Lee and Herring rewatch

[Magnum Valentino]

On @notjosh's advice I had a look at Rod Hull's appearance on Johnny Carson with Richard Pryor.  

Chris Evans (not that one) accidentally gave me 2 of FoF S2 disk 4 if anyone wants a copy. It's got the studio tapes for 4-6, a Simon Quinlank audio sketch and something called Other Audio Sketch.

I reckon I'm due a relisten of AIOTM, though Emma Kennedy will give me the boak.

Ooh could I have this?!

[madhair60]

trying to comprehend the motivation to re-listen to AIOTM

[Shaxberd]

Wake up, get out of bed, put on your clothes, another day is dawning! Turn on the device of your choice, because now it's time for:

This Morning With Richard Not Judy, Series 1, Episode 1!

Brought to you in gloriously authentic taped-off-the-telly format with an ident and everything, although if there are better quality versions available please let me know - especially if Rich and Stew could actually get some money from it.


Really looking forward to getting stuck into these, I watched TMRNWJ at the time and it blew my little 9 year old mind. I haven't rewatched it in over a decade though, so I've helpfully forgotten most of the details.

[Stinky Lomax]

Wow, it's weird how different the energy is from Fist Of Fun. Obviously part of that is it being live and a daytime show, but also I guess it's their first one in this format so it all feels a bit nervy and ramshackle. The nerves sometimes come across as (more than the usual amount of) smugness, I think, but hopefully that'll calm down as they go. It reminded me of the earliest episodes of FoF in that way.

Stuff I liked:
the stronger parts of the studio stand-up stuff - the Five Types Of Women bit, especially
Trevor and Natalie
Unusual priest (though iirc I get bored of him quickly)
Histor's Eye
Kevin & Jo
Ironic Review
Curious Orange (though mostly because I know where it's going, it's a bit aimless here)
When Insects Attack

Stuff I didn't:
the opening titles - too long and cartoonish (plus honestly I think the whole 'Richard Not Judy' conceit is a bit duff)
Roger Crowley - a poor man's Simon Quinlank
king/queen for a day - iirc this gets better but it was very awkward and clunky this week
Jenni Eclair - painfully stilted and smug, if they're going to get their showbiz mates in for an interview they need to script it to some degree past remembering a few half-baked anecdotes

And I suppose I'm neutral on Men Of Achievement 1974 because it's boring but it's supposed to be ahhhh!

[madhair60]

I'll post Rich's notes on each episode from the old website if that's alright. Not at computer right now so I'll get on that shortly.

I love Men of Achievement 1974

[madhair60]

1-1

The Opening Titles, Elements of this will change weekly.
In Week 1 -
Rich wakes up with a toy smurf,
Stu is smoking a regular pipe,
Rich's fridge is full of takeaways (the picture on the fridge door should also change weekly.
This week it was Kate Moss with "Eat some chips" written on her).

Behind the Scenes Facts

1 Jo Unwin had lost her voice. She managed to croak her lines out, hence the actor Kevin Eldon's frog lady comment.

2 The cameramen loved the joke about the kid from Live and Kicking, which suggests that he is as big an idiot as he looks.

3 No-one seems to like the Curious Orange at the moment, but it's a slow burner and you'll all be doing it in the playground in a month's time, you idiots. Yes even those of you not at school will be going into playgrounds to do it. It is played by Paul Putner from the Ragu advert.

4 Similarly the unusual priest will get funnier as weeks go by, but we wanted to start small with it. This character first appeared
on On the Hour on Radio 4, where it was played by our arch enemy Patrick Marber, but we wrote it, so it belongs to us!

