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November 13, 2024, 02:46:04 PM

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Obscure comedy that only you know about

Started by dead-ced-dead, July 31, 2024, 10:57:34 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

dead-ced-dead

Something a little different. Is there a show, movie, comedy album that only you seem to know about? Even on this forum of comedy nerds.

When I was 18 I started properly getting into comedy. I saw Larry Sanders, Party Down, Freaks and Geeks, Kids in the Hall etc. for the first time.

The Kids in the Hall led me to a bittersweet, coming of age comedy/drama from 2008 show called Less Than Kind. It's not directly created by the Kids, but they all guest star, Mark McKinney was a producer and co-wrote six or seven episodes or so.

It was also the final role for the wonderful Canadian "that guy" Maury Chaykin.

I was delighted to find it's all on Youtube and happy to see it holds up well. But I was surprised that any time I've made a thread for it here, I get crickets. SHAME ON YOU ALL. SHAAAAAME! And you call yourselves Kids in the Hall die hards (you don't)

If anyone's interested, it's here:


But what about you? Have you ever made a thread here and got nothing back, or very little back? We can make this thread a place to highlight stuff that flew way under the radar.

Gurke and Hare

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_(2006_film)

An Australian mockumentary about a plumber working for a portable toilet rental company. An ex-girlfriend's parents insisted on showing it to me when I was staying at theirs once, as if it's this hidden gem that they must share with the world. It was fine, but I don't think my life would be noticeably worse had I not seen it.

Never happened across any mention of it before or since.

dead-ced-dead

Quote from: Gurke and Hare on July 31, 2024, 11:30:29 AMhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_(2006_film)

An Australian mockumentary about a plumber working for a portable toilet rental company. An ex-girlfriend's parents insisted on showing it to me when I was staying at theirs once, as if it's this hidden gem that they must share with the world. It was fine, but I don't think my life would be noticeably worse had I not seen it.

Never happened across any mention of it before or since.

I have Australian cousins and when they came to stay, a DVD of Kenny came in tow. I think it's an Australian right of passage to show it to people.

SirDoris

The Strange Calls

Australian supernatural comedy series where a young cop gets sent to rural Queensland, where he meets Barry Crocker and they get up to zany adventures. I remember it got a fair bit of publicity in the lead-up to it airing as this sort of spooky but fun show - like Round the Twist, but for a slightly older audience. But then it aired and everyone just kinda ignored it. I remember watching it and having a nice time though, was kinda disappointed nobody ever paid any attention to it.

Also, as an Australian, I can confirm that Kenny was absolutely massive here when it came out. We don't really have a well-functioning film industry, and so something coming out that was both pretty decent and pretty popular made everyone in the country go crazy about it for a few years.

dead-ced-dead

Quote from: SirDoris on July 31, 2024, 02:08:43 PMThe Strange Calls


Sounds quite fun, honestly. And it's got Patrick Brammall, so it may be worth watching for him.

Gurke and Hare

Quote from: dead-ced-dead on July 31, 2024, 11:33:39 AMI have Australian cousins and when they came to stay, a DVD of Kenny came in tow. I think it's an Australian right of passage to show it to people.


Quote from: SirDoris on July 31, 2024, 02:08:43 PMAlso, as an Australian, I can confirm that Kenny was absolutely massive here when it came out. We don't really have a well-functioning film industry, and so something coming out that was both pretty decent and pretty popular made everyone in the country go crazy about it for a few years.

This is all understandable, but the ex's family weren't even Australian so fuck knows how they found out about it.

Mobius

i bet nobody here watched spirited, the australian 'comedy' starring matt king aka super hans from peep show

Cold Meat Platter

There was this thing about a devious market trader who shared a flat with his simpleton brother and grandad (or uncle?) but can't remember what it was called. Used to have it on a VHS when I was little.

