Nathan Barley - Episode Two

[Morrisfan82]

It's. Still. Not. Funny. Or. Interesting.

Says you.

Well duh.

[peet]

I was willing to forgive the lack of big-laugh jokes last week, in the blind hope that something would develop to otherwise draw me in or entertain or amuse. I'm still waiting.
Did anyone notice the similarities in the style of direction and general vapidness in that Walkers Crisps ad during the break halfway through?

Linky for ep. 3 trailer:  http://trashbat.co.ck/movies/barley03_01_high.mov

[weapon]

wonder where it will go from here?!

Ah...pissing. Haha, "crying from your genitals" is a pretty funny way of putting it...

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

The repetition of jokes, characters, and the overall constant ramming home of the same point is - so far -rather tedious.

That bloke makes shit, annoying music... oh look he's still making shit, annoying music... yes I get it thank you.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

I can't help feeling that, if I knew Nathan Barley in real life, I'd find him completely inoffensive. If anything, I'd find his enthusiasm quite charming. He sounds like a laugh. Ditto his Noel Fielding flatmate - I'd be quite interested in how he did his edits.

Show 2 was one bag sine wave of nothing for me, I'm afraid. It felt like I was watching the deleted scenes from Show 1.

[InfiniteFury]

I can't help feeling that, if I knew Nathan Barley in real life, I'd find him completely inoffensive. If anything, I'd find his enthusiasm quite charming. He sounds like a laugh.

Ha, a ha ha! You see, you SEE?

<ahem>

YOU ARE NATHAN BARLEY!!!@!!!@@!

My God, you're going to regret that post soon. They're coming, I can smell them....

[Autopsy Turvey]

I really loved the whole "preacher Man" thing especially the end sceans,
The more he tells the idiots they are idiots the more they love the fact he is telling them. ...

Kind of like the ending of 'The Wall', then, where Bob Geldof decides to shoot everyone in the building and everyone stands up and cheers, because they're unquestioning drones and he is their idol. It reminded me of that. But less funny.

[alan strang]

Not if someone is a 'personality' or already successful at something.  Then their output is given undue weight.

Of course. Having Chris Morris' name attached to this project has already ensured that a lot of its audience will end up making a lot of excuses for a frankly substandard show. Success breeds success. 'Chris Morris' has been a PR commodity for years now - based on a mystique he acquired from genuinely fantastic stuff he did years ago.

Who would bother defending this show if it was simply 'the new Charlie Brooker project'? No disrespect to the sod, obviously, but there would surely be a great shrugging of shoulders all round.

[DonkeyRhubarb]

And would a plot be too much to ask of them? One episode of SPACED seems to contain five times more plot than two episodes of Nathan Barley.

Yay! The new stock criticism. 'One episode of Rod Hulls Pink Windmill has 10 times more plot than 5 episodes of Nathan Barley!'.

Have I started a trend? Do I get to be the Nathan Barley now?

It's true, though. Spaced managed a- b- and c- plots. Sometimes a d- plot too. This barely managed one.

Why the obsession with plot?

Did the The Day Today have a plot? Did Brass Eye....etc? Ok, they were gloryfied sketch shows and this is a narrative, but I don't think plot is that important in this case. This programme is more of a cross section, one big sketch and it seems to hate itself more than the subjects it lampoons. I think that's fascinating.

There's sometimes some pretty one dimensional citicism going on here. 'NB hasn't got as many jokes as x, NB hasn't got as much plot as y'.................... ad infinitum.

[The Mumbler]

Well-worn!

Incredibly, almost supernaturally dreadful.  To describe it as "Game On with goatees" would be too kind.  Boring and inept in every conceivable department. Can they really be doing the "slowed-down-cake-music-is-basically-a-barrage-of-electronic-noise" gag *again*??? With no context.

Yes, and I spotted the Nik Kershaw reference.  It's from the intro of Wide Boy.  Well done everyone.

Right, that's my two episodes worth.  For the next four Fridays, I shall be watching a teetering pile of DVDs which I should have started watching a very long time ago.

