Alasdair Beckett-King

In this episode, Martyn sits down with the hilarious and talented comedian Alasdair Beckett-King. Known for his clever wordplay and surreal humour, Alasdair has been making audiences laugh for years with his stand-up shows, online sketches, and appearances on TV and radio.

During our conversation, Alasdair takes us behind the scenes of his creative process, sharing insights into how he comes up with his offbeat jokes and sketches. We also delve into his background, from his childhood in rural England to his early forays into comedy and his eventual rise to fame.

Along the way, we touch on some of Alasdair’s most memorable performances and collaborations, including his award-winning shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Whether you’re a longtime fan of Alasdair’s work or simply looking for a good laugh, this episode is not to be missed. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the wit and wisdom of one of the funniest comedians around.

For information about Alasdair’s tour, check out his website.

Socials:

Alasdair-Twitter

Martyn-Twitter

Aunty Donna announce UK tour

Australia’s favourite absurd sketch group, Aunty Donna, is bringing their first-ever live tour to the UK and Ireland after the success of their Netflix series. This will be their first visit to the UK in over five years, and they are scheduled to perform in Glasgow, Dublin, Bath, Birmingham, London, and Manchester.

The trio’s partnership with Netflix for the release of “Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun,” executive produced by Ed Helms and Scott Aukerman, received critical acclaim and praise from fans worldwide, including Neil Patrick Harris and RuPaul. After a record-breaking tour of Australia and New Zealand, the group is eager to take their new show to the rest of the world.

The Aunty Donna boys said:

“When the Magical Dead Cat demanded we participate in this incredible tour of the UK and Ireland, a tour showcasing brand new hilarious comedy and some fan favourite bits from our world-shaking Netflix series, we were initially hesitant. It seemed we would provide the bulk of the entertainment whilst the Magical Dead Cat would merely bring some coughed up fur balls!’ ‘We raised our concerns with the Magical Dead Cat, and it offered to sweeten the deal by ending each show with a special surprise web slinging guest whose name rhymes with Glider Man. Desperate to meet this special surprise guest, we immediately said yes.”

In 2012, Aunty Donna burst onto the Melbourne comedy scene with their distinctively surreal, fast-paced, and alternative style of sketch comedy. Between 2014 and 2017, they won over audiences in the UK with their loud and high-energy performances at the Edinburgh Festival and Soho Theatre. Their shows have since traveled the world multiple times, earning them numerous awards and a massive following of over 2 million fans across various platforms, as well as 113 million views on YouTube.

Now, the trio of Mark Samual Bonanno, Broden Kelly, and Zachary Ruane are coming together to bring their wildly entertaining brand of comedy to audiences across England, Scotland, and Ireland on a new tour.

LISTINGS

11/09/23 Glasgow King’s Theatre 

16/09/23 Dublin Olympia Theatre 

19/09/23 Bath, The Forum 

21/09/23 Birmingham The Alexandra 

22/09/23 London Eventim Apollo 

24/09/23 Manchester O2 Apollo 

Thu 23 March @ 10am: Tickets on general sale – more info @ http://www.auntydonna.com/

Lucy Porter Interview

Martyn sits down with British comedian, Lucy Porter to discuss her TV viewing habits. Her husband’s role in Thor: The Dark World and details about her new tour.

If podcasts aren’t your thing, there’s a transcribed version down below. The transcription was auto-generated.

Wake-up call launches 13th of January. For more details visit Lucy’s website.

Martyn: It’s recording. I figured it out. That’s the thing about being middle-aged now, is I don’t get any of this tech.

Lucy: No. Well. I’ve had to learn really quickly. Because our podcast, you know, we have guests on. My nightmare is I’ll lose the recording. We did one with Martin Sheen. Which was our biggest guest ever! I was hosting the meeting and at the end of it, I was pretty sure that I’d lost the whole thing. I was trying not to, you know, when you’re trying not to show panic? I was saying to the producer, I was like, if I’ve clicked on this, Amanda? But it was fine. The idea of having to call him up and say “Can we do it all again? I pressed the wrong button”. Would’ve been awful.

