Sit back and enjoy 2 hours and 18 minutes of comedy bits from film and television from all over the world-interrupted every 10 seconds by commentary from folk you've never heard of, don't want to hear from and will probably never hear from again.
2 Reviews
When Comedy Goes Horribly Wrong
jboothmillard3 April 2018
Warning: Spoilers
When I read about this documentary programme advertised, I recognised a couple of the things mentioned that would be included, and I had my guesses of what else may be included, so I was really looking forward to watching. Basically the show was a three hour collection of clips, focusing on the mostly negative moments on televised shows featuring comedy, including sketch shows, comedy panel shows, stand-up comedy, topical comedy shows, during chat shows, during talent shows, during awards shows, in social media, in interviews and much more. These moments included unfunny material, dated humour, careers ruined or shows dropped, tasteless or inappropriate material that caused controversy, accidents and mistakes and much more, in Britain and/or around the world.
Comedy shows going wrong included: Russell Howard breaking his finger leaning on a stunt chair on Russell Howard's Good News. More comedy going wrong included: Katherine Ryan making a joke about testing products on Filipino children on Mock the Week that gained complaints; Australia's Got Talent contestant Jordan Paris stealing the jokes of Lee Mack for his audition, then bombing with his own material on the live shows; and Hale & Pace criticised for making a "tasteless" joke about cruelty to animals using a microwaved cat. Careers sabotaged or ruined by comedy included: Craig David upset by his spoof rubber mask character (played by Leigh Francis) on Bo' Selecta!, his career went downward for years, but he made a successful comeback, and he and Francis reconciled; and Bernard Manning openly admitting he is racist on The Mrs. Merton Show and making further offensive comments. Other comedy going wrong included: James Corden making bad taste jokes about Harvey Weinstein too soon after the sexual harassment scandal had made the news; Daniel O'Reilly aka Dapper Laughs receiving complaints for being misogynistic and promoting a rape culture, then he made the comment "she's gagging for a rape" to a woman in the audience, he was dropped and went on Newsnight to apologise; and The Benny Hill Show went out of date and smutty, alternative comedy was making waves in the 80s, his show was cancelled, and he died a year later. Other comedy stuff going wrong included: the style of comedy in Little & Large was getting outdated, the duo was sacked, they went around the country performing onstage, but they had to stop due to Large's illness; a car crashing into a lake stunt for the sitcom Tom, Dick and Harriet went wrong when the actors got caught in the sinking vehicle. The line between funny and bad taste was crossed with stuff including: Kathy Griffin causing controversy and getting abuse for a joke using a bloody decapitated head of President Donald Trump; and Van Banter and his sidekick ADRTV doing pranks on the public for YouTube, but one person almost pulls out a knife when getting angered. Comedy comebacks and routines going wrong included: Steve Hofstetter cannot make a comeback during stand-up after a heckler mentions being a widow; and Adam Hunter had a comedy booking for a wedding, posted on YouTube, posing as the minster and roasting everyone, but his material was inappropriate, almost cruel, and he could have been beaten up. Comedy also talked about included: Nine Network's Today anchor Karl Stefanovic interviewing the Dali Lama and bombing with a stupid pizza joke, saying "can you make me one with everything"; The Real Housewives of Atlanta star NeNe Leakes attempted stand-up comedy, but caused controversy with an outburst, telling a heckler she hopes they get raped; and Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump sees Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino failing to create any laughs, he was saved by Jeffrey Ross, The Situation said to Trump "you should run for President". Television comedy going wrong included: Tony Hancock stopped doing live broadcasts of Hancock's Half Hour after numerous props fell apart; and Duncan Norvelle got close to hosting gameshow Blind Date, he filmed a pilot (originally titled It's a Hoot!), he captured the audience, but he was not chosen, considered "too camp", Cilla Black got it. Jokes going wrong included: Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show made a joke about a shortage of toilet paper, it caused a surge of panic buying with shoppers buying toilet paper, causing a real three-week shortage, the joke was taken literally.
I had my guesses what comedy moments would be included, the bad ones, the funny or unfunny ones and the awkward ones, I always enjoy the nostalgia seeing these moments again, but it was good to learn about those I did not know, and the serious stuff as well, overall it was an interesting and watchable documentary.
Narrated by Julian Clary, with contributions from Stephen Bailey, Vas Blackwood, Bob Carolgees (Spit the dog puppeteer), Paul Coia, Hal Cruttenden, Freddie Davies, Bobby Davro, Tim Dixon, Andrew Doyle, Annabel Giles, Angie Greaves, Debbie Greenwood, Michael Haskins, Hattie Hayridge, Bec Hill, Steve Hofstetter, Jay Hollingsworth, Adam Hunter, Ty Jeffries (Lionel's son), Ross King, Eddie Large, George Layton, Helen Lederer, Carry On star Valerie Leon, Syd Little, The Office's Ewen MacIntosh, Don Maclean, Ruth Madoc, comedy writers Paul Minnet & Brian Leveson, Duncan Norvelle ("chase me"), Daniel O'Reilly (Dapper Laughs), Bill Oddie, Ian Ogilvy, Nicholas Parsons, Billy Pearce, Gail Porter, Kate Robbins, Crissy Rock, Robert Ross, Arthur Smith, Stacey Soloman, Chris Stark (Virtually Famous), stuntman Rocky Taylor, The Benny Hill Show's Sue Upton and Adrian Walsh. Very good!
