I have had such a productive day at work, I managed to listen to Buy Me Up TV and watch half a series of Whose Line is it Anyway? I would urge anyone in the UK or the ROI with access to Channel 4's On Demand service to watch episode 13 of the third series, because it will prolong your life. Get this: It is in fact an episode with Paul Merton and without Greg Proops and I'm still promoting it! That's how good it is. Of course, it does have Julian Clary in it.

I would also recommend this classic clip of an interview that Michael Parkinson did with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore some decades ago. Lots of double entendres and right out frisky comments there.

Labels: comedy, greg proops, julian clary, radio, TV, work

On Tuesday we went to our first (of, hopefully, many) film quiz(zes) at the local cinema. It was good fun, even though we drank way too much (I had Diet Coke, since I was going to work the next day and am such a prude). We won the first round. Well, we would have, but then the quizmaster forgot us during the tie-break and gave the victory to somebody else even though we had the closest answer to his question. The guys next to us loudly exclaimed that we were the actual winners, causing us great embarrassing and apparently this "gesture" seemed to suggest we should help them through the next six rounds. We ended up with a Will Hunter action doll from the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

Anyway, the evening was well spent (even though I did miss Julian Clary on BBC2) and the next even better. On Wednesday we went out for dinner after work and then on to see the highly acclaimed Boeing Boeing at the Comedy Theatre. That was well worth the money! I would recommend it to anyone who has the least bit of knack for comedy. Michelle Gomez was absurdly brilliant, the rest of the cast (minus Tamzin Outhwaite, who was just not as good as the others, sorry to say) were top class and we laughed a lot. I laughed out loud more than I usually do, but then again I really love the odd farce.

Today I got the anticipated recordings of Fiddler on the Roof (Broadway, 2004) and Man of La Mancha (Broadway, 2002/2003) and have listened to both already. Great music when tidying up. And the tidying up was needed, especially since I have figured out I should move my computer to where it doesn't overheat all the time. I have been pushing it too hard, poor thing.

Labels: computers, film, julian clary, musicals, personal, roger allam, theatre

Not that he has been very far away, but anyway, Julian Clary was back on telly tonight, in the rescue dog training programme The Underdog Show live on BBC2. Interesting and fun programming, actually, but based on a very serious premise from a desperate situation where 100,000 dogs are abandoned in the UK every year and need a good home to go to. Visit Dogs Trust to read more and to sponsor a dog for as little as one pound a week.

To round off tonight's post, I recently found this picture on my computer, and I know none of you (except for the dozens who visit my blog mistaking it for an official site of his) is interested, but I just thought it was a really good photo of Dennis Storhøi. Nighty-night!

Labels: animals, dennis storhøi, julian clary, TV

Using last year's template and then adding and removing as I see fit:

Coolest Villain of the year
Bill Nighy for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Funniest Sex Swap Film of the year
She's the Man

Best Hasselhoff Moment of the year
His being slapped around in Click

Most Embarrassing Yet Funny Film Moment of the year
Jean Reno doing interpretive dance in The Pink Panther. Worth the whole film!

Best Steve Carell Film of the year
Dead heat between Over the Hedge and Little Miss Sunshine

Indie Album of the year
The Killers: Sam's Town

Musical Album of the year
The 2006 London Revival Cast: Evita

Album of the year
Pet Shop Boys: Fundamental

Funniest New Series
The Class, Warner Bros. (US)

Strangest Series Cancellation of the year
Day Break, Touchstone/ABC (US)

Most Disappointing Comedy Series of the year
Twenty Good Years, Warner Bros. (US)

Favourite Comedy Series Character of the year
(Much like the previous two years:) Anne from Little Britain, BBC (UK)

Favourite Comedy Series Sketch of the year
Numberwang from That Mitchell and Webb Look

Best Cliffhanger of the year
The series finale of Green Wing

Most Anticipated Film of the year
X-Men: The Last Stand

Most Anticipated Film for everyone else, it seemed
The Da Vinci Code

Most Anticipated Game of the year
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Best Game of the year
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

British Film of the year
Snow Cake (UK/Canadian)

Best Play or Musical of the year
Evita, Adelphi Theatre (surprised?)

Would Have Most Wanted to See
Idina Menzel in Wicked, Apollo Victoria Theatre

Most Anticipated Book of the year
Per Egil Hegge: Harald V

Funniest Book of the year
Julian Clary: A Young Man's Passage

Most Annoying Yet Strangely Catchy Song of the year
Lily Allen: Smile

Worst Idea of the year
Having yet another round of Big Brother. Enough, already.

