Dan & Becs - out now on DVD

phenomenon

Syferus wrote: »

Absolutely agree.
Only saw it for the first time today and you can easily tell for what it is it's pretty impressive.
There's such an in-grained hatred of Irish produced shows on Boards.ie that whent the odd show that is obviously not bad comes along people can't remove the blinkers.

From reading some of your posts in this forum you'd swear you were an RTE employee. Out of interest what other shows do you consider "good comedy"? Dans & Becs is right up there with the Roaring Twenties for the illustrious sack o' shíte award. Remove your rose tinted glasses and consider for a second that maybe the majority of boards' users are right in their judgement of the show. Or maybe we've just been spoiled with actual funny shows by the BBC and Channel 4.

Also I don't accept your excuse of a "shoestring budget" for the show being utter cack. Podge & Rodge: scare at Bedtime was always worth a few laughs back in the day and it was shamelessy low-budget. Its also proof that decent comedy can blossom from the cesspool that is RTE studios. I won't hesitate to give a good show props, but RTE have their heads up their arses at the moment. They need to stop hiring pompous communications degree graduates who try to tell us whats funny and bring some real creative talent. Walk into any pub in the city on a friday night and you'll encounter dozens of witty characters who could better scripts than Dan & Becs.

Syferus

phenomenon wrote: »

From reading some of your posts in this forum you'd swear you were an RTE employee. Out of interest what other shows do you consider "good comedy"? Dans & Becs is right up there with the Roaring Twenties for the illustrious sack o' shíte award. Remove your rose tinted glasses and consider for a second that maybe the majority of boards' users are right in their judgement of the show. Or maybe we've just been spoiled with actual funny shows by the BBC and Channel 4.

Also I don't accept your excuse of a "shoestring budget" for the show being utter cack. Podge & Rodge: scare at Bedtime was always worth a few laughs back in the day and it was shamelessy low-budget. Its also proof that decent comedy can blossom from the cesspool that is RTE studios. I won't hesitate to give a good show props, but RTE have their heads up their arses at the moment. They need to stop hiring pompous communications degree graduates who try to tell us whats funny and bring some real creative talent. Walk into any pub in the city on a friday night and you'll encounter dozens of witty characters who could better scripts than Dan & Becs.

The fact that I'm not by default anti-RTE is so foreign is exemplified by that comment - I've said many times that I'm more neautral about RTE than the vast majority of people here. I've not once said ''RTE's so great!!!!!'' and even attacked them (just to feel included, obviously) on the 'Doom & Gloom' thread. Besides defending this show as not being terrible I thought Barry Murphy's dub-over special was very etertaining, but I even pointed out alot of flaws in that too.

I think Dan & Becs was a very worthy effort, and that's my opinion and your opinion is different - there's clearly no consensus as to which is 'fact'. Just because some people don't like a show does not mean that the people who do should be relegated from having the chance to buy it on DVD, if they so wish. And again, all that does is re-coup some of the money that went into making the 'cack'.

My all-time favourite comedy shows would be Father Ted, Curb Your Enthsiasm, South Park, King of the Hill, Futurama and Faulty Towers. Oh, and I'm also not afraid to admit to still liking Family Guy, just not as rabidly as every drunken 16 year old seems to.

On Britsh comedy - I think it's almost as hit-and-miss as stuff made here. Apart from comedy panel shows, British comedy has a terrible track record too. The US wins hands down, but that too has a good bit to do with the size difference and fact that since far more shows are made, far more hits will appear.

zuroph

also, its been on dvd for the last year.

it was a great show, very well thought out, very witty, and the best comedy since paths to freedom.

I always hate people lambasting this show, they never seem to give the time to give out that podge and rodge costs the taxpayer about 1million squillion times as much.

johnnyskeleton

It is the type of things that will be interesting to watch in years to come. Sort of like watching glenroe now.

So much of what RTE has produced in the last few years has been style dramas about young rich successful people that were more aspiration pieces than realistic drama. As such, in a few years time they will appear comically patronising and self-obsessed.

Syferus

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

It is the type of things that will be interesting to watch in years to come. Sort of like watching glenroe now.

So much of what RTE has produced in the last few years has been style dramas about young rich successful people that were more aspiration pieces than realistic drama. As such, in a few years time they will appear comically patronising and self-obsessed.

Not correct - the show itself was already lampooning that lifestyle.

monkeyfudge

That's the thing... it seems a lot of people don't get the joke at all.

They probably think Ali G is a real person as well.

zuroph

exactly! Dan and becs is quite like alan partridge in its comedy IMO

vivadeadponies

zuroph wrote: »

exactly! Dan and becs is quite like alan partridge in its comedy IMO

or rather Marion & Geoff, by Coogan's good friend Rob Brydon, which it copied:p

Utopia Parkway

zuroph wrote: »

exactly! Dan and becs is quite like alan partridge in its comedy IMO

Well I think we can safely say no to that.:D

Samurai

Anyone see the episode where becs mentions dan posting a "9 page thread on boards.ie"? Suprised no one has mentioned it!


