having a catheter fitted and removed, being tested by the occupational therapist before and after the operation to see if anything had changed, and finally he reveals how he’s doing today. He’s very respectful and grateful about the people who saved his life of course, and his family who stuck with him through it all – although there’s also a running joke about his wife leaving clutter around the house!
So he takes us through the events in a really engaging way, never letting it feel depressing or too dark, yet still acknowledging the harsh realities of it.
Apart from that, Miles has also released 3 other shows in the past, which are available as DVDs and downloads from Go Faster Stripe. His first show, Fibber In The Heat, is also available on Amazon Prime Video though, so I’ve checked that out too, and it’s all about how he tried to fake it as a cricket journalist to get into matches he didn’t have tickets for. It’s alright, and you don’t need to be a cricket fan to understand it, but I didn’t find it as interesting as his latest show, so I don’t want to buy it. And the clips I’ve seen from the other releases haven’t tempted me to buy those either.
He’s a good performer and storyteller, don’t get me wrong, it’s just his style of stand-up isn’t a huge draw for me and doesn’t feel very relatable. And that’s the case for many comedians I like on TV. There are some who I just prefer watching on shows where they interact with others, rather than delivering lengthy monologues.
I think this latest show by Miles just drew me in because it is such a deeply personal and interesting story, delivered in an accessible and amusing way. And after everything that went on with my mother last year, I feel like I empathise with the drama of suddenly having to take a loved one into hospital, even though our situation was totally different to his. I’m glad he got through it anyway and has been doing well since then, and I hope he continues to be alright going forward.
Taskmaster
Taskmaster is back yet again for its 21st series (and has been recommissioned for at least 6 more), and this time it features Amy Gledhill, Armando Iannucci, Joanna Page, Joel Dommett and Kumail Nanjiani. I’ve never watched any of their stand-up shows, or any of the TV series that they’re well known for, but I have some awareness of all of them except Kumail, who’s completely unfamiliar to me.
For instance, I recently loved watching Amy in the second series of Last One Laughing and she’s appeared on Would I Lie to You? before, plus I’ve enjoyed Armando’s guest appearances on shows like Have I Got News For You (including in the new series that I’m glad also returned this month). So Amy and Armando are the two I’m rooting for most. But the others are great as well, including Joel being a good sport with the egg challenge they’ve given him all series. So I’m very much looking forward to the remaining episodes.
Conclusion
And that’s it, I hope you enjoyed that little roundup. I do have one or two things in the diary for May, but we’ll see how that goes given that I’m taking time to recover from my foot injury. It feels like it’s nearly better though, so that’s promising.
In any case, I’ll keep you posted with what I’m doing and enjoying as usual, and I hope you have a good month too!
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