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

[Malcy]

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

I thought the same when he appeared but just thought I had him mixed up with someone else.

[the science eel]

So you enjoyed this, did you?

And Death of Stalin is shit, is it?

You're all crackers.

[DrGreggles]

So you enjoyed this, did you?

Yep

And Death of Stalin is shit, is it?

It was OK.

You're all crackers.

Wibble

[Alberon]

I had the same thought as well about Alan Ford when he popped up as well.

[Dusty Substance]

I had the same thought as well about Alan Ford when he popped up as well.

I thought the same when he appeared but just thought I had him mixed up with someone else.

Another example of the Mandalan Ford Effect.

[SteveDave]

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.

He made this too which never fails to bring a chuckle to my face

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mju1MlWZP1o

[dr beat]

I grew to find this enjoyable eventually, although I felt it started quite slowly.  Lots of bits I liked such as the Childrens Film Foundation, the read-through, the pre-recorded Radio 2 announcements etc.  I like Thomas' stuff, but I always feel he could perhaps lose some material.  Here I didn't care for the Ross Kemp stuff, although the slightly over-sized white gloves was good attention to detail.  I think the show could have cut 15 minutes and been the better for it - 20 minutes in I was looking at my watch and wondering whether I could last 60 minutes, but I'm glad I stayed with it.

[Egyptian Feast]

I finally caught this last night. I'd been looking forward to it for ages, but my expectations were slightly lowered. I'd bigged it up to my 80s pop loving boss, who'd never heard of Brian Pern or Rhys Thomas OBE, and he got bored with it very quickly. He said it was "too obvious" and that the Bros doc was much funnier. Ouch.

Thankfully, I got a lot more out of it than he did. I could've done without the Sia and Ross Kemp bits, but the Kemps were both great. Martin seemed to be playing a different version of himself from the Brian Pern series and to be honest, I found that 'Martin Kemp' funnier, but that's no criticism of his performance. I hadn't seen Gary in anything other than The Krays, so he was a revelation. I loved the repeated callbacks to his photographic memory.

The ultraviolent Krays and Eastenders montages were superb. As an (extremely) amateur editor of ridiculous montages myself, I have to doff my cap to him.

[The Culture Bunker]

I agree the Ross Kemp stuff was a bit weak - I wonder if it was put in there to provide a reason for them needing to take the gig with the dictator's wife at the end?

[non capisco]

Watched it this morning and was laughing out loud throughout, especially the scene with Gary Kemp's artwork (Rhys pointing at the painting of John Lennon and saying "Is that your auntie?") and the script read through (best line of the show has already been quoted upthread, Alan Ford's one.) Consistently funny stuff. "Dirty Den."

Also, the thought of Tony Hadley watching it and making a furious Hadley fist makes it even better.

[Small Man Big Horse]

He made this too which never fails to bring a chuckle to my face

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mju1MlWZP1o

Thanks for that, it made me laugh a good few times, it's a simple concept but beautifully carried out.

[Thosworth]

Kept getting flashes of Stan Laurel from Gary, but I wasn't sure if it was acting or just his actual face.

[dr beat]

Watched this again a few days back.  Much better on a second viewing.

[Shit Good Nose]

Agree that it could've done with at least 10-15 minutes chopped off, but mostly enjoyable.

Martin is definitely the better and more natural actor of the two (I thought his little domestic with Shirley was very well played) and arguably the better at delivering comedy - lots of his lines (like the throwaway mentions of his hovercraft, which conjures up some amazing images) were just low-key, whereas Gary always seemed to be ACTING the comedy and working up to some kind of punchline.

Always nice to see Perry Benson, but part of me really wanted it to be Ross Kemp (THAT one) but with the character and lines essentially the same, i.e. actor, presenter and assumed hardman Ross Kemp stealing cleaning products and trying to get his brothers to invest in his cryptocurrency tip, rather than it being a completely fictional character.  On the other hand, maybe that's too obvious after Extras.

Oh, and Tony Way as Rag and Bone Man with his rider of clothes washing products (and Gary himself buying it - "that's all they had") - priceless.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Just noticed there's a deleted scene on Rhys Thomas's vimeo channel - https://vimeo.com/rhysthomasobe

Also, I learnt that Way and Thomas went to school together, I'm sure many might know that but I found it interesting.

[Malcy]

Just noticed there's a deleted scene on Rhys Thomas's vimeo channel - https://vimeo.com/rhysthomasobe

Also, I learnt that Way and Thomas went to school together, I'm sure many might know that but I found it interesting.

Good find, cheers

[Shit Good Nose]

Also, I learnt that Way and Thomas went to school together, I'm sure many might know that but I found it interesting.

Give their short-lived podcast a go - http://tonyway.podbean.com/, but be warned the episodes when they(especially Rhys)'re shitfaced are almost unlistenable.  The rest are good though.

[Better Midlands]

Oh, and Tony Way as Rag and Bone Man with his rider of clothes washing products (and Gary himself buying it - "that's all they had") - priceless.

That's one of the best bits.

Give their short-lived podcast a go - http://tonyway.podbean.com/

Shame they stopped this, nice inside view of UK TV comedy.

[SteveDave]

If you listen to the commentary for Fun At The Funeral Parlour in the last episode Rhys and Tony give out their email addresses as they didn't believe anyone would listen to them all the way through. This was from 2006 so maybe they've got new ones now.

[Utter Shit]

Give their short-lived podcast a go - http://tonyway.podbean.com/, but be warned the episodes when they(especially Rhys)'re shitfaced are almost unlistenable.  The rest are good though.

I will never, ever forget the Brian Blessed anecdote as long as I live. It's the first thing that comes into my head when I hear his name.