The Thick Of It v The Royle Family and Father Ted v Early Doors.
Prepare for a comedic clash of titans as we embark on our liveliest debate yet, searching for the ultimate champion of UK sitcoms from the past thirty years. We're switching up our regular stroll down memory lane to stir the pot of British humour, analysing the heavyweights that have made it to the second round of our face-off. From the biting political satire of 'The Thick of It' to the homely charm of 'The Royle Family', and the cultural phenomenon that is 'Father Ted', we're peeling back the layers of what makes these shows tickle our collective funny bones.
We're diving headfirst into the subtle genius of 'The Thick of It', examining how its razor-sharp wit cuts deeper in today's political quagmire. We pay homage to the everyday poignancy of 'The Royal Family', whose absence of a laugh track revolutionized the sitcom landscape. Plus, we grapple with 'Father Ted's' identity crisis—is it British or Irish? It's a question that's sparked more debates than the show's countless laughs. And let's not forget the understated brilliance of 'Early Doors' - a gem that deserves its moment in the spotlight. We're unpacking the quirks, the quotable lines, and the characters who feel like old friends, all while savouring the unique flavours of British comedy.
It's not just about the laughs though. We're discussing more than just what tickles us; it's about the cultural impact and the lasting impressions these shows have left on us. Will 'Early Doors' get another shout at the title of best sitcom, or will 'Father Ted' charm its way to victory with its surreal humour? We're gearing up for an episode that's not just a trip down memory lane, but a celebration of the rich tapestry that is British sitcoms. So, pull up a chair, pour a cuppa, and join us on Living with Madeley for this episode that's as cosy and warming as a night in with your favourite show.
The Thick Of It v The Royle Family and Father Ted v Early Doors.
Prepare for a comedic clash of titans as we embark on our liveliest debate yet, searching for the ultimate champion of UK sitcoms from the past thirty years. We're switching up our regular stroll down memory lane to stir the pot of British humour, analysing the heavyweights that have made it to the second round of our face-off. From the biting political satire of 'The Thick of It' to the homely charm of 'The Royle Family', and the cultural phenomenon that is 'Father Ted', we're peeling back the layers of what makes these shows tickle our collective funny bones.
We're diving headfirst into the subtle genius of 'The Thick of It', examining how its razor-sharp wit cuts deeper in today's political quagmire. We pay homage to the everyday poignancy of 'The Royal Family', whose absence of a laugh track revolutionized the sitcom landscape. Plus, we grapple with 'Father Ted's' identity crisis—is it British or Irish? It's a question that's sparked more debates than the show's countless laughs. And let's not forget the understated brilliance of 'Early Doors' - a gem that deserves its moment in the spotlight. We're unpacking the quirks, the quotable lines, and the characters who feel like old friends, all while savouring the unique flavours of British comedy.
It's not just about the laughs though. We're discussing more than just what tickles us; it's about the cultural impact and the lasting impressions these shows have left on us. Will 'Early Doors' get another shout at the title of best sitcom, or will 'Father Ted' charm its way to victory with its surreal humour? We're gearing up for an episode that's not just a trip down memory lane, but a celebration of the rich tapestry that is British sitcoms. So, pull up a chair, pour a cuppa, and join us on Living with Madeley for this episode that's as cosy and warming as a night in with your favourite show.
Living with.
Speaker 2:Maidly Living with Maidly. Living with Maidly. Maidly Living with Maidly.
Speaker 3:Hello and welcome to Living with Maidly. My name is Andrew and I'm joined, as always, by Liam, our thing, sir.
Speaker 4:Good evening. Yeah, you missed a bit where we say this is a TV-based TV, nostalgia-based podcast.
Speaker 3:Bit different now. This series, bit different this series. Normally, if you're new to this podcast, we've got a few new followers, aren't we? To be fair, this is usually a nostalgic TV podcast and it's called Living With Madeley because we can't remember a week in our lives when Richard Madeley hasn't been on our screens. And, with all this podcast being about TV history, we named it after the man who we've probably seen more than ever, haven't we On our TV since?
Speaker 4:we were both. He's back and he's involved in a big way again now.
Speaker 3:He's always on it but we're not affiliated with Madeley, and if you're not a fan of him and I understand many people aren't then there's no reason why you can't have a lot of fun with us, because it's not about Richard Madeley at all, in particular this series, which is why I didn't announce the intro as normal, because this yeah, fair point. The new series is about us trying to find the best UK sitcom of the last 30 years.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and that is quite clear in what we said last week and quite clear in what we posted. And we still got people saying what about Fawlty Towers? What about Only Fools and Horses? We got people having a go at us saying, father Ted, even though it's a UK produced sitcom, I'll get on to that, because this is one of the ones we're doing today.
Speaker 3:So, thanks to everyone. We've got miles more votes than we thought. Yeah, it did really well.
Speaker 4:Thanks for anyone who voted and shared it, and obviously the Major got his regiment involved so that boosted the numbers.
Speaker 3:He likes a long-winded, pointless exercise, doesn't he? When you can vote and things, yeah. So thanks for everyone to vote in. And this is how the second round, uh, is lined up. So what we're going to do now is we're going to go a brief overview of each sitcom that's made it through today. We're going to do the first two matches and then the next four podcasts. We're going to cover them all. All the second round, um, it still sounds confusing this and the next three.