Comedy shows going wrong included: Russell Howard breaking his finger leaning on a stunt chair on Russell Howard's Good News. More comedy going wrong included: Katherine Ryan making a joke about testing products on Filipino children on Mock the Week that gained complaints; Australia's Got Talent contestant Jordan Paris stealing the jokes of Lee Mack for his audition, then bombing with his own material on the live shows; and Hale & Pace criticised for making a "tasteless" joke about cruelty to animals using a microwaved cat. Careers sabotaged or ruined by comedy included: Craig David upset by his spoof rubber mask character (played by Leigh Francis) on Bo' Selecta!, his career went downward for years, but he made a successful comeback, and he and Francis reconciled; and Bernard Manning openly admitting he is racist on The Mrs. Merton Show and making further offensive comments. Other comedy going wrong included: James Corden making bad taste jokes about Harvey Weinstein too soon after the sexual harassment scandal had made the news; Daniel O'Reilly aka Dapper Laughs receiving complaints for being misogynistic and promoting a rape culture, then he made the comment "she's gagging for a rape" to a woman in the audience, he was dropped and went on Newsnight to apologise; and The Benny Hill Show went out of date and smutty, alternative comedy was making waves in the 80s, his show was cancelled, and he died a year later. Other comedy stuff going wrong included: the style of comedy in Little & Large was getting outdated, the duo was sacked, they went around the country performing onstage, but they had to stop due to Large's illness; a car crashing into a lake stunt for the sitcom Tom, Dick and Harriet went wrong when the actors got caught in the sinking vehicle. The line between funny and bad taste was crossed with stuff including: Kathy Griffin causing controversy and getting abuse for a joke using a bloody decapitated head of President Donald Trump; and Van Banter and his sidekick ADRTV doing pranks on the public for YouTube, but one person almost pulls out a knife when getting angered. Comedy comebacks and routines going wrong included: Steve Hofstetter cannot make a comeback during stand-up after a heckler mentions being a widow; and Adam Hunter had a comedy booking for a wedding, posted on YouTube, posing as the minster and roasting everyone, but his material was inappropriate, almost cruel, and he could have been beaten up. Comedy also talked about included: Nine Network's Today anchor Karl Stefanovic interviewing the Dali Lama and bombing with a stupid pizza joke, saying "can you make me one with everything"; The Real Housewives of Atlanta star NeNe Leakes attempted stand-up comedy, but caused controversy with an outburst, telling a heckler she hopes they get raped; and Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump sees Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino failing to create any laughs, he was saved by Jeffrey Ross, The Situation said to Trump "you should run for President". Television comedy going wrong included: Tony Hancock stopped doing live broadcasts of Hancock's Half Hour after numerous props fell apart; and Duncan Norvelle got close to hosting gameshow Blind Date, he filmed a pilot (originally titled It's a Hoot!), he captured the audience, but he was not chosen, considered "too camp", Cilla Black got it. Jokes going wrong included: Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show made a joke about a shortage of toilet paper, it caused a surge of panic buying with shoppers buying toilet paper, causing a real three-week shortage, the joke was taken literally.
I had my guesses what comedy moments would be included, the bad ones, the funny or unfunny ones and the awkward ones, I always enjoy the nostalgia seeing these moments again, but it was good to learn about those I did not know, and the serious stuff as well, overall it was an interesting and watchable documentary.
Narrated by Julian Clary, with contributions from Stephen Bailey, Vas Blackwood, Bob Carolgees (Spit the dog puppeteer), Paul Coia, Hal Cruttenden, Freddie Davies, Bobby Davro, Tim Dixon, Andrew Doyle, Annabel Giles, Angie Greaves, Debbie Greenwood, Michael Haskins, Hattie Hayridge, Bec Hill, Steve Hofstetter, Jay Hollingsworth, Adam Hunter, Ty Jeffries (Lionel's son), Ross King, Eddie Large, George Layton, Helen Lederer, Carry On star Valerie Leon, Syd Little, The Office's Ewen MacIntosh, Don Maclean, Ruth Madoc, comedy writers Paul Minnet & Brian Leveson, Duncan Norvelle ("chase me"), Daniel O'Reilly (Dapper Laughs), Bill Oddie, Ian Ogilvy, Nicholas Parsons, Billy Pearce, Gail Porter, Kate Robbins, Crissy Rock, Robert Ross, Arthur Smith, Stacey Soloman, Chris Stark (Virtually Famous), stuntman Rocky Taylor, The Benny Hill Show's Sue Upton and Adrian Walsh. Very good!
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