Main Menu

Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 29, 2024, 01:27:34 PM

Login with username, password and session length

David Baddiel

Started by bgmnts, September 15, 2018, 09:01:13 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

bgmnts

Why do peoppe hate David Baddiel, out of interest. Listening to him on RHLSTP this morning and he seems quite an intelligent, self effacing funny bloke. More than a lot of comedians.

Is it his status as being quite a popular, laddish comedian or is it him being quite middle class or is it something else?

Personally, History Today is one of my favourite ever pieces of comedy ever.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Memories from the Mary Whitehouse Experience and Newman and Baddiel just about sum him up , e.g, self- satisfied, smug.
That's how he used to be, anyways. He's mellowed out a bit nowadays. Shagging Morwenna Banks regularly will do that for a man.

petril


rimbaud

I have no particular problem with him, I even liked Baddiel's Syndrome, but Public School Oxbridge types pretending to be lads can fuck off generally.

rasta-spouse

He's great now, and I mean just as pro-chatter on other people's podcasts - I haven't seen his new stand-up. And he was good when he started, although he wasn't funny, he was a young bloke with strong opinions speaking his mind (like Ben Elton) which resonated with a lot of people. But during his mid-career because he wasn't very funny people started seeing the holes in his act, again parallels with Ben Elton 1987 as compared with 1997, and his shtick seemed a bit tired. I suppose the final nail in the coffin of the "Baddiel is crap at comedy" idea was him doing a half-hour improvised comedy show with sharpshooter Frank Skinner (which to be fair would make anyone seem diminutive) where he was constantly a bit of a dead weight hackster. After which I think he went off to be a novelist.

But as I said glad he's around now, interesting chap.

gloria

Quote from: rimbaud on September 15, 2018, 11:05:42 AM
Public School Oxbridge types pretending to be lads can fuck off generally.
Have you ever actually met anyone who's been to a public school? Seriously? They're not all like Stephen Fry, you know. Laddishness is pretty much de rigueur.

the

The irritating thing with Baddiel is that he increasingly turns up on interviews and things in his little office, presented as a sort of wise elder statesman of comedy, yet has produced nothing to merit this status. In terms of any scripted comedy he's been involved in, his stuff is always weakly written and underperformed, and he hides behind the strengths of whoever he's paired with. He certainly just coasts along saying nothing of value any time he's sat on a sofa next to Skinner.

His safety character on In Pieces is a great example. They clearly wanted Baddiel to have some sketches of his own to counter Newman's Jarvis monologues, and the best thing he could come up with was a completely unoriginal 'safety officer oversees thing going wrong' character, in which he does virtually nothing but a catchphrase, and can barely even give that any performance.

Somebody else reminded me recently, he also has this irritating tendency to self-publicise:

Quote from: poodlefaker on July 10, 2018, 05:23:12 PMCan I just add that when David Baddiel was on Desert Island Discs a few weeks ago, he chose a song he'd performed on (Three Lions - shit), a song he'd written (some shit from a shit musical  that was never released), a song by some of his his mates (some shit by the Sundays) and a song sung by his daughter.  And his other choices were shit too.

When he was on Room 101 on both the radio and TV versions, he chose his mum's golfing memorabilia business, which is fair enough as it is a funny story. But particularly in the radio version, you realise he's plugging her business by mentioning it by name over and over again.

There was also the hokey premise of his episode of Carpool, which was that he was going out to buy a DVD copy of The Infidel from a shop (about a week before it ended up in the bargain bin presumably).

He may well satisfyingly occupy novelist / Radio 4 land now, I haven't consumed any of his output so I wouldn't know. But his bread & butter comedy output was always pretty pathetic.

BeardFaceMan

Its really odd going back and watching him tell all those stories of his mum being obsessed with golf memorabilia while not playing golf now that hes said the reason for that is he found out that his mum was having an affair with a golf instructor for years. Certainly gives the material a new spin.

Small Man Big Horse

I used to like him in the 90s, but I read Whatever Love Means when it came out and it was so bad it put me off him for life.

rimbaud

Quote from: the on September 15, 2018, 11:20:12 AM
The irritating thing with Baddiel is that he increasingly turns up on interviews and things in his little office, presented as a sort of wise elder statesman of comedy, yet has produced nothing to merit this status. In terms of any scripted comedy he's been involved in, his stuff is always weakly written and underperformed, and he hides behind the strengths of whoever he's paired with. He certainly just coasts along saying nothing of value any time he's sat on a sofa next to Skinner.

His safety character on In Pieces is a great example. They clearly wanted Baddiel to have some sketches of his own to counter Newman's Jarvis monologues, and the best thing he could come up with was a completely unoriginal 'safety officer oversees thing going wrong' character, in which he does virtually nothing but a catchphrase, and can barely even give that any performance.