5 Queen Rikki was queen of the show. She was very nervous, but got quite cocky by the end.

6 Histor's Eye was first broadcast on our Radio 1 show. (We originally wrote it as part of a Radio 4 pilot show - that was recorded but never completed, called "Whatever Became Of" - a where are they now of fictional people. The show also starred Steve Coogan, Patrick Marber, Jo Unwin and was produced by Armando Iannucci- wouldn't you like to hear a tape of that? We would) People who like to complain about us doing old stuff will be pleased to see we have recycled some old scripts for later in the series.
Joseph Champniss designed the crows.
He was a fan who used to send us cartoons and who we soon realised was better than any of the other idiots we got to do stuff for us professionally. The man is a Welsh mis-fit, but a genius.
Paul Putner played king Arthur and the actor Kevin Eldon played the other parts. Rich is Histor and Stu is Pliny. We were incredibly tired when we filmed this and holding up massive birds at arm's length did not make things any easier.
We had to shoot everything very quickly due to budgetary (budgerigar) considerations. Thus the bits where Rich's voice cracks and he clearly forgets what he's meant to say (even though he was reading it) are genuine, but fit rather well.
Most of the sketches were filmed at the Riverside theatre in Hammersmith where Chris Evans does TFI Friday from.

7 Danbert Nobacon was played by a bloke called Xav (Zav?) Shame he was such a lousy shot with the bucket of water.

8 You may have noticed that the window behind us had an unpleasant gasworks view. We wanted to change this every week, but we'd have had to use photos blue screened in and this would have looked rubbish apparently.

9 Men of Achievement 1974 is a real book and all the things we read out of it are genuine.

10 When Insects Attack is another regular feature. Roger Mann played the man attacked by a fly. He used to be in Packing Them In on Channel 4 with the actor Kevin Eldon and our guest Jenny Eclair, but now works with computers in Rugby. He is also one of the Cluub Zarathustra team (along with Stu, the actor Kevin Eldon, Richard Thomas, Sally Phillips and Simon Munnery - and others). We are hoping he will return full time to comedy as he is one of the funniest men in the country. If you video it try and listen to the things he is improvisioning on the phone. They are very funny. See how his arm movements copy John Cleese.

11 The Ironic Review is based on the exploits of the Modern Review team and TV pundits like Robert Elms. Vera Hannan's name is made by combining the names of Richard's grandmothers. The funniest line in it (which didn't get a laugh in the studio) about Derek Jarman's films being homophobic was made up on the spot by Paul and the actor Kevin Eldon. Rich and the actor Kevin Eldon nearly laughed when they both said "idiot" together. Stu nearly laughs when he says "Stop shouting". Sasha Bedford-Hill
(a street in Balham) is played by frog-woman actress Jo Unwin who likes her life to remain private and thus will not be discussed on our web pages.

12 Trevor and Natalie and played by Trevor Lock and Natalie Brandon. Trev is a stand-up comedian and Nat is a student.
They were both in Excavating Rita and This Morning With Richard, Not Judy in Edinburgh last year.

13 Roger Crowley is based on Aleister Crowley the wickedest man in the world and played by Roger Mann. The idea is that he is cutting into our transmission via his computer, but this wasn't really edited in properly this week. Again this is a bit of a slow burner. We've filmed 8 of them so, like most of the items, you're going to have to get to like it if you don't already.

14 Rich's pants got wetted by Danbert Nobacon and were uncomfortable for almost two hours after the show was over.

15 Jenny Eclair was our guest this week. We've both been on her show "Jenny Eclair Squats" on Channel 5 and we used to share a flat with her when we went up to Edinburgh. We didn't really get enough time to talk to her properly. But then that's live TV.

16 In the Spice Girls bit after discussing Emma Spice Rich forgot to say "Only 1 in 5 women are like that, not 1 in 2 like you and Dr Samuel Johnson think".

17 This weeks' hymn was "When I needed a Neighbour". In the warm up to the show we sang this with some amended verses- "When I needed a massage" "When I needed a lift to the shops" "When I needed a kidney" and Rich wanted to sing "When I needed a blow-job," but Stu wouldn't let him. Quite right too.

18 Early indications are that we started with 900,000 viewers and this rose to a million during the course of the programme.
This apparently is not bad for the slot and the fact the audience rose is very encouraging (ie people weren't turning off in disgust).

19 The BBC duty log received 12 complaints. If you want to ring in to complain or say something nice the number is 0181 743 8000. We will put up all the complaints on another page when we get time.