Best Moment of the year
16 August, finally getting Philip Quast's autograph

Labels: Alan Rickman, bill nighy, comedy, computers, evita, film, gaming, julian clary, lists, literature, music, musicals, philip quast, tamsin greig, theatre, TV

Yep, unfortunately the West End's best investment through the last decade has been cancelled. Kate Betts, an amateur playwright, wrote a play which was backed by one of the most successful producers in town and I thought the idea was absolutely brilliant. Theatreland itself is too scared to take a chance on new talent. There are too many musicals and too few proper and interesting plays in London.

I cannot believe I just typed that.

But anyway, we went to see the aforementioned play, On the Third Day (previously known as Playing Jesus), yesterday, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was actually ruddy good! Interesting plot, great set design, wonderful actors and all-in-all an amazing effort. It made it even more annoying to find out that it had been cancelled, especially considering that most, if not all, seats were sold out when we were there for yesterday's matinee (matinees aren't exactly known for drawing a crowd). One more week to go, so if you have the opportunity, I would really recommend this great blend of drama and comedy. And it's only ten quid (or five, in some cases)!

Next week we're going to see Savages at the Royal Court and then, of course, I will return to the Adelphi for another (ridiculously expensive) performance of Evita. If only I would get back to my former self and dare wait by the stage door after the show. Oh, well.

I am currently reading Julian Clary's autobiography called A Young Man's Passage. I started reading Rik Mayall's autobiography, and believe me, I am a huge fan of his, but I have read about 40 pages and it is really crap.

I cannot believe I just typed that as well.

Clary's book, on the other hand, is very entertaining. Just so you know.

Labels: evita, julian clary, literature, musicals, rik mayall, theatre, writing

A sitting room. Two girls are chatting away, each on their own sofa.

Girl 1: I'm going to marry Dale Winton.
Girl 2: Uhmm...he's gay.
G1: So?
G2: Last week you said you were going to marry Julian Clary.
G1: Yes, I did. And I am.
G2: I don't think they'll be very interested.
G1: Look, I'll marry them and then they'll keep each other company after dark.
G2: What if they don't like each other?
G1: Not my problem. (SIPS HER DRINK) They'll be thrilled just to be with me, who cares about their sex life?
G2: Didn't you say you'd marry both Philip and Dennis as well?
G1: Yep.
G2: You do know, of course, that bigamy is a criminal offense?
G1: It's very simple, ok? Dale will be hosting every night, bringing the drinks around, assuring us we're doing well, saying he's on our side whatever we choose. Julian will be telling jokes and prance around in outrageous clothing, and Philip will sing for us.
G2: And Dennis?
G1: (SLIGHT PAUSE) ...is for special occasions.
G2: This had better be a good one.
G1: Well, uhmm...he'll... I guess he'll be portraying different people every night, for our amusement.
G2: So they'll all just stay in the sitting room all evening, then?
G1: Uh-huh. (NODS)
G2: Right. And you need to be married to them because...?
G1: It's better than tying them to the table.
G2: And the fact that two of them are already married and the other two are gay does not enter into it?
G1: Not one bit. They'll be ecstatic just for being around me all day. They can bring their wives if they want to. They can live in the shed.
G2: You don't have a shed.
G1: Well, then they can't come.

There is a long pause.

G2: Has anyone ever told you you're really, really weird?

Current track: Nada.

Labels: dennis storhøi, humour, julian clary, personal, philip quast, time wasting

I haven't quite decided yet whether I'm just a sad case or if it is the most natural thing in the world, but I have spent the last few Saturday evenings watching the National Lottery's Come and Have a Go without any lottery ticket and without actually playing the game. Why? Because I'm such a Julian Clary fan that I desperately needed to watch the last few programmes he was in in this series. He's such fun and it turned out that his assistant Emily what's-her-face, whom we're much more used to seeing as our local news anchorwoman, has got a wicked sense of humour as well. All in all it has been a terrific series and I may be a sad case indeed.

The weather's nice today - going up into the mid twenties, I heard - and we're planning on paying Covent Garden a little visit. I quite like it around that area, as long as I end up finding a quaint little café after a round with the massive amount of tourists who seem to just apparate from thin air and stay and multiply forever. I need my coffee then.

