The Late Late Show from Hell

2 Espressi

Flukey wrote:

The real Late Late Horror Show would be a Daniel O'Donnell tribute. Of course it'll never happen, as they don't do shows to people who have brought as much punishment, pain and suffering to the world as he has.

Nope, they just give them their own show!

Shrimp

Worst Late Late = One dedicated to Twink.. oh wait there already was one..

DublinWriter

Flukey wrote:

You may well hate Twink. On the other hand a lot of people do like her. I suppose it is a geneartional thing. Younger people would not particularly like her...

Dude, I'm on the wrong side of 35 and I think she's prehistoric. And I mean prehistoric in a scary Maureen Potter way.

Flukey wrote:

...but probably have not seen a lot of what she has done. She is very versatile and has been in the entertainment business a long time, so she must be doing something right.

Failed girl band in late 60's then straight into panto at the Gaiety. Am I missing something here? At least her former bandmate Maxi has a radio show (ok, so it's on RTE 1 at 5am) and can sing better, but what from my consendsed CV is missing regarding Twink?

Flukey

What's missing? A lot. If you watched the show, you'd have got some of that. She's been a singer, dancer, comedienne, TV personality, actress and much more, as well as the panto. As you are under 35, you would not know much about her. Maureen Potter was someone else who had a very long and distinguished career. You may not have heard much of them or seen them, but nevertheless they and many others out there have long been in the entertainment business. Maureen Potter's death marked the end of a very long career going right back to a time when showbiz was very different, through to the modern era, and she survived all that and still kept her profile. Many of today's big stars won't be still going in 50 years time, you can be certain of that.

overdriver

Flukey wrote:

What's missing? A lot. If you watched the show, you'd have got some of that. She's been a singer, dancer, comedienne, TV personality, actress and much more, as well as the panto. As you are under 35, you would not know much about her. Maureen Potter was someone else who had a very long and distinguished career. You may not have heard much of them or seen them, but nevertheless they and many others out there have long been in the entertainment business. Maureen Potter's death marked the end of a very long career going right back to a time when showbiz was very different, through to the modern era, and she survived all that and still kept her profile. Many of today's big stars won't be still going in 50 years time, you can be certain of that.

He said he was the WRONG side of 35, meaning he's older. As am I, and I'm not the hugest fan either. I've met her a few times, and she's nice enough, but sadly, is under the impression she's a bigger star than she actually is. The main problem seems to be that her act is a very old-fashioned one by today's standards. The "jack of all trades and master of none" syndrome kicks in here strongly. To describe her as a comedienne or a singer is to describe McDonalds as a restaurant - technically correct, but we all know it ain't!

You're correct about many of todays "stars" not being around in 50 years. I wouldn't give most of them 5.

Fysh

Flukey wrote:

Fysh, sure the media does good things for her and she is perfectly entitled to use them. That still does not mean she can complain about them when she feels they are doing something. She is hardly going to say "They are peeking in at my window here in the privacy of my home, which is awful, but that is OK because they have helped my career." Any of us would complain about someone doing something wrong even if that person has done good things at other times for us.

Speak for yourself. If I were as apparently talentless as Twink is and achieved something of the fame she has, I'd be a bit more careful about lambasting the press that helps me maintain my flagging career, since I obviously wouldn't make it on talent alone.

Take Bono for contrast - yes, he's a sanctimonious git sometimes, and takes himself too seriously quite often, and his attempts at other industries than music have been iffy at best. But on the other hand, he puts effort into trying to help third world countries (and gets publicity out of it, too) and is famous chiefly for being the singer in what is and has been one of the most famous rock bands in the world for the last twenty odd years. I haven't read every interview he's done, but I've not heard him complain like Twink has about the invasiveness of the press, and he gets a lot of crap as a result of his perceived sanctimoniousness.

Flukey wrote:

There are different parts of the media and it was not the Late Late Show people that were peeping into her house. Many celebrities are hyped up by the media, but they all start from somewhere and they all have at least some talent - though in some it is hard to spot it - before they come to the attention of the media. Someone like Twink, who has been around for a long time now, isn't there purely down to the media.

I refer you back to the question we've asked repeatedly : What is she so famous for? It's not comedy - I've head more mention of her from comedians than I have about her career, and considering the size of the irish comedy circuit that says quite a lot. She was in a panto? Whoop de freaking do. I've been in pantomines before (and yes, as a lead character too, before you ask) - it's really not that big or clever. She was in a girlie band in the 60's? Wow. Watch me care. Whatever talent she had, she evidently doesn't have any more. "TV Personality"? That fecker Ryan Turdbridy is a "TV Personality", for christ's sake - as far as I can work out you need to have a talent and personality excision before they'll consider you for the job. It's certainly nothing special, especially when Gaybo is probably the only "TV Personality" in this country that was ever genuinely popular. And as for her acting career...wow, that one scaled the pinnacle of Mount Nowhere, didn't it.

I'm utterly serious here - if all her achievements are, as you seem to suggest, in the past, why the hell should I care? What has she done that is in any way remarkable or worthy of note in the last ten years? I'd like specifics here, because I genuinely don't know and haven't a clue why this talentless old biddy was paraded on TV for an hour as if she was the salvation of Irish entertainment.

Now. You may argue that there are different levels of media, and superficially that is true. However. Is the Late Late a "personality" show, where we get a succession of people who are famous for reasons of varying merit and they get to publicly blow their own horn (and not in the entertaining way - hell, that might actually attract viewers)? Yes, it is. Therefore, it is a part of the cult of celebrity that our society is so fascinated with. And hey - paparazzi photographers from the gutter press are also part of the cult of celebrity. In for a cent, in for a euro. You don't get to pick and choose what bits of celebrity you want or don't want, any more than you get to tell the Pope why he should abolish Mass on Sundays because it wrecks your head after a night out on the town.

And yes, the celebs we get today won't last long because they're also useless talentless knob-ends. I'm getting a pretty good idea where they might have learned the trade (or rather, where the managers might have gotten the idea from, since most of them are puppets anyway). No, I don't think I'll see Mickey Joe on the telly in ten years, but it's my sincere hope I won't see Twink there either. Ideally, I'd like to see someone talented there to entertain me, but apparently that's too much to ask for...