(no subject)
Aug. 14th, 2006 10:03 amI found 'Funny Women' last night vaguely depressing. Many of the women on there I really don't like at all, people like Ruby Wax who should have been flash-in-the-pan, but have stayed on even though they're utter rubbish. I'm getting sick of Catherine Tate now, too. She needs to get some new material, because she's started to go down the Little Britain road to abject sell-out shiteness. Many of the women on there I'd never even heard of, although when they showed clips of their stand-up acts, they looked very good - that gangly, dark haired American woman especially.
And why did they feel the need to use Miss Piggy? Are there so few female comedians out there that you need to resort to a female puppet, worked and voiced by a man?
I'd have liked the show to be much more in depth, less of Dawn French talking about herself or just giggling like a loon (French & Saunders I have time for as writers and actresses these days, but I find them increasingly tired and predictable as a double act, and since they seem to tick the Beeb's 'Female Comedians' box, there's little room for other girls... apart from Catherine Tate as I said, who's going rubbish).
There were a lot of women there who I really admire, though - Jess Stevenson, Meera Syal, Victoria Wood, the fabulous, fearless Jo Brand, the late, great Linda Smith, Sue Perkins (who is *much* better on radio than she is on TV - give the 99p Challenge a try if you can get BBC7!) and Myriam Margoyles. I didn't see Jenny Eclair but then I did spot her on the end titles. There were some notable absences, though. Where was Jo Coulfield? Julia Davies? Where, importantly, was the wonderful and dark-as-midnight Rebecca Front? Caroline Quentin? Josie Lawrence?
And where was I? Where was I? Dammit, I need to write a Sitcom!
Well, I have at least been brainstorming an original storyline over on The Violet One's LJ, so that'll be my next project, methinks.
Oh, I also enjoyed The History of Light Entertainment about TV Comedy on Saturday, even though The Goodies weren't on it and besides Python, the rest of their contemporaries the programme showed were jaw-droppingly awful. It did bring to light this wonderful quote from the fabulous Mark Steel:
'I'd argue against people who say Ben Elton's sold out. I reckon he was shit from birth.'
And why did they feel the need to use Miss Piggy? Are there so few female comedians out there that you need to resort to a female puppet, worked and voiced by a man?
I'd have liked the show to be much more in depth, less of Dawn French talking about herself or just giggling like a loon (French & Saunders I have time for as writers and actresses these days, but I find them increasingly tired and predictable as a double act, and since they seem to tick the Beeb's 'Female Comedians' box, there's little room for other girls... apart from Catherine Tate as I said, who's going rubbish).
There were a lot of women there who I really admire, though - Jess Stevenson, Meera Syal, Victoria Wood, the fabulous, fearless Jo Brand, the late, great Linda Smith, Sue Perkins (who is *much* better on radio than she is on TV - give the 99p Challenge a try if you can get BBC7!) and Myriam Margoyles. I didn't see Jenny Eclair but then I did spot her on the end titles. There were some notable absences, though. Where was Jo Coulfield? Julia Davies? Where, importantly, was the wonderful and dark-as-midnight Rebecca Front? Caroline Quentin? Josie Lawrence?
And where was I? Where was I? Dammit, I need to write a Sitcom!
Well, I have at least been brainstorming an original storyline over on The Violet One's LJ, so that'll be my next project, methinks.
Oh, I also enjoyed The History of Light Entertainment about TV Comedy on Saturday, even though The Goodies weren't on it and besides Python, the rest of their contemporaries the programme showed were jaw-droppingly awful. It did bring to light this wonderful quote from the fabulous Mark Steel:
'I'd argue against people who say Ben Elton's sold out. I reckon he was shit from birth.'