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James Acaster: where do I start?

Started by Ferris, May 24, 2022, 08:10:09 PM

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madhair60

I've only ever seen his "brave little cis boy" rant and it wasn't funny at all but I agreed the fuck out of it.

Not being difficult but I feel like stand up comedy should be funny jokes and not just a man shouting his views, but that's me just being a staunch traditionalist. James Acaster - correct about trans people, but not funny. Fair? Fair

No, not fair at all, that rant is quite atypical to the rest of the show, which is more personal rather than outward looking and generally really funny.

Dr Rock

Quote from: Poobum on May 24, 2022, 08:26:14 PMClassic Scrapes

Random little stories that are up there with Bob Mortimer in delightful surrealness.

Yeah don't miss these

Pink Gregory

Yeah if Repertoire is anything to go by, Acaster's stock in trade is really inventive, silly, imaginative stuff that you don't see in any of his peers, I think he's mainly regarded for that more than being critical of lazy standup. 

Hope he has a long and successful career, frankly. 

madhair60

Quote from: thelittlemango on May 25, 2022, 08:57:27 AMNo, not fair at all, that rant is quite atypical to the rest of the show, which is more personal rather than outward looking and generally really funny.

I've bought the special and will watch it

Utter Shit

#35
Anyone interested in Classic Scrapes - as good as the audiobook is, the original setting for them was Josh Widdicombe's XFM show, and I think it works much better with an audience of his friends. I've got what I think is a full collection of the XFM show Scrapes, and could upload them to Google Drive if anyone is interested.

EDIT: Just realised I missed the link to them all on Youtube. Anyway the offer stands if you wat them as mp3s!

Quote from: phantom_power on May 25, 2022, 07:34:36 AMNo, Acaster admits himself when a show goes a bit wrong he has a meltdown and starts berating the audience. Stand-up is a catharsis for him so when it doesn't work he takes it really personally and doesn't handle it well

He's definitely had problems with lads lads lads types who turn up to his shows because they want to see the wacky one off Mock the Week and end up getting cross when he talks about mental health for half an hour.

I think that sort of behaviour might even be the basis for his new show, Hecklers Welcome. Though I could be very wrong about that.

PlanktonSideburns

will give his stand up a go, but just clicked the first video on that classic scrapes youtube channel, (complaining to josh fuckin widdicombe about how he didnt get paid enough to do a gig in a church that didnt go well, followed up by a supplemental but about how him and his mate were a bit rude to the churchgoer who put them up for the night ) and it didnt help change my conception of him being a studenty dullard i must say

selectivememory

I found that the Classic Scrapes are much better enjoyed in book form, but that might depend on how high your tolerance for Josh Widdicombe is. I just find him very obnoxious and couldn't stand all the interruptions.

Anyway, love Acaster. Can't go wrong with any of his stand-up really, and his series of Taskmaster is arguably the best one.

The Mollusk

No offence guys but if you make assumptions about a stand-up comedian based on isolated clips taken out of context and slapped on YouTube you might as well watch a 3 second clip of a football being kicked and say "what a shit match". Really bizarre that this mentality still exists here. I've got the attention span of a fucking puppy with a firework up its arse and even I know this.

PlanktonSideburns

fair point. keeping an open mind on him - just had his food podcast and this to go by so far so ive paid a BIT of attention, honest. will go watch one of his comedy specials

Obel

Annoys me that this thread wasn't an announcement of a new special called "where do I start?"

madhair60

Quote from: The Mollusk on May 25, 2022, 12:27:20 PMNo offence guys but if you make assumptions about a stand-up comedian based on isolated clips taken out of context and slapped on YouTube you might as well watch a 3 second clip of a football being kicked and say "what a shit match". Really bizarre that this mentality still exists here. I've got the attention span of a fucking puppy with a firework up its arse and even I know this.

the widely spread clip of "brave little cis boy" gives the impression of a comedian who gets laughs by saying things people agree with. what he's saying in that clip, while a genuinely welcome destruction of transphobic comics, is not funny at all but still getting huge laughs. I think it's entirely fair and reasonable to watch clips of comedians and come to conclusions based on them, it's what everybody does in deciding if something's for them.

at any rate I've bought the special and downloaded Repertoire and I will watch them! Sorry for emotive responses lately I'm having a very strange time!

Des Wigwam

I'm going to give Repertoire another go. I didn't give it enough of a chance last time as I was distracted - which is a terrible way to watch comedy what on-demand streaming has done for me. The main problem for me is I don't really enjoy his delivery.

The Mollusk

Quote from: madhair60 on May 25, 2022, 12:46:08 PMthe widely spread clip of "brave little cis boy" gives the impression of a comedian who gets laughs by saying things people agree with. what he's saying in that clip, while a genuinely welcome destruction of transphobic comics, is not funny at all but still getting huge laughs. I think it's entirely fair and reasonable to watch clips of comedians and come to conclusions based on them, it's what everybody does in deciding if something's for them.

I dunno, would you say the same about Stewart Lee? If I saw any clips of his work out of context before seeing his shows I doubt I'd get much out of them at all, but in the broader context of his routines they're brilliant. Sports players suddenly hit a stride halfway through a game and surprise everyone, songs are placed strategically on tracklists to create an overall experience. YouTube videos however are thumbnailed with extreme freeze frames and enormous captions like ACASTER SLAMMING THE TERFS!!! That sort of crap is designed to whittle people down into knuckle dragging bait clickers who digest media in convenient little chunks. We as a forum are better than that.

