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Ellie & Natasia

Started by Mobius, June 20, 2022, 12:29:21 AM

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Mobius

A new sketch show from Ellie White & Natasia Demetriou. You'll recognise them from Staths Lets Flats.

Ellie White is in The Other One, and Natasia Demetrious is in What We Do In The Shadows. They were also both in This Time With Alan Partridge, and various other things.

They've been a comedy duo for a while, and some of their sketches are on Youtube.

Guardian seem to like it

on BBC3 Tuesday 20th June (tomorrow) at 10:15pm

Thanks for the heads up! Tuesday is the 21st and it starts at 10pm, the second episode starts at 10:15.
Why they hiding this away? I didn't even know BBC THREE was still going.
I remember the pilot being alright.

Pink Gregory

I, too, enjoyed the pilot greatly, and I've never not found either of them a hoot whenever they've shown up elsewhere, admittedly mainly from Stath Lets Flats.

"I've drawn my daddy!"
"I'm frightened of my shop..."

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Oh nice. I recall liking the pilot episode. That was aaaaages ago though and they've both been so busy ever since that I assumed a series wasn't happening.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

I've seen the first episode of this, and it's very funny. And that's my preview.

Twilkes

I only know Ellie from this, which is more of a showcase for Katy Wix, but I'll seek out the series.


I like them both a lot and laughed a few times, but I think Lazy Susan is a stronger recent sketch show.

neveragain

Ooh, the opposite opinion here. Lazy Susan was fine but this was much more up my street and had a constant flow of laughs with no dry sections (of which there were a few in LS.) Anyway, Ellie & Natasia are great character performers and I would love to see more of this. There were some wonderful one offs, like the bed sketch and Snap. I like sketch shows with lots of ideas.

Nice cameos too.

Virgo76

Seen two episodes. Good so far. Enjoyed the "dental assistant" one.
Good to see them achieving their potential.
They could be the new Watson and Oliver (!)

Pink Gregory

Does not disappoint, extremely strong and confident out of the gate, not afraid to be really fucking stupid or odd. 

Interesting that they're only 15 minutes, probably to its benefit though, certainly doesn't feel like there's any missed potential by being shorter.

Of course, very happy to see Jamie.

Ahh this is brilliant.  New fave.  Didn't know how much I missed sketch.

#10
Only seen the first one but I loved it. Just really funny stuff. The wild swimming sketch was the only one that didn't make me laugh, so that's a phenomenal hit rate.

Pink Gregory

We've watched the first three and there's maybe one sketch that went on for a little bit too long?  It's an incredible hit rate, but it feels like they've had a long time to reslly figure their stuff out.  The brevity helps with the recurring stuff, I feel like they'd be starting to grate a little  bit otherwise.

I really liked this.  Wasn't initially sure what to make of the first "Internet Nails" sketch, but by the end of the series those were my favourite recurring sketches.  Lovely to see Jamie Demetriou in those bits too and a fleeting appearance from Matt Berry.   

Just brilliantly daft.  Glad sketch shows appear to be making a low-key comeback.

j_u_d_a_s

There's about 5 really solid sketches in the whole series. A lot of it felt like aimless improv, the YouTube mums and Internet Nails in particular (I'm really not a fan of Borat style whacky foreigner stuff tbh).

Some really nice premises and recurring formats, the "what are you wearing" vox pops are a great idea for quickie character sketches but none of them were particularly memorable. I did really like the use of stock photos in between sketches though, that gave the series a nice bit of texture. The songs were missed opportunities, the sexy baby one for example could have made a really good point about sexualising infantilised women but never went beyond the surface of that premise. Absurdity only works when it goes to extremes, and tbf to them it did in a few sketches, but most the time it was just messing about. Frustrating because they're really talented performers and there's glimpses of what they're capable of as writers but it all needs a bit/lot of refining.

Pink Gregory

To be fair, with most of the material from the pilot being reused unaltered, and the short format, the only way is up (provided they get more series)

I agree in that the character sketches are better than anything that gets revisited - like I said Internet Nails is getting a bit old now, still like the Youtube mums even though it doesn't go anywhere (also an incongruous '#prawns' under the second one made me howl).  Maybe the show's strengths as it stands now are when it's all surface?  Just a breezy joke machine but the flavour wears off quickly.

neveragain

I dunno, I'd say the recurring Mums sketches are full of good lines. Which is why I liked them.

