After the “Evolution” segment, this is my favorite episode of “Moments of Wonder.” Here Philomena investigates the legend that was Winston Churchill. There are several great bits, including the opening question as well as her statement, “If he were alive today, imagine how good his tweets would have been.”
Notice, too, how she pronounces Churchill’s first name and completely flummoxes Churchill Man.
There are two episodes to go: one on money and another on food (the latter, which aired yesterday, hasn’t yet been posted). But even when those are up, we won’t have seen the end of Cunk.
Here’s a tw**t from Diane Morgan, Philomena’s real name, sent by Matthew Cobb, who’s feeding my obsession:
And I found this one:
Here’s Dianne saying Monkey 🙂
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p022hsnf
Twice! Be still, my beating heart!
Here’s the setup:
“Who, or what, was Churchill”?
Genius!
“He was born, like most people…”
Too funny! Do the Brits actually say War I and War II, or is that a Philomenaism?
A Cunkism. x
I figured 🙂
The latter!
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Yes, back in war two that Churchhill was really something. You don’t learn much but it sure is entertaining. The accent in the part of England I was in (around Norwich/Cambridge, they dropped the H’s. She does that a little.
I can do that leg thing too. That’s what doing ballet throughout the entire time you are growing does to you.
Yes, but you can probably do it without having to pivot and twist your feet on the ground. Most people can stand like that (especially if supporting themselves), but it takes training^Wtorture to be able to do it…um…is “easily” the right word?
b&
It is hard on your knees too!
Is there a body part ballet isn’t hard on?
b&
Your ears remain pretty intact.
You sure about that?
Tchaikovsky is pretty infamous for writing some awfully bombastic brass parts, and his ballets are as big as anything he wrote — and then Stravinsky went and one-upped him.
I suppose that’s mostly a problem for the clarinets, bassoons, violas, and second violins…but I’d think at least some of that racket would make it up to the stage in a meaningfully painful way…at least, that’s what we often seem to aim for, even if we have to bounce it off the back wall….
b&
Nah, the orchestra is in the pit.
Hmm…maybe the orchestras you danced to weren’t…enthusiastic enough?
Some of the loudest playing I’ve done has been in pits….
b&
I’m currently taking a ballet fusion class in which most of it is done lying on the floor and I can “testify” that even this version uses every muscle and more (maybe not the ears…).
From my experience, ovaries and testicles are completely unaffected. They reproduce quite excitedly.
uh, you have ovaries AND testicles?
Not at the same time silly.
You…ah…swing both ways…?
Quite remarkable, from a biological perspective….
b&
Great sense of humor. Love it.
Wah tuw. Love it.
I love those earnest journalistic faces she makes after asking the most unusual questions.
She’s right though, his tw**ts would have been absolutely brilliant!
Can’t get enough. Think she does house calls?
Tell us that this is not the end, that this is not even the beginning of the end, but that this is, perhaps, only the end of the beginning for Ms. Philomena Cunk!
Win!
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*Winstone* Churchill, not Winston.
Genius, I love her.
I keep looking at that mole on her neck. Most of the women in my father’s family, including me, have that same mole in the same place. I reckon there might be a genetic link there! She’s certainly someone I’d be proud to be related to. 😀
I’ve been waiting to see if someone would mention the mole on her neck. It’s actually the first thing I saw. And the one thing I continue to see. And to watch. And to wonder. Oh dear. But I was determined not to draw attention it to see if anyone else would mention it before the series came to an end. I feel sort of sad now that it has happened. It was going to be just between her and me.
I do love Cunk, even when I don’t get the cultural comedy bits. I watch a lot of Brit-com, especially the comedy and panel shows like QI, 8 out of 10 Cats, Would I Lie To You, and Russell Howard’s Good News, but never without easy access to the web, for in this case, I had no idea what Tippex was, nor why that might be funny. It is apparently a European version of White-out, but I still don’t get the joke. ah well.
I love British humour, they have the best comedians and comedy shows, but I’d also recommend American comedians who’ve found success across the pond, Reginald D. Hunter and Rich Hall. Very enjoyable to hear them try to explain Americans to the Brits, as well as hear them or British comedians make fun of Americans.
Any other comedians or shows we should be paying attention to?
Mitchell and Webb, of course; much cited on this, um, site.
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We are keeping Rich Hall and Reginald D. Hunter, you can’t have them back.
Other great British (and Irish) comedy shows (some of them very old).
The Last Leg
Spaced (Simon Pegg/Nick Frost/Jessica Stevenson)
Christmas Crackers (comedy shorts with various British comedians)
Moone Boy (Chris O’Dowd)
Black Books
Blackadder
Father Ted
Red Dwarf
Dinnerladies
League of Gentlemen
Reeves and Mortimer
My mind has gone blank on overload, too much great comedy.
Coupling. Makes “Friends” look pedestrian.
Yes, I loved that, couldn’t remember the name.
Just worked my way through the boxed set (available from the usual online retailers) for the second time! Season four all the poorer for losing Jeff.
I loved it so much I bought the box set too, but it wasn’t the same without Jeff.
There is (of course!) Python, and Not the Nine O’Clock News, and Alas Smith and Jones (Mel Smith and Rhys Jones).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PewiUobfpU
Or another of my favourites, Who Dares Wins, a late-night sketch show. They actually did the Emperors New Clothes in front of a live audience (starts 30 mins. into the link below):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6S9MLkAHLw
Adam Buxton’s Bug, Brass Eye and The Day Today.
Heard about some hot new musical comedy duo over there, Gilbert and Sullivan. They any good?
“Alone Again” and “Clair” weren’t bad …
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Yes, not bad at all — more self-parodying than the Captain of the Pinafore, more precious than Buttercup.
What? You don’t find it funny??? Tippex. Tip-Ex. Tip-X. Tip Pex. tippex. TIPPEX. TIPPEX. Sounds pretty funny to me.
I’m English and I don’t get the Tippex reference either. It has no relevance that I can think of. Maybe that’s supposed to be the point, but I would have thought that some product with some apparent connection with Churchill would have been more effective.
I can also do something a bit unusual with my right leg – spin it 180 degrees.
There’s a great evolutionary advantage to this: I can start running away from danger one step faster than anyone else just by keeping my foot reversed when walking forward! (Makes me wonder why my army medical record was less than a solid perfect for that. After all, I’m the next step in human evolution no doubt, and no pun intended).
Sounds like a guy I used to know who, when people started getting drunk, would go to the bathroom and come back with his artificial leg on backwards.
Hope you’re doing your part, then, to propagate this advantageous mutation across our species…
What do you mean, “our” species? I’m in the process of creating my own specie 😉
I must have an odd sense of humour but I just found the complete irrelevance of her questions annoying.
I think because it isn’t zany enough to be obviously satire (like e.g. Monty Python) so my brain takes it seriously and of course in a serious context her questions are stupid. Not helped by the fact her interviewees are genuine experts and obviously at a loss for an answer (and too polite to say “that’s idiotic”)
I much prefer Churchill’s wit. Here’s one for Jerry:
“Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy, then an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then it becomes a tyrant and, in the last stage, just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.”
And in the light of recent threads:
“Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people’s idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage.”
Or more cynically:
“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” Considering who they elect, it’s hard to challenge that.
Sound like sumptin’ dat wanker from Staines would pull…