Martyn: Did I see you all from Croydon?

Lucy: I am, you?

Martyn: I’m from Mitcham, but I was born in Croydon.

Lucy: Yay. But you’re much younger than me, so we probably won’t have anyone in common will we?

Martyn: I’m about five years younger than you. So, maybe.

Lucy: So, the Blue Orchid would still have been there?

Martyn: I was going there when I was 16. Yeah. The blue school kid, as they called it. That’s a local reference for nobody else.

Lucy: I love it. I could talk about Croydon all day. I feel really bad though, that I don’t live there anymore. You know, I feel I’ve betrayed my parents, my roots, and all my friends that still live there are like “when are you coming back?”. Maybe one day.

Martyn: Yeah. I’ve not been there for ages. I live in Epson now.

Lucy: Oh, nice! Well. I’m coming to the playhouse.

Martyn: Excellent, I’ll come and see you. So you’re here to talk about your new standup show, that launches next week, wake-up call. What can you tell our audience about it?

Lucy: Well, given that this is a sort of pop culture podcast. I suppose it is a very middle-aged show. So it’s for people who loved Red Dwarf the first time around.

Martyn: Brilliant, brilliant.

Lucy: That’s the sort of demographic I’m looking for. I was saying the other day that the test of whether it’s a show for you is. Are you wearing an item of clothing you bought in a garden centre? Is the only reason you stay up at night, now if you’ve got a bladder infection? Would you rather watch the repair shop than go clubbing? That’s the vibe of it.

Martyn: It’s great being middle-aged now because nobody really expects anything from me. Nobody expects me to show up to anything.

Lucy: Yes. Oh, God. And if you cancel plans. People are so delighted. It’s that lovely thing of going, listen, I’m sorry, I can’t make that thing we said we’d do. And everybody’s like, “Yay! We stay in and watch TV”.

Martyn: The relief when that text comes around and says ‘I can’t make it’.
Lucy: Yeah and. It’s always great when you’re not the one who’s broken the arrangement, then you can act wounded

Martyn: Oh no.

Lucy: Oh, I was really looking forward to the thing, I didn’t even want to do in the first place. But yeah, I mostly stay in and watch films with my kids and that is bliss.

Martyn: What have you been watching?

Lucy: We constantly watch the Marvel films on a loop basically. We sort of watched them all and then we watched them again. The first time we did it, which was kind of lockdown really, we did release orders, and then we’ve gone back and done them chronologically. Now we are just sort of picking and mixing. I will only really do Guardians of the Galaxy repeatedly. My poor husband will sit through anything. He was in a Marvel movie. The street cred that my kids have.

Martyn: Excellent. Which one?

Lucy: Oh, the worst one. Thor 2.

Martyn: Oh no!

Lucy: But yeah, he plays a policeman that gets thrown across a car park by Natalie Portman.

Martyn: Oh, excellent. Good day at work.

Lucy: Yeah.

Martyn: I’ll look out for him. How do you write a stand-up show? I get how somebody would write a book, but what’s the process for writing stand-up?

Lucy: I mean, it’s very much, the lazy person’s way to write anything. Because you just do a little bit every now and then. And because stand-up constantly evolves. Kind of just snippets and overhead bits of conversation. I have a million notes on my phone. I’ll share some highlights. I’ll have a look. But I will write down something, that then makes no sense to me. Voyage supplies? No. No idea what that is. Lasagne-moussaka. That was because I had written a joke that involved the word lasagna and I wanted to remind myself to change it. Because moussaka is a funnier dish than lasagna. Cat bin lady. I did mention her. So yeah, I basically have loads of notes, loads of different stuff going on. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD, which I was very reluctant to do. I thought, ‘well, you know, I’m 49. Who cares whether you know what’s wrong with me or whatever.’ But it was the best thing that I’ve ever done. The psychiatrist who diagnosed me just basically explained my whole life to me and explained to me why I’m a stand-up comedian. He was like “Yeah. Your brain cannot function in a linear way and it has to go off on tangents. Your executive function is impaired”. So, you know. Things like losing your keys. Being a nightmare with being late and stuff. He’s like “basically it’s not your fault”. I wept with gratitude cuz I was so delighted to finally be absolved from thinking I’m a crap human being.

