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Honey, do do do do do do do, Sugar Ape, do do do do do do, You Are My Box Of Slice, And You Got Me Wantin' You (To Be Something A Bit Different...)

Started by TJ, November 09, 2004, 08:55:56 PM

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TJ

As anyone who has been perusing the media sections of various broadsheet newspapers and a couple of comedy websites recently will be aware, quite a bit of information about the upcoming "Box Of Slice" has leaked out recently. Unfortunately, not all of it is necessarily that accurate. Some of it is close to the mark, some of it is obvious guesswork, and some of it was rather amusingly lifted from flippant off-topic comments on our forums! So, to stop this feeding on itself any further and to prevent the likelihood of the forum discussion of "In Bed With MeDinner" being mistaken for a leaked copy of the script of episode five, here's the current state of play as we understand it, pieced together from a couple of normally reliable sources:

Apparently, the six part series is no longer titled "Box Of Slice" but will be transmitted as "Nathan Barley" (the name of the lead character, who will already be familiar to readers of TV Go Home), which some sources had been suggesting was the official title all along. Although January is a distinct possibility, no firm date for transmission has yet been set, and it's unlikely that one will be announced in the immediate future. Contrary to rumours, it is not a sitcom as such and has a vague developing storyline that will presumably be lampooning the vacuous self-centred world of technology-obsessed young 'creatives'. The series is a Talkback production in association with Zeppotron, written by Charlie Brooker and Chris Morris, directed by Chris Morris with director of photography Danny Cohen, and produced by Derren Schlesinger.

Despite what some reports have claimed, Nathan is not 'pornography obsessed' and neither does he work at a magazine called 'Sugar Rape'. The series does apparently feature a magazine called 'Sugar Ape' (not to be confused with long-forgotten Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Great Grape Ape, equally long-forgotten "jam" working title "Apes And Music", or 'Sugar Sugar' by The Archies), but Nathan doesn't work there. Whether or not it's a central feature or just been crowbarred in to facilitate an easy joke about mishearing it as 'Sugar Rape', though, is another question. Nathan isn't being joined by a sensible receptionist 'resembling the Lucy Davis character from The Office', an upper-class girl with a cocaine habit, or an electroclash band called The Necks. There is one character who does work as a receptionist, but apparently that's as close as the above gets, although there will be no official revelations about the main characters until the official press release arrives.

Although clearly deriving some of its inspiration from the 'scenes' in the places in question, the series is not explicitly set in either Hoxton or Shoreditch, and an insider has assured us that "you won't need to know anything whatsoever about that whole 'world' to get it. It's about characters and situations rather than references, and everything in the programme has been completely made up". Hopefully this will indeed be the case, as the world could do without another "Shoreditch Twat" or "I Am Not An Animal". It's also reported that there are no pranks or tabloid-baiting shock laughs involved, and that the last thing it could be described as is another BES-style "the satire that had to be made!!".

As for it sounding like "an updated Absolutely Fabulous for the Noughties", that was just a quote lifted from one poster taking the piss out of another on Verbwhores, and the person who posted it is certainly not an 'insider'! However, one real insider did call it "a comedy about young idiots", if that helps. Although in a broad sense that description does sound disturbingly close to "Here Come The Double Deckers".

Thankfully though, there's no 'Doughnut', 'Tiger' or 'Spring' amongst the main cast, which is reportedly as follows:

Nicholas Burns - Nathan Barley
Julian Barratt - Dan Ashcroft
Claire Keelan - Claire Ashcroft
Ben Wishaw - Pingu
Richard Ayoade - Ned
Spencer Brown - Rufus
Charlie Condou - Jonatton (sic)
Nina Sosanya - Sasha
Rhys Thomas - Toby
Noel Fielding - Jones
David Hoyle - Doug Rocket

