January 07, 2006

• I love those guys, except for Drew Carey, of course. I had never seen the Party Quirks clip, that's hilarious!
• I always liked Clive Anderson. Clive Anderson: [fielding suggestions from the audience] And we're going to want to have a crisis that the world is facing. Audience Member 1: Richard Nixon comes back from the dead! Audience Member 2: An asteroid about to crash into the earth! Clive Anderson: A jam shortage. Okay, so it's... Greg Proops: WHO are you listening to? Mike McShane: Where are you receiving your suggestions from, British Telecom? -- quoted from IMDB
• I love this show too. I always wanted to see a Party Quirks in which Ryan Stiles plays himself. They always give him the super-weird roles so nobody would ever guess it! Yes, I am a big nerd.
• ok that richard simmons one was pretty hysterical. it has convinced me to watch some more.... ah! wasting time on a saturday afternoon!
• The Green Screen Show with Drew Carey (It's WLIA but with animated graphics...) is a gem as well... Same vein, just more hi-tech...
• I'd be amazed the Richard Simmons bit made it to broadcast, what with it being Disney/ABC and all. That being said, Whose Line had some of the best stuff on tv at the time it aired. I actually remember that bit when Clive did the jam shortage thing. Hilarious.
• the clive anderson interview with the bee gees, or two of the bros gibb, from about 1997 or 98, is quality, quality television.
• The Robin Williams one is really funny too, if you happen to catch it. We have it permanently saved to the Tivo.
• The British one regularly made me laugh till I cried. I'm not as addicted to the US version, although Ryan and Colin keep it worthwhile. And I, too, recall the Great Jam Shortage. Oh yes, them's were the days.
• That right there? Brought the funny.
• The British is wittier; the American has more 'variety' skits rather than teh funny.
• British people first brought humour from the realms of the Olympians and gave it to humanity, for which they were bound to a rock while an eagle feasted on their spleen. American people eat babies and drink their own wee-wee.
• I agree that the British is better than the US version. I think it is because the US version allows for less actual improvisation. Take a sketch like party quirks, for example. It was one of my favorite skits on the British version. They would give the actors actual quirks like Man Who Is Not Aware He Has Arms. This allows the actor to mingle and have regular dialogue while incorporating this odd quirk. In the American version, they give them quirks like (in the linked clip) Carol Channing Who Keeps Getting Her Head Stuck to Things. Sure, it turned out funny. Sure, Ryan's Carol Channing was funny (as if they did not know Ryan had a Carol Channing impersonation handy). But he could not actually mingle and have regular dialogue while incorporating the odd quirk. It did not allow him to actually improvise. All he could do was be the party quirk. Not as creative, and not as funny.
• And they drink wee-wee, like I said.
• And, of course, they drink wee-wee. That is why the British are known for having such discoloured teeth. The urine that the Americans drink apparently has a whitening agent. Something sounds wrong about that. Could it be the it is really the Brits who are drinking the wee-wee?
• The improv group I was in in college borrowed its format from the British version. We were all Americans, but we never drank our own wee-wee. Well, ok just once. But it got a really big laugh.
• Wee-wee is a dish best savored cold.
• "Write Yiddish, act British"
• Well, of course we drink wee-wee. That's what makes us so fertile. Then, we eat the babies and have to wash them down with more wee-wee. It's called the circle of life, dammit.