Craig Charles - Live on Earth (a historical curiosity from 1995)

[Jim Bob]

Technically speaking, this doesn't belong in Comedy Chat but whatever...

Craig Charles - Live on Earth

I like Craig Charles on the whole but this is... oh dear.

There's some material here which veers towards uncomfortable right wing views at times (sub-Manning material; gays, vegetarians, anyone who's not a conformist, the usual), but overall it's just an awful lot of polite audience laughter at a terribly weak set.

_{(By the way, this is a VHS recording from the same year that Charles was released from prison in 1995, following his wrongful conviction for rape charges [hence the references to that incident within the video])}

[Jim Bob]

"I've been on me own for in quarantine for three million years and I'm just used to posting shite. I think I've gone a bit peculiar to tell you the truth."

Ah well, perhaps this video of Craig Charles showing his appreciation for his fanbase will make the thread worthwhile[nb](it won't)[/nb].

[Jim Bob]

This bit here.

CRAIG CHARLES' PR AGENT: "Yes, Craig. Now that you're out of prison, finally cleared on rape charges, it's definitely a good idea to do that bit where you demonstrate your distaste for safe sex and bring a woman onstage to show off your well practiced ability to be disingenuous and sleazy in your quest to have sex with deluded fans."

[Dewt]

Really upset by him turning to the side cameras to deliver a line like Stewart Lee did years later.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Holy shit captain Butler's on All 4 rather than something channel 4 are pretending didn't happen.

[Jim Bob]

Holy shit captain Butler's on All 4 rather than something channel 4 are pretending didn't happen.

Shiver me timbers!  I would have thought Channel 4 would have buried that relic and very purposefully not scrawled an X atop the site to mark its location.

[idunnosomename]

ahahah captain butler. it was so bad. what did sprackling and smith do afterwards

OH MY G

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnomeo_%26_Juliet

[Consignia]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnomeo_%26_Juliet

Not to be confused with Romeo and Juliet.

Thanks, wikipedia. I needed that clarification.

[Sebastian Cobb]

"it's more likely you're dyslexic than genuinely interested in this"

[petril]

Holy shit captain Butler's on All 4 rather than something channel 4 are pretending didn't happen.

oh, bollocks

[Alberon]

I'm sure I didn't just forget about this show, I'm sure I've never heard of it in the first place.

Now I'm going to spend the rest of my life doing my best to get it out of my brain.

[Dewt]

He's horrible isn't he, Craig Charles. Sometimes I listen to him on the radio or watch an old Red Dwarf and think he's nice, but then I see something like this and remember he's horrible.

[Chriddof]

I keep making that mistake too. I was sure for a long time that Craig Charles must be nice, but then I realised that was basically down to how the character of Lister is written in Red Dwarf (the good ones from the 80s / 90s, anyway) - fairly liberal, only slightly undercut with a normal amount of sitcom dickishness.

[non capisco]

Holy shit captain Butler's on All 4 rather than something channel 4 are pretending didn't happen.

And yet still no 'Craig Charles' Funky Bunker' on ITV Hub!!

[phes]

"I've been on me own for in quarantine for three million years and I'm just used to posting shite. I think I've gone a bit peculiar to tell you the truth."

Ah well, perhaps this video of Craig Charles showing his appreciation for his fanbase will make the thread worthwhile[nb](it won't)[/nb].

I hope, and do have some belief that Charles is a kinder person in his old age. What did strike me is that this is pretty much the same routine Gervais did about his fans best part of twenty years later and twenty years wiser

[Sony Walkman Prophecies]

I think it's safe to assume Charles has learnt this like a play. I'd be surprised if he wrote, nevermind believed, a single word of it.

On the subject of Charles, I've been watching all the Red Dwarf documentaries on the series 1-8 DVD (1 doc per series). I have to say he comes across really well. Very entertaining and charming. Barrie comes across as lovely as well, as does llewellyn. I just can't get my head around how inarticulate and dull the Cat is in real life though. It's like he only knows about 30 words, and even those are a struggle for him to put together. There was one bit where he was describing having pretended to drown in a shocking number of programmes he's done. He kept saying "I've died in water in water so many. Why is it I always die in water?" You mean drown? Painful. Hayridge is charming and lovely though, which goes some way to making up for it. On the whole, you do come away thinking actors must be some of the down to earth and friendly people in the world, even though you know most of them aren't.

[phes]

Yeah DJJ was well cast as a character who had almost nothing to say.

I like Craig Charles. I do hope he is a decent sort because of nostalgia and because I don't want my shithead radar to be fucked. I can absolutely square the Terry Christian interview. He's young, exuberant, those were really quite cruel, laddish times. Not nice, but in context not really the benchmark of an awful person. Less sure I want to watch the stand-up set though

[Gulftastic]

Wasn't he of his face on crack during this time period?

[thr0b]

Everything I've seen Charles do as himself in recent times, he has come across as thoroughly decent.  Always time for the fans at conventions  etc.

Throughout the 90s and into the 2000s, he was a massive crackhead. So I wouldn't hold much in his opinions of anything back then.

[Jake Thingray]

And yet still no 'Craig Charles' Funky Bunker' on ITV Hub!!

