Comic Relief 2022 [split topic]

[confettiinmyhair]

Sat through an hour of comic relief and feeling sorry that French and Saunders can't be funny, or even raise a smile for charity, any more.

[Shaky]

Chloë Annett as Kochanski in Red Dwarf S7 & S8. She'd never done comedy acting before or since, and she didn't really do it during. Absolute humour vacuum.

Having watched them all again a couple of years ago, I actually thought Annett wasn't that bad. She even has a couple of decent moments. Problem is she's totally ill-served by the writing, which never works out what to do with her beyond saying, "Here's a really cliched version of a woman."

[phantom_power]

Sat through an hour of comic relief and feeling sorry that French and Saunders can't be funny, or even raise a smile for charity, any more.

Lucas and Walliams are getting an absolute pasting on Twitter about their Rock Profiles revival. It's a shame as it is the best thing they ever did

[DrGreggles]

Sat through an hour of comic relief and feeling sorry that French and Saunders can't be funny, or even raise a smile for charity, any more.

99% of Comic Relief spots could rightly make it into this thread.

Saw it was on last night. Is Lenny Henry ill?

[neveragain]

Lucas and Walliams are getting an absolute pasting on Twitter about their Rock Profiles revival. It's a shame as it is the best thing they ever did

Fuck the naysayers! The Rock Profile bit was a lovely piece of nostalgia, not amazingly hilarious but hit all the right notes/comedic techniques. The tide has turned against L&W and - while still recognising the dodgy nature of some of their stuff - I for one find it a shame.

[Uncle TechTip]

Yes, it was rather broad and not especially funny, but seeing Matt Lucas dress up in big costumes and putting on cartoon accents is always a joy. I did let out a proper laugh at the end when Adele broke out into My Old Man's A Dustman or whatever it was.

[phantom_power]

I did get the feeling it might have been a bunch of beige cunts just not getting the joke but couldn't tell for sure

[greencalx]

99% of Comic Relief spots could rightly make it into this thread.

I was going to ask if CR has ever been funny. I have a vague memory that the very first one might have been... alright. We similarly tuned in for half an hour or so last night, mostly so the child would get some idea of what it's about. He was not amused, and neither were we. I literally have no idea who it's aimed at. If an uncool middle-aged couple with next to no social life and a primary-school aged child get nothing out of it, it's hard to see who would.

[thenoise]

I was going to ask if CR has ever been funny.

75 pints 1 song

Pre-empting the #something #something else viral video meme by many years, and improved by the non-reaction of the audience and Smith/Jones's more or less open contempt.

[kalowski]

I was going to ask if CR has ever been funny.

Rowan Atkinson and Kate Bush.

He's an utter creep and he
Drives me round the bend
And so to alleviate the boredom
I sleep with his friends
Ho ha ho

[Twilkes]

I repeat-played the Cliff Richard/Young Ones Living Doll single and B-side back in the 80s. Mind you, I was 9 years old.

[sovietrussia]

I remember on the very first one Michael Palin raised a chuckle, in character (if not costume) as Luigi Vercotti, explaining why Michael Palin will not be appearing (something to do with him getting a new washing machine installed I think).

[Mr_Simnock]

Can't believe it's been going since 1986

[Kankurette]

Lucas and Walliams are getting an absolute pasting on Twitter about their Rock Profiles revival. It's a shame as it is the best thing they ever did

Rock Profiles is funnier than Little Britain ever was.

[thr0b]

Rock Profiles is funnier than Little Britain ever was.

Yep.

I suspect a lot of the people complaining however don't even know what Rock Profile was. Even the DVD release makes it look like a spin-off of Little Britain, when it's entirely different. (And not having the music etc on the DVD didn't help.)

[chip]

Just watched the Rock Profiles clip on BBC's youtube, thought it was pretty naff. Kay no match for Theakston. Also they didn't include Adele singing My Old Man's a Dustman, which is a shame as that sounds hilarious.

[greencalx]

I repeat-played the Cliff Richard/Young Ones Living Doll single and B-side back in the 80s. Mind you, I was 9 years old.

No need to apologise. It wasn't on my radar that this was CR specifically, as opposed to one of the several novelty records that was floating around at the time (eg The Chicken Song).

With the first one in '86 it turns out it started when I was the age my child is now. I seem to remember it being a much bigger thing back then, with major comics on the BBC roster taking part (Smith, Jones, Atkinson etc). The segment we saw on Friday included Tom Daley, Nina Wadia, Tamzin Outhwaite, Rosie Jones, Helen George, Scarlett Moffatt, Paddy McGuinness, Zoe Ball, David Tennant, Lenny Henry, Judi Dench, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and one or two others that I've now forgotten. I'm a bit out of touch but only a minority of these are known primarily as comics.

I wonder if this is connected to comedy not being a major feature of mainstream BBC output these days.

[Ron Maels Moustache]

No need to apologise. It wasn't on my radar that this was CR specifically, as opposed to one of the several novelty records that was floating around at the time (eg The Chicken Song).

With the first one in '86 it turns out it started when I was the age my child is now. I seem to remember it being a much bigger thing back then, with major comics on the BBC roster taking part (Smith, Jones, Atkinson etc). The segment we saw on Friday included Tom Daley, Nina Wadia, Tamzin Outhwaite, Rosie Jones, Helen George, Scarlett Moffatt, Paddy McGuinness, Zoe Ball, David Tennant, Lenny Henry, Judi Dench, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and one or two others that I've now forgotten. I'm a bit out of touch but only a minority of these are known primarily as comics.

I wonder if this is connected to comedy not being a major feature of mainstream BBC output these days.