Martyn: I’ll bet

Lucy: It turns out, I’m just different and special and that’s great. Loads of comedians over lockdown, given the time for introspection, got diagnosed with ADHD or diagnosed themselves. Angela Barns and Shappi Khorsandi have been really good to talk to you. Because you sort of think, ‘Yeah. There’s a reason that we all do this job.’ It’s because we all have high self-confidence, but low self-esteem and no capacity to really concentrate for long periods of time. So, stand-up is just absolutely ideal ‘cause I can like write five minutes and then I get the instant endorphin hit of going out that night. I basically write by kind of just having an idea, then a bit later. I have another one and then I string them all together and make an hour of stuff to take to Edinburgh. Then I split it up and add some bits and make two 40-minute halves to take on tour.

Martyn: It’s interesting you say about getting diagnosed with ADHD because we recently found out my son has autism. When I was reading the list of traits, I was like. Oh, that actually sounds like me. Maybe I should get tested.

Lucy: Exactly. Well, this is the thing. It didn’t exist, like when I was a kid. Obviously, it didn’t exist, as a diagnosis. And then so many people I know. This is what happens. Your kid gets diagnosed with something and you go ‘oh, okay. Yeah, that explains a lot about my life.’ I was kind of quite sceptical about whether it’s useful to have a label and, you know, are we just kind of pathologising normal human behaviour or whatever. But, actually, I think it is just useful to know yourself. It’s just self-awareness really, isn’t it? Thank goodness to our children for getting us to know ourselves.

Martyn: How did you get into comedy?

Lucy: Loved comedy from being a kid. My mum and dad really liked Dave Allen and Billy Connolly and stuff. So that was the sort of formative influence. I was into sort of Indie music and comedy in my youth. The Balham Banana was my club of choice. I went to see Julian Clary when he used to do the Joan Collins fan club and Jo Brand, Mark Thomas, Mark Steele and Jeremy Hardy. So, I just developed this passion for comedy. Then I went to Manchester University and there was a little comedy scene growing there, with people like Caroline Aherne, Steve Coogan and John Thompson. And then I was lucky enough to go and work for Caroline Aherne on the Mrs Merton Show as a guest booker. Which was a phenomenal job to have. She was so lovely and encouraged me to follow my dream of writing comedy. And through that I thought, well, I’ll give, stand-up a go. Even though I wasn’t a natural performer and I’d never done drama or anything like that, I’d always written. I did a little gig at Alexander’s Jazz Bar in Chester. This night was run by the comedy police. These guys dressed up as policemen, and it was like a gong show. You tried to get to five minutes, but if the audience didn’t like it. They’d go ‘woo-woo-woo’ and you’d be truncheoned off the stage by these two policemen.
Luckily it went quite well. And so I just, I kind of fell into it really. But largely it was because I couldn’t hold down a proper job. I was trying to work in TV production and it was a complete disaster because I was always late and really disorganised. Then I tempt for a bit. Luckily, I found comedy and comedy found me.

Martyn: How do you handle heckling?

Lucy: I don’t get heckled anymore. I mean, in the early days, because there were sort of relatively few women doing stand-up. You would get the occasional. “Get your tits out!” or you know “make me a sandwich”. Which was always delightful. But these days, I don’t get heckled at all. Obviously, my audience being my age, they do occasionally have to get up to go to the loo. Or they make a noise when they stand up and sit down, but there’s not really any heckling. It’s all very good nature and polite. I think people don’t heckle so much anyway now. There’s a bit more awareness, that you are the one who’s likely to look like a dickhead rather than the comedian.

Martyn: Yeah, sure. How do you practice material? Do you like a work in progress?