Thanks to all the people who e mailed (both good and bad). You were over whelmingly positive, but had some constructive things to say. Do keep letting us know what you think, and if you change your mind. At the moment people seem to prefer the studio stu ff, but we are convinced that the film items will grow on you. Remember this series is all new (to TV) characters (except for the teachers which will be returning in week 3) and it takes a while to establish things. We could have just sat back and continued churning out Rod Hull, Quinlank and Moon on a stick, but we wanted to give you something new, so be patient with us.
Obviously if you don't like the new stuff by the end of the series let us know and we'll never do it again.

[lauraxsynthesis]

I love the opening titles and the song! Curious Orange really stands out as a feature to me much like Fake Rod Hull did, though as mentioned it's impossible to separate in my mind what is to come with that character. Also looking forward to more Trevor and Natalie. I thought that bit started out stronger than the other regular stuff set up in ep 1. I enjoyed Ironic Review so much - nice bit of cultural satire and setting up of characters I want to see more of. Eldon's timing on "I am a Lesbian." "...You're not."

This line is etched into my memory:
"You said you tried it once and it made you sick."

At the time I hated Histor's Eye but I made an effort to really follow what was going on this time and thought it was alright. Some of the regular stuff I found tedious at the time and still do - in particular When Insects Attack and Men of Achievement 1974. Eclair being antagonistic just annoyed me and wasn't funny, but then my view of her has changed in recent years since she's shown herself to be a fucking melt. I remember enjoying King of the Show but I agree it didn't start well here. The Spice Girls stuff just seems uncomfortably misogynistic to me in 2024. I can't remember what I thought at the time. 

Straightaway I like TMWRNJ much more than FoF.

[madhair60]

The Spice Girls stuff just seems uncomfortably misogynistic to me in 2024.

having rewatched the entire series recently, there is a bit of a misogynistic "laddish" streak through the whole thing and it's pretty hard going sometimes. It seems so at odds with the general pleasantness of the rest of the show.

[Stinky Lomax]

While I agree that they do slip into unironic laddishness from time to time (as I think we noticed in FoF at points), I don't find the Spice Girls routine misogynistic - I think it's poking fun at the manufactured cartoon feminism of the group via Rich's misogynist persona. One thing I did cringe at was them mocking Geri for being "chubby". I think they've expressed regret since for a few things like that and some of the stuff they say about Gail Porter in a later episode.

[Mobbd]

3 minutes in and I'm already in bald phimotic heaven.

Put me down as being on Team Themetune. It's fucking hilarious. I like that the first lines are about life being good and another day being a miraculous blessing but then we immediately "turn on the TV". I also like "take off your pants, thanks."

That intro immediately establishes their [new?] personae as well. Rich as a shambling, disorganised stinker and Stew as all pulled together. Not sure how much of that is in their FoF incarnations; seems truer to real life more than anything.

AIM 1: Assassinate John Birt. Haha!

Also, Rich really IS a shoplifter and Stew really IS an alcoholic so it's perfect.

[Red82]

Not to shit on anyone elses chips or general life happiness but I just can't get to grips with the stuff they did before they went solo.  I think it helps if you watched it at the time.   I didn't watch it at the time due to my youth and other factors and now I'm afraid I just don't get it.

[TommyTurnips]

having rewatched the entire series recently, there is a bit of a misogynistic "laddish" streak through the whole thing and it's pretty hard going sometimes. It seems so at odds with the general pleasantness of the rest of the show.

It was the 90's Stew. Remember pogs? Remember tamagotchis?

[Mobbd]

"The Patrick Mcgoohan irony there is that Stew's actually talking to himself." ("It's my face, it's my face!")

"That's all there is of that. An usual Priest there." I used to wonder if that was put in as some sort of minimum requirement for a Sunday morning God slot or something.

Nobody laughing at Histor's Eye despite being hilarious.

"I met him in the fruit-and-veg section of the Old Curiosity Shop." - Love the pointlessness of his first appearance. Despite being a stand out thing like Rod Hull it's very clearly going to be a slow burn.

"Like all mothers, Mother Nature is evil"

"This week: FLIES"

Roger Crowly isn't the best but I liked "imagine her confused old face" and also the premise of signal interruption. Max Headroom was 1987, so this was probably a bit old hat at the time. I still like it though.

