Author: Simon Dunn
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Ben Elton Live From Planet Earth
In 2011, Ben Elton returned to live variety TV comedy in the form of Live From Planet Earth, an hour long show on Australia’s Nine network. It featured Ben as host, introducing sketches and performances from a cast of regular contributors, in much the same way Saturday Live had done in the UK back in…
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Rik’s 80s Pop Video Triptych
In the mid-80s, Rik Mayall appeared in three different music videos. The first was for Lionheart’s Die For Love in 1984, from their album Hot Tonight. The more famous one, of course, was Living Doll, with Cliff Richard and The Young Ones. And then there’s this, by the Art Of Noise, a cover version of…
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Oh What The Hell
Some day there will be complete archive of all the corporate and training videos that Video Arts ever made. The company was co-founded by John Cleese, and their output features almost every comedy actor and comedian you might think of. One such title is Oh What The Hell, from 1984, which teaches the dangers of…
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Girls On Top
As early as 1985, Jennifer Saunders was starring in not one, but two prime time sitcoms on the main channels. On BBC One, she played multiple characters in Ben Elton’s Happy Families, and during the same few weeks, she was over on ITV in Girls On Top. Here’s Tony Pratt’s patronising preview write up in…
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Ade’s Lego Voices
Here’s a lovely advert from 1985, featuring the voice skills of Adrian Edmondson, as he plays with a Lego Castle set. I particularly like his rather accurate impression of Kevin Turvey at the end.