Lucy: I do sort of previews leading up to Edinburgh. Where you sort of let people know, that it might not be very good. But generally what I try and do is just slip in bits of material to the show and see if they work or not. The lovely thing about stand-up is it’s so fluid that you can, you can have an idea and try it out that night, and then if it works, it works. And if it doesn’t, it’s gone. It’s not like doing TV or radio or Indeed podcasts. Where you have the luxury of editing. Or have to think about what works with what. You just give it a go. Then you edit as you and it’s not a pain in the ass, like editing podcasts and other things.

Martyn: Obviously you host a podcast about quizzes.

Lucy: Yeah, with Jenny Ryan.

Martyn: So, you’re a big fan of quizzes. Is there any old-school quiz show, that you would like to revive?

Lucy: Well, I mean. They did bullseye. I think for all of us, it was the definitive quiz growing up.

Martyn: Yeah.

Lucy: And anyone my age Bullseye. There’s just something about it. The combination of Jim Bowen and the contestants and the prizes. It was all of its time and lovely. Then, of course, darts. Who doesn’t love darts? So that to me is the perfect game show. But, I do think Going for Gold is again, something that we all absolutely loved. It was such a great concept, and I think a Pan-European quiz show is what we need to heal the Brexit wound.

Martyn: Yeah. Absolutely.

Lucy: And Henry Kelly, we interviewed Henry Kelly for the podcast and he’s still sharp as a tack and brilliant. So he could come back and do it again.

Martyn: Do people pitch ideas to you for your stand-up?

Lucy: Yes. Or the thing that you get is people saying. “Oh God, you’re gonna use this in one of your routines”. When they’ve just told you the dullest anecdote that you can ever possibly imagine hearing. Very little that is pitched to me makes it in, I have to say. Without being rude to anyone, that’s ever suggested something. But the thing about stand-up is, it has to be so personal, I think, to work. If it’s inauthentic, I think an audience can really sniff that out. I mean, I do occasionally work with writers. I think that comedy writers are brilliant and I have written stuff for other people and worked with other people. There’s a woman called Gabby Hutchinson Crouch, who is amazing and a man called Mike Shepherd. They will help me out and be sounding boards and write stuff based on what I’ve said. That’s just a joy and a delight to work with other people. Because it’s a bit lonely being a stand-up. That’s the only thing I would say to any aspiring stand-ups out there, is the creative process can be quite painful if you really are not having ideas and you’ve got a show to do and it’s just you on your own in a room. That can drive you slightly mad as with all writing, but you know, particularly with standup, when you know you’ve gotta go out and do it in two hours.

Martyn: What were the panel shows like to do? Obviously mock the week is no longer with us, sadly. What was that like?

Lucy: Yeah. Well, I only did that one a couple of times. It was quite Gladiatorial in the early days when I did it. So I can’t say that was a particularly relaxing time. I think I’m much better at them, as I’ve got older because I’m a bit less try hard or whatever. I like ones where you don’t really do much prep. Just a Minute and stuff are really fun to do. And I love doing The News Quiz on Radio Four.
I’m a bit more comfortable on the radio these days, to be honest. Because I think you can be a bit more discursive and it’s less sort of gag, gag, gag. And it’s a bit more sort of flights of fancy and whimsy, which is kind of what I enjoy.

Martyn: The old thing is radio still grasps people’s attention, even though people are doing other stuff as they listen. There’s something about the play of the mind. I feel that audiences maybe concentrate more on radio than they do on TV these days.

Lucy: Yeah, I mean, I love podcasts as well. I do feel like I am the luckiest person, to have been born in this era where audio entertainment is so freely available. You can switch from a sort of gritty true crime thing to two people talking about some, you know, obscure sitcom. In fact, Jenny Ryan, who I do the quizzing podcast, Fingers on Buzzers with. Really want to do a podcast about the Croft and Perry Universe. So working out where the characters in Hi-de-Hi! fit in with the characters from You Rang, M’Lord? Oh, Doctor Beeching! We keep saying we’re gonna do this cuz we’re obsessed with Su Pollard as much as anything else. But I love the fact that you can delve into any aspect of pop culture. I feel very fondly towards my favourite podcast hosts like Phoebe from criminal. I’ve never met her, but I just know that we’d get on.

