Sunday Puppet Awesomeness

I'm going to do this every Sunday. Just a video of some great puppteering. 

Ma nah ma nah.

This a great example of how simple a puppet can be to be unbelievably funny. I love the way they are designed to move, it's something I've been looking into a lot. I've written a list of movements I want my characters to be able to do. 

Firstly they have to be able to face palm:

Then they have to be able to do a big sigh:

(it's the moment at 0:15 that slays me every time.)

Then they have to be able to do a funny dance:

(Turn the sound off first if you are easily offended by shrill pop)

So the way I create them has to reflect these things. I feel the video above (The Muppets, not the GIANT Japanese cat.)  is one of many great examples of designing a puppet specifically for movement.

Before this I was Doing This:

I started drawing a webcomic. Some of the jokes are from here so I'm going to put them in. Along with a bunch of Sketches. Some of them are a weird colour. They are all hand drawn collages made with newspaper & magazines & greaseproof paper.

It was going to be called What Are You For? I can't remeber why. This what I was going to be the name of my show, but I thought of something else, more on that later.

The humour is pretty different, I had a no swearing rule. (I was swearing a lot at the time & trying to control it.) But some of the word play jokes I'm going to use. There is a Spelling Mistake in one of them. Find it & win a prize!

There are more & sketches. I may post them on a slow day. Hopefully they are big enough to read....x

Peter Serafinowicz: 6 degrees of.

I Really do love Peter Serafinowicz. I want to talk about him for a bit.

 

Look at That Face!

You may recognise him as the asshole flatmate from Shaun of Dead:

(From EdgarWright's Blog)

Or the Sexy Voiced Ex from Black Books:

(Yes that is what his voice does to people, English Will Arnett ?)

Or from Look Around You:

If you don't know him from these things, or don't know of these things go & buy these things on DVD (See below) & find out about funny. Just that list of stuff should tell you how super-duper he is, but he also passes one of my number one tests of super-duperness, he was great on Never Mind The Buzzcocks (Josh Groban also falls into this category, oh so much more on him later.)

The main reason for me bringing him up, apart from his DVD being out & selling really quickly, (& I mention him in my description.) is how fun he is to play 6 Degrees with. The reason why I'm bringing it up in a blog about making a TV show is I'm writing an episode about playing 6 Degrees.

I decided that I wanted someone with quite a long name & was think about maybe using Zach Galifianakis. Who is easy to connect to American stuff, but not so easy for anything else (If you haven't seen his old VH1 show Late World With Zach. most it is on You Tube, yes the guests on that show are Henry Rollins & Ray Romano, yes that's just fucking super.) Our Peter however has done a number of things that mean 6 Degrees is super fun with him. Also he has the kind of hard to pronounce name that's funny when you say it over & over again.

(See: Brian Boitano from the South Park movie South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut song What Would Brian Boitano Do? in which the name is repeated many times. Although his name is not that hard repetition is funny, but I'll get to that. SO if a name is going to be said over & over & over & over & over & over & over & over & over & over & over & over & over & over, the longer it is, the funnier it is.)

I'm bringing it up now because his DVD is out. The Peter Serafinowicz Show was AMAZING (Did I mention that before? The DVD being out, FINALLY, did I?). 

Here are a number of clips from it:

The DVD has finally been released. BUY IT! 

Now back to 6 Degrees. Originally this was done with Jesus. We are only 6 generations away from Jesus, or my parents were or something. This is no fun to play as IMDB cannot be used to prove you've got it right.

6 Degrees of  Kevin Bacon was the original I belive.If you aren't sure how to play this you are stupid, but the rules are simple:

1. Person A names someone.

2. Person B tries to link them to Kevin Bacon is less than 6 steps. 

3. Each Person counts as a step.

(There are more rules than that in our games, but arguing about them forms most the script, so....no.)

Popular With Gays. Also Doesn't age.

I like this game. I'm good at it. Here is how I connect Kevin Bacon to Peter Serafinowicz:

1. Kevin Bacon was in SLEEPERS with BRAD PITT who was in BURN AFTER READING with GEORGE CLOONEY who was in MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS with EWAN MCGREGOR who is in STAR WARS: EPISODE 1: THE PHANTOM MENACE which featured Peter Serafinowicz as the voice of Darth Maul.

Yes, he is the James Earl Jones of Ep One. He RULES 

Years ago me & a good friend of mine used to play this game ALL the time, normally when we were drunk & sharing a bed together. Sarah Michelle Gellar was our Kevin Bacon. (Guest voice on the "The Simpsons" Episode: The Wandering Juvie (2004), which stars Hank Azaria, who was in Run Fatboy Run with Simon Pegg, who was in Shaun Of The Dead with Peter Serafinowicz). I only tell you this to put this picture in my post:

 Look, centre side boob! That's just great SMG!
Fanks!

