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Jay Foreman's Unfinished London

Started by Darles Chickens, August 15, 2018, 10:11:07 AM

Previous topic - Next topic
The other day, this video on London's unfinished motorways came up as a recommendation on YouTube, and, as an affirmed map geek, I thought I'd have a look. What I wasn't expecting was to be so amused by it, actually laughing out loud a number of times.

I don't know if Jay Foreman is really well known round these parts, but he seems a great comedy talent to me. Plenty of funny, throwaway gags from start to end, and good production values; plus it seems like he's genuinely interested in the subject matter, which lends the series a lot of credibility.  I'd dare anyone not to be entertained by his take on as dry a subject as the abandoned London Ringway system.

Here's a playlist of the entire series, though the first episode is played more straight; he gets more into his stride by the second one.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfxy4_sBQdxwf909hUFsM59Y0RC_k9fvV

So, anyone here like Jay Foreman?

gmoney

I saw him support The Lounge Kittens a couple of years ago and very much enjoyed it. As you say, a few good lines and he did a couple of songs as I remember.

Brundle-Fly

I just watched the Northern Line videos. Yes, I like the cut of his gib and fascinating info I did not know. Well done to all who made these in 2009.

garbed_attic

I remember Jay from a decade back at the Uni of York, so he's an old and dab hand by this point. It is also why I immediately associate him in my mind with Youtuber and occasional QI panelist Tom Scott. Jay used to be notorious for 'Moon Chavs', but should be most regarded for his sheer ability to articulate things very fast and clearly to difficult rhythms.

nedthemumbler

I enjoyed them too, though gawd knows how I ended up finding them.

He is Beardyman's brother I believe!

BritishHobo

Loved that, proper interesting and funny stuff. Crying at the unexpected house kicking.

Does anyone know of any similar videos or articles? I found the discussion of landmark/map clues like the unfinished bridge or station platforms really hauntingly fascinating.

garbed_attic

Quote from: nedthemumbler on August 16, 2018, 03:57:59 PM
I enjoyed them too, though gawd knows how I ended up finding them.

He is Beardyman's brother I believe!

He is! He once came to watch Jay perform in The Shambles (York uni's improv troupe who I believe are still going) and came in half-way through our set! He was not as beardy as his moniker suggests.

studpuppet

I came across these a while back. I always wanted to know why there was a weird bit of dual carriageway between the A40 and Shepherd's Bush, and I didn't know that the bit of the M25 that disrupted my childhood was the link between Ringway 3 and 4.

A bit more unfinished London - those footbridges in the City were actually part of a network that was never completed:

https://vimeo.com/80787092

Paul Calf

I'm so glad they didn't complete the County of London Plan. The whole city would have been transformed into a grey concrete LA, choked with cars and hostile to pedestrians.

London's hard to drive in, so don't. It has the best rail and bus system in Britain, possibly Europe

DrGreggles

Those vids are great. It'd be so easy for that presenting style to make someone look a cunt, but Foreman nails it.
I think he's good anyway. Got his album* somewhere.

*20 songs for a fiver

studpuppet

Quote from: DrGreggles on August 17, 2018, 09:16:14 AM
It'd be so easy for that presenting style to make someone look a cunt, but Foreman nails it.

Yes - it would be quite easy for that to happen, but he manages to stay on the tight-rope doesn't he?
It edges towards the party political in each episode, but I suppose when you're talking about gargantuan transport policy failures for the most part, that's bound to happen.

c

This is excellent thanks for sharing. Didn't find ep1 all that funny but the ep2 ramps up the odd nicely. However, for me, this is enjoyable principly not for its laughs but for its nerdmeat.

shiftwork2

Quote from: c on August 17, 2018, 01:50:09 PM
However, for me, this is enjoyable principly not for its laughs but for its nerdmeat.