So, that - and the fact that there is said to be a distinct absence of flashy computer effects - is as much as we know for the moment (which is, admittedly, a fair amount). Obviously it's difficult to draw any firm conclusions based on any of the above. Yes, ideally nobody should draw any firm conclusions until they've actually watched the finished show, but realistically it's impossible to avoid doing so. Much of this sounds very encouraging indeed - it's certainly quite far removed from what a lot of us round here were expecting (or in some cases fearing), and this could well prove to be a refreshing break from the tiresome post-"jam" tradition of non-jokes and arty camerawork that has ruled the roost for far too long. Then again, were the people who claimed to have seen scenes in which Nathan stared at a woman's crotch while he was on the phone just making it up? What about the presence of current 'ambient' comedy favourite Julian Barratt and the similarly inclined Verbwhores favourite Richard Ayoade, whose track record hardly suggests a break with tradition (or indeed being much cop, but that's a personal opinion and it would be nice to be proved wrong)? Will the setting and subject matter really be as relevant to those of us who have no experience of such creatives and still battle with tape walkmans in an iPodless world (or indeed live in Cramlington)? Will we all be taken for Jive Suckers? Well, come on, you didn't expect us not to hum and harr over leaked info, did you???

We've been here quite a few times before, of course, and while people have been getting understandably frustrated and jaded with recent Chris Morris projects, maybe everyone involved in this show is as keen for change as we are. Well, it's not possible for anyone else to be quite that keen, but there's always room for a bit of reckless optimism. Roll on the not-yet-fixedth of Possibly January...

imitationleather


Dr David V

Quote from: "TJ"Julian Barratt - Dan Ashcroft
Claire Keelan - Claire Ashcroft
This could prove either to be a boost or a stain on my credibility in my social life. Brooker, you'd better not have fucked this up...

imitationleather

The only real problem that I can see is a few suspect members in the cast. I mean, the blokes from The Mighty Boosh just can't act, can they? All they do is talk awkwardly in their silly little voices and look at eachother. That's not acting, that's trying to buy something in Argos.

Ambient Sheep

I *liked* The Double Deckers.

And haven't you got one too many "do"s in the first part of the title?

Seriously, thanks for the info.  I shall wait for this with breath just unbated enough to breathe.  It's about time we had a new update up, if only to save all those journalists from trawling haphazardly through Comedy Chat.  <g>

I was serious about The Double Deckers though.

Neil

I think the Metz one (sorry, I refuse to learn which is which, same as with Ant & Dec)  is meant to be ok as a comedy actor type, but the one with the hair was utterly dreadful in The Bloody Boosh.  Coma-inducing voice, terrible attempts to be cool, basic inability to be funny...  

As for Ayoade, what the fuck?  Nice to see he's resolved his dislike of Brooker's work now that he's had his money waved in his face, the two-faced prick.

I'm hopeful about this show now, I want this to kick off 2005 as a year of decent British comedy, because god knows we need one.  They seem to have the right attitude here, extremely heartening to hear that CM has had his copy of Adobe Premiere taken away from him and put on a high shelf.    What we need is for the likes of the Green Wing people to copy CM's tendency to create comedy that doesn't speak down to its audience, that isn't afraid to reference something which might cause someone to go and use Google.  The amount of fear inside the TV industry these days pisses me off, and the marginalisation of "intelligent comedy" to BBC4 isn't really helping, especially as there's not nearly enough of it.  So Nathan Barley needs to continue in this vein, it needs to aim high and not give a fuck about the Trisha watchers who don't get it, or who only laugh at the swearing.  This show needs to be uncompromising, a boot up the arses for the Lucas and Walliams who will happily dilute their comedy to get on to BBC1.  It has to have the same inventiveness and "How the fuck did he come up with that?" factor of the likes of the GLR shows.  

This is what a lot of us have been waiting for really...remember the (amazingly appropriately-titled in retrospect) "Morris In A Box" thread by Mundays where we were all saying "ooh a sitcom would be good but it'll never happen!"  This is CM's chance to stick two fingers up to the twats who think there's nothing more to him than being offensive and getting fired.  I think this is an important point in his career, he has a lot of people to convince that his best years aren't behind him.

Anyway, great update, let's hope there's some discussion in here for once.

Godzilla Bankrolls

Amusingly, Charlie Condou was in something called Dead Babies a few years back.

I imagine Ayorwahdee jumped at the chance to work with Morris, rather than Brooker.

butnut

So, Morris gets no credit as a writer? Obviously as director he has some imput into the show, but I can't believe that Brooker gets the sole writing credit. I hope Morris has penned some of it.

