================================== B R I T C O M E D Y D I G E S T ================================== VOL. II OCT 1995 No. 4 A monthly electronic newsletter on British comedies. What's Inside ============= The Comedy Store Players Celebrate Ten Years Eddie Izzard -- Part 2 Reviews: * Eddie Izzard Live at the Shaftesbury Theatre * Bottom: The Big Number 2 Tour "Knowing Me, Knowing You" Regular Departments: =================== Mailbox Britcomedy News Spotted on the Internet etc. Circulation/Back Issues Staff ===== Managing Editor..................Melinda 'Bob' Casino Co-Editor........................Michelle Street Assistant Editor................ James Kew Copy Editor......................Cynthia Edwards Contributing writers: Jan Staff, Michelle Street, Caroline von Oosten de Boer, Richard Vranch. HTML logo by Nathan Gasser. Britcomedy Digest (ISSN 1077-6680) Copyright (c) 1995 by Melinda Casino. Reproduction for personal and non-profit use is permitted only if this copyright notice is retained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission. Britcomedy Digest may be uploaded without the editor's permission to bulletin boards as long as it remains fully intact. NOTICE: In order to preserve the integrity of Britcomedy Digest, use of the "BRITCOMEDY DIGEST" name to gain interviews, etc., is forbidden without the express permission of the Managing Editor. EDITOR'S PAGE ============= Since I'm in an Alan Partridge frame of mind I'll greet you with a hearty "ah-HAA" from the good ol' Uncle US of Stateside. So what's up over here this month? Well, even though my unhealthy obsession with the Melanie Griffith/Tony Flags (excuse me, Antonio Banderas) romance* continues, the show must go on and we've managed to put together an October BD full of lots of treats and hopefully no tricks. But first I do have some good news to report in the "much more sensible and believable" romance department. My two BD compatriots, James "Thank" Kew and Melinda "No Relation To The Upcoming DeNiro Movie" Casino were joined in holy wedlock (along with, one must assume, their most excellent collection of Britcomedy videos) on October 7th and I'd just like to take this opportunity to wish them a happy life together and good luck in the future. What's in store in this month's BD? I must send a special thanks out to Richard Vranch of "The Comedy Store Players" and "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" He kindly took time out of his schedule to write an article about the Tenth Anniversary of the Comedy Store Players and not to be missed is the section where he smacks Tony Slattery around. (All right, all right... I'm kidding) Eddie Izzard fans will be happy -- nay, ecstatic -- as we have both the conclusion of Caroline vonB's interview with Eddie as well as Jan Staff's review of Izzard's current West End show. If you're into "Bottom" there's also a review of the "Big Number 2 Tour" currently oozing its way through the UK, more than likely fueled by gas power. There's also Alan Partridge, Britcomedy News, and well... you get the picture. Just dig in and read. -- Michelle Street Co-Editor * They were last spotted smooching away in Paris. I was sure you'd want to know. :) MAILBOX ======= Does anyone have any information on actor Karl Howman who starred in the BBC's "Mulberry" (1992/93) and for several seasons (c.1988-1990) in "Brush Strokes"? He has a new series in production with Scottish Television: "Bad Boys." I am writing an article on (what else!) British comedy and have had miserable luck getting biographical information about him. Margery Wilson, EDITOR'S RESPONSE: Fans can email Margery at the address above. While you're at it, if you would be willing to write an article on "Mulberry" and have the fame, prestige and power that results in having it appear in BD, do email the editor at . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I really love "Chef." Please do an article on the members of the cast, any information about the show, etc. Leticha, EDITOR'S RESPONSE: Look for a review of "Chef" in the next issue of BD! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Spotted a slight (debatable) slip in the most recent issue. When discussing "Men Behaving Badly," it was mentioned that a third series was due this fall/autumn. Well, it'll actually be (I believe) the *fifth* series. There have been two series on BBC, but the show was with ITV before that. I think there were two series on ITV as well, before they inexplicably gave it to the Beeb. Also, Harry Enfield originally played opposite Martin Clunes. MAD Mosher, a.k.a. That Long-haired Git - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I just wanted to say that I have just discovered Britcomedy Digest and it is fantastic! It is usually hard to keep up with all my favorite British shows living in Australia, but this is very informative,the only problem is it's so depressing to read the Events Guide, as I'd desperately love to go to the "Press Gang" convention (Oct 21 ) but it's a little out of the question to pop half way around the world for it... Keep up the good work, I'd love to write an article for the Digest one day... Sarah Jenkin-Bell, EDITOR'S