Please post questions for Armando Iannucci (Dont, it's done and dusted) [rename]

[my eyes hurt]

Can you say "Hello, Hugh!" for me, please?

i second that

[Neil]

It is tempting to seek the truth on a few specific things, like who blocked the TDT commentary.
 

Well I'm glad you reminded me of that Lalla, although I think it's in the questions from a couple of years ago, which I'll be going over at some point.  Any more?  I'd really like this to be a CC interview, asking him stuff only we'd think about.

23 Daves, thanks lots for the advice, and also thanks to those who have PM'd.

Some great questions folks, keep em coming in, plenty of time before this goes ahead.  Perhaps join me in working through his back catalogue again, I'll be doing that with Rocky montage music playing in the background.  Let me prepare some torrents.

[Goldentony]

Most boring thing i could think of - any chance of The Friday/Saturday Night Armistice ever coming out on DVD? or is it forever lost in time

[Ricky]

Who would you like to work with in particular again and, with whom you haven't already?
Favourite work you have done (not allowed to say latest project)
Latest projects – latest info please.
Best/worst part of your current BBC role.
Can you recommend some comedy that I probably haven't seen before?
Can you recommend a book you have recently read?
What is Partridge up to at this moment?
Current reflections on I'm Alan Partridge Series 2?
Thoughts on Series 3? We finally get to see Carol/Fernando/The Daughter. An encounter with radical islam?
What are you doing tomorrow?

[Neil]

Keep em coming folks, 2 weeks now.  Guess it's time to sticky this.  Also need to get a ton of people to remind me a day or two before, as I do NOT want to miss this.

[Clint Hollow]

I mentioned this before but this might raise some some interesting questions

http://www.tate.org.uk/onlineevents/podcast/

"Armando Iannucci gives a lecture on comedy and its parallels with the nature and condition of Art."

You'll find it about halfway down the page - I downloaded it a while back and it's facinating stuff, I'd give it a listen Neil.

[Vitalstatistix]

How's it going to work Neil, are you recording the audio or just posting a transcript?

[Ralph Cifaretto]

Yo Neil,
What's cracking with this? Have you done it yet? Surely you have to ask him about Chris Langham and TTOI, it's the only interesting thing you can, it's like interviewing Martin Jol and then not asking him anything about Spurs but what he had for his lunch. Come on

[no_offenc]

Not three posts above you he says it's in two weeks.  Come on

[Jemble Fred]

you have to ask him about Chris Langham and TTOI, it's the only interesting thing you can

This is incorrect in over forty million ways.

[Marv Orange]

What can he say about langham that going to be a surprise apart from those photos were grrreat!

[Jemble Fred]

He's been asked about Langham before, and obviously showed his displeasure at the line of questioning and skirted round the issue. It's the ultimate all-time non-question.

[Artemis]

Cracking job on getting an interview, Neil. I'll be looking forward to reading it.

I'd ask him about his views on how comedy has evolved in the last fifteen years, and to what extent he feels his own career has evolved from pioneering new comedic ground to following a more familiar course (as an example, to stop it coming across as rude, I'd say that when TDT came out, I'd not seen anything like it but Time Trumpet seemed to be a slight variation on the kind of talking head shows we see all the time).

Following from this, unless he answers it as part of his response to the question above, I'd ask him where he sees comedy going and what he would do to conciously influence it's direction if he agrees that much British stuff is lamentable. Ask him to what extent he's aware of his position as trend-setter in comedy and how he's going to use that responsibility to make a positive difference.

I'd love to see him thinking on his feet; we all know that he probably thinks the Langham situation is sad and that he hopes Chris comes through it in tact and learning whatever lessons need learning; that's boring. Left-fielding Ianucci with fairly blunt questions the likes of which more mainstream interviewers might shy away from has the potential to produce some real insight into this guy, and if for whatever reason it doesn't work, well, the only thing you've lost is the kind of intereview we've all read already.

Finally, ask him if the 9:47am from Manchester Picadilly to London Euston is likely to be on time next Thursday, and if not why not.

