Project Ha. Ha.

vivadeadponies

Link

I'm against them already but sounds like a better prospect than last years duo(Katherine Lynch and Roaring Twenties)

phasers

David McSavage

I stopped reading here

Bass Cadet

Just saw an ad for it on RTE...*CRINGE*

gudman09

Bass Cadet wrote: »

Just saw an ad for it on RTE...*CRINGE*

i've seen a bit more than the ad and its actually quite good. kinda musically based....worth a watch.

vivadeadponies

gudman09 wrote: »

i've seen a bit more than the ad and its actually quite good. kinda musically based....worth a watch.

I'm watching it, but purely to slate it, so ignore me in this thread after 11pm

Bondvillain

Everyone seems to be pretending to be Matt Berry, Chris Morris or some other established comedy performer (ones who, by virtue of actual talent, can get away with the "Deep, Gruff, British accent = High Powered Executive" school of acting. )

It's not doing it for me. 5 more minutes and it's Flicky flicky.

decob

Just checking as i'm not sure if i have some mental disorder or sommat - but is project ha ha mean't to be funny or in some way humourous - as i'm just not getting it.

Stargal

The bit with the office guy thinking in a gangsta-style American accent before breaking into song was very funny - but the rest of it is just leaving me cold. There's a couple of bright moments but really it's just weird.

Basq

Horrific.... even for RTE!

Christ.. don't know why I expected something witty.

Bondvillain

Nope. No improvement. It's poo.

Flicky flicky.

wolfgang123

Terrible. I've seen state funerals which were funnier

Saw the guys in Edinburgh and while it was the same material, I still liked it.

Edit: Dead Cat Bounce I mean.

AnonoBoy

I quite liked it. Still needs a bit of a polish but as a pilot it was far superior to Nightlive that preceded it.

Weird? Yes. But that's not a bad thing.

Tind777

first half was sh1te tbh, second half though was good, lol at lads mag and golf, sumone put golf on youtube plz

btw up the coolraugh!!!

DecoJ

I thought it was good! Maybe the novelty of having something funny, home produced and on RTE dazzled me a bit. It is similar to some fast show / IT crowd characters, but yeah, I'd like to see more of it. It’s not too parochial and could be shown internationally I think. The show is weird, but family guy is weird and has songs and is hugely popular.

BTW I’m also concerned about the David McSavage element..

amacachi

Hit and miss, wouldn't put it off if I spotted it again, which is more than I can say for most RTÉ programmes lately.

Pepe LeFrits

Saw Dead Cat Bounce in Edinburgh and they were excellent. Unfortunately I also saw Diet of Worms there too and I reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaally wish I hadn't.

AnonoBoy

AFAIK each pilot will be treated separately so if Dead Cat Bounce got a series it wouldn't automatically follow that Dave McSavage would get anything more.

Anyway - looking forward to seeing what the other three episodes are like in comparison to this.

joeystrider

I thought it got better as it went on.

The songs were much better than the acting pieces and it is in definite need of tightening. But I like the ass song, the golf song, the lad mag and the ginger spy, although the latter two could have been a bit more hyped.

flannlmacgowan

I thought both programmes had their strong points. True, Nightlive was a bit scatty, and a few of the riffs were hit and miss. However, when you're starting from such a low base, as RTE is with it's abortive attempts at comedy - anyone who managed to watch both episodes of The Roaring Twenties earlier in the year is undoubtedly a masochistic self-hater, it was vile - the production of two shows that had their moments surely represents an advance? With an injection of some more writing talent, I think Nightlive could definitely be a worker, in the vein of The Day Today with Chris Morris.
As for Dead Cat Bounce, I thought their show was hilarious. The continuity between gags was fantastic, the performances were strong and the Golf Song was riotous. At the very least, it was professional, and given that it was only a pilot, it was far better than most commissioned series that we've seen assault our screens, our sensibilities and our sanity over the last few years.
I'd just look at it as a positive beginning. Come on RTE, with our tax dollars, you can do this!

When I came on here after the Roaring Twenties, there was an avalanche of critical posts bemoaning the paucity of comic talent being brought through on our national broadcaster. It's good to see that these shows have gone down slightly better, i.e., not all the comments (bar those belonging to people close to the show) have been negative. I would never go so far as to say that Nightlive and Project Ha Ha were 'great', but I think it's fair to say that they weren't godawful. I think it's a start.

Is this just encouraging mediocrity?

humanji

On the plus side, RTE seem to be showing more and more homegrown comedy shows, so by law of averages something good is bound to appear sooner or later. Isn't it?

AnonoBoy

flannlmacgowan wrote: »

Is this just encouraging mediocrity?