RESPONSE: Glad you enjoy BD. If you'd like to write about your favorite British comedy -- either on radio, TV, film, book, or stage -- *please* contact me at: . We could sure use the writers. :) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I just read the new issue of BD. This is great! Where have you been all my life? Where have I been all your life? Where have I been all my life? Suzanne Saunders, Denver, Colorado EDITOR'S RESPONSE: If *only* we'd met a few months ago -- I was a single woman then! ;) BRITCOMEDY NEWS --------------- GREG PROOPS FORCED TO LEAVE THE UK Popular "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" performer Greg Proops has been forced to leave the United Kingdom due to immigration laws. The Department of Employment refused to renew the American comic's work permit on the grounds that he had apparently not been seeking employment in his own country. This violates immigration rules which state that American workers in the UK must also make themselves available for jobs in their homeland. Proops and his wife have returned to the States but are expected to return to Britain in the New Year. ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES NEED APPLY We recently received information about a club for fans of "Only Fools and Horses." Formed in 1993, it has just over 500 members. They put out a quarterly newsletter called Hookie Street which contains news, reviews, photos, and interviews. The society is in regular contact with all the actors from the show, who contribute to the magazine. Recent exclusive interviews include John Challis ("Boycie"), Ken MacDonald ("Mike" the barman), John Sullivan (writer), and Gareth Gwenlan (producer). They also run competitions and prizes which come from their own range of merchandise (t-shirts, badges, posters, etc.) The clubs archives include autographed photos from (nearly) ever actor in the show, original scripts and props and even a yellow Reliant van! For more information contact Perry Aghajanoff at . WHY "BOB?" "Blackadder" fans are probably quite familiar with the character of "Bob," the young woman who disguised herself as man and then went on to become the managing editor of an Internet ezine. (Ok, I con-FESS... that last part isn't exactly true.) Ben Elton recently gave some background on this character: "When we [Elton and co-writer Richard Curtis] created a girl character, we deliberately chose the name Bob because we knew what Rowan would do with it. He would be the only comedian in the world who would take that name and do what he did to it. We take credit for this entirely!" --> Please send news items to Michelle Street at or . Special thanks to BD Ace Reporter Michael "Scoop" Clarkson. ============================================ THE COMEDY STORE PLAYERS CELEBRATE 10 YEARS by Richard Vranch ============================================ The Comedy Store Players improv group celebrates 10 continuous years of Sunday night shows at the London Comedy Store on 29th October 1995. They have also played on Wednesday nights since 1989. The shows last two hours, and are based on audience suggestions. They don't get suggestions in advance, and every show is genuinely spontaneous and unique. Of the original members, only Neil Mullarkey remains. Dave Cohen and Kit Hollerbach soon left (replaced by Paul Martin who became Paul Merton) and in 1986 Mike Myers went off to Second City, then Saturday Night Live and Wayne's World. The six players are now Neil Mullarkey, Paul Merton, Richard Vranch, Josie Lawrence, Lee Simpson and Jim Sweeney. If anyone has to miss a show they are replaced a guest, for example Greg Proops, Mike Myers (when in London) Andy Smart, Tony Hawks, Mike McShane, Siobhan Finneran, Caroline Quentin and Tony Slattery, to name only a few. All six Players have appeared on the TV improv show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" The early shows featured the Players heavily since they already had 3 years experience of improv, though Lee and Neil only appeared once each (in Series 2, 1989) and Richard only gets to improvise the music -- very frustrating since Richard is an actor who plays a full part in the games as well as the music at the Comedy Store. Despite the claims of various disgracefully inaccurate WWW "Whose Line" sites, there are only six Comedy Store Players, as listed above, and John Sessions was never one of them! They've tried to get these errors changed. Any suggestions? The Players also do theatre shows around the UK to crowds of up to 2300, and they all combine improv with a variety of other work... Neil is about to star in a TV sketch show, and he has just directed a theatre show. He also writes screenplays and books, and used to have a double act with Mike Myers. Paul made his name as a brilliant stand-up comic, but he now has a successful topical comedy show on BBC TV called "Have I Got News For You?" He recently did a live tour and a season at the London Palladium in a sketch show written and performed with Lee and Richard. Richard has presented a science series on Channel 4 TV, and has toured the world from Mexico to the Occupied West Bank as an actor in various comedy shows. He has