Frankie Boyle's Tramadol Nights

Mr.Nice Guy

Surprised there's no thread on this. As a fan of Frankie I was eager to see this show which debuted on Tuesday night on Channel 4. It's one of the darkest comic shows you'll see on TV these days with political correctness gone out the window, as you'd expect from Boyle. The first episode seems to be getting mixed reviews. Here's a taste of the stuff on offer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh2_uObcmw4

The show is done a bit like the Chappelle show with Boyle doing live material and then they cut to a sketch. I thought the sketches were hit and miss. There was a Knight Rider one that I didn't like but a Green Mile one that I thought had some funny moments. I liked the George Michael one too.

I think it will be interesting to see how such humour will be received in this day and age since the BBC seemed to have a few headaches from Frankie, though I suppose Channel 4 are a better fit for him. Anyone catch it?

humanji

I flicked off after the Knightrider sketch. I couldn't take any more. I'm a fan of Boyle, but what I saw was terrible. He came out and insulted the audience for a few minutes. Not funny insults, just "You look gay", "You look like an aborted foetus". His comedy is usually fairly vulgar, but this was just childish.

And the Knightrider sketch could have been good (it assumed Michael Knight was actually on drugs and thought his car could talk), but he turned it into an unfunny joke and kept repeating it for 5 minutes.

Definitely won't bother with this again.

ednwireland

+1 thought it was terrible, heard a lot of the stand up before

and the morgana show watched 2 sketches and turned off (shes the new star of british comedy apparently, not a funny moment in there)

mike65

Poor stuff overall, the Green Mile parody was probably lost on many.

speedboatchase

mike65 wrote: »

Poor stuff overall, the Green Mile parody was probably lost on many.

Of course it was, the movie was released 11 years ago! Thought the show was rubbish - in a panel Boyle works well with a few 'shocking' one-liners but anyone that has seen his stand-up can tell you if it's just him up there his topics get quite dull and nasty very quickly. Wasn't my cup of tea at all and thought Boyle came across as a very angry and immature man. You can be shocking but have an actual point your comedy (for example Brass Eye's send up of the British tabloids paedophilia hysteria), Boyle doesn't have any point other than causing offence and he should really pick more challenging topics and targets than the disabled, mentally ill or rape victims

mike65

11 years is not the issue, its not that many people saw it at the time and its never got "blockbuster" scheduling on TV either thats the problem. Parody only works if one is familiar with the source material

newballsplease

All the jokes on the show were the exact same as his ones on his new DVD.

amacachi

mike65 wrote: »

11 years is not the issue, its not that many people saw it at the time and its never got "blockbuster" scheduling on TV either thats the problem. Parody only works if one is familiar with the source material

Really? I've never been in a conversation where someone hadn't seen the film.

Didn't see the show last night but saw a couple of clips on Youtube. Based on those and the reaction here I think I'll give it a miss.

RobertFoster

I thought it was disappointing too. Not a huge fan of sketch shows in general, but the Knight Rider thing went on too long, and the Green Mile stuff was 11 years too late.

It was good to see Rab Florence again though.

Maybe the second episode will be better, but, oh well, I've already cancelled the recording.

mike65

amacachi wrote: »

Really? I've never been in a conversation where someone hadn't seen the film.

Wow thats quite claim

postman - "did you watch The Green Mile?"
amacachi - "of course, hasn't everyone?"

etc etc

amacachi

mike65 wrote: »

Wow thats quite claim

postman - "did you watch The Green Mile?"
amacachi - "of course, hasn't everyone?"

etc etc

ROFLOL, hilarious! I'm sure you didn't get the point I was trying to make at all!

mike65

Never mind.

dlofnep

Up on 4oD

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/frankie-boyles-tramadol-nights/4od#3144539

Rjd2

I don't mind Boyle in small doses, but that was abysmal, his stand up was him lazily insulting the crowd and the sketches were pretty dismal as well. He was trying to hard to be edgy sadly.

I'l give it another shot next week, but I won't expect to much.

runawaybishop

I switched over after the first couple of minutes where he randomly insulted his audience. I don't consider that sort of "comedy" to be in the slightest bit amusing.

dlofnep

I liked it very much. Classic Frankie Boyle. He's not for everyone.

speedboatchase

dlofnep wrote: »

I liked it very much. Classic Frankie Boyle. He's not for everyone.

It isn't a 'love him or hate him' thing though - I loved him on Mock the Week but he gets very tiresome when it's just him up on stage

ziedth

I thought the "Iranian loose women" sketch was very funny but overall it was very meh.

Basq

It had high-points and low-points.. stronger than most sketch-show's right now.

Frankie's stand-up was largely quite strong, Iranian Loose Women was funny - and laughed a lot at George Michael's Highway Code.

The Knight-Rider sketch was really awful though!

irishonline

more of a free reign on channel 4, with all the BBC political correctness!

Rjd2

basquille wrote: »

It had high-points and low-points.. stronger than most sketch-show's right now.

