View Full Version : Russell Brand's Ponderland
anastasia
22-10-2007, 18:12
Anyone else watching this tonight? I'm really looking forward to it - hopefully it'll be a better format that's more suited to him than his previous TV stuff.
LooNaTiK
22-10-2007, 18:48
im looking forward to the karl pilkington thing afterwards too :D
LooN
NicolaUK
22-10-2007, 22:26
Quite funny but the concept is a rip off of Bob Mills' 'In Bed with Me Dinner'.
GProject
22-10-2007, 22:57
Caught most of it - I like Brand's stand-up (but not his 'big mouth'-esque parading), so this partly appealed. I found it a bit of a strange concept really since it's basically just straight observational stand-up, aided by a few clips. Also, the laughter seemed slightly canned, although there was an audience present I believe.
Not sure what it says about the series that it is being broadcast nightly all this week instead of over a six-week period. Is that good or bad?
anastasia
23-10-2007, 20:38
Recorded it last night and watched it this evening. I enjoyed it, although I do agree that it does seem a bit strange. He seems to be trying too hard, although I guess he does that a lot. Seems more forced than he did on BBBM though.
Still love him to pieces. And it's certainly a lot btter than the last Russell Brand programme that Channel 4 produced.
anephric
24-10-2007, 05:50
Watched last night's - made my skin crawl, but then I have a built-in **** detector.
SIMON ADEBISI
24-10-2007, 06:05
I was slightly warmin to him after all these years and when i saw the ad for this all that melted away.
He is such an annoying ****.
It's not as funny as his Radio 2 show (which I hear via the podcast version) but it was quite entertaining.
He is (a) ****. As soon as people realise that, the better. :)
This programme was crap and just an excuse to shove him on the screen during BB downtime.
vsehijpal
25-10-2007, 21:47
Really enjoying the show, the Lenny Maclean clips were fantastic, HATE!!!!
MovieMax
25-10-2007, 23:18
Another fan of the show. Not normally a fan of stand-up, the last person I found as funny was Ben Elton at his best.
cliff homewood
26-10-2007, 08:55
I like it, but it only rarely makes me laugh, being on a bit late don't help, as been a bit hectic of late with the amount of stuff on, but on way is it better than Elton at his best.
Last nights one for instance I didn't really find funny at all, but the night before I did. Sometimes seen some of his radio patter come in, but he just seems to be nowhere hear as funny on tv as the radio, and its because he doesn't seem relaxed in front of the camera (those long shots do him no favours, making him look small), and its scripted. Whereas on radio where he's being spontaneous with his mates, its a lot funnier whne he thinks something up, because your there at the genesis, sharing the joke.
Another fan of the show. Not normally a fan of stand-up, the last person I found as funny was Ben Elton at his best.
Damned with feint praise? :lol:
Its very hit and miss. Last nights good, the night before not so good.
(Or for 'In Bed With Medinner' fans - Last night's = Football / The night before = Muggybonehead)
wong fei hong
26-10-2007, 12:42
(Or for 'In Bed With Medinner' fans - Last night's = Football / The night before = Muggybonehead)
:lol:
Watched the last bit of this last night and was struck immediately by how much like In Bed... it is, down to the set. Still, the joys of TV Burp show there's a lot of mileage in this approach. Brand is still a bit irksome, and I do prefer him on the radio by a fair stretch, but the "punch the hunch" bit was very good.
anephric
26-10-2007, 12:49
I imagine, since only about 4 people ever watched Bob Mills (didn't ITV stick it out at like 1.30AM?) Brand thought he could rip off the concept with impunity.
I watched last night's (again, I don't know why because I can't stand RB usually) and the more self-deprecating bits did make me smile (the Williams bit, for one). The thing that I can't stand about him is his affected "schoolkid telling a rude joke in the playground" mannerisms, right down to his ridiculous accent and dropped Hs.
fattyboombatty
26-10-2007, 13:28
I imagine, since only about 4 people ever watched Bob Mills (didn't ITV stick it out at like 1.30AM?) Brand thought he could rip off the concept with impunity.
don't be absurd. so bob mills was the first and only person to do this kind of thing was he? cos i remember watching clive james and tarrant do similar things. or are you claiming the set the same? in which case it's the set designer who ripped it off, if anything.
liked the show, but it's no where near as funny as his radio show or stand-up. i got the feeling a daily show is too much for just him and matt morgan to write.