a Physics Ph.D. and a double act with Tony Slattery. Josie is currently Kate in "The Taming Of The Shrew" at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, and is recording the third series of the popular cricketing TV comedy "Outside Edge." Like Paul, she had her own series on Channel 4 TV, and has done several movies. Jim has been improvising professionally for 21 years, as well as appearing in children's TV shows (something all the Players have done at one time or another), plays and comedy series. He was in the original cast of Richard O'Brien's follow-up the "The Rocky Horror Show." Lee has done lots of acting in plays (which he often co-devises), TV series and films. He recently began a new job as the Breakfast DJ on the new commercial radio station in London, Heart 106.2 FM. All the Players do commercials, voice-overs and BBC radio panel games. Yet you'll have to come to the Comedy Store to see them all together, a group of old friends having fun doing improv. It's never been recorded for audio or video, and the 400 seats do sell fast. It's still a bit of a cult thing, and as long as the Players are having fun, and the audience is laughing, they'll keep doing it. ### The Comedy Store is located near Leicester Square at Haymarket House, No. 1 Oxendon Street, London SW1. Their web page is at http://micromedia.co.uk/comedy. KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU ----------------------- by Michelle Street It all began when my friend George kept going and on about this show "Knowing Me, Knowing You." I didn't have much of a clue as to what it was, but he said it was great and promised to send me the cassettes. True to his word, three tapes arrived a few weeks later on a beautiful spring day. I decided to listen to the first episode on my Walkman while I took a stroll. Bad move. If I didn't have a reputation as the village loony before, I did following that walk. I'm not saying I was laughing hard, but there were people yelling out their windows: "Hey, you wanna shut up? I'm trying to hear my new Metallica CD!" Many more just peered out their curtains and shook their head. I then listened to the other episodes in the privacy of my own home and understood why George had raved. This was damn funny stuff. It is not easy to parody something which, in essence, has already become a parody of itself but, like Garry Shandling's "The Larry Sanders Show," this show succeeds beautifully in taking the piss out of the chat show format and the peculiar people who inhabit it. The "star" of "KMKY" is Perrier Award winner Steve Coogan, who plays Alan Partridge. An extraordinarily talented comic and impressionist, Coogan started out doing voices for "Spitting Image" and first introduced the character of Partridge as a sports presenter on the Radio 4 comedy series "On The Hour." One gets the impression that Coogan is more comfortable facing the audience as one of his many characters than as himself. Like Peter Sellers, he completely inhabits every character he creates. From the details and subtle nuances, it is obvious that Coogan has given a lot of thought and care to character development. And what a character Alan Partridge is. He is described as the talk show host from hell and proves it every time someone sits down to be interviewed. He is openly smug and disdainful towards his guests. He tells them to "shut up" and goes so far as to accuse one of his guests of being unable to father children. The characters who brave Alan's show are a motley assortment, including a member of the royal family, one of Hollywood's legendary show-biz couples, and an eighty-four year old Lord with whom Alan has the following exchange: Alan: You've just published your autobiography. What's that about? Lord Morgan: It's about my life, you ass. A little later Alan asks Lord Morgan about his adolescence. Alan: What was that like? Lord Morgan: Like childhood... but with more pubic hair. Finally, Alan asks why the Lord has been such an outspoken defender of pornography: Lord Morgan: What a man chooses to do in the privacy of his own attic is his business alone. Perhaps the best episode has Alan getting flustered by nine-year old child prodigy Simon Fisher. Pretentious and snotty to the bone, Simon makes the fatal error of showing off his knowledge: Simon: Have you seen "Hamlet?" Alan: Yes, I have. Simon: I saw it with Alan Rickman. Who did you see it with? Alan: My wife Carol. But a clip around the ear from Alan sets Simon straight and by the end of the program he has been so harangued by Alan and the other guests that he wets his pants. Just reading the scripts does not give you a good impression of what goes on here. As in much of British comedy, the laughs don't come from one-liners but from the quality of the acting and the subtleties of character. This is definitely a case of it's-not-what-you-say-but-how-you-say-it. Listening to Partridge cheerily introduce a guest as "still suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome" is absolutely priceless. That isn't to say that the scripts aren't a terrific skewering of show-biz pretensions and artificiality. They *are* and part of the fun is figuring out what real