Armando Ianucci is to be Professor of Broadcast Media at Oxford University, the Media Guardian reports. I’m slightly surprised he’d he sign up for a post sponsored by Rupert Murdoch and News International, but at least he’s smart enough for the job. His radio work is still some of the funniest around, although his Channel 4 show a few years back was significantly lacking. We need more Armandos.
Articles by Rob Buckley
Bloody Goldfrapp
Today’s “tune I really wish I could get out of my head, even though I really rather like it” is Goldfrapp’s Number One, available in the iTunes Music Store and on Amazon. It’s really rather good and it makes you wonder why she’s been unknown for so long when she’s been putting stuff like this out for ages. Still, not as long as Pulp, hey?
Who needs foreigners when there’s Mel Gibson in Hollywood?
Hot on the heels of his last film, which owed its immense popularity to Latin, Hebrew and Aramaic dialogue (or something), Mel Gibson’s is set to direct a film with dialogue that’s entirely Mayan.
Sir, I salute you. We need more people like you. One request, though: can the film after that be shot in Esperanto? Oh wait: someone’s done that already… 14 times?
Robert Newman and Mark Thomas
Went to see Robert Newman and Mark Thomas at the Broadway Theatre last night. Mark Thomas was pretty good, purveying less agitprop than he did with last year’s “boycott Coca Cola because they collude with murdering Colombian paramilitaries” tour. Unfortunately, for his regular attendees, there was some repeated material, which was a shame, since he’s usually not short of new material.
Thomas at least knows how to tell a joke and make people laugh, though, something that Robert Newman appears to have forgotten. I last saw Newman at the infamous Wembley Arena gig he did with David Baddiel back in the early 90s and he seems to have degenerated since then. Fair enough, Newman had a cold, but not only did he mumble most of his act, it was absolutely incoherent. And, oh dear, he appears to have read a book or two and wants to show off.
‘Most Haunted’ a fake! Surely not
The redoubtable Mirror has exclusively revealed that Living’s Most Haunted is faked.
Well, I just feel so cheated.
Quite why it’s taken three years for the Mirror to reveal what’s obvious within three milliseconds of hearing the show’s premise or watching it, I don’t know. A show that every week goes to a different haunted house and every week manages to expose the supernatural? Gosh, with ghosts that easy to find, it’s a wonder everyone isn’t doing it.