I want this to be good, but part of me is already bracing myself for being disappointed, so I'm trying not to build it up too much. Neil was exactly right when he said this is a big moment in Morris' career. He's hardly produced any work in this decade, and much of it has been something of a let-down. Did I dream it, or did someone mention that Morris is a huge CYE fan? I hope he is, because it would be  lovely to see him attempt something vaguely along those lines. We know that he can create a great story from the various monologues he's done over the years - let's see something like that!

Neil

Quote from: "Beloved Aunt"I imagine Ayorwahdee jumped at the chance to work with Morris, rather than Brooker.

Well, obviously, but it's still a bit rubbish isn't it, seeing as it was specifically TvGoHome that he was having a go at on here.  To then appear in a spin-off just because he's 'absolutely thrilled to be working with a maverick like Chris Morris!!'  I really loved when he shouted "Gods big dick!" at Cliff Mitchelmore!!' is just shite.

Quote from: "butnut"So, Morris gets no credit as a writer? Obviously as director he has some imput into the show, but I can't believe that Brooker gets the sole writing credit. I hope Morris has penned some of it.

Morris is co-writer and Director!  There was speculation on here a while back about his level of involvement with the writing, but he's reportedly been heavily involved with it.


butnut

Quote from: "Neil"Morris is co-writer and Director!  There was speculation on here a while back about his level of involvement with the writing, but he's reportedly been heavily involved with it.

Ah thanks. That's laid a few fears to rest.

Godzilla Bankrolls


Peking O

Quote from: "Neil"Anyway, great update, let's hope there's some discussion in here for once.

Aw, we had a good discussion on Box of Slice (or whatever it's now called) last time out. If I remember correctly it consisted largely of me saying "I'm looking forward to that," with everyone else saying "it's categorically impossible for it to be any good" and "stop calling Morris a genius you pandering monkey." Actually not that good then.  

Ambient Sheep is right by the way, one to many 'do's' in the first lot up there.

Darrell

Well, I'm sorry, but I still don't understand ANY optimism for this. Created and co-written by a comedy writer who has never ever been any good, directed and co-written by a once-great comedian who's been up his own arse since 1998, starring The Boosh and Richard Ayaode, responsible for two of the most absymal TV comedy series in recent times...

...how can anyone still be holding out for this?

I'm just hoping it flops and gets critically mauled, otherwise Morris is going to be stuck in this rut FOREVER.

Godzilla Bankrolls


A Passing Turk Slipper

My heart sank when I saw the whole director thing as well, so I'm glad he's having a hand in the writing. I am looking forward to the show. I thought TVGoHome was shit but that one off show Brooker did on C4 a while ago was quite good (the how to watch television one). I'm so glad it is meant to be more traditional, a sitcom or something like that with a storyline is just the kind of thing I'd want CM to do (after wanting him to go back to the radio of course). I reckon regardless of what we think here it will be a big success in terms of reviews etc. I've yet to see a negative Morris feature in any paper and I reckon this show might lead him to become more well known. We'll hopefully have some decent interviews and stuff to look forward to in the coming couple of months at least.

slim

Ooh, thanks for the new info. This looks more and more interesting with each leaked or rumoured snippet. I've decided I quite like this bits and pieces flow of information, rather than all out fan-fare. It keeps you tantalised and interested.

I suppose I could be naively falling for a clever piece of viral marketing, but I don't care, I'm excited and I hope this is at least very good. It doesn't have to be brilliant for me, just being very good will put it head and shoulders above most of the other (British produced) cack around at the moment. Bring on January then. A birthday and a possible piece of comedy delight would be lovely.


Ambient Sheep

Quote from: "Solid Snail"Just who the hell is Nathan Barley anyway? I haven't been on TVGoHome much.
Cunt.

Sorry, couldn't resist.  You'll see no offence was meant when someone explains.


Neil

I meant in the Updates forum, Peking O, where good info goes largely uncommented on because people are too busy skipping past the front page so they can go and catch up opn the latest Cramlington goss.