life figures are being parodied. The character of Shirley Dee, an aging sexpot with connections to the underworld, is probably based on "Carry On" star Barbara Windsor, who had connections to the Kray Brothers. And perhaps the character of the "funny voice man impressionist" Steve Thompson is Steve Coogan's look at his own early career. It's all part of the bluring of reality and art which KMKY does so well, sort of similar to the "Saturday Night Live" commercial parodies. This was taken to even greater heights on the parody news programmes "On The Hour" and "The Day Today," so it should come as no suprise that all of these are all the product of a group of people who, like "The Young Ones/Comic Strip" group, enjoy working together and have formed a clique. The gang who provide fabulous support to Coogan are Patrick Marber, Rebecca Front, Doon McKichan, and David Schneider. In fact, since they are responsible for creating so many different characters their job is almost harder than that of Coogan, who stays put, so to speak, as Partridge. They deserve a lot of credit for the show's success. Also given credit for extra material is the man with the coolest name in the universe -- Armando Iannucci. (If he has problems getting dates with *that* name then there is something seriously wrong.) Iannucci is a bit of a jacks of all trades. He was the producer of KMKY and also worked with Chris Morris and Peter Baynham on "The Day Today" and "On The Hour." And he had a weekly column in "The Guardian" newspaper. Last summer saw his debut as a presenter when he fronted a satirical show called "Saturday Night Armistice." Despite his presence along with that of both David Schneider and Peter Baynham, the show didn't quite live up to expectations. After being both on Radio 4 and (as Alan Partridge always dreamed of while on the radio) BBC2, a new series of "Knowing Me, Knowing You" would no doubt be welcome by its fans. However, Coogan seems determined not to let himself get typecast as Partridge. He has made a couple of successful programs playing the characters of Paul and Pauline Calf, most notably "Three Fights, Two Weddings, and A Funeral," which was nominated for several BAFTA awards last year. Coogan also toured, showing off some new characters, which resulted in the "Steve Coogan Live and Lewd" video. Up next, however, Coogan is set to play "Mole" in the Terry Jones version of "The Wind In The Willows." He'll also return to TV in the eagerly anticipated "Coogan's Run." To read some of the KMKY episodes, and explore some other Alan Partridge web sites, visit The cathouse.org British Comedy Pages at http://www.cathouse.org/BritishComedy/. ### Thanks to Paul Rhodes for supplying additional information. KING EDDIE THE FIRST... DOING HIS OWN SWEET THING ------------------------------------------------- by Caroline von B, The conclusion of an article about the life and career of Eddie Izzard. When I talk to him on the phone, Izzard sounds decidedly "southern/posh" to my only half-trained ears. His voice was different on stage and again for "Have I Got News for You" and Radio 4's "Missed Demeanors." If his "self" is so strongly present, then which is the voice that goes with said "self"? "Oh really? Well I think I have my noooormal... well I don't know, perhaps I'm just Zelig... the Woody Allen character, but... I can change it around, I do find that if I go down a market place, I will sort of crush the vowel sound a bit more, or something... I'll move it around. And also when I go into stand-up I sort of jump around from weird strangulated voice to another one. But I think that... there's supposed to be a central one that's me, but perhaps it gets lost in there." Sometimes the central Eddie tends to resort to French on-stage -- everybody knows his "la singe est dans l'arbre" skit -- and during the interview. He has his eye on Europe and he recently played two nights in Amsterdam. Does he feel the need to expand? "I like languages. Eventhough my Dutch only goes as far as 'poffertjes'... which I've had for the first time, even though I'd seen them before... I didn't realise... I had some in Amsterdam and.... they're hugely doughy! I like languages, I like to try and have a go in different languages eventhough if you do it in Dutch everyone will just go 'yes, we can speak English, just shut up!', and so I wanted to play there and other places in Northern Europe, I think, you know, in Belgium people might go for stand-up as well. I mean I'd like it if stand-up was all across Europe, but it's tricky because of the language thing and people thinking: 'How dare you come in and fucking speak in a different language!' I'm wary of that, but I just know, you'd have to learn such a truckload of different languages, you know... rock and roll, everybody can just go around a do it and sing in English and everyone just goes 'yeah, fine no problem.' But the Dutch seem to swing with it, cause everyone's English is so good." This is a common misconception. The thing with the Dutch is that a large percentage of them have a basic grasp of English. Not many have enough to be able to follow 2 hours of stand-up comedy. During the interval in Eddie's