I don't think so. Hopefully it's a decent start to a new approach to comedy in RTE. Not all of them are going to be funny right off - comedy needs work, but there are encouraging signs and hopefully something good will come of these pilots.

Also I think it helped that Dead Cat Bounce was directed by the guys at D.A.D.D.Y. - http://www.teamdaddy.com/

One more thing though - Project Ha Ha? Great starting animation - terrible name.

darkdubh

They announced this an an Irish production.Why was it full of English people?And where the hell was it supposed to be set?

AnonoBoy

darkdubh wrote: »

They announced this an an Irish production.Why was it full of English people?And where the hell was it supposed to be set?

It was an Irish production. I believe those English people may have been 'acting'.

To me it didn't matter what country it was set in, although I took it to be an odd Irish kinda setting with a variety of nationalities in it.

GhostInTheRuins

It was a bit crap to be honest. The only decent bit was the golf song at the end.

ScumLord

I liked it. The bit in the office with the dead hooker was really good.

I couldn't believe RTE actually made it, it was so good. I didn't see it all but what I saw was a huge improvement for RTE.

flannlmacgowan

ScumLord wrote: »

I liked it. The bit in the office with the dead hooker was really good.

I couldn't believe RTE actually made it, it was so good. I didn't see it all but what I saw was a huge improvement for RTE.

Very similar thoughts were coarsing through my mind; It was imaginative and in some places original. Very unusual for the Tristrams in Montrose.

Honestly I've spent the last while despairing at Irish TV Comedy in all its forms. The Panel is dire - ok it has some flashes of genius, but compare it to Mock the Week or any of the other British panel shows and it comes across as painfully shoddy - Katherine Lynch nearly landed me in therapy and the less said about those putrid, humourless mutations in Ballydung Manor the better. So anything that even resembles a competent attempt at humour is to be applauded, even cherished. As Anonoboy pointed out, this was a pilot; and it had bags of promise. Give these men the money you gave those inept schysters who produced The Roaring Twenties and I'm certain that the results will be far better, and crucially, far funnier.

As for McSavages upcoming fifteen minutes in the spotlight, much like a farmer watching a space mission returning to earth, I look on with a mixture of apprehension and morbid curiosity.

nenners

vivadeadponies wrote: »

I'm watching it, but purely to slate it, so ignore me in this thread after 11pm

Ah the begruding Irish, it warms the heart..... There's nothing like a refreshing piece of unfounded down-in-the-mouth begrudgery.

Here's a thought, why don't we stop the predictable moaning discuss the many good points? How can Irish comedy progress if everytime RTE commission something and air it, everyone starts running it down before its even on? Irish Comedy hasn't a hope.

Dead Cat Bounce are one of the best things to come out of Ireland lately, as are Diet of Worms et al so a bit of support wouldn't go amiss...but then that would require a bit of thought.

AnonoBoy

nenners wrote: »

Dead Cat Bounce are one of the best things to come out of Ireland lately, as are Diet of Worms et al so a bit of support wouldn't go amiss...but then that would require a bit of thought.

To be fair I think you'll find this thread has been mostly positive towards Dead Cat Bounce so it is doing quite well. If you want to see real vitriol then do a search for the Roaring Twenties thread from early 2008. Now that was hatred.

nenners

AnonoBoy wrote: »

To be fair I think you'll find this thread has been mostly positive towards Dead Cat Bounce so it is doing quite well.

Thats as maybe...Be it Dead Cat Bounce or whoever, its the constant running down of Irish Comedy without ever giving it a chance that makes me mad. We could try and help Irish comedy grow and develop as it has been allowed to elsewhere.
New and innovative irish comedians have enough barriers getting heard without having to deal with irrational and pointless slagging before they ever get going. To be honest, its a bit embarrassing.

vivadeadponies

nenners wrote: »

Ah the begruding Irish, it warms the heart..... There's nothing like a refreshing piece of unfounded down-in-the-mouth begrudgery.

Here's a thought, why don't we stop the predictable moaning discuss the many good points? How can Irish comedy progress if everytime RTE commission something and air it, everyone starts running it down before its even on? Irish Comedy hasn't a hope.

Dead Cat Bounce are one of the best things to come out of Ireland lately, as are Diet of Worms et al so a bit of support wouldn't go amiss...but then that would require a bit of thought.

I was just saying there was no point listening to any argument of mine directly after the show cos it'd be complete drivel.

I thought it was ridiculous to have a group who've been together for less than a year with a half hour long show.

So I watched it then; they seemed to do a decent job with the(almost certainly) miniscule budget and structured it very well... but still they've only been together for less than a year, some of those sketches could've had practically no fine tuning beforehand.

If Irish comedy really wants to progress it could stop being so inward looking and actually branch out into England a bit more... worked grand for them until that fabled comedy explosion of the mid/late 90s.