"WE MADE THIS"

[The Bumlord]

Rich calls the audience idiots during the intro applause. That is one thing I noticed thank you.

[Gurke and Hare]

[mechanical blood goat]

quote author=Stinky Lomax link=msg=5675829 date=1722769793] very awkward and clunky this week
Jenni Eclair - painfully stilted and smug, if they're going to get their showbiz mates in for an interview they need to script it to some degree past remembering a few half-baked anecdotes

If I remember correctly they dropped the interviews after Jack Docherty talked about having sex with Morwenna Banks in her schoolgirl outfit, probably for the best as it's dead air shite.

[Shaxberd]

Happy Sunday morning! Shake off that hangover and clap your eyes on !

[mechanical blood goat]

ah nostalgia

Spoiler alert

I don't know if the total lack of response from the audience makes some of this funnier to me. I always loved The Organ Gang, but it gets barely anything in the studio, and the Ironic Review is met with total silence.

I think at the time I thought Eldon's strange vicar was pointless but I've really enjoyed it any time I've given these a rewatch. They perfectly capture the kind of absolute bollocks you'd hear in a church sermon that's meant to sound deep and philosophical. And When Insects Attack with Mark Gatiss's Greg Evigan is always very funny to me. Shame there was no Histor's Eye as that's clearly the highlight.

Peter Baynham was good, for the short time he was on, and especially enjoyed the steven Hawking chat but again, there's NOTHING from the audience.

Something kind of interesting is how Stew appears to actually be trying to keep Rich in check when he goes off-script (rather than just playing the straight man). I noticed during Rich's milk list he said "winkie milk" and Stew hits him on the leg, seemed like a genuine reprimand.

Laughed at Herring describing himself as "sexual bait" for the viewers like Denise van Outen on the Big Breakfast

[close]

[Stinky Lomax]

Hmm, I didn't think much of this episode. I'm worried that I'm going to find out I don't actually like TMWRNJ, or at least not the first season of it.
Studio stand-up stuff was good (I'm going to ignore the fact that none of the bits have an ending as that seems to be the style of the show - at the end of one bit they just kind of tumble into the next bit), I like the Ireland bit and the milk stuff. The Organ Gang I never found that funny, it's only half a step away from just being a boring 80s kids cartoon. Unusual Vicar is okay, Curious Orange isn't really there yet, though amusing just for how little it's trying to be funny. Ironic Review was okay but near-identical to the first one. Peter Baynham interview is painfully bad. When Insects Attack is the same joke again, hasn't stepped up yet.
I think at this point I'm mainly enjoying the vibe of just a bunch of really weird stuff being slammed together and broadcast to a flummoxed audience on a Sunday afternoon, rather than a lot of the actual content.

Sidenote: the first use of the acronym TMWRNJ! I had always thought it explicitly came about as a TFI Friday reference in one of the early episodes. Maybe that happens later...

[lauraxsynthesis]

The studio stuff was delightful. Rich's milk and Stew's reactions the perfect example of their standard dynamic with each other and also lots of fun and nice and audacious for a Sunday morning, as was the miming of a Louise Woodward statue throttling a baby in the Ironic Review sketch. I picked up the autobiography Harpo Speaks on Friday and it struck me that Peter Baynham has Harpo's face. I've now had a look at and I don't remember seeing any of them even once. Anyone know when they were on? During Coronation Street or sports or something? Anyway, the interview slot continues to not work though I can't pin down why.

I really dislike some of the regular bits in TMWRNJ.


It's almost as if they understand.

[Stinky Lomax]

the interview slot continues to not work though I can't pin down why.

For me it's because they don't seem to have put any effort in. They haven't scripted it out like an Alan Partridge thing, but they haven't prepped it like an actual celeb interview either. They've just scribbled a couple of funny ideas for questions down on a napkin, not even told the guest what they are beforehand, and decided that the very spectacle of three showbiz mates having an idle chat for two minutes will be scintillating telly. They're all talking over each other, killing each other's jokes, it's a shambles.
It actually irritates me a bit, and that even starts to bleed out into other areas of the show which are similarly sloppy even though they happen to work a bit better, like King Of The Show.

