Old Fashioned Topical Humour

I decided to go back even further for the rest of tonight, after finding a VHS of stuff, mainly from 2001 including the first episode of 2DTV.

This was a case of either good or bad timing as the war had just broken out in Afghanistan and there were several jokes about Osama Bin Laden including a spoof of the Blue Planet where he appeared underwater unexpectedly.

There was also several funny sketches with George Bush as voiced by Jon Culshaw, with his assistant trying to explain things to him with the help of sock puppet "Professor Liebstrom".

The episodes only lasted 10 minutes at this time due to the topical nature of the show although they were later extended to half an hour.
A lot of the team from Dead Ringers worked on the show, not just the voices but the writers who included Tom Jameson and Nev Fountain.

However I felt the series went downhill after the likes of Jon Culshaw stopped doing the voices and it slowly disappeared not long after.

On it's arrival it was the show a lot of us talked about at college the Monday after as it went out on Sunday nights which was a brilliant timeslot, and provided many of what I'd call "much needed laughs" as I was getting through the awkward period of starting college.

I can remember when the war itself broke out as it was on a Sunday evening and quite a lot of commercial stations went out of the Pepsi Chart early to give coverage on the latest developments. Invicta FM wasn't one of them but several GWR stations took a syndicated show with Chris Brooks who back then was at Essex FM.

The Monday after I can remember clearly as during a break I went into Canterbury and the HMV where they were playing JTQ's recently released "Hammondology" compilation in store and ended up buying the album and it more or less stayed in my CD player throughout the term.

I've probably said this before but rather than buy any of the individual albums, buy that compilation as it really does contain all their highlights and not a dull track at all.

Moving onwards, another programme on that tape which also took the mickey out of the war was the first edition of the 2001 series of The Frank Skinner Show.

Jonathan Ross once said on his Radio 2 show that he would set the video 5 minutes late to record his show in order to avoid him singing "Funtime Frankie".
And I really wouldn't blame him.

Anyway, the sketch itself had Frank dressed up as the terroist saying it was difficult to find anyone to record the videos, but he had finally managed to find someone; "So thank you Prince Edward".

He then fell over by accident and it turned into a spoof of the home video show which had the name "You've Bin Laden!".

The guests on Frank's show included Ant & Dec who came on to the Skinnerettes rendition of "Sing If You're Glad To Be Gay" followed by some questions over those rumours which were taken with good humour.

Frank went onto talk about SMTV and in particular Wonkey Donkey where he decided to try out a few on the boys themselves. He didn't say the answers but the first one was a monkey who had a white streak on his head, and the other was a kitten with a plastic turd on top of it.

They also chatted about Pop Idol which had only just started and had become very popular, and prompted a showing of the YMCA girl. Frank then asked "But is it really as bad as:" and then it started playing "#Let's get ready to rhumble!"
to which they all agreed yes.

On the subject of Pop Idol the tape also had one of the This Morning specials from after the series finished, which were presented by John Leslie and Fern, alongside finalist Hayley who I'll say again, must be the sister of Hannah, a helper I had at college who was only 4 years younger than her and without a Brummie accent.

Hayley was also This Morning's reporter for the 2002 Brit Awards which were hosted that year by Zoe Ball and Frank Skinner, who managed to slip in a few jokes about her former co-host Jamie Theakston who recently had an unfortunate incident in a brothel.

A lot of the stars at the awards were very positive about the show including Beverley Knight who was a huge fan of Will and was flattered that she was also one of Will's favourite performers.

H & Claire from Steps said they were fans of Gareth, partly because he had appeared on their CBBC series "Steps To The Stars" the year before and unleashed his singing talent there.

Anyway, the guests included other finalist Laura Doherty AKA "The Sofa Queen" because she'd end up on the sofa with the contestants with the lowest votes each week, along with Rosie Ribbons, and Haifa Kayali who was in the final 50.

I was never a fan of Rosie as she was rather dull and moody, but she caught Pete Waterman's eye and ended up letting tears come out of it.
She released a solo single at the end of the year but ended up having the same sort of success as Zoe Birkett.

Haifa on the other hand was stunning and had a husky voice similar to her idol Taylor Dayne and was pipped at the post by Gareth and Zoe in the first studio heats.

When John and Fern asked the guests if they'd do it all over again, Laura and Rosie said they wouldn't, as the final 10 got a lot of exposure and the overall experience was a once in a lifetime one, although Haifa said she'd more than happily give it another go despite reaching the final 50.

In fact Haifa appeared in the first series of the X-Factor in 2004 but didn't make it past boot camp.

The tape also has the "Munny Bunny" competition preceeding the Pop Idol strand which was basically a return to the old Midday Money competition but with a different name.

At the start of the series Midday Money had been poorly revamped to make it look like Millionaire with overly dramatic music stings and lighting effects.
However Munny Bunny went back to the old traditions of the black background with tiny lights, with the musical stings dropped in favour of the old heartbeat sound effect and the mechanical hooter when the time was up.

However John and Fern had abandoned the idea of asking at least two more questions after the time had ran out.

I seem to remember Lenny Henry guesting on the show and taking the mickey out of the game which involved him mimicking a mate of his in a Jamaican accent saying "Richard and Judy are giving away money!
And if you run out of time, they give you more time!"

Speaking of quizzes I attempted to endure Chris Moyles' Quiz Night for the second week with the intention of switching off at the end of the first part if it was rubbish.

I ended up switching off sooner as one of the questions was asked or should that be sung, by Chris De Burgh the bastard.
This isn't "Chris Moyles' Quiz Night" it's "I'm Chris Moyles and these are all my celebrity mates".

Stick to radio Chris, even Scott Mills is better on the Lottery than your attempt at a television show.

Second year TV student and my flatmate from last year Michael Washington works as a runner on that show and normally takes part as a contestant in the rehearsal as seen in this photo (the one on the left).

I'd prefer to see him on there rather than David Walliams etc.

I plan to spend the rest of tonight, or should that be early tomorrow morning, enjoying a few genuine laughs in the form of the "Apollo" and possibly one of the funniest, with Dara O'Briain as the compere with special guests Stephen K Amos and Frankie Boyle.

I particuarly remember Frankie Boyle's routine being hilarious with one of my favourite jokes being about the revolving doors on train toilets, bearing a resemblance to the cover behind the car on a quiz show.

If anyone at home's reading this tomorrow and was woken up by my laughter, well you now know why.

Good Night.