Scotland the Mental

Another cracking story from the BBC, reporting on the kind of thing that surely only happens in Scotland.

Developments?

Not exactly super solid news, but a chink of light for those of us keen to see more of the best television comedy of recent years.

The Yeard

Will from Whiskerino has grown a Yeard. Have a look.


Year + Beard = Yeard from Will Jardine on Vimeo.

Kids in the Hall Backstage in Vegas

Some video of a Q & A Kids in the Hall did after appearing at Caesars Palace for The Comedy Festival. Via.

"This is Bullshit"

A cracking bit of stand-up about technology from Louis CK as he chats to Conan O'Brien.

Oscar Roundtable

From The Hollywood Reporter six screenwriters sit around and discuss their writing methods. In their number is Thomas McCarthy writer/director of The Visitor and The Station Agent, but also known for his performance as journalist Scott Templeton in the final season of The Wire.

75 Comics Being Turned Into Films

The Den of Geek lists 75 comics currently being turned into movies.

Runaways (2011)
This Marvel comics original finds teenagers fleeing to make up the sins of their parents, who they have discovered to be covert super-villains. A finished script is expected by early 2009 and Runaways is said to spearhead Marvel's post-Avengers strategy.

Red (2010)
Warren Ellis's 2003 thriller - about a retired CIA assassin that a new administration feel is a threat - is the first DC property to leave the fold for other producers, and will be produced by Transformers/2's Lorenzo di Bonaventura, amongst others.

"The Wait is Over"

The new Star Trek trailer looks cracking.

Esquire's 7 Greatest Stories

To celebrate their 75th anniversary Esquire magazine have put their 7 greatest ever stories online to read in full.

Shetland Stand-Up

sandy nelson @ The Stand- Glasgow
Originally uploaded by Heidi Kuisma

Glue mucker and Shetland resident Sandy Nelson has set up an evening class in stand-up on the island of Unst. It sounds like it'd be a fun course.

There he is there at the right warming up the audience a treat at the recording of the Glue pilot in July.

The End of the Trailer Park

Sad news from the world of Candaian television as Trailer Park Boys is set to end.

Here's the first 8 minutes of season 1 episode 1. Thanks to Graeme for the heads up.

What Obama Can Learn From The Wire

As we learned during the campaign one of Obama's favourite TV shows is The Wire. The Huffington Post looks at what the President Elect can learn from his favourite show.

I think I would just be happy if he went around saying "Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeet" in the style of Clay Davis.

Politics

Clearly Obama paid close attention to Mayor Tommy Carcetti's campaign against Mayor Royce. Both Obama and Carcetti were good looking, with excellent debate and oratory skills. Just like Tommy Carcetti, who woke up white in a city that wasn't, Barack Obama woke up black in a county that wasn't.

The Greats of Football Manager

The new version of Football Manager (formerly Championship Manager) is out today. This blog from the Guardian's website looks back on half a dozen of the legendary names from the game.

"...it's a fact that more thirtysomethings remember the name of Tonton Zola Moukoko than the name of the bloke who sat next to them at school."

"Champo Manager has, of course, been cited in more than 35 divorce cases." Says it all really.

Patton's Top 5

A great blog post here from Patton Oswalt where he reveals he has a book deal, that he found Sarah Palin 'achingly sexy' and where he lists his 'Top 5 Female Nazis'.

"...How I'd attempt to turn them from their evil ways. Think of me as Kevin Bacon in FOOTLOOSE, and they're my Teutonic Lori Singer."

Comedy Interviews

Here are a few comedy interviews. First of all Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald talk about Kids in the Hall playing a residency in Las Vegas and briefly mention their new 8 part TV series 'Death Comes to Town'. The link also includes a few Kids' sketches on YouTube.

In The Onion Jim Gaffigan talks about his 'Sexy Tour'.

It's funny, though, it's with Comedy Central, and there were these affiliates that do exchanges on ads, and supposedly in Tampa, one didn't want to do some promotion or something. They were like, [High-pitched voice.] "The Sexy Tour, that's dirty." And I'm a clean comic. It just proves that there's a lot of people who don't have any idea who the hell I am. I just thought it was funny, it's like, "The joke is that it isn't… it's not sexy." And they're like, "They don't get it."

A collection of writers from The Daily Show chat to an audience about their jobs.

Down the Wing

If you can't get enough of my patter here then you'll be delighted to know that there is another blog where you can read a lot more of it. Down the Wing is a football blog I've set up in order to document my attempts to attend 50 or more matches over the course of the 2008/09 season.

You'll read my reports on the games, which are geared far more to the patter of the fans and players than the nuts and bolts of football tactics. So far I'm up to 14 matches. This gives me a bit of an uphill battle to complete the 50 before the end of the season.

I have given myself very few rules to follow. I'm not trying to visit every league ground or anything like that. I'm taking in Junior, Amateur, Reserves and Ladies football matches as well as Scottish League games, European matches, friendlies and Internationals. Basically if there's a referee I can count it.

I've had a couple of offers of spare season tickets for the odd game and if anyone else wants to chuck that kind of action at me I'd be happy to take you up on it. If anyone has a suggestion for an obscure team to go and see I'd be happy to hear that too.

A Right Clown

Clown
Originally uploaded by jules3000

Fraser in Glue action.

