Comedy – Page 4 – Well Eye Never

July 2024 Favourites

Hello again, I hope you’re doing well. This has been a busy and enjoyable month for me, in particular because I got to see two theatre shows and eat at a restaurant for free, plus I enjoyed some more nice walks in the summer weather and have been immersed in the Olympics along with other things I’ve been watching.

The only downside was the fact that I had to have a telephone assessment for my Personal Independence Payments review, which they finally got around to a year after I sent the forms back. They would save so much time and money by not repeatedly reviewing people with incurable and lifelong conditions like mine, only asking us to request extra support if and when things change. But anyway, the assessment was very long, at nearly 2½ hours, of which I thankfully have a recording that they allowed me to capture. The lady I spoke to seemed very nice and was happy to listen to everything I had to say, but what she actually wrote down and how the DWP will judge it is a completely different kettle of fish of course. So we’ll see what happens, I’ll keep you posted.

Mind you, that issue is nothing compared to what some people are having to endure here in the UK right now. My heart goes out to everyone affected by the awful murders in Southport, along with the senseless violence by far-right thugs that has erupted in various cities since then. You cannot claim to have any genuine care about the country if you’re causing destruction, looting, assaulting the police, and attacking people purely because of their skin colour, religion, nationality, etc. That clearly isn’t protest, it’s just pure stupidity, criminality and racism. They don’t represent the UK, and they don’t realise they’ve been manipulated and radicalised into such behaviour by the misinformation being spread online that they blindly believe. It’s just crazy. I’m not going to discuss it in depth, as it’s a horrible topic and far more qualified people are already analysing it. It just might have seemed a bit odd or disrespectful if I hadn’t mentioned it at all, and I hope things settle down soon. Stay safe out there.

So with all that out of the way, let’s get on to the nicer and more fun things in this post and video, in which all opinions are my own and I’ve not been gifted or paid to feature anything here as usual. I hope you enjoy!

June 2024 Favourites

It’s funny how things seem to come in threes. Last month I quipped that trying to eradicate mice from our house and the Conservatives from government was about banishing evil entities before they do irreparable damage, so what happens in June? I get Covid as well! Typical.

Thankfully there has been success on all three fronts. Our mouse problem is being dealt with effectively, so I’m just looking for a builder to do some repairs that will stop them getting back in. Covid affected Mum and I in a similar way to the only other time we had it in January last year, with Mum’s body effectively shutting down for a day to fight it, whilst I wasn’t that bad but still felt quite drained for a few days, not helped by it being the hottest and most humid week of the year so far. We’re both fully recovered anyway, and Mum having her booster jab a couple of months ago helped I’m sure. And now of course we have the sheer relief of the Tories being booted out in the General Election, after 14 years of chaos and one of the worst election campaigns in history.

I’m also glad that I was able to go out quite a bit during the first part of the month before Covid struck, by enjoying a sensory garden tour, exploring a new exhibition, having walks by the Thames and taking a day trip to the seaside. I met up with my aunt for a couple of those outings too, which was lovely – it’s just a shame we had to drop other things we had planned, as we had been trying to make the most of some time I had off work, and I had to miss a theatre show as well, but not to worry.

So there’s quite a bit to mention in this month’s post and video as usual, including things I’ve been watching and listening to as well as those outings, none of which is sponsored or gifted as usual. And I’ve also included my thoughts about the election campaign and results at the end. So I hope you enjoy!

Ross Noble – Stand-Up DVD Reviews – Part 2

Welcome to the second part in my trilogy of Ross Noble reviews. I’ve been rewatching his stand-up DVDs again, since I saw him live in March, so in my previous post I looked through the first batch of those releases, and now here I’ll be reviewing the rest. Then I’ll move on to some online bits and pieces in my next and final post about him.

As I explained last time, his improvised comedy means that every single show is completely different, resulting in multiple performances on each of his DVDs alongside a myriad of extra features. So once again there’s plenty to go through here, none of which is sponsored. On Youtube there some clips on his current and older channels, along with a few audio versions of his shows that are also available on Audible, and I’ve also compiled a huge playlist of clips featuring Ross from his stand-up shows and many other things. So let’s go through his remaining stand-up DVDs, and I hope you enjoy!