Martyn: It is like you’re just hanging around with mates when you listen to a podcast.

Lucy: Yeah. It is like a lovely night at the pub sometimes. Which is obviously something that is now less available to me in real life. So yeah, I think that’s why I enjoy it so much.

Martyn: What’s the stand-up circuit been like Post covid?

Lucy: Well, I dunno really. Because the stand-up circuit is, you know, the clubs and pubs and I have been mostly just doing my own little gigs in art centres and theatres and stuff. But, I think it’s sort of back, but the Edinburgh Festival last year was kind of weird because we were all so excited. About the proper festival is back on and then nobody turned up for about the first two weeks and we were like, we’ve all made a terrible mistake. But then it sort of picked up towards the end. But I think people are just. I don’t think it’s even just my age. I think that people are a little bit more tentative about going out and making plans now. There’s definitely a lot more wiggle room for cancellation and you know, people don’t buy tickets. Oh, well, I know I don’t buy tickets to stuff until the last possible minute because I’m always thinking, well, maybe we’ll get ill, or the world will end or there’ll be a train strike. The whole entertainment and hospitality industry is really suffering at the minute and, you know. I one-hundred per cent support the strikes. The country is in an absolute state, isn’t it?

Martyn: Yeah.

Lucy: I think comedy is suffering in the same way that everything else is. But has never been more needed. Of course. I was doing a gig with someone last night and I was saying. “oh, you know it’s pathetic what we do, isn’t it?” And he was like. “No, no. The world’s so awful that comedians are basically key workers now”.

Martyn: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. We need levity.

Lucy: I was like “I don’t think we can say that”. But it is nice to get out.

Martyn: Yeah. Well, it’s weird for me watching the railway strikes. Because I worked on the railway for 11 years.

Lucy: Oh, did you?

Martyn: Yeah. Never had a strike in that in that entire time. But yeah, it’s weird watching. I see former colleagues on the news being interviewed. It’s strange.

Lucy: Well, you left and it went downhill.

Martyn: Exactly. I was doing the job of four people. So what’s Edinburgh like to do normally, because it sounds like an anxiety nightmare to me.

Lucy: Well. It is, but it’s also the most fun you’ll ever have. So it’s high-risk, high reward. For those who have never been, it’s a month of, you know, theatre, comedy, dance, magic and everything being on in every tiny unsuitable room in the city, that they can find. The first year I went up to the festival, I was doing a show with other comedians and we were in the Sea Scouts meeting hall, which was cold and drafty. And every now and then during the show, some Sea Scouts would just wander in and be slightly confused about what we were doing there. But for comedians, it’s like a holiday camp really, cuz you go up to the most beautiful city in the world for a month and you get to sort of swan around looking at pictures of your own face on posters and going out, drinking with your mates until the wee small hours of the morning. And then coincidentally doing a show. It brings out the best in everybody’s creativity because you go and watch other things. I will go and watch more theatre and dance. Things I would never dream of going to see in normal times, really. And I’ll see all this stuff in Edinburgh. It all feeds into your sort of creative process, you end up going. ‘Oh, maybe I could stage my show like that dance piece’. Or that theatre show has made me think about an aspect of my life that I’d never thought about before. It’s absolutely brilliant. And it is also just a really good kind of solid drinking session for a month.

Martyn: Well, what more could you want?

Lucy: Exactly. It’s a perfect time.

Martyn: Alright, Lucy, I know you’re very busy, so I’m gonna wrap it up now. Thank you so much for joining me for this.

Lucy: No, thank you. Really appreciate it.

Martyn: Cheers. Bye.

Lucy: Bye.

Socials:

Twitter: Martyn, Lucy.

Instagram: Martyn, Lucy.

Wake-Up Call launches 13th of January.

Check out Lucy’s podcast, Fingers on buzzers.