Anyway with Acaster it's pretty widely acknowledged on here that he's a very smart and creative comedian so the collective opinion is absolutely worth giving his work your full attention. If you don't like the special then please do check out the first of the four Repertoire sets, as those shows are less riled up and more whimsical yarn spinning, they're brilliantly constructed pieces of work.

Not having a go at you specifically in the above btw, just making a wider point and singling your post out as an example in this particular instance. You KNOB.

Ferris

Yeah all fair points. I was gonna try and form an opinion based on random clips but I thought "well that's a shit way to do it".

My thought pattern was: imagine watching the cider routine from If You Prefer a Milder Comedian... without the context. It'd be far less funny for a start, and then if you watch the full show you've ruined one of the strongest sections for yourself. Lose-lose scenario.

So I didn't do that, and came to CaB instead. Didn't get time for Repertoire last night but will try and get stuck in this week.

Ferris

@The Mollusk I was typing basically the exact same response.

Great minds, mate.


madhair60

Quote from: The Mollusk on May 25, 2022, 01:30:51 PMI dunno, would you say the same about Stewart Lee? If I saw any clips of his work out of context before seeing his shows I doubt I'd get much out of them at all, but in the broader context of his routines they're brilliant. Sports players suddenly hit a stride halfway through a game and surprise everyone, songs are placed strategically on tracklists to create an overall experience. YouTube videos however are thumbnailed with extreme freeze frames and enormous captions like ACASTER SLAMMING THE TERFS!!! That sort of crap is designed to whittle people down into knuckle dragging bait clickers who digest media in convenient little chunks. We as a forum are better than that.

Anyway with Acaster it's pretty widely acknowledged on here that he's a very smart and creative comedian so the collective opinion is absolutely worth giving his work your full attention. If you don't like the special then please do check out the first of the four Repertoire sets, as those shows are less riled up and more whimsical yarn spinning, they're brilliantly constructed pieces of work.

Not having a go at you specifically in the above btw, just making a wider point and singling your post out as an example in this particular instance. You KNOB.

I'll watch those and Cold Lasagne. I don't mean to be ignorant, just reflecting my aversion to "hype" I suppose. I've got that thing where when people say something is good I am willed to find fault with it

up_the_hampipe

Quote from: madhair60 on May 25, 2022, 03:11:22 PMI'll watch those and Cold Lasagne. I don't mean to be ignorant, just reflecting my aversion to "hype" I suppose. I've got that thing where when people say something is good I am willed to find fault with it

If it helps, that clip is probably the only bit of CL that I don't really like, for essentially the reasons you stated and he's usually a lot better than that. He does a bit later on about a beloved comedy icon turned twat that's much stronger. Real shame that's the only clip from that special that gets passed around so much, but given the platform it's popular on, it's not surprising.

BritishHobo

Yeah you always see a lot of comments from people going "shows Gervais is right, all comedy is shit and woke now".

On the note of the Classic Scrapes, I do think the clips on the Josh Widdecombe show are the best version - with the exception of the longer ones taken from live shows, where poor James takes ten or fifteen minutes to tell a scrape because loads of other comedians keep interjecting with shit zingers. I think the shorter ones benefit from Josh's reactions though. The scrapes are a nice specific thing that you don't tend to hear often, and which I find really relatable; a shambling bloke getting into stupid situations that don't usually end in great punchlines or payoffs, just him feeling like a mess.

Thosworth

One omission from the radio version of Classic Scrapes is that it doesn't include the scene that unfolds as he leaves the Kettering Board Games Club, which really tickled me when I read it. I could post it in spoilers, but out of the context of the story it probably doesn't work. The closing line of that chapter I often find myself reciting (usually in my head, and in his voice).

Elderly Sumo Prophecy

I thought from the thread title that you were going to lay into him and call him nasty names.

disappoint.jpg

olliebean

I have a friend who has a problem with James Acaster because he apparently told a story involving a friend of hers - another comedian - in his act that essentially accused him of rape (not by name, but supposedly it was pretty obvious who he was talking about). Anyone know anything about that? I don't think she'd seen it, just been told about it by her friend.

neov1974

I watched the first Repertoire after reading some of this thread and figuring to give it a go.

While I enjoyed the considerable skill and craft of how he'd put together his work, it just didn't make me laugh very much, literally just a couple of chuckles. Am I just a miserable old sod or does anyone else catch my drift?

canadagoose

I've bought Cold Lasagne on Vimeo now, so I'm looking forward to that. I (understandably) liked his bit about Ricky Gervais; he seems to have comic timing down to a pat.

Quote from: neov1974 on May 26, 2022, 03:50:42 PMI watched the first Repertoire after reading some of this thread and figuring to give it a go.

While I enjoyed the considerable skill and craft of how he'd put together his work, it just didn't make me laugh very much, literally just a couple of chuckles. Am I just a miserable old sod or does anyone else catch my drift?
I did the same. Thought it was good not great. Will probably watch the others, I'm sure there are at least couple of lols to be had.

Purple Toupee

The second part of Repertoire is by far the best in my opinion, could be worth sticking with it.

neov1974

Quote from: Purple Toupee on May 26, 2022, 05:57:02 PMThe second part of Repertoire is by far the best in my opinion, could be worth sticking with it.
well I gotta watch it now :)
I mean I went into this positively inclined to the guy, I want to laugh!

Brundle-Fly

I think he's a smart comic. Did anyone see his sitcom at the time? Top cast.

https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/we_the_jury/