[alan strang]

Kind of like the ending of 'The Wall', then, where Bob Geldof decides to shoot everyone in the building and everyone stands up and cheers, because they're unquestioning drones and he is their idol. It reminded me of that. But less funny.

Bloody Roger Waters again.

[The Mumbler]

Oh, and I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me was in there as well.  Staggering.

[Pseudopath]

http://trashbat.co.ck/movies/barley03_01_high.mov

Oh. Dear. God.

[InfiniteFury]

Why the obsession with plot?

I think the obsession with plot has come about from the lack of comedy which, to be honest, I think is understandable. The Day Today and Brass Eye made me piss myself laughing, I couldn't give a tinker's cuss if there was a plot or not.

[alan strang]

To describe it as "Game On with goatees" would be too kind.

Ah yes - the episode where the agoraphobic character involuntarily becomes the lead singer of a local pop band and the audience thinks his onstage panic-attack is some amazing, angsty, crowd-pleasing stage persona.

[Bert Thung]

The obsession with plot has to do with the fact that half hour narratives are meant to have one, and sketch shows aren't.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

I heard 'I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me' on a builders' radio the other day and it gave me more pleasure than Nathan Barley ever will. 'Forty winks in the lobby / Make mine a G and T!'

THERE IS NOTHING TO ENJOY IN THIS SHOW. NOTHING AT ALL. LOTS OF PEOPLE HAVE TICKED 'BRILLIANT' ON THE POLL - WHY? WHAT ARE THEY LAUGHING AT? DID THEY WATCH DUCK SOUP BY MISTAKE OR SOMETHING?

[king_tubby]

THERE IS NOTHING TO ENJOY IN THIS SHOW. NOTHING AT ALL. LOTS OF PEOPLE HAVE TICKED 'BRILLIANT' ON THE POLL - WHY? WHAT ARE THEY LAUGHING AT? DID THEY WATCH DUCK SOUP BY MISTAKE OR SOMETHING?

Oh, come on, there was a 2 second sample of 'Angel in the Centrefold' by the J.Geils Band in there somewhere.

[DonkeyRhubarb]

Form me the Trashbat birthday scene was very reminiscent of past life as a clubbing idiot. The guy in the beekeepers outfit was spot on. It made me remember my moments of clarity on the dancefloor and I would think 'what the fuck am I doing with my life'. Then I'd neck a load more pills and carry on being an idiot.

This is the first show, for me, to address this. It's nothing to do with people on here 'being Nathan Barley' don't flatter yourself guys. I think that's why it's getting a bit of a knocking, not enough people have been there. I think it's more cult veiwing than anything else, a bit of an outsider show. And for me thats fine. You comedy know-alls can keep your Hale and Pace.

[weapon]

I think the obsession with plot has come about from the lack of comedy which, to be honest, I think is understandable. The Day Today and Brass Eye made me piss myself laughing, I couldn't give a tinker's cuss if there was a plot or not.

I don't agree with the 'lack of comedy', but maybe its because the 'sitcom' format doesn't really have any pre-cursor to how you can do it that Nathan Barley doesn't seem to have much oomph to it? With Brass Eye or The Day Today, even On Thr Hour, there was a play on an established format, so anything that went against it was funny...erm, a satire even(!!!). I don't think Morris, or Brooker (judging from TV Go Home) are particularly good at storytelling, which is not really a bad thing, and I didn't expect Nathan Barley to be a Grade-A example of tale-telling. I thought it would be the endless barrage of idiots it is. Maybe that's the point? That its hollow and meaningless like its targets? Maybe?![/quote]

[Paaaaul]

THERE IS NOTHING TO ENJOY IN THIS SHOW. NOTHING AT ALL. LOTS OF PEOPLE HAVE TICKED 'BRILLIANT' ON THE POLL - WHY? WHAT ARE THEY LAUGHING AT? DID THEY WATCH DUCK SOUP BY MISTAKE OR SOMETHING?

I think it's great, but that doesn't mean I'm laughing at it.
If you take your comedy-shades off you'll see that it's quite a sad satirical drama about the loneliness of cool (or something)

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

To describe it as "Game On with goatees" would be too kind.