show, some Dutch people, who couldn't keep up, left, leaving the odds strongly in favour of the Brits -- around 60 to 70%. It caused some hilarity when Eddie expressed his surprise at the audience's level of comprehension. "That's because we're all English!" someone replied. Would Eddie be prepared to slow down to draw a bigger audience? "Really? I had slowed down... but yes, I would go even slower, but when you just come straight in it is ... I just misjudged it. But yeah, I would go as slow as need be, I wanna get as many Dutch people... I don't wanna come and play to English and American people. Yeah, I would slow down as much as need be, to get as many people as possible, without getting down to a crawling number. I just want to keep coming back and building and building, as opposed to just going there once and going away and expecting something to just happen. I mean in London, well, I started in 1980, now it's 15 years later now I've managed to get an audience..." If all goes well, he'll soon be drawing another audience altogether as he starts showing his stuff on the big screen. "I wanna play kind of Tim Roth/Gary Oldman kind of areas. That's where I want to go into... that's what I like. Film is a big love of mine. Shitheads I like doing, in serious acting anyway, and playing American characters and doing an American accent, so therefore not doing an 'English-person-abroad' kind of thing, I'd like doing that as well. But I've got to feel my way in those parts. I'm doing a film called 'Secret Agent' later this year, directed by Christopher Hampton who just did Carrington -- which made a lot of noise down at the Cannes film festival. He won 'prix-de-jury' and Jonathan Price won best actor. And Gerry Depardieu is in it, Bob Hoskins and Robin Williams. It's a small part, it's only two/three days filming, so I'll just be at the back waving. But I just love film." Taking his act to the big screen may seem a big step, but nothing can beat the giant leap of coming out, which is what Eddie did ten years ago at the age of 23 and again on-stage, three years ago. "It's a difficult thing to do, because it's so visual," Eddie tells me. Not many people come out transvestite -- and it's even more rare in showbiz. There's the Dutch novelist Maarten 't Hart, who, a few years back, came out for the whole country to see, at a literary gala night. There was the film director Ed Wood, currently the subject of a feature film. It's important to Eddie, taking a lot of focus (which he says shouldn't really happen, but unfortunately does) yet it is the one thing he would least publicise himself on. It would confuse too many people. On stage, he wants to be as casual, as "fuck off" as possible about it -- but admits that one of the reasons he'd rather not see the audience during performance is that it could throw him, especially if he's doing something difficult on being transvestite. When I probe him about his stand-up and whether he will always make being tv part of it he answers: "Maybe, maybe not. It's something that's true and it's me." Does he feel a responsibility? "No, no responsibility. Just information, you know, what do people know about being tv? Nothing." Would he be prepared to go as far as explaining in detail what it means to him, just to educate people? "Yes. Probably in print, more likely than on stage, on stage it would get really boring..." In Holland, transvestism has become marketable. It has become "in" to be tv or rather, "in" to be a drag queen. We have a prime time television show called "The Transvestite Show," which is really a drag queen thing -- electing a "Miss Transvestite" and "Best Drag Act" each week. In Amsterdam, drag cabaret and tv-bars have become quite popular. Irish singer Gavin Friday, who is no stranger to flamboyant attire himself, sees it as a fin-de-siecle thing, "As the world goes under, they are the pom-pom girls." It's a romantic view -- but there is another side. There's a kind of commercialising going on which is okay -- introducing different lifestyles to the masses, but doesn't seem really very helpful for the average closet tv, who sees himself up against a larger-than-life image. Entertainment without information can only confuse the man in the street. "Yeah. There was a period, just recently, where it went through this, with gay people and aids... all these drag balls happening... Journalists always look for movements, and perhaps there was a wave just because everybody started talking about a wave... but I just came out, in '85. I'm doing my own sweet thing. If this thing doesn't happen, if there is a 'scene' and a bubble burst in that 'scene,' that has nothing to do with me. My thing is just purely coming out and just trying to knit being tv into society, cause that's the trouble. Gay and lesbian people have knitted being gay and lesbian into society. They say: 'Look, this is our sexuality, it's got nothing to do with our work, more to do with play, or life, or whatever. We work in a bookshop, we're only good at selling books, that's the point, and then we have a sexuality which has nothing to do anyone except us.' You know, and then... heterosexuals they go off and play