SirDoris

Quote from: Mobius on July 31, 2024, 11:28:08 PMi bet nobody here watched spirited, the australian 'comedy' starring matt king aka super hans from peep show

All I remember about it is a scene where Matt King forced the protagonist to sing her old school song in the middle of a funeral? Whole thing felt kinda awkward, but not in a fun way.

Mobius

yeah it came out not too long after i emigrated here, so was amazed at an australian show featuring someone funny from peep show! but it was rubbish.

and yeah, every single australian has seen kenny / the castle.

Matthew Dawkins Jub Jub

Not that all of these should be antipodean, but one of my favourite movies is Death in Brunswick, a dark comedy from 1990 starring Sam Neill and John Clarke. Pretty well regarded in Oz, but I've never met a Brit who knew it.

SirDoris

Keeping with the accidental antipodean theme, I'll go for a British show that I never see British people talking about, but because it was aired regularly down under, every Australian of my generation knows it pretty well.

The Big Knights

Made by the Peppa Pig people before they all became multi-millionaires, it's the adventures of two absolutely massive knights living in a faux-medieval world. Incredibly fun and chaotic, with a rousing soundtrack and a great cast who are either appropriately withering (Timothy West, Prunella Scales) or enthusiastically loud (Alexander Armstrong, BRIAN BLESSED). Will stand and die on the hill that Knights in Distress is a perfect ten minute piece of comedy, particularly for kids.


(also, it's the inspiration for literally every username I've ever had, and I'll always jump at the chance to talk about how great it is)

More obscure Australiana

Life Support

It's sort of a cousin to Russel Coight's All Aussie Adventures in that it satirizes another common Aussie TV trope - the 'DIY/Lifestyle/Top Tips' show. Darker than Top Tips or Coight, it offers a mixture of

Unethical LifePro Tips

There's a lot more hits than misses, and some of the tips verge on actually being 'useful' in a really fucked up way.

I was living in Australia when it came out - did it ever make it to the UK?

Pink Gregory

Quote from: SirDoris on August 01, 2024, 08:52:28 AMThe Big Knights



I was pretty young when it was coming out but I was a bit obsessed, despite actually finding it quite hard to catch on TV, guess I didn't know about the radio times?

JesusAndYourBush

I know of an Australian comedian called Rodney Rude because in the 90s I had some videos of Dr Who from Australian TV and whoever taped them left the tape running. Another comedy on those tapes was some sort of sketch show called Sweet & Sour.

madhair60


lazyhour

Nobody watched The Divine David Presents except me. It was great.

There's an argument to made that cult TV broadcast between the late 90s and late noughties represents a whole lost generation of media. Too niche (or too late) for VHS or DVD releases, too early for everything being streamed online and therefore grabbable by archivists/fans with a little bit of tech savvy. The Divine David definitely falls into this category, as does a whole host of interesting late night Channel 4 programming that was broadcast once then forgotten. Comedy, music documentaries, interviews with obscure figures,  remixed old b-movies...

13 schoolyards

Quote from: Mobius on July 31, 2024, 11:28:08 PMi bet nobody here watched spirited, the australian 'comedy' starring matt king aka super hans from peep show

I did, and it was a comedy? I thought it was more of a twee Aussie drama along the lines of Love My Way, only with dead adults instead of dead kids (spoilers for Love My Way there)

Good to know "Obscure" is a synonym for "Australian", time for me to start going on about The Jesters and Stupid Stupid Man (both got two seasons!) and You Can't Stop the Murders and that friend of mine who's seen Boytown Confidential and so on. Anyone else remember Randling?


dead-ced-dead

Quote from: lazyhour on August 01, 2024, 02:19:00 PMNobody watched The Divine David Presents except me. It was great.

There's an argument to made that cult TV broadcast between the late 90s and late noughties represents a whole lost generation of media. Too niche (or too late) for VHS or DVD releases, too early for everything being streamed online and therefore grabbable by archivists/fans with a little bit of tech savvy. The Divine David definitely falls into this category, as does a whole host of interesting late night Channel 4 programming that was broadcast once then forgotten. Comedy, music documentaries, interviews with obscure figures,  remixed old b-movies...