Not trying to sound like a tool but really what Sketch shows can you say this was superior to?
:eek:

Basq

Rjd2 wrote: »

Not trying to sound like a tool but really what Sketch shows can you say this was superior to?
:eek:

The Morgana Show after it, for one!

ilovelamp2000

Frankie is spreading himself too thin.

He uses too much of the the same material for his stand up shows as he does his TV shows. Tramasdol nights is just more of that plus a few not very funny sketches.

I think he has probably had his day.

Rjd2

basquille wrote: »

The Morgana Show after it, for one!

Maybe, but and its a massive but, Morgana is a rookie when it comes to comedy, she may get better (stranger things have happened!) Boyle has been in comedy for yonks though so you would expect something of a higher standard from him. His acting in the sketches was much worse than Morgana for example.

Both shows were ****e though....:pac:

skeleton_boy

Thought it was decent enough. Knight Rider sketch was poor and went on too long but the George Michaels and Loose Woman sketches were brilliant. Will certainly be watching again next week.

Utopia Parkway

speedboatchase wrote: »

It isn't a 'love him or hate him' thing though - I loved him on Mock the Week but he gets very tiresome when it's just him up on stage

His stand-up is great but the sketches on the show were hit and miss. Mainly miss. Knight Rider sketch might have been funny for a minute or so but it dragged on for about five minutes for no real reason.

Maybe the looser editorial control on Channel 4 compared to the BBC might not be a good thing for him. It seemed a bit self-indulgent at times.

carpets

I thought the show was truly awful. I suspect it was a case of an ego out of control during the process because any script editor or producer worth his salt would have sat Frankie down and told him that the sketches just didn't work, because A. they were far too long, and B. they just arent't that funny. Evidently they didn't. Mainly because according to industry insiders he isn't that easy to work with. Sort of like a cross between Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand,. The stand up was funny albeit far too many outdated references. And it's seems Frankie can only do two accents, an American accent which wasn't that great and a Glasgow accent which he just about managed to pull off. This could be the series that sees Frankie found out, and when I say found out I mean that it's going to be found out that he's a great stand up, but an atrocious actor and writer. On the writer front Frankie just isn't that good on paper as his column in the Sun shows, as does the fact that what he thought was funny on the pages of a script turned out not to be. The Green Mile sketch was a shame because someone had gone to a lot of bother with the set. In fact the set was the only thing it has going for it. Knight Rider? How old was that reference. What's to come next, Love Boat, Rawhide, the Onedin Line?. As for the John Leslie rape line. How long ago was that? Maybe 10 years. Topical eh. It's a also a very bad sign when the members of the audience laughing the loudest are production staff. I noticed at least three from the Comedy Unit who had a part in producing this show almost slapping their thighs. Yes, yes, yes it was all meant to be very controversial and that very "in" thing that only "very in" trendies are supposed to understand. But it was no Brass Eye, more like Sid Liittle on crack. Frankie should stick to stand up because Tramadol Nights regardless of what the few "in" people who are pseudo liking it say is the most self indulgent crap to hit the TV screens in years.

fryup

He's an x-rated Ricky Gervais

Its his scottish accent that makes him funny, if he was english you'd call him a scumbag.

Wertz

ziedth wrote: »

I thought the "Iranian loose women" sketch was very funny but overall it was very meh.

I'm forced to agree....broke my bollocks laughing at that sketch but the knigth rider thing was approaching lameness, the green mile skit, slightly less so.
The stand up was alright but then I like nasty, insulting humour.
I'll watch again next week, but I won't have my hopes as high as the other night...

FreudianSlippers

Love Frankie Boyle, but not finding this show amusing in the slightest.

Rabble Rabble

no, his standup was atrocious. And the knight-rider sketch. Possibly the worst sketch I have seen in a decade. And I've seen Little Britain.

iMuse

Watched a bit 2nite and he was telling the same jokes from his new dvd, same as last week. Frankie was great on mock the week but the stand up hes doing nowadays is rubbish

Mr.Nice Guy

I watched all of it. Quick thoughts on the episode:

Some very dark stuff in the first half of the show. The Susan Boyle jokes were rehashed. The stunt guy skit went on for ages and didn't impress.

In the second half, the stuff on Jade Goody I didn't like. Heard the Michael Jackson material before. The bits in the second half were again very dark.

I thought it was hit and miss last week and was prepared to give it a second go but this week I felt it was just a miss. A lot of the stuff just seems to be sensational and OTT for the sake of it. There's no merit or point to it really other than the fact it can be done. It's difficult to laugh at stuff like this when it encompasses the whole programme.

I think with Mock The Week and why Frankie did well there, it was mostly light entertainment - with Frankie adding small doses of dark humour - whereas this is just dark humour and without any kind of social commentary that Mock The Week was there to lampoon.

I'm also very disappointed that the humour is stuff that's been done before. I've noticed, for example in his Live At The Apollo stuff, that he used jokes from Mock The Week and rarely came up with anything new. The recent Tramadol Nights episode again had material that had already been used.

