A journey through time and space

So The Mighty Boosh then. It kind of worked in an arena because they're sort of rock 'n' roll. I must say that this new live show wasn't as good as the first one. As TMB has took off then obviously their audience has expanded massively and, to keep the rock thing going, it was more of a greatest hits set.

People go on about how they're the new Monty Python, what with the mix of the surreal, songs and animation, but after Saturday night comparisons to Morecambe and Wise struck me. Let me explain: they're obviously a traditional double act - one's 'with it' and plays to the crowd while the other gets exasperated by his shenanigans; there's a reliance on the comedic effect of a big pair of comedy curtains; part two featured the straight man desperate to stage a serious play. See? It all adds up.

What I love the most about TMB is the homemade aesthetic of the whole thing. Some of it bordering on being a bit rubbish and we're in on the joke.

I also loved the dressing up by audience members, one woman going as a naan bread. Genius.

An animation at the end was pretty groovy too, it was a stop/go job made from Smarties and Licorice Allsorts.

What I didn't love about Saturday was there was far too much Rich 'look at me!' Fulcher, and nowhere near enough Naboo and Bollo.

What I also learned is that going to comedy on your own is useless. Thing is, I don't know anyone else who 'gets' TMB. Philistines.

And there was a guy sitting behind me who, during the pre-concert build-up and interval let the biggest stream of bullshit loose from his gob. He never paused for breath. Why is it that the people with the least to say have the loudest voices?

eg "Yeah, I think I'm just gonna go to university and get some really random degree...my mate's wife's gonna get us tickets for ManU/Inter, she knows I'm a real hardcore ManU fan if she can't get those she's gonna get ManU/Portsmouth she's also trying to get tickets for Derby/Forest in the FA Cup there'll be fighting...yeah, that woman down there could do with losing some weight off her fat arse"

Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! I don't know if he realised this, but he was saying all that out loud. Wanker. I hope he doesn't get tickets for those football matches because he sounds like the worst kind of nu-fan. And if he does get tickets for Derby/Forest in the FA Cup, and, in the very unlikely event that there is fighting, I hope a Derby fan kicks his fucking head in.

Peace.

Random stuff

One of my favourite sayings at the minute is 'don't let light in on the magic'. I wish I'd remembered that before I asked for Frank Skinner's latest book for Christmas. I've read it and realised that I don't particularly like him anymore. The book is a journal of his thoughts over a period of about three months. In essence it's a blog in book form. He might as well have called it I *heart* Catholicism, He bangs on about it an awful lot, but neatly tends to sidestep any issues like The Vatican's attitude to homosexuality or the Pope not sanctioning the use of condoms in Africa to help combat HIV.
Skinner also appears not to be a very nice person, which is a huge disappointment to me. I know he's not the most ground-breaking of comedians, but I've always thought he was 'one of us' ie someone who'd had a proper job before finding comedic success. In the book you find out that he's not very tolerant of people and takes to despising his tour manager, a man just trying to make the best of them being in close proximity with each other for weeks on end. Oh, and his girlfriend would do my swede in too.
Anyroad, if you like Skinner don't buy it, and if you don't like Skinner it'll only reinforce your opinion.

Why is this news? Much as the the papers like to keep telling us about so-called 'Broken Britain', the vast majority of people are hard-working, kind, good-natured and helpful. I don't know about where you live but it's not very often I leave my front door without sharing a small joke or swapping a 'mornin'/af'noon/ay-up' with at least one complete stranger or passing acquaintance. Just yesterday I had a laugh with a woman in WH Smith who came to me to ask if I could reach a copy of US Vogue for her. If you believe the papers you'd be forgiven for thinking that she'd be too frightened to approach me for fear of being stabbed-up while I urinated on her and filmed the whole thing on my mobile phone.
Besides, how often do you drive around the country and see honesty boxes at the end of farm tracks or outside someone's gate selling eggs, windblown apples, bags of horseshit etc?

I'm going to see The Mighty Boosh Live tomorrow night. I'm not sure about comedy in arenas. Truth be told I only got the tickets because they were on special offer. I think they're having trouble shifting them because the Nottingham Trent Hef Hem Arena phoned me over Christmas to tell me I was being moved closer to the stage, and I got an email yesterday to say they were offering 50 pairs of tickets in a free competition. I suppose they'd already played three sold-out shows there two months ago, no one wants to go again. No doubt I'll be the only one there in jeans and a big coat.

I really don't like cricket, but I find this whole Kevin Pietersen thing fascinating. Not least because it makes cricket look stupid and all those superior duffers at the MCC who look down their noses at football are in agony. Tee and indeed hee. My favourite quote comes from one of the BBC's cricket men, Jonathan Agnew: "Pietersen's the sort of man who'd join the navy so the world could see him." Brilliant, I'll have to remember that.

Walking around Sainsbury's this morning, Marillion's Garden Party wouldn't leave my head. Dunno why. I can never remember in which order the 'I'm beagling, I'm punting, I'm wining reclining' bit comes. I've had a soft spot for it ever since Wham, who were guest reviewers of the singles, mercilessly slagged it off in Smash Hits in 1983. Your enemy's enemy is your best friend, and I've got a long memory. You can have a look at the video if you like while I desperately try and get myself off the prog tip I'm on at the minute, mind you, watching this video isn't going to help. One for the teenagers. Not.