Athletico Mince

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

What does Neil Hunt look like? I always picture a furious, puce-faced Charlie Hungerford from Bergerac.

[Mantis Toboggan]

Loved this weeks Crime Files. Bielsa being some dog-like-man had me struggling to keep my van on the road.

Enjoyed Andy's input too for once. Apart from his song which was awful.

[frajer]

Loved this weeks Crime Files. Bielsa being some dog-like-man had me struggling to keep my van on the road.

That's just had me pissing myself at work too, an absolute belter. Foffy coffee.

[gmoney]

Mrs Beardsley got the biggest laugh out of me, as usual. "Our only son is in Iraq, having a fight"

[Brian Freeze]

What does Neil Hunt look like? I always picture a furious, puce-faced Charlie Hungerford from Bergerac.

Sorry to pooh pooh your Charlie, but listening to the latest episode has crystalised him in my mind as Eric Pollard off of Emmerdale:-



and as we all know, he does have a bit of a temper:-

[The Roofdog]

What does Neil Hunt look like? I always picture a furious, puce-faced Charlie Hungerford from Bergerac.

Peter Hitchens for me

[phantom_power]

In my mind he is a lot younger, mid-40s. Sort of Gove-ish but less Pob and more angry at everything. Even his joy is accompanied by a scowl

[bgmnts]

Another new mince!

[Jittlebags]

Ooo, and Athletico Mince twitter has sprung into life after 4 months. So that's nice innit Andy?

[the]

Listened to 107 yesterday, found it a bit lacklustre as it goes but hopefully they're getting back into the swing of things. As a bit of constructive criticism, I hope they'll change from the opening "Oh Mr. Dawson/Mortimer" song, feels like all the funny juice was fully extracted from that after six or seven goes.

THAT SAID, it's very nice to have them back.

[sutin]

Listened to 107 yesterday, found it a bit lacklustre as it goes but hopefully they're getting back into the swing of things. As a bit of constructive criticism, I hope they'll change from the opening "Oh Mr. Dawson/Mortimer" song, feels like all the funny juice was fully extracted from that after six or seven goes.

THAT SAID, it's very nice to have them back.

I agree with all of this. I'd love to see a new regular sketch too. Crime Files was the last major one, wasn't it? These things tends to build from nothing into a fully fleshed bit over several episodes though.

[bgmnts]

You know what mind? As someone who is painfully unfunny in a society where being unfunny makes you a social cancer, I do genuinely have a huge sympathy for Andy at times. The pressure he must feel around a comic genius like Mortimer must suck balls sometimes. I've probably been a bit harsh on him at times here which is a bit childish. Mostly because he's a bit of a div on twitter though but still.

[magval]

I think he's quite good at voices, very good in fact. Good enough to call a comedy performer, but he's not good enough to call a comedy writer.

[sutin]

I think he's quite good at voices, very good in fact. Good enough to call a comedy performer, but he's not good enough to call a comedy writer.

Yes, I have to agree with that.

[sutin]

You know what mind? As someone who is painfully unfunny in a society where being unfunny makes you a social cancer, I do genuinely have a huge sympathy for Andy at times. The pressure he must feel around a comic genius like Mortimer must suck balls sometimes. I've probably been a bit harsh on him at times here which is a bit childish. Mostly because he's a bit of a div on twitter though but still.

His anti-Corbyn stance is the main reason I dislike him, if i'm being honest.

[PlanktonSideburns]

his slaughters voice is mint

really like his fox song n all

[sutin]

his slaughters voice is mint

really like his fox song n all

Those are definitely his best two bits.

[Ludicrous Display]

His Richard Keys voice was decent a few episodes back. The recent Paul Scholes stuff can fuck off though.

[Jittlebags]

FFS. Mince is back. Just enjoy it. If not, listen to something else.

[Non Stop Dancer]

Yeah, don't critique stuff here please. What do you think this is, a comedy discussion forum or something?

[BeardFaceMan]

It's not critiquing stuff though, it's just critiquing Andy, and it's tedious as fuck. Most critiquing goes along the lines of "Andy is a cunt", not "Andy's bit wasn't funny". A lot of Andy's material that gets shouted down would be applauded if it was done by Bob, he's not great but he's clearly not that bad or Bob wouldn't be doing it with him and he wouldn't have another successful podcast. I think it's mainly his twitter activities and just the fact that he's taking time away from Bob to do his bits that provokes such ire. And lets be honest, there's not a comedian in the country that could hang with Bob in an environment like this, you're going to look worse by association no matter who you are.

[lebowskibukowski]

I think he's quite good at voices, very good in fact. Good enough to call a comedy performer, but he's not good enough to call a comedy writer.

I honestly think the voices are his weakest point. I had to stop listening to Top Flight Time Machine because they were so excruciating.
He does has his strengths, but the voices aren't one of them.
Still, all just opinions, innit? The bloke gets to knock around with Bob Mortimer on a sometimes weekly basis so fair fucks to him.

[magval]

I bet Top Flight Time Machine is shit, though, because he's doing voices with material he's written himself, which is not his strong point. Reading Bob's stuff, at least the bits in Mince that are recognizably written by Bob, he does very well.

[DrGreggles]

I bet Top Flight Time Machine is shit, though

Give The Melchester Odyssey episodes a go.

[magval]

It's not critiquing stuff though, it's just critiquing Andy, and it's tedious as fuck. Most critiquing goes along the lines of "Andy is a cunt", not "Andy's bit wasn't funny". A lot of Andy's material that gets shouted down would be applauded if it was done by Bob, he's not great but he's clearly not that bad or Bob wouldn't be doing it with him and he wouldn't have another successful podcast. I think it's mainly his twitter activities and just the fact that he's taking time away from Bob to do his bits that provokes such ire. And lets be honest, there's not a comedian in the country that could hang with Bob in an environment like this, you're going to look worse by association no matter who you are.