Yeah, all positive for me too.  I did find him funny but the stuff about the London Ringways (particularly 3 and 4, and that bit on the 'across the top' M25 where there's that weird separation between carriageways because they were planned as sliproads connecting these failed projects) was seriously the real deal.  Plenty of stuff in there for the transport obsessive / bore like myself.

studpuppet

Quote from: shiftwork2 on August 18, 2018, 12:09:54 AM
Yeah, all positive for me too.  I did find him funny but the stuff about the London Ringways (particularly 3 and 4, and that bit on the 'across the top' M25 where there's that weird separation between carriageways because they were planned as sliproads connecting these failed projects) was seriously the real deal.  Plenty of stuff in there for the transport obsessive / bore like myself.

I grew up in earshot/eyesight of Jct 22, which is where the top part of the 'kink' curves round to meet Ringway 4 at Hunton Bridge (Abbots Langley). There were rumours at the time that Cecil Parkinson would cause it to redirect across the countryside towards Watford because he was interested in buying the local stately home, Salisbury Hall, but he pulled out at the last minute (uncharacteristically for him, right lads?!), and it went up the route of the old A6 which was already a dual carriageway with a cutting through Ridge Hill that only needed to be widened.

I live over towards the A10 now and there's an echo of the part of Ringway 4 that never got built at Hoddesdon. I always thought it was a bit overdone for a link road to dual carriageway, but I know the reason why now:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160411100959/http://www.cbrd.co.uk/articles/ringways/ringway4/north.shtml

All of which is a bit like Jay Foreman, not all that funny, but informative!

c

Sorry to go off comedy but if you've not seen it BBC4's Secret Life of the Motorway was very enjoyable and had lots on the Ringway (sadly not on iPlayer but repeated fairly often)

shiftwork2

Quote from: c on August 18, 2018, 04:35:22 PM
Sorry to go off comedy but if you've not seen it BBC4's Secret Life of the Motorway was very enjoyable and had lots on the Ringway (sadly not on iPlayer but repeated fairly often)

Yes those are great, and copies seem to be tolerated on youtube.  Ep 2 has all the stuff about service stations, with their 1960s table service restaurants and postcards proving you'd been to Charnock Richard.

studpuppet

Quote from: shiftwork2 on August 18, 2018, 05:38:47 PM
Yes those are great, and copies seem to be tolerated on youtube.  Ep 2 has all the stuff about service stations, with their 1960s table service restaurants and postcards proving you'd been to Charnock Richard.

This book is also a treat. Without it I wouldn't have known that Jimi Hendrix thought that the Blue Boar (Watford Gap Services) was a nightclub, that Leicester Forest East's Conran-designed furniture once got nicked in the middle of the night, or that Tebay Services are just marvellous and still family-run.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Always-Welcome-Compartment-History-Motorway/dp/0953698009

MojoJojo


Norton Canes

Quote from: studpuppet on August 18, 2018, 06:11:01 PMTebay Services are just marvellous and still family-run

Hmm. They might still be family run but they're not really marvellous - more just a big, reassuringly middle-class, artisan product shifting, ersatz-rustic overpriced market garden stall. (Not that I should criticise, being named for the poshest services on the UK motorway network) 

MojoJojo

Quote from: Norton Canes on August 18, 2018, 10:53:23 PM(Not that I should criticise, being named for the poshest services on the UK motorway network)

I thought that was Kanye West?

Twed


garbed_attic

I think Jay's verbal dexterity, memory and musical chops are underrated... these things don't always make for amazing comedy, but they can make for great live performance. I often think of Jay as being a bit like Tom Lehrer - dryly funny, very clever, kind of techy, more of a witty lecturer in some regards than a traditional comedian.

Jay singing Beatles one syllable out of sync:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fp6pvpcZEw

Jay singing all the tube stations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3kjHigmJMw

A song about dementia with an interesting and tricky chord progression bit at the bridge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W69eUKDuuwY

A mordant, dryly amusing, relatable song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeCrnbJHJeY

One that I find funny - 'I'm Glad John Lennon Died'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duTaVhslT-0