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Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews

Started by Simon Madeupname, December 13, 2009, 02:36:58 PM

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Hello all.

I was wondering if your collected minds could let me know about what happened with Linehan and Mathews. I'd knew they'd stopped writing together a while back, and I believed that Mathews was now writing plays. And I also see from a search of the forum here that Mathews had a new sitcom in Ireland this year, and seems to be writing prolifically.

But last night on the Comedy Awards Linehan talked about Mathews as though he was dead. It was very peculiar. So what happened between them? Why was Linehan talking about Mathews that way? Anyone know?

vrailaine

Matthews was only really funny in the context of Father Ted I suppose, there's glimpses of how relevant he was to Ted in his new show on RTE I think but he doesn't seem to be able to write very coherent scripts, even with a co-writer. I've no doubt his current show would be a lot funnier if it had the support behind it that the IT Crowd had but it still would be fairly messy.

Haven't seen I, Keano so I can't really judge it but I'd say it's reasonably safe to say he won't be writing any big-time british sitcoms any time soon so maybe that's why?

lipsink

Quote from: Simon Madeupname on December 13, 2009, 02:36:58 PM
But last night on the Comedy Awards Linehan talked about Mathews as though he was dead. It was very peculiar. So what happened between them? Why was Linehan talking about Mathews that way? Anyone know?

Yeah, that was odd. He was talking about Matthews as if he wanted to write with him but couldn't anymore. Which one of them made the decision to end their partnership anyway?

So, judging from the Comedy Awards Linehan wrote the Cats-Egypt bit from BrassEye. Anyone happen to know other wee bits that he wrote from the show?

vrailaine

On the (pretty good) Linehan documentary RTE done a few years back, they both say that they tried writing together after Hippies and Black Books were outta the way but it wasn't working as it used to. Seemed like Arthur was the one who made the decision though.

JPA

Quote from: vrailaine on December 13, 2009, 02:42:15 PM
Matthews was only really funny in the context of Father Ted I suppose

Have you read Well Remembered Days? It's brilliant, one of the funniest things I've ever read.

vrailaine

Quote from: JPA on December 13, 2009, 03:02:34 PM
Have you read Well Remembered Days? It's brilliant, one of the funniest things I've ever read.
I ordered it last night, but it sounds like it's still seeped in the laughing at old-Ireland sort of stuff. I've attributed almost everything I like about Ted to Morgan, some of the guests and Matthews.

Jack Shaftoe


jennifer

http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/category/a-bit-of-a-chat-with-ken-plume/

There's a couple of podcasts here where Linehan goes into more depth about their writing, specifically writing a film together etc. (I've linked to the main page as there's 2 GL interviews and I don't know which one is the right one or they talk about it in both) Certainly seemed extremely amicable...

chocolateboy

Quote from: vrailaine on December 13, 2009, 02:42:15 PMMatthews was only really funny in the context of Father Ted I suppose

You don't like Hippies or Big Train?

vrailaine


chocolateboy


An tSaoi

In the commentaries on the old Ted DVDs Linehan expressed a desire to work with Mathews again (or at least a sense of regret that he wouldn't be). They really should get back together, because they're not half as good on their own. The IT Crowd is one of the most wildly inconsistent shows I've seen (some episodes manage to be both hilarious and downright rubbish in the course of 25 minutes), and Mathew's new show Val Falvey TD is a real dud.

To illustrate; this week Val forgot his wedding anniversary (ho ho, I've never seen that one before), and had a run in with a parrot... with hilarious consequences. Not exactly a plot-line that's going to set the world alight, now is it?

Edit: I saw Linehan and Mathews being interviewed side-by-side on Irish telly last year, so they clearly haven't had a personal falling out. Maybe just a professional one.

Edit 2: Remember when they announced Mathews would be co-writing The IT Crowd series 2? Was that just a rumour, or was it all set to happen but fell through?

kidsick5000

If you check out the lovely Carpool podcast, Glinner talks a lot about wanting to write with someone else now. A LOT.
Send your applications in because the amount of times he goes on about it, he's looking for someone to fill that slot now.

Linehan and Matthews probably shouldn't get back together if they exhausted their partnership. I'm a firm believer in creativite partnerships having a limited shelflife. You capture what you can with that partner. Its only the ones that implode before their time that could really eturn, even then just for that last spark.
However, a new partnership can have amazing effects at anytime

vrailaine

Quote from: chocolateboy on December 13, 2009, 11:14:13 PM
Please show your working out.
I'll mail the results of my laughterometer to you asap.

Quote from: JPA on December 13, 2009, 03:02:34 PM
Have you read Well Remembered Days? It's brilliant, one of the funniest things I've ever read.

Seconded. In terms of style and sheer quantity of jokes-per-page, it reminded me of some of Spike Milligan's best work.

Here's that RTE documentary on Linehan, if anybody's interested...

[noembed]part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6[/noembed]

(excuse the dodgy quality)

Jemble Fred

Sorry if it sounds willfully controversial, but a decade on, I love Hippies every bit as much as Father Ted. I can't think of a better mix of characters, each perfectly cast – but then the whole setting is just geared towards my tastes and interest, moreso than the idea of three Irish priests. Playing Ray Purbs remains the highpoint of Simon Pegg's career, for me.

Both shows are obviously from a whole different universe of funny to The IT Crowd, but then I can't slag Linehan too forcefully because he did get Black Books off to a start, and that's my favourite sitcom of this decade.

SavageHedgehog

Not sure if I'd go that far but I love it too, especially the sandpaper stuff and Darren Boyd's "obituary".