The Smoking Room

I have managed to injure my leg yet again and have had an enforced break from running (well jogging) for the past 10 days.  To try and maintain some level of fitness, I have been spending the odd hour in the gym (the room I built at the end of the garage).

As I loath sitting on the exercise bike, I have to do something to pass the time and have been re-watching one of the best ever comedy series - The Smoking Room.

Set in a North London office, a few years ago when smoking was allowed indoors, it features 10 main characters who come in and out of the room. It is brilliantly written and it's such a shame that the writer, Brian Dooley hasn't written more comedy - the man is a genius.
  
If you see the DVD, which is bound to be cheap, buy it and enjoy!  Here's a clip where Robin comes out... after years of being in the closet:
  

George Carlin

As I have said before, the older I get, the less faith I have in faith and am constantly angered by religious people who pick and choose from the Bible to suit themselves.  I no longer believe and a description of religion I heard the other day sums up my view perfectly... "religion is nothing more than superstition".  

I like the late George Carlin - he speaks a lot of truth and is also funny.  I recommend that you watch the whole video, but before you view it, ask yourself a related religious question:  does anyone really think that the world is 10,000 years old?

 

And I like it so much, here is a link to a transcript - the first paragraph is brilliant.

Him & Her

We watched the new comedy from BBC3 called ‘Him and Her’ the other night (recorded on the Sky Player) and we managed a whole 7 minutes before switching it off.

It had started well but when a comedy resorts to severe toilet ‘humour’ so early to get a laugh, you know it’s going to struggle. Toilet humour appears to be used when the writer doesn’t know where to go. It is lazy writing.

I was disappointed to witness an actress on the toilet, complete with sound effects. I feel sorry that she was expected to do that and cant quite believe that a comedy writer and production team thought that it was acceptable on television, let alone funny.  I like comedy and I like shocking comedy that surprises me. The opening scene of ‘Him & Her’ however, was amateurish and a complete turn off.

I pity Russell Tovey for getting involved as he is a great actor.  BBC comedy can be outstanding, this one wasn't for me.

Let me end by saying that I'm not one of those stupid idiotic moaners that say that "the BBC is wasting my licence fee and I wont pay it blah blah blah".  The BBC excels at producing top end TV and radio and you cant like everything that they do... no-one can.

Misfits

I've been watching a new comedy drama on E4 called Misfits. It's highly original and is definitely adult entertainment:

Misfits follows five outsiders on community service who get struck by a flash storm and lumbered with special powers. Hard as nails Kelly can suddenly hear people’s thoughts, shamed sporting hero Curtis discovers he has the ability to turn back time when he regrets something, and party girl Alisha can send people into a sexual frenzy when they touch her skin. Even painfully shy Simon can make himself invisible when he feels he’s being ignored, which makes it all the more hard to swallow for smart aleck Nathan, who seems to have been unaffected, much to his dismay. Unlike their more conventional counterparts, our misfits don’t swap their ankle tags and mobile phones for capes and tights. Instead, they discover what a pain in the arse life can be when you’re stuck with a super power you didn’t want.

The guy who plays Nathan has the cutest eyes and accent (he's played by Robert Sheehan who is a great actor). His character is super sarcastic and he managed to get a care home volunteer into bed. He had the best line of the episode after some premature action and orgasmic facial expressions, by asking his lady friend: "what is wrong with my cum face!?".

OK, the premise is silly, but the programme is funny and surprisingly dark. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series, especially if Nathan gets naked again and would recommend catching up on previous episodes on 4OD.