Virgo76

It's a very good series. Largely avoids nearly all the pitfalls of sketch comedy.
Incidentally, Harry Hill and Simon Bird (who directed the series, I see) are actually much better guests than the real Sunday Brunch usually gets.

Icehaven

I thought this was great, didn't like every sketch but that's always par for the course with sketch shows and it was just nice to have a decent new one to watch. Hadn't seen either of them in anything before apart from hearing Natasha Demetriou on Adam Buxton's podcast ages ago so I didn't really have any expectations but it exceeded my lazy pessimism by a lot.

QuoteI did really like the use of stock photos in between sketches though, that gave the series a nice bit of texture.

Yep I liked that too, how it wavered closely between mundane and absurd (women smiling at sushi and people with eggs on their heads). I liked some of the standalone sketches too, like the couple unable to find their way out of the bed, just stupid little ideas played out, that's where sketch comedy really works.

Pink Gregory

Natasia has a bit of a thing for blood or blood like liquids coming out of her mouth, doesn't she?

Thosworth

Pretty high hit rate. The home video sketches seemed like an extension of when the Stath cast made a film, and the 'actors on set in costumes' felt very French and Saunders.

My favourite female double act series, Anna and Katy, seems to have been purged from All 4

Tears in my eyes at the Cleo Legs character

Pink Gregory

Quote from: StewartLeehaslethimselfgo on June 26, 2022, 12:21:44 PMTears in my eyes at the Cleo Legs character

They can both absolutely nail 'posh dickhead' in so many ways.

Virgo76

Quote from: Thosworth on June 25, 2022, 10:34:16 AMPretty high hit rate. The home video sketches seemed like an extension of when the Stath cast made a film, and the 'actors on set in costumes' felt very French and Saunders.

My favourite female double act series, Anna and Katy, seems to have been purged from All 4
Katy briefly pops up in this.

Virgo76

Quote from: OpenMikeKnight on June 21, 2022, 11:00:38 PMI like them both a lot and laughed a few times, but I think Lazy Susan is a stronger recent sketch show.
Disagree.
Only seen one episode of Ĺazy Susan admittedly so far.
But Ellie and Natasha is much better.

Captain Z

Just finished watching, I thought it was fantastic. Definite Tim & Eric vibes in some places, along with some very conventional laughs. They nail a particular aesthetic of modern TV production that feels like it's long overdue for piss-taking. The wild swimmer sketch, for example, where you can see the punchline coming a mile off, but the buildup is a perfect parody of that sort of Springwatch/non-specific regional outdoorsy kind of program.

Quote from: Pink Gregory on June 24, 2022, 12:47:33 PMTo be fair, with most of the material from the pilot being reused unaltered, and the short format, the only way is up (provided they get more series)

I initially thought the same, but I'm watching the pilot right now and only the Internet Nails and Sexy Baby sketches were recycled. I'd say the latter is better used in the pilot (Ellie's wince at the end really makes it for me), although I do think the full series has much stronger material overall.

Quote from: OpenMikeKnight on June 21, 2022, 11:00:38 PMI like them both a lot and laughed a few times, but I think Lazy Susan is a stronger recent sketch show.

Interesting. Not heard of if before and watched the first episode off the back of this. I've seen Ellie White in a few things, but with Beatrice in The Windsors being one of her most famous roles, it's strange to now see Eugenie from The Windsors doing her own almost identical female double-act sketch show, right down to the same matter-of-fact modern pop parodies.

jobotic

Hit and miss definitely. I did like the Internet Nails stuff a lot though. And the dentist's technician.

The Sunday Brunch applause had me laughing out loud, which I don't often do. And the close ups of the plate.

Only watched the first two but definitely looking forward to the rest.

gilbertharding

I prefered Ellie and Natasia to Lazy Susan, if we're doing a poll (it feels wrong to lump them together, but it's natural - especially as half of each double act worked together on the Windsors). I thought that the tone/voice of each was almost indistinguishable... which one was the Pomodoro Brothers? The Stock Photos and the fashion vox pop segments were fantastic.

Oh - and it was Saturday Kitchen, not Sunday Brunch.

Adam Buxton's done podcast interviews with all these people, by the way, and they're good episodes.


Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

^ Guevara's really let himself go.

Utter Shit

Quite enjoying this from the two episodes I've seen. It's patchy as most sketch shows are, but there's a unique weirdness running through it that moves into being outright creepy at certain points like the dentist sketch.

Also, I don't feel great about saying this about a sketch show fronted by two very talented women, but Jamie Demetriou's performance in the Universal Pussy song is the stand-out moment so far.