Comedian Phil Evans is from Ammanford. He is known as the man who puts the ‘cwtsh’ into comedy. Website – www.philevans.co.uk
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THE RICKY HORROR (SITCOM) SHOW
Comedy is hard, my friends.
Not everyone, whether 50 people in a room over a pub or 20,00 in an arena, will laugh at every funny line a comedian says.
Some fall on stony ground.
Similarly with TV sitcoms, people rave about popular shows that fail to tickle my funny bone. Usually because the annoying characters behave like they’re living in a sitcom.
The other night I re-watched a few episodes of Ricky Gervais’s excellent sitcom “Extras” (2005-7) which IMHO is brilliantly written and performed.
But . . . it does have a weakness at its heart…
If you’ve never watched “Extras”, Ricky plays Andy Milman a struggling actor who can only find background or ‘extra’ work in films and TV and is desperate to get a big break.
This eventually comes in the form of a sitcom script he’s written, based on his time working in a factory, which he sells to the BBC, who agree to allow him to star in the show.
Unfortunately, due to interference from the Comedy Department bosses, producers etc. the result is not what Andy envisaged. It’s full of moronic catchphrases and the characters are over-the-top caricatures.
Despite that, the series is a huge hit and Andy becomes a success . . . but at what price?
The weakness for me is, Andy’s sitcom (“When The Whistle Blows”) seems more like a throwback to broad 1970s shows than something the BBC would commission in 2005.
The ‘jollly’ opening credits and music for “When The Whistle Blows” are designed to resemble those of “Only Fools And Horses”, while the witless characters sitting around the canteen table could easily be the idiot relations of the “Dinner Ladies” cast.
Both those shows are sitcom classics that never insulted the audience’s intelligence.
Ricky has proven his comedy ‘chops’ time and again and become a major player in the comedy world.
I realise Ricky was showing us showbiz success at any price is an empty experience, but I hope by creating a crude working class sitcom-within-a-sitcom he wasn’t having a sly dig at John Sullivan’s and Victoria Wood’s much-loved series, which can be watched and enjoyed endless times.
Comedy is hard, my friends!
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Mental illness and depression is all around us.
Each and every day, I make time to write and have to admit that this can be a challenging experience.
If I’m not writing jokes, editing a script or tuning ideas for this newspaper column, I’m adding to my list of corporate and conference talks for a future event.
Doing this exercise on a daily basis works the old grey matter and ensures my writing skills don’t get rusty.
When researching subjects, I often turn to the news pages online, which can be a great source of material.
Unfortunately, most of the time (well, nearly all of the time) the news is full of negative and shocking stories from home and around the world.
Rarely do we see happy, uplifting headlines.
That wouldn’t sell, would it?
I’m all for freedom of speech and the free exchange of information, but the level of shock news reporting we are exposed to is bound to have a detrimental effect on our moods and outlook on life.
It is also clearly evident that children are also exposed to this negativity at such a young age, it can’t possibly help to create a healthy and positive outlook.
I would welcome more good news or even a ‘Good News Channel’.
Is it any wonder that we now live in a society where mental illness and depression is at an uncontrollable level?
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You can follow Phil Evans on Twitter @philevanswales and www.philevans.co.uk
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