[superthunderstingcar]

I love this. I love the way Emu looks around before going for Rod.

[lauraxsynthesis]

For me it's because they don't seem to have put any effort in. They haven't scripted it out like an Alan Partridge thing, but they haven't prepped it like an actual celeb interview either. They've just scribbled a couple of funny ideas for questions down on a napkin, not even told the guest what they are beforehand, and decided that the very spectacle of three showbiz mates having an idle chat for two minutes will be scintillating telly. They're all talking over each other, killing each other's jokes, it's a shambles.
It actually irritates me a bit, and that even starts to bleed out into other areas of the show which are similarly sloppy even though they happen to work a bit better, like King Of The Show.

Spot on!

[extraordinary walnuts]

I love this. I love the way Emu looks around before going for Rod.

I've seen this a hundred times but it always makes me cry with laughter. One of the funniest bits of physical comedy I've ever seen, God bless you Rod

[Mobbd]

Agree that the interviews are no good. I can't really be arsed with Ironic Review either.

I loved the Organ Gang. I remember liking it and I remember being amused by Rich's "remember the munch bunch?" intro with the king of the show. I like Beryl Brain's "I calculate" stuff but the prize goes to "urine-filled scamp." Any reference to them "coming out your belly button when you're asleep" floors me as well. That the studio audience don't like it makes it even more funny.

I had a quick look on Etsy to see if there was any Organ Gang nostalgia junk to buy. There's not. Come on, Champniss, cash in mate! You could be rolling in pence.

I liked how the Curious Orange got a big welcome from the studio audience even though he's such a slow burn and hasn't really taken off yet. They have correctly identified him as the stand-out thing.

Speaking of slow burns, that must have really taken courage and integrity. It's not just mayhem straight out the gate. Things like the Unusual Priest, Crowley, and even Curious Orange are taking their time to bed in and become very funny later on. That's great. A hard sell that (I think) will pay off biggly.

[Gurke and Hare]

I had a quick look on Etsy to see if there was any Organ Gang nostalgia junk to buy. There's not. Come on, Champniss, cash in mate! You could be rolling in pence.

There's a t-shirt on Redbubble and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted.

[madhair60]

sorry, forgot to post this earlier. The show notes from Rich:

1-2

Hi there. Here's all the behind the scenes secrets for the week 2 show. The e mails we have had seem to be saying you enjoyed it more this week. Whether that means it was better, or whether you're just getting used to the new format we don't know. We had 0.6 million viewers for the Friday repeat of show 1 and early indications are we had around 0.9 million for Sunday which is OK.

The titles - Rich wakes up with an old woman. Stew is smoking a bigger pipe. Esther Rantzen is on Rich's fridge, which is full of chocolate. A burglar is breaking into Rich's house as he leaves.

Robot Wars - We showed Jeremy Clarkson. The toys we used were Power Ranger enemies.

Jo Unwin and her husband, the actor Kevin Eldon. We decided to make the listings team a married couple who obviously hated each other to give it an extra level. The actor Kevin Eldon and Jo ad lib a lot of their comments.

The aims were different. Did you notice?

The Ireland material seemed to offend people on both sides of the divide, so it must be all right, but other Irish people enjoyed it. It was really parodying people who claim there are simple answers to such a complicated problem (re Paul McCartney's"Give Ireland back to the Irish" and all American films starring Brad Pitt).

King James was not a plant. He was one of four people with no money and we had a pre-show competition to decide the winner. He claimed to be 14, but we think this is just because the rules of the BBC say you have to be 14 to attend the show. His comment about Jim Davidson was unprompted. He seemed nervous and quiet, but actually quite enjoyed it all I think. It was fun shouting at his young face.