I quite like the show

phasers

I think Dan was pretty funny, but I cannot get past Becs' voice. Nails on a chalkboard.

mehfesto2

Syferus wrote: »

On Britsh comedy - I think it's almost as hit-and-miss as stuff made here. Apart from comedy panel shows, British comedy has a terrible track record too. The US wins hands down, but that too has a good bit to do with the size difference and fact that since far more shows are made, far more hits will appear.

Whoa, Nelly.

The last 15 years of British Comedy has given us:
The Office, Father Ted, Ab Fab, Extras, Alan Partridge, Bottom, Peepshow, Goodness Gracious Me, Men Behaving Badly, Still Game, Ali G, Borat... etc, etc, etc.

Yeah there's some British ****e, but it's usually the midafternoon BBC 'family friendly' stuff. And you have to remember we only get the crop of the American exports, really. And even stil we get stuff like 'My Family, King of Queens and "the US' Biggest Comedy (Paramount Comedy) Two and a Half Men.:pac:

Syferus

mehfesto2 wrote: »

Whoa, Nelly.

The last 15 years of British Comedy has given us:
The Office, Father Ted, Ab Fab, Extras, Alan Partridge, Bottom, Peepshow, Goodness Gracious Me, Men Behaving Badly, Still Game, Ali G, Borat... etc, etc, etc.

Yeah there's some British ****e, but it's usually the midafternoon BBC 'family friendly' stuff. And you have to remember we only get the crop of the American exports, really. And even stil we get stuff like 'My Family, King of Queens and "the US' Biggest Comedy (Paramount Comedy) Two and a Half Men.:pac:

And that is because of the huge difference in money British stations have compared to RTE (the BBC gets about ten times as many people paying its TV license, for example). They make far more, so the raw numbers of good shows is enevitably higher.

To add to that, the fact stations like BBC are able to afford to pilot more shows compared to here, where it still tends to be all or nothing with producing a show, skews the formula more so. Also, of the ones you named, two follow the same style, except transplanting it into a different setting (Extras, The Office), Ali G and Borat where part of the same series, Coogan was genius and Father Ted was an Irish transplant.

And there's more crap coming from the US than anywhere else - with digital and cable TV we get just about it all in some form now - it's just that they dwarf even the UK, meaning the raw numbers of good shows is of magnitudes higher.

Freddie Cork

Syferus wrote: »

Father Ted was an Irish transplant.

What does that mean?

vivadeadponies

Freddie Cork wrote: »

What does that mean?

well it obviously means that it was made by two irish people who gained absolutely nothing from their previous work in England with Paul Whitehouse, Alexei Sayle, Armando Iannucci, Chris Morris, Steve Coogan, Peter Baynham and the rest.

mehfesto2

Syferus wrote: »

And that is because of the huge difference in money British stations have compared to RTE (the BBC gets about ten times as many people paying its TV license, for example). They make far more, so the raw numbers of good shows is enevitably higher.

To add to that, the fact stations like BBC are able to afford to pilot more shows compared to here, where it still tends to be all or nothing with producing a show, skews the formula more so. Also, of the ones you named, two follow the same style, except transplanting it into a different setting (Extras, The Office), Ali G and Borat whee part of the same series, Coogan was genius and Father Ted was an Irish transplant.

And there's more crap coming from the US than anywhere else - with digital and cable TV we get just about it all in some form now - it's just that they dwarf even the UK, meaning the raw numbers of good shows is of magnitudes higher.

And?

My point was merely that British Comedy is not as bad as Irish comedy; not by a long way. I didn't mention anything about finances available etc. Nor did I mention that anything about the 'style' of the programmes. :rolleyes:

Syferus

mehfesto2 wrote: »

And?

My point was merely that British Comedy is not as bad as Irish comedy; not by a long way. I didn't mention anything about finances available etc. Nor did I mention that anything about the 'style' of the programmes. :rolleyes:

And I'm saying 'Irish comedy', as in all it's facets, punches far above its weight today. Ten or twenty years ago it was a completely different argument, but the quaility of the talent per capita is more than on par with Britain. As in Britain, most of the time that talent is mis-used.

Climate Expert

Syferus wrote: »

And I'm saying 'Irish comedy', as in all it's facets, punches far above its weight today. Ten or twenty years ago it was a completely different argument, but the quaility of the talent per capita is more than on par with Britain. As in Britain, most of the time that talent is mis-used.

I would say its about the same which is still far more than the US.

zuroph

Syferus wrote: »

And I'm saying 'Irish comedy', as in all it's facets, punches far above its weight today. Ten or twenty years ago it was a completely different argument, but the quaility of the talent per capita is more than on par with Britain. As in Britain, most of the time that talent is mis-used.

what Irish comedy do you speak of? what current Irish comedy is punching far above its weight?