That was certainly the case for my OP thread starter. Only season one got a DVD release; Canadian, so outside of the US/UK push before Netflix made things like Schitt's Creek a big deal; Kids in the Hall adjacent but specifically not The Kids in the Hall.

Now it's on Youtube I'm trying to sing its praises but I suspect the ship has sailed. Unless its Kids or Slings and Arrows (the other Kids adjacent cult hit) people just aren't that bothered.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: lazyhour on August 01, 2024, 02:19:00 PMNobody watched The Divine David Presents except me. It was great.

There's an argument to made that cult TV broadcast between the late 90s and late noughties represents a whole lost generation of media. Too niche (or too late) for VHS or DVD releases, too early for everything being streamed online and therefore grabbable by archivists/fans with a little bit of tech savvy. The Divine David definitely falls into this category, as does a whole host of interesting late night Channel 4 programming that was broadcast once then forgotten. Comedy, music documentaries, interviews with obscure figures,  remixed old b-movies...

I watched it but I can't remember an awful lot about it, though there's a thread about them here which includes a fair few still working youtube links: https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=32295.0 and this much more recent thread is interesting too: https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=104059.0

Caprain Peacock

Quote from: SirDoris on July 31, 2024, 02:08:43 PMThe Strange Calls

Australian supernatural comedy series where a young cop gets sent to rural Queensland, where he meets Barry Crocker and they get up to zany adventures. I remember it got a fair bit of publicity in the lead-up to it airing as this sort of spooky but fun show - like Round the Twist, but for a slightly older audience. But then it aired and everyone just kinda ignored it. I remember watching it and having a nice time though, was kinda disappointed nobody ever paid any attention to it.

You have prompted me to come out of CaB lurking just to say that I thought I was the only person in Britain who ever watched the Strange Calls. I really enjoyed it; a great cast with no weak links, interesting ideas, brilliant music and genuinely very funny. It's a real shame Daley Pearson, who wrote and directed it, went off to be Executive Producer on Bluey instead so never managed to get the second series off the ground.

Also until about 6 months ago I didn't realise that Coolum and Noosa are real places, so now they're on my must visit list if I ever manage a trip to Australia. Which I won't because I'm a penniless no-hoper.

Quote from: SirDoris on August 01, 2024, 08:52:28 AMKeeping with the accidental antipodean theme, I'll go for a British show that I never see British people talking about, but because it was aired regularly down under, every Australian of my generation knows it pretty well.

The Big Knights

Made by the Peppa Pig people before they all became multi-millionaires, it's the adventures of two absolutely massive knights living in a faux-medieval world. Incredibly fun and chaotic, with a rousing soundtrack and a great cast who are either appropriately withering (Timothy West, Prunella Scales) or enthusiastically loud (Alexander Armstrong, BRIAN BLESSED). Will stand and die on the hill that Knights in Distress is a perfect ten minute piece of comedy, particularly for kids.


(also, it's the inspiration for literally every username I've ever had, and I'll always jump at the chance to talk about how great it is)

I think it was hardly seen in the UK as it ended up getting dumped in the Christmas schedules one year in the middle of the afternoon, in a way which screams "we've paid for this but now we don't want it so it's just getting burnt off as quickly as possible when no-one's watching". My dad used to record the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures every year and I found an episode recorded by accident on one of the tapes. Glad it found an audience somewhere, as it was really good!

Quote from: lazyhour on August 01, 2024, 02:19:00 PMNobody watched The Divine David Presents except me. It was great.

There's an argument to made that cult TV broadcast between the late 90s and late noughties represents a whole lost generation of media. Too niche (or too late) for VHS or DVD releases, too early for everything being streamed online and therefore grabbable by archivists/fans with a little bit of tech savvy. The Divine David definitely falls into this category, as does a whole host of interesting late night Channel 4 programming that was broadcast once then forgotten. Comedy, music documentaries, interviews with obscure figures,  remixed old b-movies...