Obama's Flickr

20081104_Chicago_IL_ElectionNight0985
Originally uploaded by Barack Obama

I only just discovered that President-elect Barack Obama has a Flickr account. There is over 50,000 photographs on it documenting his run to the presidency.

The most recent set shows him and his family watching the results on television before going out on stage to make his victory speech.

Are You Kidding Me?

While there are encouraging signs that America's government is about to get smarter, here in the UK there are a couple of news stories to suggest that ours is just getting dafter.

The first one made me laugh out loud, the second just made me angry.

1.) The report says "in general Britain is a happy nation" with 70% expecting more positive than negative experiences.

2.) "I believe there is a demand, now, for cards - and as I go round the country I regularly have people coming up to me and saying they don't want to wait that long."

"Well, You're One Up On Me"

Out of all the election coverage I watched last night and this morning, this was my favourite bit. Legendary political analyist Gore Vidal is as entertaining as ever as he crosses swords with the BBC's veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby, who appears slightly bemused by it.

Nae Offence Wee Sachs...

How wrong can you be? Just last week I said that in the wake of the Brand/Ross fiasco, BBC talent now knew they wouldn’t be backed in the event of a complaint. But lo! The bods have been all too quick to rush to the defence of Top Gear’s Jez Clarkson now he’s ruffled a few feathers with these, lets face it, much more genuinely offensive remarks.

The Beeb say of Clarko’s joke:

“The vast majority of Top Gear viewers have clear expectations of Jeremy Clarkson's long-established and frequently provocative on-screen persona.
"This particular reference was used to comically exaggerate and make ridiculous an unfair urban myth about the world of lorry driving, and was not intended to cause offence."

The thing is, if the question is “how many dead prostitutes does it take to make one Andrew Sachs?” the answer, according to the BBC, would appear to be “more than five”.

It is morally and logically indefensible to throw performers to the lions one week for making jokes about shagging a lassie and to then defend a guy who makes a joke referencing five young women murdered in cold blood barely a year ago. Am I saying Clarkson should be sacked? No, of course not, a joke is a joke, but where's the consistency?

When Cari Mitchell of the English Collective of Prostitutes (great name!), says that the offence caused by Clarkson’s joke was: "…more serious than the Ross and Brand debacle" because he was "making light of murder", you have to say she has a point.

As for the BBC’s defence; if Jeremy Clarkson genuinely doesn’t wish to offend, he might want to steer clear of jokes about brutally (and very recently) murdered woman.

Will this escalate into the next celebrity witch hunt? I doubt it, but who knows? After all, we’re yet to hear as a nation what Kelvin McKenzie thinks of it all…

Like the Guy in China

With the US Election about to kick off here's a couple of election related funnies. Victoria Jackson used to be a cast member on Saturday Night Live. She had a nice line in dumb blondes. The reason, it turns out, is because she is one herself. The video on this link shows her on Bill O'Reilly's show as the Fox newsman attempts to drum up support for McCain. Even O'Reilly, a Grade A head-the-ball himself, seems a bit puzzled at her remarks. In the same 100 second video O'Reilly comments that Obama "...Seems to be a capitialist in the sense that he earns money and he buys things."

From a couple of weeks ago here's Larry David counting down the days.

"Five times a day I'll still say to someone, "I don't know what I'm going to do if McCain wins." Of course, the reality is I'm probably not going to do anything. What can I do? I'm not going to kill myself. If I didn't kill myself when I became impotent for two months in 1979, I'm certainly not going to do it if McCain and Palin are elected, even if it's by nefarious means."


Get your Obama Os here.

Here are a couple of slideshows of the election from Flickr. First Vote and then US Election.

If you're from the west of Scotland you'll probably know that former Talking Heads mainman David Byrne is originally from Dumbarton, as such he can't vote, so he's encouraging his fans to get down there and vote themselves.

The Guardian look at the top 25 moments from the campaign.

More on the Brand/Ross Carry-on

One of the things to amuse me about the Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross carry on is that no one can quite settle on a name for it. I've seen Ross/Brand Gate, Brand Gate, Sachs Gate and Manuel Gate. Perhaps it's time to stop trying to shoehorn 'gate' onto the end of each new scandal.

As the fallout continues there's been a couple of funny articles on the subject. In yesterday's Observer David Mitchell wrote this piece.

"Because it's been a particularly lovely week for those 30,000 and rising who've found the time in their undoubtedly busy schedules to thank the BBC for taking the trouble to offend them. Obviously, 29,998 of them missed the broadcast, but thanks to the miracle of YouTube and our dispassionate, fact-printing media, they've all had the opportunity to catch up and get their fix of what offends them.

They're an odd bunch, these people who actually enjoy being offended. Some would call them perverts but I, in common with much of the media, think that in our new inclusive society, their fetish should be indulged. In fact, live and let live, it should be celebrated. It's harmless, if incredibly weird, and they're an important and growing demographic. In fact, I'm thinking of pitching a TV show specifically targeted at them called Why Don't You All Go and Fuck Yourselves!? I imagine it'll be a hit."

Then in today's Guardian there comes this insightful and amusing article from Charlie Brooker.

"Perhaps it's time to put a "Complain to Ofcom" button right there on the remote control: if enough viewers press it, the show gets yanked immediately, like a bad variety act being pulled off stage by a shepherd's crook."