We interrupt today’s episode of “Readers’ Wildlife Photos” for a special comedy interlude. Our regular program will return tomorrow.
This will probably interest only those readers who are either enamored of Philomena Cunk (Diane Morgan) or those who follow UK politics, but because the show features the Official Website Sweetheart™, I’ll put it up anyway. It’s last night’s version of “Have I got News For Uou,” a BBC comedy show hosted on this occasion by Daniel Radcliffe.
Philomena, as usual on these multiple-comedian shows, remains rather quiet; I think she’s shy or reticent. As Matthew (who saw the show) commented, “She (and Armando Ianucci, who was the other guest) were pretty quiet to be honest. But she had some good gags and also knew some of the answers to the topical questions.” I have to say that I don’t understand nearly 95% of the humor, as it’s based on UK events, and I’m a parochial Yank.
See for yourself:
Matthew Cobb sent me a sample of the encomiums on Morgan’s twi**er feed. Best post: when someone asks her if she’s on as herself or Philomena Cunk, and Morgan replies, “Myself. But there’s hardly much difference.”
What’s not to like? She had me at “mohn-keh,” and she can drink four Sambucas and seven gin and tonics.
is it just me or is Daniel Radcliffe looking a bit owlish in this show? Did he pull a Tyler Perry and play Hedwig in the Harry Potter films and I just never noticed?
as for the guest comedians being quiet, Merton and Hislop do seem to hog the limelight in most of the episodes I’ve seen anyway.
Ianucci’s Miliband was priceless, though.
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spot-on, confused deer in the headlights. perfect. surprised they passed on any Farage jokes, but then Russell Howard had the best when on his Good News show he said Farage looks like a turtle’s cum face.
Or a toad trying to suppress the hiccups. I thought Diane Morgan was pretty average on this – but these shows cater to a specific, demonstrative kind of comic – the kind who’s good at shouting over others and is a massive show-off. That’s not a criticism – I love Would I Lie To You with Lee Mack and David Mitchell, and I loved Frankie Boyle when he was on Mock The Week(even if his opinions are politically asinine), but some people do better than others on panel shows and it’s got little to do with how funny they are as writers or performers.
Yes, Merton and Hislop have been doing this for 25 years and tend to dominate. Especially considering Diane is a newbie on the show.
Hopefully we will see more of her on Have I got *a bit more* news for you! on monday and on appearances in episodes to come.
Slightly off topic, but Radcliffe doesn’t look like Harry Potter anymore—good for him…
Once of the reasons he’s grown a beard, perhaps?
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Yes, some of it is too local for a Yank but the British politics has much more humor than ours. I learned what Non Dom means.
Could it be that the Official Website Sweetheart™ might lure PCC to the dark side? To the Twi**terverse?
I have to admit that I look in on her Twi**ter feed once in a while, but she isn’t very active on it.
Not sure if you have this sort of comedy show in the US. We call them ‘panel shows’ in the UK — basically quiz shows with comedians as guests and no prizes.
They’re always male dominated, and women often seem to fare not so well on them, especially when the panelists are quite competitive. There’s another one called Mock the Week where it’s really quite painful to watch female panelists struggle to get a single joke in.
So Morgan’s quietness is pretty typical for women on these shows, though they do better on the less competitive panel shows like QI, or the News Quiz.
It’s ever thus…
Yes, I’ve seen Morgan on Mock the Week, and was very sad that she didn’t participate more. You can see that when the comedians step off the platform when challenged to go to the microphone, she starts to step forward and then steps back as a man strides up. I want her to GO FOR IT!
We have a really good one in NZ with a similar format. The male comedians are usually more dominant. I think it’s just because men in that profession tend to have louder voices and bigger egos.
A competitive format favors the quick-witted and glib, not the thoughtful and careful.
You’re not being fair to many women. Heather nailed it: “I think it’s just because men in that profession tend to have louder voices and bigger egos.”
That, and a lifetime of being rewarded for speaking out.
I didn’t mean that as a statement about women, but as an orthogonal observation. Some comedians can drop a quip on any prompt and thus excel at competitive improv, while more intellectual humorists need time to refine and polish their ideas; but these will necessarily be pushed aside by the nature of such a format. My limited impression, which is mine, is that Morgan’s comedic style tends to the latter type. An example of the former would be Chelsea Handler (which is no counterexample to Heather’s comment, natch!). That, and I completely agree with you.
Gotcha. 🙂
Have I got *a bit more* news for you! is on monday, hopefully we will see more though I doubt it because of reasons you and others have said.
Victoria Coren-Mitchell is next weeks presenter though which should be good.
Soob