Somebody else reminded me recently, he also has this irritating tendency to self-publicise:

When he was on Room 101 on both the radio and TV versions, he chose his mum's golfing memorabilia business, which is fair enough as it is a funny story. But particularly in the radio version, you realise he's plugging her business by mentioning it by name over and over again.

There was also the hokey premise of his episode of Carpool, which was that he was going out to buy a DVD copy of The Infidel from a shop (about a week before it ended up in the bargain bin presumably).

He may well satisfyingly occupy novelist / Radio 4 land now, I haven't consumed any of his output so I wouldn't know. But his bread & butter comedy output was always pretty pathetic.

Very much this.  I find myself constantly surprised when comedians or musicians are presented as legends or whatever, when I was there man and they just don't have the quality of output to justify it.

Uncle TechTip

He became a children's author which I always felt was the domain of those who could put the work in but are creatively bereft. Walliams.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: the on September 15, 2018, 11:20:12 AMHis safety character on In Pieces is a great example. They clearly wanted Baddiel to have some sketches of his own to counter Newman's Jarvis monologues, and the best thing he could come up with was a completely unoriginal 'safety officer oversees thing going wrong' character, in which he does virtually nothing but a catchphrase, and can barely even give that any performance.
Watching as a kid, I did like the idea that the officer (Brian Coat?) was the one causing the carnage. I probably liked Baddiel's football references too (cameos by Garth Crooks, Jimmy Hill). But when I watched "In Pieces" again maybe ten years ago, I did find his sections of a bit wearisome, confirming my thoughts that he pretty much made a career out of hanging on the coattails of much more talented comedians.

But fair fucks to him for that, really.

the

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on September 15, 2018, 01:10:45 PMBut when I watched "In Pieces" again maybe ten years ago, I did find his sections of a bit wearisome, confirming my thoughts that he pretty much made a career out of hanging on the coattails of much more talented comedians.

But fair fucks to him for that, really.

"He's crap so hooray"?

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: BeardFaceMan on September 15, 2018, 11:58:11 AM
Its really odd going back and watching him tell all those stories of his mum being obsessed with golf memorabilia while not playing golf now that hes said the reason for that is he found out that his mum was having an affair with a golf instructor for years. Certainly gives the material a new spin.
He was on 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown a while back, telling the mum-loves-golf story, and I thought "he's been telling that fucking dull almost-anecdote for 25 years. Does he not have any material from this millenium?" Then I remembered he ripped off a member of this forum a while ago, just before appearing on some radio show - asking people to share their experiences of something or other and then passing one off as his own. I think he apologised later? I don't know, I'm just annoyed this guff is still in my head.

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on September 15, 2018, 12:37:42 PM
I used to like him in the 90s, but I read Whatever Love Means when it came out and it was so bad it put me off him for life.
This, really. "Time For Bed" did have a small handful of funny bits in it, as I recall, but by 2002 he'd forgotten how to write.

a duncandisorderly

wasn't there the porn thing, didn't that put people off him in their millions? not that he was ever brilliant... he always seemed to me to be one of those presenter/comedians who do a job marginally better than some of your mates could do if they cleaned themselves up a bit & spent some time with tv cameras. skinner was the funny one, back in the day.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: the on September 15, 2018, 03:17:56 PM
"He's crap so hooray"?
More for making a career out of it, which is more than a talentless gobshite like me has ever managed.

neardark

lol imagine being him and reading this thread you'd be gutted

the

I've just watched the first 8 or so minutes of Baddiel's Syndrome. Fucking hell. Opens with the re-used 'people over-yawning and having annoying mannerisms' stuff from In Pieces. Does not improve.

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on September 15, 2018, 03:34:33 PMMore for making a career out of it, which is more than a talentless gobshite like me has ever managed.

Why is that demanding of your praise? Mmm, delicious turd sandwiches, more please world

DrGreggles

I'm sure he's a decent enough bloke, but the sneering delivery of his stand-up always grated.
Oh, and Three Lions.

c

I think you can begin to work it out algorithmically. It's something along the lines of U+S+T=I

Unearned status + Smugness + extended period of Time in which he's not been found out = intense Irritation

Is that about right?

buzby

He was also recently a guest on Newsnight wading in to Corbyn over the antisemitism crap.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: the on September 15, 2018, 03:55:07 PMWhy is that demanding of your praise? Mmm, delicious turd sandwiches, more please world
If you can go out and flog turd sandwiches and make a very comfortable living from it, I'll say "fair fucks" to you too. Let me know how you get on.

For what it's worth, there was moments on Fantasy Football League that I thought he was pretty funny.

checkoutgirl

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on September 15, 2018, 01:10:45 PM
he pretty much made a career out of hanging on the coattails of much more talented comedians.

