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Graham Linehan Episode XVIII: Help Me Elon Muskenobi, You're My Only Hope

Started by Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse, May 03, 2022, 09:56:56 PM

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Rich Uncle Skeleton

Quote from: Barry Admin on May 21, 2022, 11:38:18 AMHe can fuck right off, using comedy as leverage like this. The sheer gall in using a well-loved comedy show and it's legacy purely to try and stir up more hatred against a minority. What a desperate man.

Exactly and it's not just his work and its legacy he's dragging into this, there's two other people to consider in the case of the musical. If it even exists...

So much goodwill and reputation pissed away and not all his. Would be a massive shame if it wasn't simply down to him being a poisonous little bastard hell bent on gambling everything on his critics somehow being proven wrong eventually.

JamesTC

You are found guilty of holding up the Father Ted musical. I sentence you to one apology and life in prison.

Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse

Quote from: Rich Uncle Skeleton on May 21, 2022, 12:56:23 PMExactly and it's not just his work and its legacy he's dragging into this, there's two other people to consider in the case of the musical. If it even exists...
I was going to say "it doesn't", but wouldn't it be absolutely mad if there was a Father Ted musical all ready to go, but they can't start production because Mathews and Hannon want Linehan's name off it and he refuses to let them buy him out?

The Late Satoru Iwata

As I recall, it's not that they (the production company who no longer have any professional relationship with him) don't want to make Pope Ted, it's that they didn't want his name heavily associated with it, right?

Which suggests he's imagining a world where the posters don't just say

QuotePOPE TED
The Father Ted Musical

above a big, colourful picture of the four main cast members in character and doing wacky poses, then maybe it has his name down in the production credits like on a film poster, but rather one where it's:

QuoteGRAHAM LINEHAN (and arthur mathews)
The Genius Creator* of Father Ted
PRESENT/s
POPE TED
THE MUSICAL

*s

with maybe a giant photo of his own face with a blue tick in the corner, and it's his refusal to allow that first scenario (regardless of little a selling point his and Arthur's names would be to the public at large)** which is actually stalling Pope Ted.

That and the fact that, according to the other writer, it seems to have not actually got further in its gestation than a few scenarios which might or might not make it to the finished version.

He's like a rapture cult except instead he's constantly espousing the never-to-arrive second coming of Ted Crilly.



**If anyone's name would be in be in big print it'd be Neil Hannon and he'd probably still need to have 'of The Divine Comedy' on the end.

Martin Van Buren Stan

I do really hope we get to hear the music Neil Hannon made for it at least.


JamesTC

Quote from: Martin Van Buren Stan on May 21, 2022, 01:05:34 PMI do really hope we get to hear the music Neil Hannon made for it at least.

Glinner should just do it all himself and fundraise the costs. Call it Pope Fred if the rights are a problem.

He has already shown he can top Neil Hannon with his hit single, You've Turned Off Replies.

The Late Satoru Iwata

I would be amazed if anything currently exists beyond Songs of Love and a contrived way to get My Lovely Horse into the show. If Arthur doesn't even know what the show's about, I can't see any of it existing in solid enough form that songs have started to be written to accompany any of the plot beats.


Martin Van Buren Stan

Quote from: The Late Satoru Iwata on May 21, 2022, 01:08:29 PMI would be amazed if anything currently exists beyond Songs of Love and a contrived way to get My Lovely Horse into the show. If Arthur doesn't even know what the show's about, I can't see any of it existing in solid enough form that songs have started to be written to accompany any of the plot beats.

Well Hannon said this a few years ago.

https://www.irishnews.com/magazine/entertainment/2019/06/10/news/father-ted-creators-settle-their-differences-to-finish-musical--1638712/

QuoteSpeaking on BBC Breakfast, he said: "Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews, praise be, settled their differences and we are all back in a room writing the musical.

"It's very exciting. In fact, we are pretty much almost finished. It'll still be quite a while before it hits the boards.

"I take all my inspiration from what they have written, the scenes they have constructed.

"Sometimes I have written about six songs for one particular scene that never seem to hit the nail on the head. But most of them have come quite easily."

The Late Satoru Iwata

Fair enough. I guess Arthur forgot he was at these sessions.

Barry Admin

Quote from: The Late Satoru Iwata on May 21, 2022, 12:59:35 PMHe's like a rapture cult except instead he's constantly espousing the never-to-arrive second coming of Ted Crilly.

Yes, I had the same thought; just recently we had that mad Glincel who was fantasising about all the great comedy he'd write "when this is all over."

It's interesting to see how his stance here has developed. He's moved more and more from "who could write comedy with all this going on?" to "they won't let me write comedy, I'm a victim, waaaahh"

Here's his stance from a couple of years ago when he started to use the Daily Mail:

Quote from: the most hated man on the intenetBefore I knew how toxic trans rights activism was, I wrote an episode of my Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd with a trans character. The response was more venomous than I was used to, but as bad as it was, at least I was allowed to write it. That was in 2013.

In 2020, such an episode would never air. And that is because the first generation who didn't go out to play have grown up to become clones of Mary Whitehouse. The new puritans.

I am not new to outrage. There was fury on the part of some when we first released Father Ted but the executives we had were made of strong stuff and ignored the attacks. The same goes for The IT Crowd, Brass Eye, Black Books, and I guess a few comedies I haven't worked on.