Don't forget Bob used to make his own programmes with his mates in the Police and stuff. Apart from when he was out and about, obv. I'd *love* a DVD release :( I used to have a VHS 'best of' years ago, but lost it now.
anephric
26-10-2007, 13:43
don't be absurd. so bob mills was the first and only person to do this kind of thing was he? cos i remember watching clive james and tarrant do similar things. or are you claiming the set the same? in which case it's the set designer who ripped it off, if anything.
So we've established that RB isn't a first-generational thief, but a third or fourth one, and that his team is similarly constituted.
Everything about this show, from the format to the set to the type of clips to the schoolboyish way that Brand addresses the camera is ripped off of Bob Mills. It isn't anything like Clive James or Chris Tarrant. Of course, Bob Mills didn't make jokes about dildoing someone's bum during one of his elongated and frequent celebrity sex sessions (at least, I hope he didnt).
NicolaUK
26-10-2007, 13:51
Don't forget Bob used to make his own programmes with his mates in the Police and stuff. Apart from when he was out and about, obv. I'd *love* a DVD release :( I used to have a VHS 'best of' years ago, but lost it now.
I've got a load on VHS still, somewhere in the loft I think, would love to have the time to transfer it to DVD.
I think they said it would never get released due to all the rights issues, which is a damn shame :(
You can't compare Millsy to Clive James or Tarrant, they're both ok in their own way but Bob was leagues ahead in his quality of observance.
I half expected Tim Quicke's name to pop up in the credits for Brand's effort :D
I'm warming to him, though I'm worried that that means I'll be reading Heat soon. He does have an appealing turn of phrase and, though he's no Alexei Sayle, swears quite well. When he gets over his own cult of personality and raises the laugh-per-monologue ratio, we could be getting somewhere. The grain silo/Concorde bit on Monday is still making me smile.
fattyboombatty
26-10-2007, 17:35
Everything about this show, from the format to the set to the type of clips to the schoolboyish way that Brand addresses the camera is ripped off of Bob Mills.
no. it. isn't.
the very most you can say is it bears a resemblence.
attributing the concept of mocking a "certain type" of tv to bob mills, to extent that doing something vaguely similar is actual THEFT, is quite frankly ******* weird. there could be dozens of different influences that created that show but somehow bob's above the 'ripping off' of ideas, is he?
do you believe bob to be some kind of messiah? he was funny-ish, but i certainly never took him for the creative genius you seem to have.
derek cassidy
26-10-2007, 20:37
The "InBedWithMeDinner" comparisons are entirely justified, but as has been said...it was on several years ago & they know it won't be obvious that they stole the format. Brand is a southern gob *****, a la "Millsy" & of course the daddy of all Landan gob ****es, Danny Baker.
Nothing about Brand rings true in any case. The whole manufactured "eccentricity" is risible. You are either eccentric or "offbeat" or you aint, you can't will it to happen by back combing hair, wearing make up & twirling around. He tries so hard, it's toe curling.
I loved it when Geldof called him a ****. He showed his true colours by slagging Geldof.
No genuine funnyman gets called a **** & with good reason...a genuine funnyman needs to be likeable, something very few modern comics are. There are only so many times you can say something in a "post modern" way until it gets very DATED.
what's lacking in modern day humour is simple...there is no WARMTH, ie. "humanity". All there is is sniping & tiresome one upmanship of the "I'm cleverer than you" variety. It's not funny & it's not clever.
Charles Hawtrey raised an eye...that's all. That's all you need. He did not need to try...because he WAS. Brand is no different from those gob ***** yoof presenters on C4...so convinced are they of their own brilliance that they have no self edit function...all the predictable, arrogant dross emptying out of their mouths as they wear that glazed expression that conveys nothing more than "I'm reading from an autocue".