I'd like to add an all-Mince critique to leaven the Andy bashing - the quizzes on Mince aren't funny and add nothing to the show. If anything this is a dig at Bob, because you can see the same thing in some of the old Reeves and Mortimer shows. Sometimes, it's just a list of mundane things. No jokes, no juxtaposition, none of the tools of comedy applied to it. The opening song in the first episode of Smell Of is kind of like this, with a little bit of the above thrown in. Mighty Boosh got a lot of criticism for this, as well.

It's not funny just to go 'a hedge and a curry', and I've always felt that the Mince quizzes broadly fall into this category. 'A ladder, a trestle, a bench, a toolbox - which is cheapest' isn't funny. If that's the only criticism I have of Bob, I hereby offer it publicly as a distraction to spare Andy a moment's lashing.

[BeardFaceMan]

Yeah, that's the opposite side of the coin too, Bob is obviously amazing but he does get a free pass for some shit material just because he's Bob. The Mr Dawson song and the quizzes being 2 examples of bits that should have long been retired by now.

[boki]

I bet Top Flight Time Machine is shit

I didn't last long with it because the other guy irritates me.

[the]

I'd like to add an all-Mince critique to leaven the Andy bashing - the quizzes on Mince aren't funny and add nothing to the show. If anything this is a dig at Bob, because you can see the same thing in some of the old Reeves and Mortimer shows. Sometimes, it's just a list of mundane things. No jokes, no juxtaposition, none of the tools of comedy applied to it. The opening song in the first episode of Smell Of is kind of like this, with a little bit of the above thrown in. Mighty Boosh got a lot of criticism for this, as well.

It's not funny just to go 'a hedge and a curry', and I've always felt that the Mince quizzes broadly fall into this category. 'A ladder, a trestle, a bench, a toolbox - which is cheapest' isn't funny. If that's the only criticism I have of Bob, I hereby offer it publicly as a distraction to spare Andy a moment's lashing.

I'm going to disagree with some of your points there, but in quite a specific way.

By talking about the opening song in Smell Of, I take it you're pointing to the 'ironic juxtaposition' element of Vic & Bob's humour (shrimp in a suitcase on a window ledge... or (an older example) a picture of Claire Rayner sellotaped to a bobble hat, etc.). This can be quite mechanical and lazy when it's just a list or a thrown-in image, yes - but I think more often than not Vic & Bob manage to deftly weave such juxtapositions into their material along with proper jokes and surprises, without just employing them as a whimsical list.

That song in Smell Of is quite an explicit example of such a whimsical list, but I get the impression that the song is trying to bring their new BBC2 audience into their world in a showbiz way, without repelling them with awkward weirdness from the off. And to be fair, they are accompanied by Vic's brilliant drawings.

With regard to the quizzes in AM, I don't think that they're an example of such ironic juxtaposition, in that I don't think that there's any attempt to extract ironic humour from the selection of consumer items. I think the quiz is just a quiz, an attempt to have 'a fun item' (albeit a knowingly mundane one).

But I think what a few people are touching upon is that some of the items in AM have become very familiar, and you could argue that the rate of mutation in the roster of items over the episodes has slowed down somewhat in its present phase.

[bgmnts]

I dont think anyone would say Bob cant be really hit and miss at times.

[magval]

I'm going to disagree with some of your points there, but in quite a specific way.

By talking about the opening song in Smell Of, I take it you're pointing to the 'ironic juxtaposition' element of Vic & Bob's humour (shrimp in a suitcase on a window ledge... or (an older example) a picture of Claire Rayner sellotaped to a bobble hat, etc.). This can be quite mechanical and lazy when it's just a list or a thrown-in image, yes - but I think more often than not Vic & Bob manage to deftly weave such juxtapositions into their material along with proper jokes and surprises, without just employing them as a whimsical list.

That song in Smell Of is quite an explicit example of such a whimsical list, but I get the impression that the song is trying to bring their new BBC2 audience into their world in a showbiz way, without repelling them with awkward weirdness from the off. And to be fair, they are accompanied by Vic's brilliant drawings.

This song specifically falls flat to me, but there's more to it than the song on its own. It is, as you say, the first point of contact for a new audience, and much like the first few episodes of Shooting Stars after its hiatus, it feels too much like Vic and Bob TRYING to be Vic and Bob. Even the declaration of 'these are the things that constantly irritate our minds' is too much like saying "this is what WE'RE like" than almost everything else they do, which is devoid of any concession or caveat. They are at their very best when, as in that same episode, presenting Lovejoy as a Native American without any explanation and not even bothering to retake when they can't keep from laughing in their pre-recorded show where the luxury would be available.

Another reason I don't think the song worked was because the drawings aren't as prominently featured as they should have been (owing to the nature of the tempo and editing), and indeed had been, as with the Man with the Stick in the previous series.

Just that song. That's just about the only thing in Smell Of Reeves and Mortimer that I don't like, and it's the very first thing in twelve otherwise almost perfect episodes (which I watched all of in one go about a fortnight back, which is why it's so fresh in my mind).

Your points are well made as always, the. I just hope I'm not being misconstrued as generalising too broadly - it's that song (and Bob's lists in Mince, which admittedly are much less given to ironic juxtaposition by design, even though they have their own irony which comes from "this boring thing is being treated like it isn't completely boring") that I have issue with specifically.