Or Weapons of Mass Distraction, about which the only thing I can remember is him saying of another participant near the start "this gerl is called Caroline Flack", making it another, regrettable example of historical curiosity.

[BeardFaceMan]

I hope, and do have some belief that Charles is a kinder person in his old age. What did strike me is that this is pretty much the same routine Gervais did about his fans best part of twenty years later and twenty years wiser

Charles did another stand up show a few years later called Sickbag where he basically scoured the internet for the most offensive jokes he could find and told them onstage, so thats another thing he was doing 20 years before Gervais.

[Sebastian Cobb]

My auntie had his Alminac book.

I was on holiday with them so I got a go on it. I must've been 14 and thought it was alright then but I don't think I'd like it now. I doubt he wrote it.

[Harry Badger]

Everything I've seen Charles do as himself in recent times, he has come across as thoroughly decent.  Always time for the fans at conventions  etc.

Throughout the 90s and into the 2000s, he was a massive crackhead. So I wouldn't hold much in his opinions of anything back then.

Me and a couple of mates DJd at a festival in 2018 and were on before CC. I'm a huge fan of his radio show so considered it quite an honour but the rumours were that he wasn't going to show. Anyway, there I was at the back of the stage while my mate finished off our set when the organiser legged it up to me saying 'he's here! Quick, set this mic stand up, about this (5 foot) high'. I did this, then turned around to see CC. He was fucked. He had eyes like pin-pricks and was having some difficulty in staying upright as he staggered onstage. He fell backwards into the banner, which fortunately for him was hung on a solid wall. Later on, he dropped all his CDs on the dancefloor which I picked up for him. He managed to get through his two hours but was really struggling at points. Good tunes, but by the numbers. To be fair, I found out that was his third gig of the night plus his radio show. I'm told that later on he put away a bottle of Grey Goose in under an hour.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Me and a couple of mates DJd at a festival in 2018 and were on before CC. I'm a huge fan of his radio show so considered it quite an honour but the rumours were that he wasn't going to show. Anyway, there I was at the back of the stage while my mate finished off our set when the organiser legged it up to me saying 'he's here! Quick, set this mic stand up, about this (5 foot) high'. I did this, then turned around to see CC. He was fucked. He had eyes like pin-pricks and was having some difficulty in staying upright as he staggered onstage. He fell backwards into the banner, which fortunately for him was hung on a solid wall. Later on, he dropped all his CDs on the dancefloor which I picked up for him. He managed to get through his two hours but was really struggling at points. Good tunes, but by the numbers. To be fair, I found out that was his third gig of the night plus his radio show. I'm told that later on he put away a bottle of Grey Goose in under an hour.

Ha. How much dj-ing was he doing? He looks like he's doing a lot but I'm sure at one gig a lot of it was premixed with phasers and stuff all over it, every so often he'd clang into another big re-edit. Not arsed like, it's still bloody good fun.

[Harry Badger]

Ha. How much dj-ing was he doing? He looks like he's doing a lot but I'm sure at one gig a lot of it was premixed with phasers and stuff all over it, every so often he'd clang into another big re-edit. Not arsed like, it's still bloody good fun.

I've heard the pre-mix rumours so I was watching him like a hawk. If it was pre-mixed he was disguising it well as he was shuffling through his CD book and using both CDJs. Wasn't really mixing as such as most of his tunes are with live drummers so hard to beatmatch for long, though he did clang through a couple of beatmatches and even did some half-arsed scratching. I didn't speak to him but my mate did and said he was sound, but as our mutual friend remarked ' of course they're getting on well, they're both massive cokeheads'.

This was the same festival I ended up getting a lift home with a total stranger who I worked out halfway into the trip was Sian Evans from Kosheen.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Kosheen, blimey are they still going?

One of my mates said he was at a Craig Charles thing where he was getting someone else to mix for him  and he was just digging the tunes out. He was always working quite hard when I saw him though.

[Harry Badger]

Not as Kosheen but Sian performs solo at festivals a lot. She also led us in a big singalong of Brown Girl In the Ring and venomously slagged off Jeremy Vine.

I've seen Shaun Ryder do that kind of DJ set many moons ago. Bit of a pisstake really.

[thr0b]

Aye, I remember Shaun Ryder doing a DJ set at Central Station in Wrexham around 2002. He turned up 90 minutes late, murdered Step On, did ten minutes of DJing and then fucked off.

It was good fun.

[phes]

I don't listen to his show as it's rarely what I'm in the mood for, but I do know that friends who have been DJs and moved on to also become producers do talk about him with some regard. It probably helps that their work often gets airplay from him, but opinion does seem to be that regardles of where exactly his talent lies, he's good value for money and has well earned his stripes. Aside from sometimes turning up smashed and unable to walk, he's definitely no Shaun Ryder novelty booking. I've lost count of the number of tinder, Facebook, Instagram photos I've seen of people drunkenly hugging the guy and he does a remarkably good job of looking like he's dead chuffed to be in a photo with every single one. At this stage in his career and popularity that alone is an achievement

[Sony Walkman Prophecies]

He does seem over the moon to be Craig Charles. A bit like Bowie. Even towards the end he had the same sort of vibe. "I'm David Bowie. Me! Can you believe it?"