[Ralph Cifaretto]

All i wanna know is would he ever consider including Langham in an episode of TTOI. The best show at the moment UK or US, and Chris was a part of that. It might be a touchy subject but if he ever comes back as Hugh I'd have to boycott the show for ethical reasons no matter how talented the man is

[Marv Orange]

All i wanna know is would he ever consider including Langham in an episode of TTOI. The best show at the moment UK or US, and Chris was a part of that. It might be a touchy subject but if he ever comes back as Hugh I'd have to boycott the show for ethical reasons no matter how talented the man is

I'll answer for him. No

[weirdbeard]

I'll answer for him. No

And if he did, the BBC wouldn't let him.  A convicted paedophile on their payroll?  They'd never get away with it.

[Ja'moke]

What are his feelings on recent British sketch shows? Does he feel the sketch show has become a tired format or is it just that nobody is being original with it anymore?

[JPA]

'Comedians such as Rowan Atkinson were extremely critical of the Religious Hatred Bill when it was proposed, fearing it would lead to aspects of comedy being censored (though an amended version of the bill was later passed.) Where do you stand in the debate about freedom of expression where comedy is concerned, and are there any areas that you personally would be reluctant to draw comedic ideas from?'

Reads a bit like an essay question, but I'd be interested to hear his thoughts.

Perhaps

'Would it be possible for you to encourage Chris Morris to give an interview to the site?'

Worth a try...

[Paperlung]

Probably of interest to no one but me, but AI narrated those excellent documentaries on the history of British comics during the Comics Britannia season.  Was that just a gig or is he a fanboy?  And if he is, how did it start? With Dan Dare or Desperate Dan?

[Santa's Boyfriend]

Would he be willing to watch the 2 girls 1 cup video and film his reaction?

Ok, ok, serious question...

Why is there so little strong sketch-writing around these days?  So many sketch-shows now are over-reliant on recurring characters and catch-phrases.  Are comedians now unable to come up with fresh original one-off sketches?

[Jemble Fred]

Probably of interest to no one but me, but AI narrated those excellent documentaries on the history of British comics during the Comics Britannia season.  Was that just a gig or is he a fanboy?  And if he is, how did it start? With Dan Dare or Desperate Dan?

He's also made radio documentaries on comics, so it's a genuine passion. Doesn't it emanate from the Scottish strips, Broons and the like? Anyway, the docs are on this site for download somewhere, I think.

[LeboviciAB84]

As someone who rails against the ironical, so-bad-it's-good attitude, do you feel remorse for Alan Partridge inspiring it more than most?



^{Armando Iannucci, not Jemble Fred.}

[Neil]

Last chance to get these in, I'm doing it this week.  Have a good think, try and come up with things you've always wanted to know when you've watched or listened to his stuff.

[LeboviciAB84]

Your idea of television heaven is "newly-recorded Blackadder and guilt-free porn". You enjoyed Blackadder: Back & Forth, then? Talk about that for a bit.

[Jemble Fred]

Hope the questions I sent are still high on the list, Mr Neil. And I also hope i included 'Weren't you in line to produce ISIHAC when you first joined Radio 4? What made you say no?' among them too.

I;d be interested to know if he felt that shows like King Stupid and 99p Challenge were consciously cribbing from 'Clue' too.

I'm a selfish cunt, me.

[LeboviciAB84]

Weren't you in line to produce ISIHAC when you first joined Radio 4? What made you say no?

Isn't it quite well-known that he was afraid of stuffing it up? Or was that more recently?

[jutl]

How did he come up with his hilarious name?

[Beck]

Hello, here's where to get the Armando Iannucci R1 shows, as apparently the current FoF.net links are down at the minute.

[Jemble Fred]

Isn't it quite well-known that he was afraid of stuffing it up? Or was that more recently?

Oh yes, but he's never really spoken about it in any detail, his motives seem to be anecdotal...

[chocky909]

Hello, here's where to get the Armando Iannucci R1 shows, as apparently the current FoF.net links are down at the minute.

I was at 70% when you posted that so...

http://www.sendspace.com/file/5humbh