Studied nostalgia in a post modern vacuum. Watch "Dad's Army" instead, it's light years ahead believe me.
NicolaUK
26-10-2007, 20:49
I'm rewatching some In Bed With Me Dinner now and it's become even more obvious how much of a rip Brand has done and not just with this show, even down to the whole 'womanising circuit' thing.
fattyboombatty
26-10-2007, 22:05
what amazes me is that some of you genuinely believe that originality exists. like it's pulled from the ether devoid of all influence. it doesn't. only interpretations of things past. and some of you appear to be in a time warp unable to accept the world has moved on.
fattyboombatty
26-10-2007, 22:11
I'm rewatching some In Bed With Me Dinner now and it's become even more obvious how much of a rip Brand has done and not just with this show, even down to the whole 'womanising circuit' thing.
yes, i especially loved bob's articulate and eloquent musings on his own life and the way he used those clips to highlight important issues regarding modern life and the insecurities we all feel deep down, in a wildly manic way. in fact you're right, russell stole his whole persona from bob mills. it's all so clear to me now. :wave:
NicolaUK
26-10-2007, 22:41
Russell, is that you?
GProject
26-10-2007, 22:58
I loved it when Geldof called him a ****. He showed his true colours by slagging Geldof.
No genuine funnyman gets called a **** & with good reason...a genuine funnyman needs to be likeable, something very few modern comics are.
That may be true, but he did turn it into a rather funny bit on his live DVD so I'm willing to let it slide.
Got three of these shows to catch up on over the weekend now - not sure whether to pace myself or attempt the whole lot in one giant matinee that, in my view, could only be described as a metrosexual extravaganza.
Was a fan of his before watching this, thought it was generally rubbish. Seemed far too scripted and like it had been somebody else writing it as it was more in the style of russell brand than how i have seen him before.
derek cassidy
28-10-2007, 01:33
what amazes me is that some of you genuinely believe that originality exists. like it's pulled from the ether devoid of all influence. it doesn't. only interpretations of things past. and some of you appear to be in a time warp unable to accept the world has moved on.
Correct, but there is a marked difference between influence & rip off. The show rips off the InBedWithMeDinner format. Before anyone repeats that Bob Mills was not the first to front an archive clip based prog., no he wasn't, that is not the issue.
The issue is the theft of a specific format used in the Mills prog., which ran thus....show archive tv clips & make topic based comic comments based on clips in a particular way...that's not influence showing, it's a lack of ideas showing.
Brand's problem is that he has no shortage of ego driven bombast & energy, but very little in the way of likeability & genuine personality. He's tiresome & annoying & I don't laff much.
Not that "Millsy" was some kind of comic genius...I found him rather smug.
anastasia
28-10-2007, 18:48
I have to admit, I've not been enjoying these shows as much as I hoped I would. A lot of it does feel forced to me, which is a real shame as I do think Russell is genuinely very funny, I just don't think that TV is the best format for him really (not most of the shows they've had him present since BBBM anyway.) BBBM was fantastic when he was presenting it, and I do think that sort of format would lend itself very well to his sort of humour - he needs an audience to 'bounce off', and some sort of current topic.
Still think he's fantastic.
fattyboombatty
28-10-2007, 23:10
Brand's problem is that he has no shortage of ego driven bombast & energy, but very little in the way of likeability & genuine personality. He's tiresome & annoying & I don't laff much.
that is entirely a matter of opinion.
watching the shows it's apparent that this is not A grade material they're using. it's watchable but not that funny:shrug:
no matter as i can listen to his radio show and **** myself laughing anytime.:clap:
no matter as i can listen to his radio show and **** myself laughing anytime.:clap:
Indeed. Problem for me is that I listen to the podcast version on the train going home and get funny looks when I'm suppressing my laughing. :D
The recent one with Noel Fielding filling in for Matt was superb.
Caught up with some of these over the weekend and the 'Science' one was fantastic, cracked me up no end.
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