That is so self evident that I think if Baddiel was very honest with himself even he would agree with it. He's affable and charming these days but he can't write so the best you could say about his career is that he's successful despite his lack of comic ability.

Has anyone mentioned that American style bargain bin sitcom he did in the mid to late nineties? That was absolutely brutal. Similar to Elton's sitcom a few years ago that bombed.

Chriddof

Quote from: Uncle TechTip on September 15, 2018, 01:04:44 PM
He became a children's author which I always felt was the domain of those who could put the work in but are creatively bereft.

Bit of an over-generalisation, there. Certainly most (maybe all) celeb books are dreadful.

Quote from: Uncle TechTip on September 15, 2018, 01:04:44 PM
Walliams.

Well, I agree with you on that, certainly. Always infuriates me when I walk into somewhere like Waterstones and they have a big display with all his books and their covers done by Quentin Blake, with the obvious implication that Blake's art automatically brings.

Quote from: checkoutgirl on September 15, 2018, 08:00:44 PM
Has anyone mentioned that American style bargain bin sitcom he did in the mid to late nineties? That was absolutely brutal. Similar to Elton's sitcom a few years ago that bombed.

I watched the first episode of that when it went out, didn't bother with any others. An absolute disaster from beginning to end, and it looks even worse now as the first episode's plot involves hypnotising a woman to fancy him / have sex with him, and bloody DLT crops up towards the end for good measure. I remember Morwenna Banks played the part of an Eastern European cleaner lady, and an off-screen Stephen Fry played his psychiatrist.

The one really funny thing I saw Baddiel do was a routine on a list of deaths published circa the Tudor period (or whenever), which he's never re-used as far as I know. Certainly enjoyed it more than the 26th retelling of the golf thing.

the

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on September 15, 2018, 07:43:41 PM
If you can go out and flog turd sandwiches and make a very comfortable living from it, I'll say "fair fucks" to you too. Let me know how you get on.

I got what you meant, I've always just hated that laddy 'FAIR PLAY MATE FAIR PLAY' attitude to anyone being shit but relatively successful. Doffing your cap to people with money like a deferent little aspirational cockney urchin who knows his place, why let rubbish off the hook when you could say 'this is no fucking good at all' and pin it there.

Quote from: The Culture Bunker on September 15, 2018, 07:43:41 PMFor what it's worth, there was moments on Fantasy Football League that I thought he was pretty funny.

I'd agree that FFL was the best thing he's been involved in, ramshackle low-key post-pub telly though it was. I do enjoy a rewatch from time to time. Completely driven along by Skinner of course.


Quote from: checkoutgirl on September 15, 2018, 08:00:44 PMHas anyone mentioned that American style bargain bin sitcom he did in the mid to late nineties? That was absolutely brutal. Similar to Elton's sitcom a few years ago that bombed.
:
Quote from: the on September 15, 2018, 03:55:07 PMI've just watched the first 8 or so minutes of Baddiel's Syndrome. Fucking hell. Opens with the re-used 'people over-yawning and having annoying mannerisms' stuff from In Pieces. Does not improve.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: the on September 15, 2018, 08:39:14 PM
I got what you meant, I've always just hated that laddy 'FAIR PLAY MATE FAIR PLAY' attitude to anyone being shit but relatively successful. Doffing your cap to people with money like a deferent little aspirational cockney urchin who knows his place, why let rubbish off the hook when you could say 'this is no fucking good at all' and pin it there.
Probably because he was involved in three shows I've liked and as much as I didn't find him particularly funny by himself, he presumably brought something to the equation, even if it's just letting the others know what's funny by laughing and being someone to bounce ideas off (see also: Andy Dawson, without whom Athletico Mince would not work).

Someone like, for instance, Michael McIntyre I will quite happily say "get tae fuck" to anytime. But even if all Baddiel did was help some funny people (Newman and Skinner) do some good work, I'm happy to give him some small kudos.

the

I'll go along with that, except to say that Andy Dawson is 100 times funnier and more comedically skillful than Baddiel.

gmoney

Quote from: the on September 15, 2018, 10:05:58 PM
I'll go along with that, except to say that Andy Dawson is 100 times funnier and more comedically skillful than Baddiel.

Fucking hell, Christ no.

the

Watch his performance in Baddiel's Syndrome and say that

gmoney

Point me to anything at all that Andy Dawson has done or said that is funny that isn't parroting something in Mark Lawrenson's voice that Bob Mortimer has just said.

Baddiel's Bill of Mortality routine and any History Today sketch you care to mention are better than Dawson is capable of. That Baddiel clip is better than Andy Dawson's Jeremy Corbyn material, so you're on to a loser from the off.