Episode 267: Toby Hadoke

Martyn chats with writer, actor, comedian and podcaster Toby Hadoke about his life and career.

Toby has been nominated for various awards for his stand up comedy.

Visit Toby’s website for full details about his projects.

Check out XS Malarkey.

Follow Toby on Twitter.

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Our Doctor Who spin-off podcast, Running Down Corridors can be found here.

If you’d like to support the show, then please shop via our Amazon link. A small percentage goes our way, at no extra cost to you.

Twitter: Martyn, Sam, Gerrod, Pete

Instagram: Podcast, Martyn, Chris, Sam

Episode 247: Guess the Doctor Who episode based on the terrible review part II

Martyn and Sam are joined by Bristol-based comedian, James O’Donoghue.

Martyn challenges them to guess the episode of Doctor Who he’s talking about, based on the terrible one-star fan reviews he found online.

The podcast is available from all good podcast services, such as but not limited to Spotify, Amazon Music, PodchaserPlayer FM, Stitcher, and Apple Podcasts.

We also have a Smartlink.

Check out our Youtube.

Equipment used in the creation of this feature was purchased through a grant from Graeae and The Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

If you’d like to support the show, then please shop via our Amazon link. A small percentage goes our way, at no extra cost to you.

Socials:

Twitter:

Martyn – @BadWilf

Gerrod –@InGerrodsMind

Pete – @BeeblePete

Sam-@Sammichaelcomic

James-@JAODonoghue

Instagram:

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Chris-@ChrisWalkerThomsonofficial

Sam-@Sammichaelol

James-@Real_Dumb_art

TikTok

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Epsiode 229: talking comedy

Martyn, Chris, and Sam are back. This week, they’re talking comedy. But what exactly is comedy and, who decides what’s funny?

The dictionary describes comedy as;

professional entertainment consisting of jokes and sketches, intended to make an audience laugh.”

But, is that an accurate or relevant description? Your dynamic trio discuss their favourite comedians/influences, such as Lee Evans, Robin Williams, Paul Whitehouse, Shappi Khorsandi, Jon Culshaw and, Dave Chappelle.

They also talk about “cancel culture” and ask questions such as “should it be one rule for comedians and one rule for everyone else?” and “what role should context play when telling a joke?”

The intro is taking from Dave Chappelle’s 2019 Netflix special ‘sticks & stones’.

Buy our t-shirts.

The Big Finish audio that Chris appears on is available here.

Listen to Chris’ Second Doctor audio adventures.

The podcast is available from all good podcast services, such as but not limited to;

If you’d like to support the show, then please shop via our Amazon link. A small percentage goes our way, at no extra cost to you.

Check out our Youtube.

Check out We Sound Familiar.

Check out Comedians talking football.

Twitter:

Martyn – @BadWilf

Gerrod –@InGerrodsMind

Pete – @BeeblePete

Sam-@Sammichaelcomic

Chris-@ChrisWalkerT

Artwork by Penny Smallshire

Review-Convenience 

Convenience tells the story of two life long friends A.Jay (Ray Panthaki) and Shaan (Adeel Akhtar), as they find themselves in deep with some Russian gangsters and a very limited time to settle the £8,000 debt that Shaan has racked up.
They decide the easiest way to get the money is to rob a near-by petrol garage. Unfortunately the safe has a time-lock and won’t open until 6am the following morning.


Their only option is to tie-up the manager and a customer in the back office, pose as employees and work a shift in the petrol garage.

If this ordeal wasn’t stressful enough, they soon learn there’s another employee in the stock room. Luckily for them, Levi (Vicky McClure) thinks they’re the two new trainees that have shown up a day early. They now face the challenge of keeping Levi out the office.

