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Brass Eye Newcomer

Started by amoral, June 30, 2007, 05:05:41 AM

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amoral

Hi, a non-Brit here who's just recently discovered Brass Eye and other Morris projects. I've been really blown away by Brass Eye in particular. I wanted to share a few favorite moments that have been running through my mind:
Morris coming on to a 12 year old girl.
Ted Maul scaling a building and breaking through a window to confront the black market scientists. "It's not cool to be wierd!"
This quote from a Cardinal Hume, in response to an extremely vulgar Christ apparition: "It was bad enough to hear him swearing like a footballer, but I believe my faith was shattered completely when he farted on my balls." just so absurd on so many levels, it caught me completely off guard.
I could go on and on. I love this show's bizarre and inventive use of language.
So yes, not much point to this except to share a newcomer's enthusiasm for the show with you. I just can't believe it was made 10 years ago, and I'm only watching it now.
I'll end by asking: Has there been any show since Brass Eye that you feel is comparable in wit or originality? If so, what?

Edley

Quote from: amoral on June 30, 2007, 05:05:41 AM
This quote from a Cardinal Hume, in response to an extremely vulgar Christ apparition: "It was bad enough to hear him swearing like a footballer, but I believe my faith was shattered completely when he farted on my balls." just so absurd on so many levels, it caught me completely off guard.
There's a variation of that in one of his earlier radio shows: "I began to question my beliefs quite fundamentally when I saw the lord openly rubbing himself in an impure way, but my faith deserted me completely when he shoved the sun up his arse."

Shoulders?-Stomach!

I certainly can't think of a show that has been as exciting to watch since Brass Eye, no. This is because of the feeling you get watching it that it shouldn't be happening; that Chris has not only fooled a host of celebrities but the TV producers themselves. Fast paced, explosive and inventive anarchy that wasn't at any point predictable. Though I always credit it for choosing the right subject matters, those being recurring media bugbears and standard cyclical shock-doc fodder, particularly 'Moral Decline' that perfectly parodied the lazy "Oh Britains just really shit, isn't it" aimless documentaries at the time that just bleated on about everything and nothing.

Just like The Day Today, in terms of changing the production of the shows it spoofs, it has had zero impact. If anything I bet some of the cunts in charge of Dispatches or Panorama look at bits of Brass Eye thinking "Oh, I hadn't considered doing that, brilliant." If that is the case, it would prove that at one point Morris wasn't only the number one satirist in the country but actually had more knowledge of the genre he was parodying than the idiots earnestly making it themselves.

Artemis

The only show I've seen since with the feeling of 'what have they slipped past the TV execs and censors this time?' is Wondershowzen but great as that show is, it's not on a par with Brass Eye. In terms of use of language, the dialogue in Peep Show can be wonderfully selective, but it's not inventive like Brass Eye. B.E. is a special show that stands apart for many reasons, although in terms of comedy, I prefer The Day Today.

Every time I glance at the DVD on my shelf, it makes me a little bit sad that not even the producers deemed it necessary or important to provide a commercial release worthy of the programme itself.

Glebe

Hi amoral. It is indeed unique and brilliant.

Emergency Lalla Ward Ten

The question is, was Brass Eye responsible for the year zero in sketch comedy, prompting comedians to think 'Ah fuck, we can't do anything that good - instead, let's just be content with stuff that's reasonably OK'? Or did it inspire comedians to make stuff in the same vein, which just resulted in lots of reactionary, mean-spirited E4 rubbish like Fonejacker and/or derivative whimsy like Broken News? Or both? In other words: Brass Eye was good, but was it good for comedy?

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

'Responsible' seems a bit of a loaded term. Can any great art be held accountable for the shite that follows in it's wake?

VeedeePlexagon

It's interesting that you put Morris' coming onto a 12 year old girl as one of your favourite bits, for when I showed Brass Eye to an American that was his favourite bit, too.

Whilst I love Brass Eye, I feel it has dated far more than The Day Today, mainly because of the celebrity lampooning. After the Paedophile newstravaganza, I think it'll be difficult for shows like that to be broadcast again. Certain documentaries I think are as funny as Brass Eye. I look forward to ones on Diana very soon (ten years!).

amoral

Quote from: Emergency Lalla Ward Ten on July 01, 2007, 05:54:58 PM
The question is, was Brass Eye responsible for the year zero in sketch comedy, prompting comedians to think 'Ah fuck, we can't do anything that good - instead, let's just be content with stuff that's reasonably OK'? Or did it inspire comedians to make stuff in the same vein, which just resulted in lots of reactionary, mean-spirited E4 rubbish like Fonejacker and/or derivative whimsy like Broken News? Or both? In other words: Brass Eye was good, but was it good for comedy?
I have noticed a fairly recent trend in British comedy (what I'm able to see of it) of that kind of "mean-spirited" trickster humor. What I like about Brass Eye though is that Morris seemed to primarily target celebrities, rather than your average Joe on the street like Sacha Baron Cohen or others seem to. Still, those bits of Brass Eye are probably my least favorite. Did that trend originate with Brass Eye?