Quote from: "Solid Snail"Just who the hell is Nathan Barley anyway? I haven't been on TVGoHome much.

http://thegestalt.org/simon/cunt/

I feel that I should like these for the in-character bile Brooker spews, but whenever I read a few they don't do much for me.  Do people find them funny, or just like the anger?  It's the anger that I feel I should like, great music and comedy is borne from this emotion, but the limits of the TVGoHome format seem to stop there from being anything else in the Cunt columns.  Could a fan of them link their faves or something?

Quote from: "Darrell"Well, I'm sorry, but I still don't understand ANY optimism for this. Created and co-written by a comedy writer who has never ever been any good, directed and co-written by a once-great comedian who's been up his own arse since 1998, starring The Boosh and Richard Ayaode, responsible for two of the most absymal TV comedy series in recent times...

...how can anyone still be holding out for this?

I think it's more a case of people starting to come round to the idea that it might not be dreadful, and might herald a return to form for Morris.  That's the case with me, anyway.  I've always wanted this to be excellent, as funny as Drugs or any of his radio stuff up to Blue Jam series 3, but figured it'd be shite.  Our biggest fears have been nixed though:  No annoying gimmicks, Morris co-writing and not just directing, no Dark, accessible to people who've no real idea of where Hoxton is or why he's such a twat, etc.  

Those fears have certainly been replaced by some new ones:  Like what the bloody hell are The Boosh and Ayoade doing in there?  Surely Morris and Brooker can't rate these fuckers in any way at all.  Mind you, I could be wrong, but I thought that only one of the Boosh was in this in a major way, and that Ayoade also had a limited role.  I'm hoping these trendy comedy voids will be ripped apart, and that they're there to illustrate the banality and pleb-pleasing dumbed-down shitty unimaginative state of British comedy at the minute.

I noticed Keith from The Office in Little Britain last week incidentally...(actually, wasn't he in a first series episode as well?)

QuoteI'm just hoping it flops and gets critically mauled, otherwise Morris is going to be stuck in this rut FOREVER.

I don't know that this would have any effect on him...he's smart enough to know that he's been coasting for years now, he must know that he's made some dreadful shit.  The people who probably could influence him would never dream of telling him that he's starting to resemble his criticism of Victor Lewis-Smith (and say what you want about VLS, but you have to respect him for not going on when he presumably didn't have much more to say).  I wish Morris had said more about the BES than "It didn't go far enough."  With Nathan Barley the potential is there, we'll just have to see how the Brooker/Morris relationship goes.

Anyway, I agree with "A Passing Turk Slipper", I do hope we get some decent promotional material out of him for this show.

Peking O

The folk who are in this who people object to are just acting in it though. I'm on slightly shaky ground here because I've never seen The Mighty Boosh, but it's not entirely unusual for people to be shit in one thing and good in another is it? I mean, Peter Cook was in Supergirl for example (again, never seen it, but I can't imagine it's his finest moment) but we're all aware of his general greatness here. Similarly, I recently saw the astoundingly brilliant I Heart Huckabees (http://imdb.com/title/tt0356721/) which features a great performance from Jude Law, who I'd previously despised with every inch of my body.

Neil

What is it that Ayoade or The Boosh have been brilliant in then that has impressed Morris and Brooker so much?   What's their NOBA or Beyond The Fringe?  Is it the dreadful BBC3 show which took the "animals=COMEDY GOLD!!" train of thought to the ultimate extreme by setting the whole thing in a sodding Zoo?  Or is it the dismal and unoriginal Dark Place, which isn't a patch on the brilliant Acorn Antique sketches by Victoria Wood (which are nearly 20 years old!  That's how 'cutting edge' Ayoade and Holness are.)  Each one of those sketches features more comedy ideas than a whole series of Dark Place and it's one-note tedium.  Oh wow, the dubbing is a bit off...again.  Oh gosh, now they're laughing in a really loud manner like in Naked Gun...again.  Or is it that Footlights documentary where Ayoade and Holness try and convince everyone that, actually, 'only about 10% of the archive Footlights material is any good, when you look at it' just to try and lower peoples expectations so they don't get nailed to the nearest tree.  What's that quote again alan?  Ah here it is:  "People come to see Footlights with the, kind of, attitude which is, like, 'make me laugh', and... it sometimes works against us."  Alan encoded the documentary, have a look: http://chilled.cream.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=4468#4468

These people are supposedly trendy, and I'm sure Heat loves them, but that's no reason for them to be in this show.  I'm glad it's not Heap, Front etc. again, but really, those three are hardly a decent substitute for the talent normally associated with a Morris project, are they?