It’s lack of budget doesn’t show on screen. It’s beautifully shot and is held up by a great, yet simple premise. It also hosts some impressive cameos from Anthony Head (Buffy), Tony Way (Game of Thrones) and Verne Troyer (Austin Powers) they each play odd-ball characters that A.Jay and Shann encounter on their shift.
Overall, Convenience is a great example of low budget British comedies. The film manages to capture the tedium of retail work, yet is always watchable due to a great script and stellar performances from the cast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM5pQc9TqVI

Listen to our interviews from the press junket here

Film review-This is 40

Judd Apatow has evolved as a director, progressing from his earlier works, such as “Knocked Up” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” which relied heavily on funny-vulgar humor, to his more recent movies like “Funny People” and “This is 40.” In his latest film, Apatow deftly interweaves deeper subject matters, such as love, marriage, parenthood, responsibility, and family, with his trademark irreverent humour .

“This is 40” is a spin-off to “Knocked Up,” with Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Maude Apatow, and Iris Apatow reprising their roles. Katherine Heigel and Seth Rogen are notably absent, the former having openly criticized Apatow during the press conferences for “Knocked Up.” However, Rogen’s character is mentioned in the movie.

The film revolves around the struggles of the family, with Sadie going through puberty and becoming a drama queen, while they face significant financial difficulties. Pete’s record company is on the verge of bankruptcy, and his deadbeat dad (Albert Brooks) is mooching off him.

The first half of the movie follows the familiar Apatow comedy formula, but as the story progresses, it delves deeper into the characters’ relationships and problems, making it more engaging. What sets this film apart from others is that it lacks the typical Hollywood happy ending. The characters still have their quirks and annoyances, and there is no quick fix or happily-ever-after conclusion, making it a refreshing departure from formulaic comedies.

While the movie was enjoyable, it did feel a bit too long, with some scenes that could have been trimmed. Nevertheless, with the same cast and creative team, “This is 40” could be adapted into an excellent HBO or Showtime series.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

DVD review: Micky Flanagan: The Out Out Tour

If you like stand up comedy then you can’t go wrong with this offering from Micky Flanagan.


The DVD includes a whole host of new material, as well as some of his older material, which includes the jokes “out-out” and asking for ketchup in a restaurant.
Flanagan’s charm is that he comes across as less of a performer and more as a friend, talking to a room full of friends. Which adds to his warmth and depth.

Micky went to a school, where driving a van was an ambition too far beyond the comprehension of the average student.
Micky is a skilful comedian and excels at observational humour. If you prefer your comedians safe, like Michael McIntyre, then this isn’t for you.

Micky Flanagan is a star in the making, it takes a serious amount of skill to turn the mundanity of watching a kettle boil, or running a bath into a laugh out loud stand-up routine, but he manages it effortlessly.



TV Review-Life’s Too Short Episode 4

This episode starts with Warwick flat hunting with Cheryl, his assistant. The scene is a clever reference back to Extras that seems to have been overlooked by every other critic. But then, other critics are busy bashing Life’s too short, as this is Gervais’ year for a media bashing.

The Daily Mail recently had to print a retraction after massaging the viewing figures, they only reported the overnight figures, which given the way we watch TV nowadays, are completely redundant as they don’t include viewers who record it and watch it later or people who access it via the Iplayer. It is funny that they only do it with popular shows, you never see ‘Homes under the hammer down 100 viewers’.



Anyway, in Extras, Andy Millman tried to impress a journalist from the Guardian.  Andy asked his friend Maggie to pretend to be his assistant. Warwick is trying to impress the estate agent; into thinking, he is more important than he is. The estate agent is the same actress who played the journalist.  It’s a great scene, which again showcases Warwick’s excellent comic timing. Warwick has a real knack for physical comedy and I predict will win many awards next year.

Later in the episode, Warwick turns to Ricky and Steve when he finds out his wife is having more than a professional relationship, with their divorce lawyer.
While in their office, Warwick sits in on a skype chat between Ricky, Stephen and Steve Carroll. When Ricky badmouths Carroll after thinking he had quit Skype, things take a turn for the worse. Speaking as someone who has been in this situation, it felt just as authentic and just as awkward.
Now at the midway point, Life’s too short is turning in to one of the best sitcoms the year and you know what, I’m glad the mainstream media doesn’t like it.

Life’s too short airs on Thursdays at 9:30 pm, on BBC2