George Oscar Bluth II

I think the shows age has given it a new edge with regards to the celebrity bits. Bloke from Babylon Zoo's "I think in time I will be seen as a genius" particularly. It somehow seems cruel to laugh.

Glebe

"And the bit with the horse was good, wasn't it?"

Yes.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

'I think I will become a genius'

...which is even better.

lipsink

The wordplay in it and the pompous way Chris Morris says certain things has certainly been copied to death that I'm getting fucking sick of them. I don't think even Morris can do it properly as it showed in the IT Crowd (although Lineham probably wrote that dialogue). His "Legs as red as a fire engine." dialogue just doesn't have that edge that provokes gut laughter anymore. I haven't watched BrassEye recently but I'm pretty sure the strange language still holds up compared to that which is used as much as that voice in every other sentence in Garth Marenghi's fucking Darkplace.

abbot lau

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on July 01, 2007, 11:39:32 PM
'I think I will become a genius'

...which is even better.

"and maybe, just maybe, you were born with more genes than the rest of us?"

"yeah."

More genes=Down's syndrome. Talk about running rings round people.

AC

And he's apparently there for a "conversation without drugs", despite the glass of wine sitting in front of him.

amoral

I'm sure part of the reason I don't enjoy the celebrity wind-up bits is that for the most part I have no idea who the celebrities are. Babylon Zoo? I'm guessing I should be thankful for never having heard of them, eh?

amoral

I meant to say I don't enjoy those bits AS MUCH as the others. I still enjoy them just...not as much as the others.

Uncle TechTip

Quote from: amoral on July 04, 2007, 04:25:32 AM
Babylon Zoo? I'm guessing I should be thankful for never having heard of them, eh?
Haha, you're quite right. One-hit wonder/song used on an ad is all you need to know. Now, what do you think of Noel Edmonds and Jimmy Greaves? You might be interested to know that naturally many of the celebs were unhappy to be featured when the truth emerged, and some made complaints to the TV regulators. And yes, the bit where the MP raised the issue of 'cake' in Parliament is true, you can look it up in the official record. However I think there was only one celebrity who took it in good spirit - the DJ Tommy Vance, sadly no longer with us, who was duped in the "Prison Induction" video. I think I'm right in saying that he was a fan of Morris' work anyway and didn't mind in the slightest. Did any other celebs react with good humour?

When you ask did it spur on 'trickster humour', you could be right to some degree, although the TV prank was already well-established by then - but in a much more good-natured way. That man Noel Edmonds again used to set up celebs on fake TV shows for his 'Gotchas'. Of course he wasn't too chuffed when the tables were turned. Then of course you have Candid Camera etc which have gone on for years - again friendly in nature, perhaps the more 'nasty' type of prank is spurred on by more recent shows like Big Brother or The Weakest Link. Victor Lewis-Smith was doing 'nasty' crank phone calls nearly 10 years earlier, so the trend was already set.

Can I ask, are you from the US, it'd be interesting to know how you view the style of the reports in Brass Eye. The aggressive, accusatory tone that Morris adopts in some of them always struck me as a reflection of the style on US TV, even more so when watching The Daily Show. In fact I find the tone adopted in many BE and TDS reports to be similar. I wonder if one influenced the other from afar.

amoral

One bit that I love, but feel I might be missing something of, is the report about the murder of, I think, Clive Anderson by Noel Edmonds. I know the names, but not much else. Both are chat show hosts, right? But is there anything to it other than that? If not, it's still great.
I am American, and I think Brass Eye works just as well as a satire of our television. it seems that sensationalistic, fear mongering pseudo-news programs are more and more prevalent over here. And yes, our "news" shows are full of loud-mouthed, condascending ego fiends who care more about their own personas than anything.
I have liked The Daily Show for some time (although I prefer The Colbert Report), but after seeing Brass Eye I can't watch it without being slightly saddened. America is in dire need of some radical, pointed social commentary right now and I don't think Jon Stewart and co. really have it in them.