The Organ Gang was drawn by Joseph Champniss. This is an idea we have been trying to sell for 8 years, so we finally decided to do it ourselves. It's not really meant to be a parody (well, not entirely) and we actually want it to appeal to kids. So far lots of adults have liked it too (though some of you thought it was rubbish). We planned to show part two of the story (as you may have noticed) but we ran out of time, so it'll be on next week. Rich and Stew had the idea as students, when they were asked to write sketches about alcohol's effect on the body. Then in 1991 they were asked to come up with a kids' show idea and they adapted it. Spitting Image originally developed it, but no-one put up the money. Hopefully someone important will like it and we'll be able to do it properly. Brian Cant narrated the cartoon. He is probably known to older viewers as the voice of Trumpton and for his appearances in Play Away. He was a lovely man and his professionalism was astonishing. He is currently the live entertainment coordinator for Legoland in Windsor.

Milk - the milk used in the show was all from the genuine animals mentioned. No, not really. Weasel milk was one of the milks mentioned because a strange bearded man called Weasel works on the show and said it would make his friend laugh. The milk was skimmed cow's milk, except in the additional section for the Friday night repeat when all the milk had been poured away and had to be re-filled with semi-skimmed cow's milk. The milk was delicious. There'll always be milk.

The Why Not Try section was the same due to a production error. We'd written some more but they didn't make it up. Hopefully this will be sorted for next week and hopefully they'll be different each time. And hopefully there'll be a show fact one too.

The Insects Attack characters Penny and Eldon were played by Jo Unwin and the actor Kevin Eldon. We used the name Eldon after we heard a woman in the shop calling her son Eldon, which made us laugh. Mark Gatiss is being Greg Evigan as you may have noticed. He writes Dr Who novels under his own name and gay pornography under the name Christian Fawn (we think). Check Virgin's erotica line. He is particularly interested in the English Civil War, which feature in much of his writing. He used to share a flat with Ben Moor who some of you may know and who will be playing a French Exchange Student later in the series.

The Ironic Review has no story this week as it is made up from one long sketch that was cut into two bits. The next one (in a fortnight) will be the other part, about the team trying to get on to a fictional version of Radio 4's Loose Ends. It worked OK still though. The original gap while the toy is laughing was much longer and got edited down. We felt this was a shame and not as good, but maybe only because we'd seen the original first. Rich and the actor Kevin Eldon ad-libbed the last section (with the flowers).

The Mistake - as we were running out of time the producer decided to substitute the second part of the Organ Gang with an Unusual priest. Unfortunately the woman running the tapes didn't understand this and so you got both at once. We were very confused about what was going on as you may have noticed, as we'd understood the news chat bit of the show would be dropped if we were over-running. Never mind, proves it's live.

The hymn was "He's Got the Whole World in his Hand". In the warm-up Rich changed the words to "He's got a big spunking cock in his hand" and made some weak jokes about "Mine eyes hath seen the glory of the coming of the lord". He is an idiot.

The man whose face was used as cottage cheese producer Lionel Cosgrave in the listings was an ex-boyfriend of one of the women who work on the show. Lionel Cosgrave was the name of the rude Canadian boss Rich had in his last proper job. Re-venge.

Colley Cibber was a real poet Laureate who in his day was rated above Henry Fielding, but now is only remembered because Fielding used to take the piss out of him in all his books. A fate we feel is sure to occur to Patrick Marber also. (Colley Cibber's name is also a password in the book "Brighton Rock" and there is a Julian Cope song called "Colley Cibber's Birthday".

[dissolute ocelot]

Isn't Colley Cibber known for being mocked by Alexander Pope not Henry Fielding? Is this what they teach people at Oxford?

[Endicott]

Apparently, both, and also by Johnson.

It's Kolly Kibber in Brighton Rock and Cope's song is Kolly Kibber's Birthday. It's probably partly an homage by Greene but is also likely to be based on Lobby Lud, a character invented by the Westminster Gazette to promote the newspaper. Various newspapers ran similar characters who had to be challenged in a seaside town in order to collect a reward, for example the Daily Mirror's one was called Chalky White.

[lauraxsynthesis]

Gatiss' porn book. It's actually Christian Fall. It sounds fabulous.

I'm super impressed the Jim Davidson thing was just that under-14-year-old. It came across like he'd been coached to say it and didn't know what he was saying. Too bad.

Redbubble also has an Organ Gang sticker.