I was a fan of Frankie on Mock The Week and was optimistic about this show but it's been a let-down. I just wish he had stayed on Mock The Week as he seems to be best suited to working within a set structure with certain limits. Left free to his own devices and imagination it just doesn't work for him.

Wertz

Have to agree with above^

Very rehashed stand up....a continued fascination with Susan Boyle that is downright bullying (even if I still laughed).
Some half decnet one liners scattered about but much of it is recycled.

The sketches were terrible...that stuntman one...was a waste of the viewer's time and the producer's money. The animation wasn't much better.
The sketch with the child murderer was solely to shock rather than amuse.
I did find myself laughing at the 4 scotch kids and the puppet in the woods (what was this parodying BTW?),

but again it set out to shock as much as it did to create genuine humour.

Very forgettable.
Like I said earlier I like Boyle, I like his sense of humour, the dark nasty stuff appeals to me, and I love the scottish take on things but I don't think this show is getting it right.
Perhaps Boyle was better in small doses on MTW or in his initial series of stand up shows...too much of him in 35 minutes has turned out to be a bit tiresome, which is surprising.

Ash.J.Williams

If i had seen his recent tour or bought the dvd, i would have been disappointed....overall i'm enjoying the show, I find myself cringing a lot and thinking...."oooooh too far...." but that's the only reason anybody would watch Frankie Boyle...the man is on a mission and i'm willing to watch!!

ziedth

Actually I really enjoyed his book if anyone has given it a look pick it up. It's full of done fairly random dark tangents.

Killer_banana

Watched a very small bit last night. The stand-up was okay, probably would have been funnier if I hadn't heard it before or if he was making jokes about stuff he hadn't done so frequently before (Susan Boyle for example). Got about halfway through the mental illness sketch and then turned over out of disgust. I do believe some of the best comedy is offensive but Frankie Boyle just seems to take it too far for no reason. I like him on Mock the Week but have never thought his stand-up was spectacular and just think this show takes it too far. I do think that the mental illness sketch could have possibly worked in other hands and if taken down a less obvious route but just think he used the obvious punchline and took it too far for no real reason.

Frankie said he left MTW because he didn't like the boundaries enforced on him by a panel show. I get where he's coming from but I honestly think he works well within those kind of boundaries. Also MTW meant that a lot of his humour related to some sort of social commentary, as someone said above, so although offensive there was a point to it. This is just offensive and vulgar for the sake of it and it doesn't work in my opinion.

Pineapple stu

Watched a bit of it last night and thought it was pure muck. If thats the sort of thing going on in his head then he seriously needs locking up.

Our man in Havana

This is just offensive and vulgar for the sake of it and it doesn't work in my opinion.

I have to agree with that. As others have said already, Frankie was far better on MTW. I just don't find his new show funny. I am a big fan of Frankie but this ain't doing it for me.

Wertz

Pineapple stu wrote: »

If thats the sort of thing going on in his head then he seriously needs locking up.

Thoughtcrimes?

dlofnep

Second episode was a bit meh.

Ash.J.Williams

i see Jordan and Andre have made statements about the show!!

Our man in Havana

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

i see Jordan and Andre have made statements about the show!!

Linkey?

luketitz

Just watched it there on the link someone posted above.

I thought it was great! Different strokes for different folks and all that but I laughed my arse off, meaning it did its job!

It's comedy, shocking as it may be. As the likes of Gervais and Hicks would hold testament to - it is their job to make people laugh, they don't actually 'think' like that in reality, so previous talk of him being 'locked up' is absurd, they are merely fulfilling their job responsibilies.

I can understand how some people might be offended, but what did you expect watching Frankie?!

JohnnyC1

I liked both eps so far and will watch it again. I knew before watching (like i presume anyone who has ever watched FB before) that it was going to be very offensive the

jade

bit came very close to being too far for me but I still laughed. If you are easily offended dont watch. Some of the sketches dont work but overall i was very impressed.

Ash.J.Williams

Haddockman wrote: »

Linkey?

Here's the latest one!!
http://swns.com/katie-price-gives-channel-4-until-5pm-to-apologise-for-frankie-boyle-slur-091635.html

Ash.J.Williams

re: jordan....as much as like Frankie, it's hard to see how he can get out of situations like this, ch4 defense surely has no real merit, ie "he told the joke before" "the viewers were warned" etc...

Killer_banana

luketitz wrote: »

I can understand how some people might be offended, but what did you expect watching Frankie?!

I have no issue with offensive comedy and I expected Frankie's show to be ridiculously offensive. I just don't think this show is funny enough to merit the offence it causes. I didn't watch the full episode though so I guess I can't really comment.

super_furry

He's the English David McSavage. Not a particularly tallented or funny comedian, so he goes for the outrage angle.

JohnnyC1

super_furry wrote: »

He's the English David McSavage. Not a particularly tallented or funny comedian, so he goes for the outrage angle.

Hes scotch!, and hes way better than David McSavage imo.

KeanSeenan

I haven't watched this show, but it always seems like this guy tries too hard, not just to shock, but to squeeze laughs out of stuff. Feels quite forced.