Monkey Dust - What was the connection to West Somerset?

[Sonny_Jim]

After rewatching Monkey Dust a couple of years ago I noticed a few odd things that I hadn't noticed before and made me wonder if one of the writers grew up in the area like I did.  The first is the ashtray during the 'Benji the internet paedo' sketch* with the words 'Minehead - 1976' on the side of it.  So far, so what?  Well it's the 'Geoff the first time cottager' sketch where it gets a bit weird:

The B3225 exists, it goes through Porlock from Minehead, but there's no such place as 'East Porlock'.  There is a 'West Porlock' though and apparently there was a small 'leather scene' that used to congregate in one of the tiny pubs down there.

So I ask you, this balding font of UK comedy knowledge,  were the 'internet paedo' and 'Geoff the first time cottager' sketches written by the same person?  And who was it, as they've clearly got in depth knowledge of the area?

*_{Couldn't find the right sketch, but it's the same character.}

[madhair60]

dunno but Monkey Dust is truly shit. Hope this helps?

[zomgmouse]

dunno but Monkey Dust is truly shit. Hope this helps?

also dunno but I will not tolerate this kind of Monkey Dust slander. hope this helps

[dead-ced-dead]

also dunno but I will not tolerate this kind of Monkey Dust slander. hope this helps

Also dunno but in this house we follow the laws of thermodynamics!

[Ferris]

Monkey Dust is good and I like it. Might not have aged well but I won't watch it again to find out.

[madhair60]

I will grant that it was occasionally visually arresting and had a lovely soundtrack but it was about 99% unfunny

[zomgmouse]

hmm no it's very good actually (source: went back and watched it all last year or the year before and it was still very good and mostly not aged badly at all)

[Ferris]

Re: place names, maybe a writer was from the area, but I always assumed they opened a random page of an A to Z until they found a place that was suitably esoteric and amusing. Once you have that, you can chuck in local roads etc to make the scene grounded and it's an amusing Easter egg for people who know the place.

I liked the references to Tipton and the then-baggies striker Stern John from the West Bromwich sketches, for example.

Edit: I'm thinking of the wrong footballer but you get the point.

[madhair60]

hmm no it's very good actually (source: went back and watched it all last year or the year before and it was still very good and mostly not aged badly at all)

blimey. alright then.

maybe I'd like it more now?

[zomgmouse]

blimey. alright then.

maybe I'd like it more now?

i would say give it a go but then also if you hate it please don't come for me in my sleep

[madhair60]

i remember it as being very "edgy", with sketches like the suicidal father eliciting no laughs. I liked the Goldfrapp (I think?) intro to the Clive sketches, I liked the finale to series 1 with Sunrise by Blur. other than that I don't remember it too much.

it was probably better than the Mr Hell Show.

[zomgmouse]

look i mean it's very deliberately "dark" stuff but it's also incredibly silly and absurd, lots of ridiculous premises and gags. ps it was definitely goldfrapp (and is what introduced me to them)

better than the mr hell show probably but they're very different in tone and type

[beanheadmcginty]

Monkey Dust was great stuff.

[Sonny_Jim]

Re: place names, maybe a writer was from the area, but I always assumed they opened a random page of an A to Z until they found a place that was suitably esoteric and amusing.

I did think that, but then the leather club thing was pretty secretive, I only found out about it after moving out of the area.  Maybe it was just a massive coincidence.  Really I should download the episode and check the credits to see who wrote it, but that would require effort.

Monkey dust is alright, I liked it at the time and it stood up when I rewatched it.  Some of it is pretty shit, but some of it is great.  Personal favourites for me were Ian Dobsky, the guy making up the excuses and those american movie spoofs:

EDIT:  Actually, the best was the 'Classically Trained Actor'

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Dunno, but " Sunrise" was by Pulp ( from their final album " We Love Life"). Hope this helps?

[Milo]

I discovered Eels due to them using That's Not Really Funny as the intro music so that was a good thing.

[madhair60]

Dunno, but " Sunrise" was by Pulp ( from their final album " We Love Life"). Hope this helps?

It is extremely embarrassing that I made this mistake.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

I never done it. I only said I done it so they'd take me bellend out of the chilli sauce.

[Ferris]

@Sonny_Jim yeah I think that's a fair assessment. It had duff bits but that's par for the course for clip shows like that.

I liked the silliness of the paedo-finder general.

[Ignatius_S]

I did think that, but then the leather club thing was pretty secretive, I only found out about it after moving out of the area.  Maybe it was just a massive coincidence.  Really I should download the episode and check the credits to see who wrote it, but that would require effort...

From what I recall, the credits (at some point) has information about who was involved in the animation side of each segment, but nothing about the script.

I don't think there's been much information about who wrote what material but over time, the impression that I've formed is that a lot was written by Harry Thompson and Shaun Pye. One thing that I read that the divorced dad and Timmy segments was born out of Thompson's own experiences.

[Ignatius_S]

look i mean it's very deliberately "dark" stuff but it's also incredibly silly and absurd, lots of ridiculous premises and gags. ps it was definitely goldfrapp (and is what introduced me to them)

better than the mr hell show probably but they're very different in tone and type

The tone did shift over its life - in the third series, there was more of a sneering tone (e.g. fat working class people eating themselves to death set to stripper music); certainly,  a lot of people I know commented on that change.

Also, I felt there was an issue that there was over reliance of tried and tested characters - those had run their course but were still better than the new ideas being generated.

[Oh, Nobody]

Featured the line "Ebola? What, like ebola porridge?" so it's top of the pops with me.

Don't remember the third season at all tbh.

[The Mollusk]

Some of it is pretty shit, but some of it is great.  Personal favourites for me were Ian Dobsky, the guy making up the excuses and those american movie spoofs:

EDIT:  Actually, the best was the 'Classically Trained Actor'

This stuff has reminded me why I switched off after five minutes when it first aired nearly 20 years ago. I was a stoned idiot teenager but even then I found it incredibly weak and tryhard.

[madhair60]

I revisited some of it because of this thread and I found I liked it a little more overall, mostly in appreciation of the different visual styles. But as a comedy, sorry, but I find it very weak.

I was quite surprised by the positive reception ITT, then I remembered how long I've been on here.

[idunnosomename]

Back in 2003, on here, if you said you liked Monkey Dust, youd be thrown in jail

Some of it was good. Overall it was good. Bit repetitive in places, i recall it reused a lot of animation. Partly sylistic but also obvious why they did it.

[JamesTC]

AGA

[imitationleather]

Some of it was good. Overall it was good. Bit repetitive in places, i recall it reused a lot of animation. Partly sylistic but also obvious why they did it.

Yeah my main memory of it was that almost every episode was the same.

It was in an era of sketch shows where each character had one joke and it'd be repeated almost verbatim every single week.

[Blumf]

Some of it was good. Overall it was good. Bit repetitive in places, i recall it reused a lot of animation. Partly sylistic but also obvious why they did it.

This is the correct opinion.

Good music, good mix of styles (Fizzy Eye fan), some of the repetition worked okay (Ivan Dobsky, lying husband), S03 was a big drop in quality.

Particular fondness for the links between sketches, but then I've always like them in sketch shows.