Ah yes - the episode where the agoraphobic character involuntarily becomes the lead singer of a local pop band and the audience thinks his onstage panic-attack is some amazing, angsty, crowd-pleasing stage persona.

Song c/o Phil Pope, of course. The group were called The Fury. Or was that the fey-looking bass player? In any case, it featured a brilliant bit where the ginger one was reading a magazine called Dog's Bollocks and said, in amazement upon coming across an article about said band, 'Hey, Matt - you're in Dog's Bollocks!'.

Now *that's* funny! And Game On is *soooooooooooo* far down the list of shows I'd normally use as examples to prove this.

[InfiniteFury]

I don't agree with the 'lack of comedy', but maybe its because the 'sitcom' format doesn't really have any pre-cursor to how you can do it that Nathan Barley doesn't seem to have much oomph to it? With Brass Eye or The Day Today, even On Thr Hour, there was a play on an established format, so anything that went against it was funny...erm, a satire even(!!!). I don't think Morris, or Brooker (judging from TV Go Home) are particularly good at storytelling, which is not really a bad thing, and I didn't expect Nathan Barley to be a Grade-A example of tale-telling. I thought it would be the endless barrage of idiots it is. Maybe that's the point? That its hollow and meaningless like its targets? Maybe?

Maybe, but it seems like a pretty crappy get-out clause so that anyone involved in the production could go "A-ha, but it's not meant to be funny, that's the point and that's why it's funny!" A circular cop-out if you like.

It just don't make me laugh. I have a sense of humour, I love comedy and, importantly, I want any comedy programme to make me laugh. I'll give anything a go and I came to this second episode primed to laugh. I've probably given it more of a chance than most things on TV

I'm not a comedy-analyzer (no disrespect to those who are) but I just don't see anything to laugh at. It's not telling me anything I don't already know and it's not surprising me - it just seems flat and forced.

It's hard to put this without sound unpleasantly snobbish but some of the things people have cited as great bits of comedy in this programme have had me thinking they must be taking the piss or something.

[problemarea]

What was that line Jonatton Yeah? said, something like,"Stupid people think its cool. Smart people think its a joke, also cool" Sums it up for me.

[Bert Thung]

Another example of comedy drama that's laugh out loud funny

IF YOU SEE GOD , TELL HIM
By David Renwick & Andrew Marshall

Just watched episode 1 for the first time in a decade.  Found myself  making lots of "ha ha ha" noises consistently through it, like we did in the bad old days.  

Richard Briers plays a man, who after a wheelbarrow falls on his head, believes every piece of advertising he sees.  Funny idea from the off, the saddoes!!

It had plot, character, identifiable themes, and non-stop gags. You know, these things that take work to produce.

If you want something to watch next  friday, download this at  (you know where).

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

THERE IS NOTHING TO ENJOY IN THIS SHOW. NOTHING AT ALL. LOTS OF PEOPLE HAVE TICKED 'BRILLIANT' ON THE POLL - WHY? WHAT ARE THEY LAUGHING AT? DID THEY WATCH DUCK SOUP BY MISTAKE OR SOMETHING?

I think it's great, but that doesn't mean I'm laughing at it.
If you take your comedy-shades off you'll see that it's quite a sad satirical drama about the loneliness of cool (or something)

But it works even less well if you pretend it's a drama.

In any case, it's so obviously supposed to be a comedy. It's quite clear what the targets are, where the jokes are supposed to be...but it's not interesting enough. People are just making excuses. I'd like to try and claim My Hero 'isn't supposed to be a comedy - it's a kids' sci-fi show' and see how far I get.

[InfiniteFury]

Fantastic, I've been after this for years.

EDIT - If You See God Tell Him - not My Hero.

[The Mumbler]

Oh and there was a bit of "Yellow Pearl" by Phil Lynott in that set as well.  And "it's in the trees" from "Hounds of Love".

What's so, er, funny about the 80s in terms of pop culture, incidentally?  I was there at the time, and I could tolerate plenty of it.  Despite school.

[weapon]

Yeah I guess thats fair what you said about some of the stuff not being anything new... Well I enjoyed the show. Hurrah!

[Rats]

The second half was much better but it's just "not meant to be funny" isn't it? Always a big mistake.