Spot on, that period up until the mid 2000s was the last genuinely experimental era of Channel 4 and it's all pretty much vanished into a media black hole. It's hard even to find listings of those shows without trawling newspaper archives. Not all of it was worth watching but there was some stuff I'd really like to track down, like some of the 4Music band documentaries as they often covered relatively unusual acts like Lambchop and Gorkys, but it seems no-one bothered to record any of those. It really is a lost era of TV

lazyhour

Quote from: Ron Maels Moustache on August 01, 2024, 05:37:07 PMI think it was hardly seen in the UK as it ended up getting dumped in the Christmas schedules one year in the middle of the afternoon, in a way which screams "we've paid for this but now we don't want it so it's just getting burnt off as quickly as possible when no-one's watching". My dad used to record the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures every year and I found an episode recorded by accident on one of the tapes. Glad it found an audience somewhere, as it was really good!

Spot on, that period up until the mid 2000s was the last genuinely experimental era of Channel 4 and it's all pretty much vanished into a media black hole. It's hard even to find listings of those shows without trawling newspaper archives. Not all of it was worth watching but there was some stuff I'd really like to track down, like some of the 4Music band documentaries as they often covered relatively unusual acts like Lambchop and Gorkys, but it seems no-one bothered to record any of those. It really is a lost era of TV

Yes, there were documentaries about Lambchop and Grandaddy that I'd love to see again. Didn't know there was a Gorky's one but ditto!

Famous Mortimer

Talking of that era, I have the full run of "Vids" somewhere, still.

"The Strange Calls" sounds like fun, and I liked the look of the trailer too.

BritishHobo

Quote from: Mobius on July 31, 2024, 11:28:08 PMi bet nobody here watched spirited, the australian 'comedy' starring matt king aka super hans from peep show

I can confirm that no fucker was interested

I quite enjoyed it as an odd sort-of supernatural romance melodrama soap thing (I recall all of the stuff involving the Rodger Corser ex-husband feeling really heightened), with nough weird elements to keep it going, like the whole thing in season 2 with the dead cult leader, or some old bloke rocking up claiming to be a still-alive aged-rocker Super Hans.

McChesney Duntz

Speaking of Kids-adjacent obscurities, here's Young Drunk Punk, a semi-autobiographical comedy series from Bruce McCulloch that lasted all of thirteen episodes...


dontpaintyourteeth

#27
does anybody remember You are Here? I don't know if it was good at all really, haven't seen it years, but my sister and I used to quote bits from it.

Paul Putner, presumably the actual one, has uploaded it to youtube:


In my head it's a bit like Eddie Izzard's Cows*, ie absurdly stacked cast in service of sadly not particularly good comedy


*I assume that one is too notorious to qualify for this

letsgobrian

I definitely watched You Are Here at the time, but buried its contents deep in the recesses of my mind and never gave it another thought until I clicked play on that video.

Big Knights I was more fond of, and bought the DVD back in 2010. Because it was primarily being sold to parents to buy for their kids, it had the BD version included as a bonus disc rather than vice versa. Which was a bargain for £5 it was being sold for at the time.

The Pod Christmas Special (featuring a pre-Mighty Boosh Julian Barratt.)  I remember listening to Radio 1 in the evening one Christmas Eve back in....must've been around 1998/99?  Only heard the last 10 minutes or so, but it was a one-off comedy special that was played out about 9:00pm during what was an all-day Chris Moyles Radio 1 takeover type thing.

Essentially a spoof of late-90s ambient dance music culture, the sections I heard had Julian Barrett talking bollocks over some squelchy techno noises, an interview with Brian Eno and a kind of shouting crescendo at the very end.

Keep thinking I wouldn't mind hearing it again, but there's barely any mention of it at all on the entire internet, let alone a rip of it anywhere.  Never turned up on YouTube so I'm pretty sure I'm one of about 4 people that actually heard it at the time, let alone still remembers it. 

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