The Kemps: All True (New Rhys Thomas Music Spoof)

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

An acoustic version of Through the Barricades performed by Gary Kemp would be a marginal improvement on a full band version bellowed by Tony Hadley, but it's still an absolutely dreadful song. Can't fault the lad's politics, though. Nice one Gaz.

Bloody Hell. Maybe * you* should have played Gary Kemp's missus on that spoofumentary.

[pigamus]

There was a BBC4 songwriters program one time where he did exactly that. As I recall there was a massive cut in the middle where the original performance probably went on for about a fortnight.

My take on Gary Kemp is that he's basically a nice bloke who's a little bit pretentious, unlike Tony Hadley who is the bellend's bellend.

Edit : RECEIPTS: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2630166/?ref_=nm_flmg_slf_5

[The Culture Bunker]

An acoustic version of Through the Barricades performed by Gary Kemp would be a marginal improvement on a full band version bellowed by Tony Hadley, but it's still an absolutely dreadful song. Can't fault the lad's politics, though. Nice one Gaz.

In the "well meaning 80s song about 'issues' but fall flats on it's face due to duff lyrics" stakes, it tops 'The Lebanon', which at least has a decent guitar riff going for it.

[The Roofdog]

Eh, I do agree that the Bros doc stole their thunder a bit here, to a lot of people (possibly people who don't watch many music documentaries, but my wife is one of them) that will have come across as a spoof of something inherently unspoofable.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Bloody Hell. Maybe * you* should have played Gary Kemp's missus on that spoofumentary.

Yes. I think that would've been good.

[Neomod]

My take on Gary Kemp is that he's basically a nice bloke who's a little bit pretentious, unlike Tony Hadley who is the bellend's bellend.

and let's not forget he appeared in one of the greatest comedy series ever made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDXfQ8fawwE

[Small Man Big Horse]

Martin Kemp posted a high res version of this on Twitter today:



Makes me wish that Thomas had managed to get Bernard Cribbins to appear in the read through scene. Though I'm of the opinion that the addition of Cribbins would improve every show ever made, admittedly.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

The fact that Bob Hoskins died about ten years ago was another good gag, they didn't belabour it. Martin merely mentioned that Hoskins was going to be in the film, and that was that.

[ollyboro]

Not great, but worth watching for the "Tony Hadley's a fucking genius" line.

[ollyboro]

Wonge- contains beef jerky extract.

[buzby]

I thought that was the worst scene of the whole thing (mentioned above),

TBF Sia has done the 'can't see where she's going with the wig" bit herself a few times on chat shows (such as on James Corden's Carpool Karaoke). She does have to get guided round when she wears the wig IRL. Montgomery's impression of her singing was a bit 'broad' - Sia can belt and hold a note, but she doesn't sing like that all the way through a song.

Nice to see Simon Day bringing back his Alf Garnett. Loved the mobile studio in the back of a Piaggio Ape.  One of the retired popstars in the' Now That's What I Call A Retirement Home' bit looked very much like Su Pollard (or a looalike). Alan Ford always elevates anything he's in too.  The thing that has stuck with me most though is 'Ham Pamphlet' in the childhood food bit. That was Serafinowicz-esque.

[ollyboro]

The last 20 minutes were a riot. They were a little too knowing to begin with, but once the pace picked up.... enjoyed.

[rue the polywhirl]

I thought most of this felt dead in the water, purely because of Bros documentary irl being much funnier and zanier. Wonge was the only segment where any laughs started piling up. Sia bit was atrocious.

[Utter Shit]

Rhys Thomas has been quietly making great comedy for over a decade now, yet isn't really talked about as one of the most important names in UK comedy...should he be? Down The Line, Bellamy's People, Brian Pern, A Year In The Life Of A Year and now The Kemps, has he written anything that isn't good? A quick look at his IMDB profile shows that he's appeared in some ropey stuff as an actor, but in the last fifteen years his writing credits are pretty much all good stuff.

[Leo2112]

Enjoyed the violent Krays footage being spliced into Martin Kemp's EastEnders showreel.

[neveragain]

The fact that Bob Hoskins died about ten years ago was another good gag, they didn't belabour it. Martin merely mentioned that Hoskins was going to be in the film, and that was that.

