I've posted before about the amazing things Morecambe and Wise got their guests to do, from Shirley Bassey to Andre Previn to The Beatles. Their Christmas shows were legendary. Over 28 million people used to tune in to watch on Christmas evening.
Over the weekend we were treated to the Christmas specials from 1976 and 1977. Elton John was humiliated in both.
But the big thing was how a truly serious broadcaster came right out of her shell.
Actually, she was a newsreader, and we only ever saw her top half, so I should say that she came out from behind her desk - and revealed the l-o-n-g-e-s-t legs in history, and a real talent to high kick. Most of the sequence is not on YouTube , but there is one partial clip in very poor condition should you choose to experience it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaybK_IAJAE
I know that Ricky Gervais has had some eminent people appear on his show Extras, but I never found the time to get into his humour.
It now seems that the Little Britain* team has the same ability to attract big names to receive humiliating treatment. Their new show - Come Fly With Me - has Matt Lucas and David Walliams playing a huge variety of roles with great flair. But I was amazed in episode 2 to see David Schwimmer appear in the guest slot. I was even more surprised to see him being questioned about the contents of his suitcase. He blamed the items on Friends stars in turn, before admitting they were his. But what were they?
In the final sequence - one of those summing-up sessions they have at the end of reality shows to say what happened to all those featured - it said something like "David Schwimmer was released after agreeing to undergo treatment for his addiction to transsexual pornography".
Sadly this, too has yet to be posted on YouTube, but keep your eyes peeled.
*I'm hoping they are also well enough known in other countries to be familiar to my non-UK readers.
I've not heard of any of the people you mentioned, except David Schwimmer. I keep hearing the name Ricky Gervais but I've no idea who he is.
ReplyDeleteMy parents were fans of Morecombe and Wise.
ReplyDeleteRicky Gervais' humour is a little confronting.
Of all the stuff on over Christmas, I laughed the loudest at the ancient Morecambe and Wise Christmas show. The new docu-drama about them on New Year's Day was brilliant though.
ReplyDeleteI can take or leave most of the 'alternative' comedians, although I LOVE Eddie Izzard - not in the same way I love Vincent of course ;0)
JoJo, Ricky Gervais was in the original version of The Office (he may have created it, I don't know) and also Extras, don't know if that travelled.
ReplyDeleteLucas and Walliams created (?) and were the more-or-less sole performers of a programme called Little Britain, which started as a radio programme, then went on to TV. I know they did an episode in the US, but I don't know if the show ever aired over there. SOme of the accents might have been impenetrable.