- cross-posted to:
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- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
We were talking about this down at my local at the weekend and it is all available on YouTube, so I’ve been having a bit of a binge. Thoroughly reprehensible stuff obviously, so I can’t possibly recommend it.
Victor Lewis-Smith will be much missed
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Yeah I remember that when it first came on and thinking it was brilliant. I hadn’t even thought to look it up on YouTube before now either! Great late night Friday stuff.
I remember the prank call to ITV where he pitches the idea of prisoners in electric chairs playing Buzzle - if they manage it they get pardoned, if the metal connects it completes the circuit and they get electrocuted. The ITV guy says something like ‘we couldn’t possibly film anything like that… We don’t have the budget to film in America’
People often say “that’d never get made today!” which I usually interpret as “it shouldn’t have been made then”. However, with TV Offal and Brass Eye (I am intrigued to see he and Morris didn’t get on), I think it’d mean “how did it get made then?”. Something like Sparky’s Magic Piano feels like no-one in charge saw it before it was broadcast.
I am intrigued to see he and Morris didn’t get on
Morris was initially influenced a lot by Lewis-Smith and there was mutual respect. I think after Morris started to get a lot of success on the radio though, Lewis-Smith got a bit jealous and accused Morris of ripping him off.
He still gave The Day Today a glowing review in his notorious TV review column though. I don’t even know if they ever met in person so the whole thing might be a little bit exaggerated.
As to getting weird stuff made, I think TV people were just more willing to experiment. ‘11.30 on a Friday , do what you want mate, no one’s watching’ It seemed like Netflix might have gone that way with their original series at first - Bojack Horseman, Russian Doll, Criminal - but they’re focusing more on safe shite.
I don’t even know if they ever met in person so the whole thing might be a little bit exaggerated.
Apparently, they met very early on. I’ll try and find where I got the information from.
Somewhere that is still a great source for info on British Comedy despite it being a defunct for about 15 years is SOTCAA.
Morris was initially influenced a lot by Lewis-Smith and there was mutual respect. I think after Morris started to get a lot of success on the radio though, Lewis-Smith got a bit jealous and accused Morris of ripping him off.
Here’s what I was getting my information from, it includes the Guardian’s Feud’s Corner article about them falling out (and further up VL-S’ Day to Day review) but, that is all itself, apparently, part of a larger prank:
The feud between Morris and Lewis Smith is itself a hoax. The pair, who regularly drink together in the Groucho Club, tricked The Guardian into thinking they were deadly enemies as a publicity stunt. For their pains they were rewarded with a ‘Feud’s Corner’ feature in 1992. One would expect The Guardian to check a story like this more carefully since Morris candidly admits to orchestrating letter campaigns against his own shows. He claims this is “a time-honoured technique for enhancing your notoriety. But it carries a risk: five years ago I unleashed such a convincing tirade against my own work for a radio station I complained myself off the air.”
I suppose, if those two put their heads together, it’s no surprise we rapidly getting into prankception where we can never really know what level of the hoax we are at. That’s a good one, as it’s had me fooled for 30 years.
That’s amazing research that is! Cookd & Bombd I’ve not been on for a long time now but it’s essentially a forum now.
Yeah, Morris and VLS together is just asking for it really isn’t it? Had me fooled too!