We still haven't got through unpacking half of our stuff yet, so we're battling cardboard boxes wherever we turn. We've also got the old fridge - the replacement that we got and that didn't work - in the middle of the kitchen, so we've got that to climb as well just to get to the cereal. Wednesday will bring us harsh weather, I heard, so hopefully we will be able to unpack a lot during the mid-week. We seriously need to. It's cramped but I can't afford paying a million pounds just to put half of my things in storage either. My MasterCards are starting to bleed.

I hope you're having a lovely time, wherever you are!

---

I was going to post all that yesterday, but then we went to the pub instead because I needed to be somewhere a bit more quiet, in case my phone rang. The pub was quiet, until the resident drunk Kate rediscovered the jukebox and found a few songs she wanted played at max. By then we'd already sat there for about two hours and it was time for us to leave anyway. At least Kate didn't sing a long.

The phone did ring while I was at the pub; it was my estate agent telling me there had been some activity on the sale of my flat lately and that I had had some offers earlier in the day. We exchanged a few conversations during the next two hours, bid flew everywhere and then she said "we've had an offer of this much, it's a thousand pounds below the asking price, will you take it? The bidder said he was sure the flat would go for this sum because you can't afford another round." This made me really cross and I went into Vengeance Mode (TM). "No, thanks, he'll have to come up with the asking price (the little bugger), or I'm prepared to wait another week." (I wasn't.) "OK, I'll tell him that." The phone didn't ring for two hours after that and I thought "shit." There was a lot of money at stake and it was all mine and not part of some computer game where you can just start over if you lose everything. But when the phone finally rang, my agent told me one of the other bidders had taken up on my request and bid the asking price. Hah, the little bugger couldn't afford it after all. Tough shit. I know for a fact (because he was stupid enough to tell my agent - note the expression: My agent) that he'd been looking for a small flat for weeks and couldn't find anything else and he had to have it by the beginning of July. Good luck, you miser. You do not fuck with me and my money. (Pardon my French; I am inspired by the local vernacular.)

OK, so today we will be going to Covent Garden, then. There's going to be rain and thunderstorms starting tomorrow, so we'd better go today. That way we can unpack and go to the cinema tomorrow (the local cinema shows Kung Fu Hustle, which I'm eager to show to my flatmate). We watched The Eye again last night; this time we were in the same room as opposed to the last time when we watched it separately and ended up giving ourselves the creeps. I would recommend this gem of a film to everyone who likes a good horror flick. But it has to be seen in a dark room and preferably on your own for maximum effect.

Before we watched The Eye, we spent hours on the sofa looking through several Have I Got News for You videos that I own, as well as one of my Julian Clary shows (as the Joan Collins Fan Club - don't ask). I love HIGNFY and I've been kind of a fan of Angus Deayton since having seen KYTV during the very early nineties. A few weeks ago we saw Paul Merton's name (which is "Paul Merton", in case you were wondering) on the bill for the Comedy Store and I thought "hey! We should go and see! He's funny!" - but then I remembered it's Paul Merton, after all. Increasingly irritating throughout the evening and ends up saying something he would have regretted had he been a bit more down-to-earth. He's got a quick wit and a sharp tongue which crack me up frequently, but sometimes he crosses that line where he should have said "sorry, I didn't mean that" and then surges forward. The childish hassling of Angus after his tremendously stupid romp with a prostitute and some drugs proved too much for me and I haven't liked him since. Not that he cares, I'm sure.

Current track:

Labels: comedy, film, julian clary, personal, TV

I feel as if there are a few things I should mention about my previous post, regarding that list of comedy favourites. These are just comedy shows. I have other favourites as well, like stand-ups and presenters. And I haven't even mentioned any of my Norwegian and Swedish favourites. In order to give you an even fuller picture; I'm afraid there can be only one King of Stand-up, and that is Eddie Izzard! He is definitely one of the reasons for my vastly prolonged life (I'm sure) and I wish he'd stop by Oslo but I know he won't because he'd rather go somewhere nice and warm and we're not a member of the European Union so he probably thinks we're a bunch of twats. Then I have to mention three other favourites of mine - Paul O'Grady, Graham Norton and Julian Clary - and please no sniggering and drawing of conclusions here; they're too bloody funny for their own good and I may have to slap them silly if I ever meet them. Also, look out for the two stand-ups Greg Proops and Jimmy "No, I think you're fattest" Carr. Happy belly-laughing! I'm off to Barbados play Lords of the Realm III. So there.

Current track: Nothing.

Labels: comedy, gaming, julian clary