May 2024 Favourites

Hello again, hope you’re all doing well. For me this month has certainly thrown up its share of surprises, and not just the exciting ones in Doctor Who. At home we had to call in the professionals to get rid of a few mice who quietly snuck in, and now in the UK we’re suddenly in the run-up to a snap general election. So there seems to be a running theme about banishing evil beasts who care little for human welfare and will continue to cause substantial damage if they’re not stopped.

But there are other things to mention as well. It’s been a relatively quiet month, but I’ve attended another fun musical, taken part in another audio description workshop, had some nice walks in the sunshine, and watched a few things on TV and DVD. So, with the usual disclaimer that nothing is sponsored to appear here and all opinions are my own, let’s crack on with my latest post and video roundup, and I hope you enjoy!

Ross Noble – Stand-Up DVD Reviews – Part 1

Ross Noble has been one of my favourite comedians for many years, and I had a great time seeing him in March at the London Palladium, during his 21st tour called Jibber Jabber Jamboree. This was the first time I had seen him do stand-up in person, as the only other time I saw him live in the past was when he starred in Young Frankenstein back in 2017. But I knew what to expect, as I own all of his DVDs and have also enjoyed some of his online releases and TV appearances. And it was well worth the wait, he was brilliant.

What I love about Ross is that every single show he does is completely improvised, taking inspiration from people he sees or talks to in the audience to go off on surreal flights of fancy, along with occasional anecdotes about amusing things he’s seen and done. He’s never mocking or disparaging towards anyone he talks to, because he wants everyone to enjoy themselves, and he doesn’t have plants in the audience either. Every crowd is simply a new treasure trove of possibilities for him.

So every performance is completely unique and delightfully random, covering a myriad of different topics, as his imagination runs wild and goes in all sorts of weird, wonderful and unexpected directions. He has an extraordinary ability to go off on tangents, and sub-tangents, and countless layers of additional tangents, and then still circle back round to items he was talking about earlier, sometimes even linking things together, and keep it entertaining.

So he’s never short of things to talk about, his energy and creativity is amazing, and he’s consistently hilarious. Hence I own all of the DVDs that he released between 2004 and 2013. He really made the most of the format by including footage from multiple shows, audio commentaries, documentaries, quizzes, spoof copyright notices, animated menus, packaging with nice artwork, booklets that fold out into posters, and more.

In this post, therefore, I’m going to review the first 5 of his DVDs, as they contain a huge amount of material. I’ll then go through the rest of his DVDs in another post next month, and some other online material at some point after that, making this a trilogy altogether. I just thought I’d get this first part up in time for the long Bank Holiday weekend.

None of this is sponsored, I’m just happily bingeing on his stuff because I’m a big fan and I saw him live recently. You can see various clips on his current and older Youtube channels, there are audio versions of a few of his shows on Youtube and Audible, and I’ll compiled a huge playlist of clips as well. So I hope you enjoy this first set of reviews!

April 2024 Favourites

Hey there, hope you’re all doing well. I’m good, although like all disabled people in the UK I feel great unease over the government’s proposed changes to our benefits. My PIP review still hasn’t been dealt with after 9 months as it is. I’m not going to rant about it here though – I’ve posted a brief thread and shared several other posts on my Twitter/X page if you want a wider sense of people’s reactions. But please do read the proposals and respond to the consultation if you can (by 22nd July), as it’s vitally important to have our voices heard at this early stage. Same goes for the separate consultation about fit notes (until 8th July) too.

But anyway, on to much nicer things, and there’s plenty that I’ve enjoyed during this past month, including a couple of exhibitions, a West End musical, a theatre workshop, stand-up gigs and other comedy shows. One of the exhibitions was a press invite for my journalist friend Emily, and I’m due to be paid for the workshop I took part in, but nothing is sponsored to be featured here and all opinions are my own as usual.

So let’s crack on with this month’s post and video, and I hope you enjoy!

March 2024 Favourites

Hello again, I hope you had a nice Easter! And welcome to my latest roundup, which is an ‘out and about’ special, because I’ve had a very eventful month, with a couple of theatre shows, a couple of stand-up comedy gigs and a couple of tasty free meals that I want to talk about. I paid for the theatre and comedy shows myself, while the meals were free PR invites for my friend Emily to review, but all opinions are my own regardless. So I hope you enjoy this month’s post and video!

January & February 2024 Favourites

Welcome to my first Favourites post and video for this year! As I had a very busy Christmas that lasted until mid-January, it made sense to combine the latter half of that month with February for this roundup.