Peking O

I think the difference between this and those shows is that The Boosh/Ayoade are simpy acting here, whereas in the other stuff they were involved in writing, direction, etc. I know that doesn't shine much of a light on their choices to be among the cast members. Perhaps Morris/Brooker see something we don't? Am I clutching at straws? Probably yes.

problemarea

I asked my friend who was an extra about the cast. He said Julian Barrett is one of the leads but Noel Fielding and Richard Ayoade have very small parts. He said JB is brilliant in it. I have to say, Ive seen JB in several films and he's always made me laugh out loud. Never seen the Boosh though.

mwude

What problem do people have with Julian Barrett's acting?  The Mighty Boosh is currently being repeated at 7 o'clock on BBC2 and last night I sat through a whole episode, having only managed a couple of minutes before getting fed up previously.  I thought Barrett was the only vaguely redeeming feature in half an hour of grim tedium.  Ignoring the fact that he is co-creator of the show he was the only one out of the entire cast who was watchable.  At no point did he make me laugh, but I'm convinced that was down to the script rather than his acting.  Give him some decent lines and a director with a feel for comedy and I could see him being very good.  Unlike Noel Fielding.

NobodyGetsOutAlive

Quote from: "mwude"What problem do people have with Julian Barrett's acting?  The Mighty Boosh is currently being repeated at 7 o'clock on BBC2 and last night I sat through a whole episode, having only managed a couple of minutes before getting fed up previously.  I thought Barrett was the only vaguely redeeming feature in half an hour of grim tedium.

Hmm...which one is he? Was he the 'fox bummer' (ha. ha) or was he the other one, that Topman model?

This Nathan Barley  informatrion is both promising and disappointing. Part of me thinks this truly is the new generation of comedians, the ones who aspire to be trendy rather than funny or genuinely innovative and am completely baffled by why Morris would want to be associated with them. Then another part of me sincerely prays for the final product to send them up and ridicule them withtou them really knowing, all because they want to be part of the Morris-genius-machine, as someone on here (Neil?) once stated. God, I'd love to reconcile GLR-Morris with the current one.


Insert your "oh-but-you-haven't-seen-it-yet" remarks here---->..........

mwude

Quote from: "NobodyGetsOutAlive"Hmm...which one is he? Was he the 'fox bummer' (ha. ha) or was he the other one, that Topman model?

Julian Barratt was the fox bummer.  Noel Fielding is the one with the hair & obsession with appalling 'surreal' animal 'jokes'.  It just strikes me as unfair to lump them together as 'The Boosh' when discussing their acting abilities as Barratt seems perfectly capable of a decent performance to me.

axel

Oooo look, a mention on the BBC website:

"Fragments of information are beginning to emerge about Chris Morris's next project.

The show, a sitcom based on the pretentious Nathan Barley character from the satirical website TVGoHome, is to be called Box Of Slice.

Channel 4 director Kevin Lygo this week said that the show is set to air in January.

He was quoted as saying: "It's more traditional than the stuff he has done in the past. It's not exactly a sitcom, but people do sit down in it from time to time."

But apart from that, both Channel 4 and production house Talkback are keeping mum about the show, reflecting Morris's usual low-profile approach to publicity.

Unconfirmed rumours on the fan website Cookd and Bombd say the cast will include The Boosh's Julian Barrett and Richard Ayoade, from Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, as well as Nick Burns, Charlie Condou and Nina Sosanya.

The character of Barley was originally a style-obsessed new media type from London's hip Hoxton area.

But it looks like we're going to have to wait a couple more months to find out if he remains that way¼ and how much the Brass Eye mastermind will try to subvert the sitcom genre.

Posted by Steve Bennett on 05-11-2004"