Marv Orange

Guessing you might have done already but if you havent give 'The Day Today' serieseses a watch.

The daily show really has begun to loose it the hand overs to Colbert are usually the highlight which is a shame.

Ambient Sheep

Quote from: amoral on July 04, 2007, 10:34:34 PM
One bit that I love, but feel I might be missing something of, is the report about the murder of, I think, Clive Anderson by Noel Edmonds. I know the names, but not much else. Both are chat show hosts, right? But is there anything to it other than that? If not, it's still great.

Clive Anderson is a barrister (what you'd probably call an attorney, but it's a bit subtler than that) who first made his name by moonlighting as the presenter of the UK version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?  He then had a successful, if rather idiosyncratic, chat show, and now drifts around hosting various things from time to time.  In fact, while I'm Wikipedia'ing, here he is.

Noel Edmonds is a cunt presenter who's been around since the 70s, if not longer.  He started out as a radio DJ, then went into presenting kids' TV, then presented a variety of teatime light-entertainment shows, including quizzes, audience participation things, gunging people, playing practical jokes on celebrities, and killing innocent members of the public by dropping them out of helicopters*.  No, really.  His career took a bit of a nosedive after that.  Recently some arsehole resurrected his career again and he now presents Deal Or No Fucking Deal to great acclaim - the aim of the show is for him to try to sleep with as many of the female contestants as he can†.  Wikipedia here.

There is no specific relationship at all between Clive Anderson and Noel Edmonds as far as I'm aware, part of the strangeness of that segment was the "Who?  What?  Why would he do that?  They probably don't even know each other!"-ness of it.  Unless someone here knows differently, that is.


If I have time, I'd be quite happy to answer any other Morris-related UK celebrity "who's that?" questions you might have...


* - OK, it was a bungee jump that went wrong, and it was only ONE innocent member of the public that died...but since he's very big on helicopters (it was his firm that flew everyone in and out of Live Aid) that's the phrase that came to my brain first, and I liked it so much I'm sticking with it.

† - judging from the various tabloid reports on his backstage behaviour, anyway.  Honestly, m'lud.

Ambient Sheep

Bumpage - from this [banned troll] thread, the BBC apologising for letting Noel Edmonds drop someone from a helicopter kill someone by bungee-wrong:

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdakKgmYH7I[/youtube]


Ambient Sheep

#23
Quote from: NerdBoy on August 10, 2007, 05:25:51 PM
and the lucky ones:

Fuck. Ing. Hell.

I hadn't heard about that (and wouldn't remember it, as I never watched his shit show).  As a couple of people in the Youtube comments say:

QuoteThat is seriously disturbing. I remember the whole Michael Lush thing, but none of this. The BBC was hugely irresponsible to let this stuff continue. It's obvious that eventually someone was going to get killed attempting these stupid stunts.
QuoteNoel Edmonds's blaseness about the whole thing is immensely disturbing.

I'm just amazed that the BBC let him carry on doing this after injuring someone that seriously.  Maybe that explains the stern tone the lady continuity announcer had in that previous clip.


EDIT: the conversation about this clip may well be continuing over on this thread instead.

NerdBoy

Indeed. Not meaning to hijack the thread but I also found this whilst looking over the wikipedia entry for the LLBS:

Quote...the BBC was twice threatened with legal action by the Health and Safety Executive to stop planned stunts such as plucking a member of the public from an exploding chimney by helicopter

I hope Noel had some glib remarks lined up for that one.

Ambient Sheep

Damn, just crossed in the post there with my edit!

Quote from: NerdBoy on August 10, 2007, 08:33:14 PM
Indeed. Not meaning to hijack the thread...

No, no problem, especially as I was the one who bumped it in the first place, and thanks for the info, but maybe we'll all decamp to that other thread now?  :-)

hoverdonkey

The new Sky Sports News music is almost identical to the Brass Eye

RicHep

Quote from: amoral on July 04, 2007, 10:34:34 PM
One bit that I love, but feel I might be missing something of, is the report about the murder of, I think, Clive Anderson by Noel Edmonds.

The best thing about this scene is the fact the female reporter has got a moustache! and the way Edmonds just chucks the severed head out of a window. Superb!

spraticus

Quote from: abbot lau on July 03, 2007, 09:24:11 PM
"and maybe, just maybe, you were born with more genes than the rest of us?"

"yeah."

More genes=Down's syndrome. Talk about running rings round people.

I always took this as a Morris double pun as Babylon Zoo had just done the music for a Levis commercial