Recent weeks have been quite relaxed compared to the festive period, as hoped and expected, but there’s still quite a variety of bits and pieces to mention. These include an audio described gallery tour, a free meal, a special scenic view of the city, an important new audio play, things I’ve been watching that have been recommended by friends, and other entertainment I’ve enjoyed. Some of these items are PR-related, as indicated when appropriate, but all opinions are my own regardless. So I hope you enjoy!

Blackadder – 40th Anniversary Blu-ray Review

Last year marked the 40th anniversary of the classic historical sitcom Blackadder, and a new Complete Collection Blu-ray was released in December to mark the milestone. I was too busy to look through it at the time, but I finally got around to it recently, so this is my extensive review of the series and all the bonus material.

The show features the brilliant Rowan Atkinson in the title role of Edmund Blackadder, whose cynical and scheming nature causes him to look down on other people, especially his servant and inventor of ridiculous ‘cunning plans’ Baldrick, played by Tony Robinson. There’s also an impressive roster of co-stars and guest stars, most notably Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Tim McInnerny, Miranda Richardson & Rik Mayall, who all had multiple roles in the show.

All of the series and specials are set in different historical periods, so it always feels fresh and different. Each period is represented by exquisite costumes and beautiful sets, along with enjoyable variations of Howard Goodall’s theme tune. All of the episodes were written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, except for the first series where Richard had teamed up with Rowan instead. As great as Rowan is, bringing Ben on board really gave the series the shot in the arm it needed. And John Lloyd (best known for producing QI these days) was the producer for every episode except the pilot (which sadly isn’t in this set) and the millennium special.

Front cover of Blackadder The Complete Collection, 40th Anniversary Edition, with small text at the bottom saying that it's on Blu-ray for the first time, plus all new extras. An ornate gold border has a circle in each corner, with a photo of Blackadder from each of the 4 series.

Back cover of the Blackadder 40th anniversary Blu-ray set, with a brief description of the series, a list of the new extras, and credits for the series and specials.

Thanks to the sterling efforts of Richard Latto and his colleagues – who also compiled the excellent Young Ones Blu-ray in 2022 – the episodes have been remastered for this new Blu-ray edition, alongside all the old extras ported over from the previous Ultimate Edition DVD set (even though it’s not mentioned on the packaging), and a huge treasure trove of new bonus material as well. A lot of hard work has clearly gone into this collection, it’s very impressive.

So this is my review of the four series, the specials and the bonus material in the box set, as well as the pilot and documentary that were on Gold last year to celebrate the anniversary. As usual, I’m not sponsored or affiliated with anyone involved in the show or the Blu-ray production, and these are all my own opinions, so I hope you enjoy!

Dad’s Army – The Missing Episodes Review

Today it was announced that Ian Lavender sadly passed away on Friday at the age of 77. Although he had an extensive career, he was undoubtedly best known for playing young Private Pike in every series of the evergreen classic Dad’s Army. He was a wonderful character who was regularly called a “stupid boy” by Captain Mainwaring, and “Don’t Tell Him Pike” will forever remain one of the funniest ever moments in any sitcom.

His passing also means that all of the main cast members of the show are no longer with us, making it a doubly sad milestone. To this day the series is still very popular and regularly repeated, because it was so well written and performed, and was always very funny. It’s no mean feat to maintain the quality over 80 episodes across 9 TV series, along with the radio adaptations, stage show, film and other appearances they did as well, but they made it look easy.

Thankfully, as far as the TV series is concerned, we have nearly all of the episodes to remember them by. There are just 3 episodes from Series 2 and a couple of Christmas sketches that are still missing, as the original tapes were wiped and no other film recordings have since been found.

Consequently, the Gold channel produced live action remakes of the three Series 2 episodes with a new cast in 2019, which were a faithful tribute, but nobody could ever be as good as the original actors (hence I’ve never watched the 2016 film, though I know Ian Lavender and Frank Williams made cameo appearances in it, as a Brigadier and the vicar).

So last year Gold recreated the missing episodes again, along with the Christmas sketches, but this time as animations, using the TV soundtracks or radio adaptations made by the original cast, depending on what still exists. I didn’t see them when they were broadcast last November, but I bought the DVD anyway, as I wanted copies of the episodes with the proper actors, and the extras looked good. So I finally got around to watching it recently, and this is my little review of it all.

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