It was mentioned once more ('Bastard died 6 years ago, never told me") but that didn't ruin the gag.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I really must stop getting things wrong in this thread.

[RFT]

Rhys Thomas has been quietly making great comedy for over a decade now, yet isn't really talked about as one of the most important names in UK comedy...should he be? Down The Line, Bellamy's People, Brian Pern, A Year In The Life Of A Year and now The Kemps, has he written anything that isn't good? A quick look at his IMDB profile shows that he's appeared in some ropey stuff as an actor, but in the last fifteen years his writing credits are pretty much all good stuff.

I think the problem he has is that writers tend not to get much of the credit anyway - and also in performing, he's nearly always playing the straight (or straighter) man against long-established comedy faces like Simon Day or Paul Whitehouse, so I think he gets overlooked or unfairly thought of as just being an offshoot/hanger-on of the Fast Show group, when really he's been an established voice creating great comedy for a long time.

[studpuppet]

My take on Gary Kemp is that he's basically a nice bloke who's a little bit pretentious

Was it him or Martin who said 'Jonny Pertwee' in the DW bit? It was one of those little nuances that pile up to form the whole.

[Sin Agog]

Rhys Thomas has been quietly making great comedy for over a decade now, yet isn't really talked about as one of the most important names in UK comedy...should he be? Down The Line, Bellamy's People, Brian Pern, A Year In The Life Of A Year and now The Kemps, has he written anything that isn't good? A quick look at his IMDB profile shows that he's appeared in some ropey stuff as an actor, but in the last fifteen years his writing credits are pretty much all good stuff.

I remember Fun in the Funeral Parlour being rather good as well.  Only bad thing about his more prolific recent work is I do kinda miss him and Tony talking shop in their podcast, especially on the eps when he'd get slozzered and reveal industry secrets he wasn't really supposed to.

[NoOffenceLynn]

Is this available anywhere (outside the UK)?

https://www.reddit.com/r/UKTVLAND/comments/hmhcaa/the_kemps_all_tr
Should work for you!

[Utter Shit]

I remember Fun in the Funeral Parlour being rather good as well.  Only bad thing about his more prolific recent work is I do kinda miss him and Tony talking shop in their podcast, especially on the eps when he'd get slozzered and reveal industry secrets he wasn't really supposed to.

Oh God yeah. The Brian Blessed anecdote still haunts me.

[amateur]

I thought the swearing was both big AND clever.

[Norton Canes]

The thing that has stuck with me most though is 'Ham Pamphlet' in the childhood food bit. That was Serafinowicz-esque

Was good, but unfortunately none of the pick n' mix sweets had anything like as funny names as the ones in The Confectioner

[dothestrand]

The fact that Bob Hoskins died about ten years ago was another good gag, they didn't belabour it. Martin merely mentioned that Hoskins was going to be in the film, and that was that.

An added gag here was that Hoskins was originally cast as Capone in The Untouchables because De Niro was unavailable. Once he was available, Hoskins got paid shitloads of money to basically walk away.

[Mr_Simnock]

Just watched it an thought it was fantastic, lots of lovely big laughs

[Alberon]

Simon Day had a line something along the lines of "I didn't know those houses had been built with soluble bricks!" Which cracked me up. Tony Way turned in another great cameo. But the Kemp brothers were clearly having fun. One advantage over the Brian Pern programmes was that they could play off each other.

Maybe it was wishful thinking, but this felt like a pilot for a series.

[Utter Shit]

Can't see that - as someone said earlier, it felt more like a film that had been cut short.

[Lfbarfe]

I love the way that Eccleston has become part of Thomas' repertory company now. I keep remembering bits of this and giggling.

[Dusty Substance]

Just here to echo the praise for this. At least five big laugh-out-loud moments for me. Back in the 90s, I used to make silly little films about 80s pop stars with a friend and between us we wrote an epic Lord Of The Rings style fantasy but with 80s pop stars as the characters (culminating at the battle of Live Aid). Rhys Thomas is making exactly the kind of films that I would like to have done.

Bit of a surprise to see Alan Ford popping up as, for some reason, I thought he had died a few years ago.