My feeling is that when it started it was very much in the vein of The Secret Policeman's Ball, e.g. primarily a comedy show but with a charitable intent. Over the years the comedy aspect has been whittled away to the point where it's pretty much indistinguishable from the format of something like Children In Need.

It doesn't help that the in-studio comedy bits usually died a death with the audience when interspersed with heartstring-tugging montages of dying children, even if they aren't actually half bad, hence the like of Vic & Bob, Adam & Joe and Mitchell & Webb dying on their arse when they were on.

[Brundle-Fly]

It's pretty lame when they just get a comedian to do a task like in this year's CR's case: learn how to sing operatically, play mini golf or round up some sheep. Absolutely devoid of any comedy apart from the comics pulling nervous aside faces into camera. Write some jokes.

[dissolute ocelot]

My feeling is that when it started it was very much in the vein of The Secret Policeman's Ball, e.g. primarily a comedy show but with a charitable intent. Over the years the comedy aspect has been whittled away to the point where it's pretty much indistinguishable from the format of something like Children In Need.

It doesn't help that the in-studio comedy bits usually died a death with the audience when interspersed with heartstring-tugging montages of dying children, even if they aren't actually half bad, hence the like of Vic & Bob, Adam & Joe and Mitchell & Webb dying on their arse when they were on.

The first one had a lot of the younger alternative comedy comedians you didn't see on mainstream BBC1 much, coming over from Channel 4's Friday Night Live and The Comic Strip and that sort of thing, as well as people like Lenny Henry who were a bit bigger but still very popular with the youth, so it definitely felt like something new and exciting with "our people", in opposition to the tedious showbiz backslapping of Children In Need, in the face of a genuine global emergency. Or at least that's what I remember. (Of course back then I 100% hated Terry Wogan and all he stood for.)

Now Comic Relief, Children In Need, and Sport Relief are almost indistinguishable, full of careerist light entertainment assholes doing stuff to make themselves look good - why was Radio One DJ Jordan North rowing 100 miles for Comic Relief? Fuck knows.

[Stone Cold Steve Austin]

The Rock Profile sketches were absolutely excruciating. The only bit that was even passable was Adele, and that felt like a retread of better ideas. The rest were people they don't know enough about to have anything to say with them. Miley Cyrus as a backdrop to do Billy Ray signing Achy Breaky Heart would have been tired and hack 10 years ago, never mind now. Billie Eilish, she's young! (TikTok????????) Post Malone...errr well he's American...?

[JaDanketies]

I was going to ask if CR has ever been funny.

I transcribed and analysed the Ali G interview with Posh and Becks for my linguistics degree. Arguably Posh and Becks were 'in on the joke' and therefore it isn't as good as 'proper' Ali G, but it had some good lines.

"So, do you want him to grow up to be a footballer like his dad, or a singer, like Mariah Carey?"

[Famous Mortimer]

I think my moment came years ago, when they had Fearne Cotton hosting a chunk of the night. Good at what she does, I presume, but not a funny person. I've not seen it for a while, but it sounds like it's gone further down the toilet. Why make it worse on purpose, though? Who was the person who made that decision?

[Brundle-Fly]

What the whole night was missing was the half forgotten cast of EastEnders from fifteen years ago to reunite and murder The Beatles' Sgt Pepper album for Children In Need all over again. I'm sure Phil Daniels would be game.
You want excruciating?

[dead-ced-dead]

What the whole night was missing was the half forgotten cast of EastEnders from fifteen years ago to reunite and murder The Beatles' Sgt Pepper album for Children In Need all over again. I'm sure Phil Daniels would be game.
You want excruciating?

Forgot that the bloke with the dodgy Australian accent in Pacific Rim was in EastEnders.

[mjwilson]

I dimly remember a Comic Relief which featured (or possibly was followed by) a bunch of Monty Python sketches. At that time I only really knew Python from the albums, so that was a great bit of exposure of previously unknown material for me. (Scott of the Sahara was in there I think.)

[Gurke and Hare]

The Secret Policeman's Ball style live show that was the first Comic Relief event was great. A Young Ones sketch ending with a Living Doll performance, the Kate Bush/Rowan Atkinson collaboration alluded to above, Atkinson doing a filthier than usual version of the Schoolmaster sketch. I've still got the VHS, but haven't watched it for ages  what with how it's a VHS tape.

A lot of the better stuff in the earlier shows was Rowan Atkinson stuff, there was also the Blackadder Cavalier Years and Nosenight, in which he did silly editing with clips of Newsnight interviews interspersed with him asking silly questions and Lord Hailsham answering "The Belgians." to everything.

[greencalx]

I'm glad my memory isn't playing tricks on me. As noted, the cuts between comedic antics and starving children were always tonally difficult, but at least the comedy had its moments. The Vic'n'Bob thing above was great - couldn't see the Beeb letting anyone doing that these days (at least, not without having some disclaimer to demonstrate that Bob is scarily good at acting pissed).

[neveragain]

Yeah, the Comic Relief nights were very funny, particularly at the start but certainly up until... well, I want to say 1997 or 1998 (possibly around when Ted and Dougal presented a section of the night.) But even more recently, the Alan Partridge team put some effort in with several great sketches.

[kalowski]

Yeah, the Comic Relief nights were very funny, particularly at the start but certainly up until... well, I want to say 1997 or 1998 (possibly around when Ted and Dougal presented a section of the night.) But even more recently, the Alan Partridge team put some effort in with several great sketches.

Partridge and the big clown shoes was the last good thing on CR that I've seen. The Partridge stuff was head and shoulders above the rest.