Never Mind The Buzzcocks

Having watched the series finale of Never Mind The Buzzcocks tonight I came to a few conclusions.

1. It was an original idea to have the separate David O’Doherty bit. I quite liked it but it’ll only work once.

2. Phill Jupitus is still as funny as he ever was, the man’s one of the longest lasting greats in the mainstream circuit.

3. Noel Fielding was great this series, better than last series.

4. Jedward are insufferable (But then, you all knew that).

5. Jack Dee’s deadpan delivery still works perfectly.

6. The three best guest hosts were (In no particular order) Jack Dee, Terry Wogan and Frankie Boyle.

7. The show’s surviving without the brilliant Simon Amstell, although I still miss him from it.

8. I only made 7 conclusions.

R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen

It’s not too often that I cover such a serious story on this blog, but this seems like a fair occasion for one.

Today one of the greatest comedy actors actors ever, Leslie Nielsen, died at the age of 84.

The late, great Leslie Nielsen

Nielsen is best known for absolute classics such as Airplane! and The Naked Gun series. He was also excellent in Police Squad, the TV series. If you were were a fan of The Naked Gun I’d give Police Squad ago. Essentially Police Squad is to The Naked Gun what The Thick Of It is to In The Loop. If you don’t get this reference then basically one is the film of the other but not entirely the same. Just watch it and see.

Nielsen is known for having provided the comedy world for some of it’s wittiest one liners, lines which have bcome so well known over the years that people who have never seen the original films can quote them.

Gems like the famous:

“Surely you can’t be serious.”
“I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley.”

I realise I’ve plucked for the most obvious choice there but it’s just genius. But here’s some more:

“Doing nothing is very hard to do…you never know when you’re finished.”

“You’d better tell the captain we’ve got to land as soon as we can. This woman has to be gotten to a hospital.”
“A hospital? What is it?”
“It’s a big building with patients, but that’s not important right now.”

“Captain, how soon can you land?”

"I am serious, and don't call me Shirley"

“I can’t tell.”
“You can tell me. I’m a doctor.”
“No. I mean I’m just not sure.”
Well, can’t you take a guess?”
“Well, not for another two hours.”
“You can’t take a guess for another two hours?”

This style is puns is one I’m particularly font of and use regularly. Men like Nielsen are therefore comedy icons in my eyes. So here’s more:

“Nice beaver!”
[producing a stuffed beaver] “Thank you. I just had it stuffed.”

[offering a cigar] Cuban?
No, Dutch-Irish. My father was from Wales.

So, goodbye to one of the greats, he’ll be truly missed. R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen.

 

Simon Cowell’s Unlikely Hero

Well, let’s begin this blog by clearing up the fact that I have never willingly watched the X Factor, and nor do I intend to.

However, in modern day society it has become simply impossible to avoid hearing about the show. And in particular some chap called Wagner. Now, don’t worry, I’m not going to pretend I know anything about this guy. I don’t. And I don’t actually care, but I am interested in observing people’s reactions within mainstream culture.

Wagner - a pawn in Simon Cowell's game

When it comes to dealing with the public and media perception Simon Cowell could be viewed as something of a genius. Love him or loathe him (Loathe him) one sadly can’t really argue with that.

With Wagner, from what I’ve been told, he’s got in someone who genuinely goes against the mould of the show’s usual contestants to actually create some interest. It is my belief that without something like this to really spark new life into the show, then viewers would have become gradually more disinterested (As happens with all shows of this nature. Even Big Brother, which was bigger than Eric Pickles’ belly in its heyday).

Eric Pickles - he's carrying a pound or two

Personally, I’d much rather this was the case. But as The Jam stated in 1977 ‘This Is The Modern World’. So unfortunately the modern world will have its way, meaning that whenever X Factor does run its course a similar form of replacement will quickly crop up to further dilute the pupils of mainstream television viewers.

But yes, all in all, Wagner seems to be the man keeping X Factor top of the pile currently. A strange situation for a guy who many of the show’s viewers hate. Which is a bit strong really, after all he is only a singer.

I should mention that I was in fact relieved to see that when i searched for ‘Wagner’ on Google Images all of the images on the first page were of the ‘real’ Wagner. So there is still some sense of perspective in the world.

The real Wagner - strikingly like Stephen Fry