Syferus

The most prominent ones plying their trade mainly outside the country are obviously Dylan Moran who is among the better stand-ups going arond at the moment, but who also starred and co-wrote Black Books and is more than capable of doing something special and Dara O'Brian, who despite desperately shilling himself to every topical show and compendium going, is still a comedian of the finest standard, Irish or otherwise.

The other obvious one is Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews, who are most famous for writing, and effectively producing, Father Ted have also had more than a bit of sucess with other shows like The IT Crowd.

And again, you have to take into account the sheer scale of our country - just north of 4 million - compared to even the UK (50 million) let alone the US with a gene pool of 300 million to fish some good comedians and writers from.

mehfesto2

Syferus wrote: »

The most prominent ones plying their trade mainly outside the country are obviously Dylan Moran who is among the better stand-ups going arond at the moment, but who also starred and co-wrote Black Books and is more than capable of doing something special and Dara O'Brian, who despite desperately shilling himself to every topical show and compendium going, is still a comedian of the finest standard, Irish or otherwise.

The other obvious one is Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews, who are most famous for writing, and effectively producing, Father Ted have also had more than a bit of sucess with other shows like The IT Crowd.

And again, you have to take into account the sheer scale of our country - just north of 4 million - compared to even the UK (50 million) let alone the US with a gene pool of 300 million to fish some good comedians and writers from.

They're all Irishmen fair nough, but none of these shows are funded by an Irish Broadcaster. Most of the production and background work in them too would be British. Black Books is an British Comedy in reality, same with the IT Crowd, Father Ted and Dara O' Briens Mock the Week. None of them were even made here -except for the outside scenes in Fater Ted. They have Irish influences, but they're not Irish.

Climate Expert

mehfesto2 wrote: »

They're all Irishmen fair nough, but none of these shows are funded by an Irish Broadcaster. Most of the production and background work in them too would be British. Black Books is an British Comedy in reality, same with the IT Crowd, Father Ted and Dara O' Briens Mock the Week. None of them were even made here -except for the outside scenes in Fater Ted. They have Irish influences, but they're not Irish.

Father Ted is not a British comedy, it is Irish. It was shot in Ireland (not all of it I will grant you), written by Irish men and peformed by Irish people. No doubt plenty of the supporting crew were Irish.

zuroph

in fact, every single one of them LIVES in england, most of them for well over a decade. Dylan Moran is currently doing a UK tour with no irish dates announced.

Every "Irish" comedy act you've mentioned is British funded and achieved. If black books or the IT crowd was made here, half of boards would be on giving out about our tax money being wasted.

The reason they're in the UK isnt funding, its that the audience is there for that type of comedy. Over here, to quote NoFX, the idiots are taking over. Podge and rodge, langerland, nob nation, naked camera, its embarrassing.

Climate Expert

IT crowd is fairly moronic. Theres a lot of wasted talent in that show.

Bondvillain

Climate Expert wrote: »

Father Ted is not a British comedy, it is Irish. It was shot in Ireland (not all of it I will grant you), written by Irish men and peformed by Irish people. No doubt plenty of the supporting crew were Irish.

It's actually a British comedy shot in Ireland, written by Irishmen and performed by Irish people. No doubt plenty of the supporting crew were Irish, but it was still funded By UK's Channel Four and produced by UK production company Hat Trick.

The production offices were in the UK, the residuals come from the UK, all requests to the Producers regarding Broadcast & purchase are responded to from the UK, and all submissions to Markets and festivals worldwide designate the programme as originating from the UK. It's a British programme about Irish people.

Climate Expert

its Irish.
If it was funded by an Irish organisation but featured Irish everything else then you would not call it an Irish program.

Syferus

I purposefully prefaced that short list by sayin they all where active overseas, which is the envitable desination for most of our talent after it gets its start, not because RTE is terrible, but because there's so much more money to be made in the UK.

And Father Ted is best described as an Irish show funded by a British station. It was so Irish a decent portion of the comedy passed by even British audiences. As others have said, the show was written, produced and acted by an almost entirely Irish team and it wouldn't matter weather they lived in Greenland for twenty years or not beforehand, the subject and tone was very much Irish, not Anglo-Irish.

To that point, just because a show isn't based in Conemara or have exclusively Irish actors and crew doesn't mean it didn't come from an Irish mind.

mehfesto2

Climate Expert wrote: »

its Irish.
If it was funded by an Irish organisation but featured Irish everything else then you would not call it an Irish program.

Climate Expert

mehfesto2 wrote: »

Use your little mushy brain and work it out.

vivadeadponies

Do RTE have any sort of means of nurturing talent through the radio like BBC Radio 4 does in England?

I was thinking one of those new digital stations might be sorta like that perhaps?