I'm worried we're entering an era of pre-chewed, prissy art that offends no one. But it's not comedy writers who are the victims of all this: it is women who are the real casualties.

He couldn't really cite Mary Whitehouse these days, as he's turned into her.

The Late Satoru Iwata

One person wouldn't want a trans woman character to be on a TV comedy
One person wouldn't want to see a trans woman character get beaten up by a man on a TV comedy

GLINNER: These people are the same!

Quote from: A comedy writerBut it's not comedy writers who are the victims of all this: it is women who are the real casualties

The two genders.

Dr Rock

Is it puritanism that means we don't have Mind Your Language on the telly any more?

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: Dr Rock on May 21, 2022, 01:31:48 PMIs it puritanism that means we don't have Mind Your Language on the telly any more?

LWT director general at the time (and BrassEye nemesis), Michael Grade cancelled the sit-com after three series in 1979 because he felt it had strayed from its remit and was relying too much on racial/ national stereotypes to get laughs.  ITV don't show any of their old sit-coms anymore.

The Late Satoru Iwata


madhair60

Hang on, sorry, who was offended by Black Books? What's controversial about that?

somersetchris

Quote from: madhair60 on May 21, 2022, 01:46:00 PMHang on, sorry, who was offended by Black Books? What's controversial about that?

Yeah Linehan's comedy was never exactly edgy, was it? It was pretty warm and cosy, it's not like he was pushing any boundaries. You're not Chris Morris mate.

jobotic

Linehan was well into his hate career by the time Hannon is talking about. Nice.

somersetchris

Quote from: grainger on May 21, 2022, 07:31:37 AMCome to think of it, the sentiment of his piece is a bit Rorschachy too. Rorscach has a much better sense of grammar, though - but then to be fair, his dialogue was written by Alan Moore.


Rorschach would 100% be a grammar nazi on social media.

somersetchris

Quote from: JaDanketies on May 21, 2022, 11:21:13 AMcan you imagine if Katie Montgomerie or someone was saying stuff similar to WAF? Not only would it be brought up as evidence that trans people are pedos for all eternity, but Katie Montgomerie would probably have a lot more 'fans' slamming her, disagreeing vehemently, and trying to distance trans rights from Katie Montgomerie as far as possible.


That is totally JK Rowling's tactic. Use polite language to express her 'genuine concerns' and then feign horror and outrage at those evil TRAs when one of them tells you to fuck off. If you're trying to marginalise people out of existence, especially when you can't wipe that condescending smirk off your face for five fucking minutes, they will get upset about it. Does she think her beloved suffragettes should have been more polite?

JaDanketies

Quote from: somersetchris on May 21, 2022, 01:58:07 PMYeah Linehan's comedy was never exactly edgy, was it? It was pretty warm and cosy, it's not like he was pushing any boundaries. You're not Chris Morris mate.

In fairness Father Ted was pretty boundary-pushing at the time. I remember being told not to talk with my heavily-Catholic Irish cousins about it. Although it turned out that they also watched it. Suppose he was standing on the shoulders of  The Life of Brian though

BennyHedgehog

Quote from: The Late Satoru Iwata on May 21, 2022, 12:59:35 PMAs I recall, it's not that they (the production company who no longer have any professional relationship with him) don't want to make Pope Ted, it's that they didn't want his name heavily associated with it, right?


Yeah, the production company won't provide the funding needed to get it on stage because they don't think the show can turn a profit with his name on it.

They offered him £200k to take a step back and he's refused


petril

it's two hundred grand,
it's two hundred grand,
they offer me that to conceal my own brand

Barry Admin

WAF has hit on another totally original idea that definitely hasn't been proposed before with regards to other minorities:



Meanwhile, back on Linehan's SGB:



Alberon

I'd say the biggest reason that IT Crowd episode wouldn't be made today is that it totally misunderstands what being trans actually means.

It has a trans woman who acts like a man because she's really a bloke. It's totally nonsensical and at the same time exactly what you'd expect from Linehan knowing how he has since gone so bananas.

No show these days should laugh at someone for being trans in the exact same way you wouldn't laugh at someone for being black.

damien

It's remarkable how few of the oldskool Terfs tweet him on his new in-limbo twitter account. Mostly it just seems to be late-to-the-party types,  angry Americans and general anti-vaxers. 

wrec

Quote from: jobotic on May 21, 2022, 01:58:55 PMLinehan was well into his hate career by the time Hannon is talking about. Nice.

Yes. Shouldn't be forgotten that Mathews has defended his bananas friend, and Hannon seemed irritated to be asked about him, and refused to be drawn on his thoughts on it. In both cases they obviously don't see the behaviour and rhetoric as a problem, just the fact that it's affected the production. Shameful shit from the pair of them IMO.


Martin Van Buren Stan

Quote from: wrec on May 21, 2022, 03:17:10 PMYes. Shouldn't be forgotten that Mathews has defended his bananas friend, and Hannon seemed irritated to be asked about him, and refused to be drawn on his thoughts on it. In both cases they obviously don't see the behaviour and rhetoric as a problem, just the fact that it's affected the production. Shameful shit from the pair of them IMO.



How many former colleagues have openly condemned Linehan? I remember Moran giving a vague, both sides answer when asked about him. Hannon has always been very unpolitical. I'm pretty sure he's only ever written one political song.

Ferris

Ardal O'Hanlon was willing to call him a wally (paraphrased) but the focus was on how obsessive he'd become rather than the subject itself.