So in conclusion: Peter Serafinowicz: He is as super-duper as Sarah Michelle Gellar's centre side boob.

GO AND BUY EVERYTHING HE HAS EVER BEEN IN NOW!

Just to prove a point: Peter Serafinowicz was in Couples Retreat with Vince Vaughn who was in Wedding Crashers with Bradley Cooper who was in The Hangover with Zach Galifianakis. (I could have gone via Owen WIlson who was in Fantastic Mr Fox as was Jason Schwartzman who is in Bored To Death with the AWESOME Zach Galifianakis.)

"But you mentioned Will Arnett & Josh Groban as well? Bet you can't connect them as well..."
Fuck you. Of Course I can. 
"Bet you can't contact all 3 in some super 6 Degrees...."  
SUPER FUCK YOU! I can.

Josh Groban was in Ally Mcbeal  as was Jane Krakowski who is in 30 Rock with Will Arnett who was in Monsters Vs Aliens with Hugh Laurie who was in Murder Most Horrid as was Peter Serafinowicz.

I rule at this game. RULE. (I'm also a giant NERD)

“Sabor de Soledad”

Do Women Writers Suck? Apparently so...I don't believe for a second that it's just because all the big bad men in power don't like the work women are producing. I'm going to use finding this article as a good reason to be awesome & make a pilot that get's picked up. Actually fuck that. I don't care what gender someone is if they are funny. I'm going to use it as an excuse to show clips of one of my favourite female comedians, ever.

I love you Tina Fey, in a way that could be described as 'creepy'

 

Here she is as Liz Lemon, oh so many Star Wars references from a female character: 

If Alec Baldwin says she's hot...well then....Nerd.

Let's Start At The Nerdy Beginning, a Very Good Place To Start....

So here we go kids. I've already put a lot of work into the ideas I've been coming up with for this. So maybe I should start by telling you how my little brain decided to do this.

My & the other half were watching Beavis & Butthead. I got sad because I used to be an MTV kid when that meant something good.

 

Does anyone else remember 120 minutes?

I started talking about shows that poke fun at things, in a nice affectionate & knowledgeable way, then it hit me. That's what I should do. I wrote down a list (Oh god I love lists, srsly. I write several a day & sometimes even lists of the lists I need to write. I do sometimes even get things done.) of the best commentators of pop culture, or anything.

Here is my list, or Inspiration Ground Zero:

Statler & Waldorf. 

Cranky, obnoxious & hilarious. (I was going to use a classic clip, but this one seemed to fit so much better.) I will talk A LOT more on Mr. Henson when I start making the puppets. But I'll keep this short & sweet for now.  

Mystery Science Theatre 

 

I chose this picture because it has a cat in a dress. I don't need anymore reason than that.

The pure guenius of just the silhouettes, it was as if you were watching it with your friends, if your friends were actually that funny. See also Rifftrax by the same guys. The twilight one is predictably awesome.

And Finally, of course.....

Beavis & Butthead.

I always liked it when they liked a video:

So I'm starting off with these three, as obvious influences but I'd also like to mention:

(For more Comics: There's a link on the right, click it.)

Also: Charlie Brooker. 

Here he is talking about The Wire ages before everyone else decided they liked it. (This means he is cooler than you.)

Whilst he is best known for scathing, scathing reviews of how just awful telly is,
(The Entirety of Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe & Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe.)in particular his piece on the media coverage of Jade Goody is incredible, but sometimes he talks about stuff he likes. This piece on Oliver Postgate makes me cry everytime I watch it.



I also include this as Mr. Postgate's beautiful simple work & DIY ethos of simplicity and just plain loveliness is also engrained in me & my heart & a big part of what I'm doing.

 

What a wonderful, wonderful man.

Speaking of DIY awesomeness but on a lighter note:

The Adam & Joe Show 

Star Wars Crystal Maze (It won't embed, but it does link to Adam Buxton's channel, which is A Good Thing). 

 

Set in a fake bedroom & made with toys &....Oh fuckticks, just go & buy the DVD, if I have to tell you about this, you shouldn't be reading this, you'll hate anything I make. BUY IT! If I can make one person as happy as I was when I first watched this, then I don't care if I never make a penny from this.

I will never be as good as these guys, but they cover a pretty wide range of humour whilst all doing the esentially the same thing I'd like to do. Thought you should know what set my little brain ticking.