rugby or play bridge and go and snog people of the opposite sex in straight bars and they do their thing and it has nothing to do with their job. So that's what they've done: they've separated sex and sexuality from what they do for a living. That's what I'll do: I'll work, and I'll wear the clothes I want to wear and it's got nothing to do with my stand-up and from now on, in fact, I'm not going to talk about it. I only talked about being tv there in Holland, because otherwise people would go 'What the fuck's he wearing that for?'" [Amsterdam is the place where people would be least likely to stop and wonder about someone's appearance. -- CvB] "It's just information, you know. Once people have worked it all out... it will never be everyone. There'll still be people, 10, 15, 20 of them will be saying: 'What, so you're a drag queen?' 'No! Fucking hell! There's been thousands of column inches on this, haven't you fucking read anything?'" Eddie's line of reasoning is that by western standard there are no female transvestites -- and therefore he says there are no male ones either. He has come out tv, but does not call himself tv. He does not wear 'women's clothing,' he just wears what he wants to wear. But isn't it more about how people feel themselves, rather than how the world perceives them? If there are men who feel the need to genderfuck, there are women as well. There is no label for women with similar needs - and although not even having a label to stick on yourself can be quite confusing, women can get away with more without attracting too much attention. There's less fear of getting your head kicked in, or people shouting at you. All in all it perhaps is a little easier on women. "Yes. This is my point. There are two sides to it. One is how people feel and the other is how people perceive it. Tv people are a minority, and it is really... I think the bigger problem with trying to knit being tv into society is dealing with people who are not tv and how they perceive it. Because they are the people who have no information at all, so how can they make a judgement? Tv people have their own decisions or hang-ups and whatever and that's a separate thing. If I can put out logical points for the people who are not tv, so they can go 'oh yeah, that's a point, we are cooler on women who wear trousers, so why are we so fucked about men who wear skirts'... if you can put that out so they go 'Yeah, why do we do that, we're kind of odd doing that,' and just point out indiscrepancies like that, then maybe people can just bring down barriers. Or force themselves to bring down their own barriers, which is what you got to do -- because you can't force them, they have to choose to bring it down themselves. Then perhaps you can make some progress with people seeing 'Oh, it's more relaxed now, and there are people and they're tv, and they're tv and no one is giving them hassle, so I'll come out.' And that's what you got to encourage. We got to get people, you know, in their teens and in their early twenties look towards coming out." And with that, the terminally busy Izzard bids us farewell -- off to consider more projects. He mentions wanting to write a book at some stage, but admits he hasn't come to terms with the writing process yet. His sit-com "The Cows," co-written with Nick Whitby, should come to a small screen near you by September this year. ### The author maintains "The Eddie Izzard Sort Of Groovy Homepage" at http://www.xs4all.nl/~pj/izzard.html. ==================================================== Review: Eddie Izzard Live At The Shaftesbury Theatre by Jan Staff ==================================================== Eddie Izzard is back! And where better to see him than in a place where he enjoys himself as much as the audience enjoys him -- on stage in London's West End. I had the good fortune to do just that when I attended Eddie's "Definite Article" tour at the Shaftesbury Theatre shortly after it opened on October 10th. But Eddie fans need not worry -- there is still plenty of time to see him before the final curtain call on December 16th, though whether tickets will be available is another question. They are selling very quickly, and the show is receiving very good reviews. As well it should. In certain respects this a case of "the more things change the more they stay the same." Without giving away too much, Eddie has altered the entrance he used on previous tours and the new one is magnificent. A less desirable change, however, is that the amount of social commentary that he allows himself has decreased. This is regrettable because he has the ability to express some brilliant insights on important topics. Nevertheless, Izzard fans will certainly appreciate the usual "bollocks on top of bollocks" presented almost the same as his last two video releases. Basically, Eddie is as "Izzardish" as before or maybe even more. He's purified his timing, his appearance, and his "acting" since his last stage show -- all for the better. And those of you who aren't an Eddie fan? Go see this show if possible or at the very least get ahold of one of his live videos. Chances are good that you'll come away a convert. =================== Review: BOTTOM LIVE by Jan Staff =================== At first I thought Edina Monsoon must be in charge of publicity for the tour appropriately titled "Bottom: The Big Number 2 Tour." When I collected my ticket the day of the show there was no sign of that evening's performance. No poster, no program, no anything. Yet somehow word had gotten round because the Brighton Dome was almost full to capacity when the title tune started and the curtain raised to give a glimpse of a crappy, unhealthy flat. The audience cheered and it wasn't because they were thinking "Hey, this is just like where I live!" No, they were applauding the expected arrival of their two favourite bummed out blokes -- Richie (Rik Mayall) and Eddie (Adrian Edmondson). The "Bottom" tours are an offspring of the successful television series written by and starring Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson. If you're familiar with their characters from "The Young Ones" or "Filthy Rich and Catflap," then you've got the idea of "Bottom," where potty gags and juvenile crudeness abound. When Mayall and Edmondson made their appearance the applause grew even louder and the first thing I noticed was their ability to handle their audience. They have a good sense of how the crowd is going to react and the best ways to deal with them. The guys use this tour to make the most of the fact that they are free from the limitations of television. The amount of dirty jokes and extra genitalia gags gives the impression that they used this tour to let off steam from their more "clean" BBC writing. The only weak point of the Bottom Tour is the weakness of the plot. There is even less of a story being told than on the first stage tour, and it's not really enough to justify a one-and-a half hour show. Yet that didn't keep the audience from having a good time and participating in the fun. "Have a wank!" rose from the crowd every time Richie asked "What shall I do?" and there was also a resurrection of the classic "Hah! You missed *both* my legs!" gag from "The Young Ones." The laughter and cheering from the amused audience made it clear that they felt they had gotten their money's worth. To get the dates for the "Bottom Live" tour, point your web browser to: http://www.cathouse.org/CathousePeople/MelindaCasino/. ### QUOTE-O'-THE-MONTH: =================== With thanks, again, to Ralph G. Johnson . "You'll have to get married one day. You can't be happy all your life." CHARACTER: Alec (or Alex) Callender SHOW: "May to December" SPOTTED ON THE INTERNET ======================= Thanks to David B. Feland . =============================== ("`-''-/").___..--''"`-._ David B. Feland `6_ 6 ) `-. ( ).`-.__.`) Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (_Y_.)' ._ ) `._ `. ``-..-' decibel@tibalt.supernet.ab.ca _..`--'_..-_/ /--'_.' ,' (If I'm "lion", =============================== (il),-'' (li),' ((!.-' I'm dyin'!) __________________________________________________________________________ etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc __________________________________________________________________________ GOODIES-L is a discussion mailing list for fans of the men who sang that classic pub song, "Jolly Rock." Join the fun by sending a message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM with "subscribe GOODIES-L firstname_lastname" in the body. (Example: subscribe GOODIES-L Bill Oddie) For more info. see: http://www.cathouse.org/BritishComedy/Goodies/FanClub/Info/GOODIES-L.html or send an inquiry email note to . __________________________________________________________________________ WANTED: Fan seeks episode guides of all sorts, but esp. to "Allo, 'Allo" series 6-9. Please contact Jeff at __________________________________________________________________________ Jeffrey Rice has put a "One Foot In The Grave" episode guide on the web at http://www.webcom.com/~jrice/grave.html __________________________________________________________________________ Brian Clay has recently expanded his BRITTAS EMPIRE pages! Now you can "share the dream" by visiting "The Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre" at: http://www.dungeon.com/~clay/gordon4.html __________________________________________________________________________ Check out Susan Goetcheus' "Whose Line is it Anyway?" page, at http://id.wing.net/~susang/wliia.html __________________________________________________________________________ CIRCULATION/SUBSCRIPTIONS: ========================== Britcomedy Digest (ISSN 1077-6680) is a free electronic newsletter posted monthly to alt.comedy.british and rec.arts.tv.uk.comedy. DELPHI: In the "UK-American Connexion" forum, cf 171. GENIE: In the "Showbiz" roundtable, page 185. SUBSCRIPTIONS: To receive an issue every month, send your email address to: with the word "SUBSCRIBE" in either the subject header or body of the message. BACK ISSUES: ============ WWW: [US] http://www.cathouse.org/BritishComedy/BD/ [UK] http://paul.acorn.co.uk:8080/Britcom/ FTP: Log on as "anonymous," giving your email account as your password. ftp://ftp.etext.org/pub/Zines/BritComedy ftp://ftp.cathouse.org/pub/cathouse/british.humour/britcomedy.digest === End