Speaker 4:We'll all be discussing who got through the groups and then we'll be announcing the next vote after we finish those four. Is that right? Yeah, that's right so today. You're only going to hear about the first two groups now, but but we already know all the groups, so we're going to go through them all quickly yeah, so we're going to go through.
Speaker 3:This is the second round lineup and we're going to cover these in the next four pods. Um, so it's the thick of it versus the royal family, which is a big hitter, I think. Uh, for a second round, one, yeah, both, both, uh, think of it. Piss. The group, to be fair, um, father ted versus early doors, early doors and mighty boosh was both on the same percentage for about a week and we thought we were going to have to do a tie-break situation, which is basically us just deciding which one goes through.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we ranked them before the tournament and said, as a last resort, if they get bang on the same amount of votes, we'll use our system, because we don't. We want this to be people voting, people listening. We don't want this to be our final. We want this to be people voting, people listening. We don't want this to be our final. We want it to be interactive. So that's the only time you'll get any sort of direct involvement from us in a dead heat.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, completely. So I've said early doors. Craig Cash won it last minute above the. We got a last-minute vote pretty much. I think it was 17.1% to 16.8%, like ridiculously close so early. Doors have got through ridiculously close so early doors have got through scrambling last minute effort.
Speaker 4:That weren't it from Craig Cash, yeah those first two matches.
Speaker 3:By the way, what we're going to cover today, we're going to go into the thick of it Royal Family, father Ted and Early Doors.
Speaker 4:I picture that, do you know, as Gaz is sort of like chance. We slid and missed it.
Speaker 3:I picture that as Craig Cash getting his boot on the end of. It would be amazing. Peepshow versus Max and Paddy's road to nowhere Peepshow came from behind actually to win the group.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and Max and Paddy, that ended up sort of getting towards the eventual winner that you're going to mention. But yeah, no, it did, it won their group. It won the group. Oh, no, it didn't win the group. No, no, no, it was creeping up?
Speaker 3:I think it came. It was creeping up, I think. Yeah, he did have a late surge. The winner of that group actually was Friday Night Dinner and that's going to play Phoenix Knights. Phoenix Knights were top of their group for a long time and let it slip, but they still qualified Kaye resting his key players, weren't they?
Speaker 4:Yeah, he's got through the group.
Speaker 3:That was the main thing. Extra versus Dark Place. Dark Place came from bottom of the table and just somehow got to second place. Really tight group um edged out. Not going out lee mack obviously he's got more money behind him, I'd say. But uh, yeah, dark place is through. Uh, gavin and stacy's versus the toast of london. Then we've got the office versus the it crowd and we've not planned this because people have had to go as well at the seedings. We just drew it out out of our hat as random Again. We didn't want to put his own sort of take on this and we didn't want to like make it about our favourite comedies. And if we seeded him we'd have had to do that to some degree. But we've ended up with an unbelievable last matchup, which is the Inbetweeners versus I'm Alan Partridge.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that, and that'll actually be in the last episode of this round, so that'll be in the fourth episode that we'll cover that, yeah so what we're going to do with this one is a brief overview of the first four sitcoms that have gone through, who are playing each other, and then we're going to put it out to a vote again after we've done them all, after the four podcasts. The further a sitcom gets, the deeper the analysis will get from us what we're going to do this week. You just pick we're going to have a bit of a chat about and then pick a clip out of what we'd show to someone who's never seen it to try and get them into it. Is that right, liam? Is that what you've got?
Speaker 4:Yeah, we sort of said, not necessarily your favorite clip, but a clip that if somebody said, oh, I've never them on this clip and give them an idea of what's going on and maybe maybe make him decide if, oh, yeah, I could probably get into that or nah, it's not for me yeah, and then as we go on we'll get further and further and obviously the final.
Speaker 3:You know we'll have done four episodes on it and it'll get more and more sort of obscure trivia and stuff like that. But the first game you're ready to start, liam let's get into the first match-up is.
Speaker 3:The Thick of it versus the Royal Family. Now I'll we'll talk about the Thick of it first, because that won the group, and then we'll go on to the Royal Family. We're going to play a theme tune for these, but the Thick of it doesn't have a theme tune. But yeah, we've got theme tunes for the rest, so don't worry about it. But the Thick of it, if people don't know, is a sitcom that was originally about the inner workings of the British government and it later became about the opposition parties. It was first broadcast on BBC4 in 2005, switching to BBC2 for the third series, and overall it ran for four series, including three special hour-long episodes and, obviously, a spin-off film In the Loop. Have you seen in the loop? I haven't, actually, and you know it's one of the few films I've seen I know you love.
Speaker 4:Well, I shouldn't be giving too much away, but I know you're a fan of this and I've seen loads of clips of it and it just seems to be people shouting at each other. But actually for the purpose of this, I've ended up watching some clips today. I watched a few over the weekend. I watched an episode. I was kind of slightly distracted at the time, but I did watch a full episode and actually, yeah, I can see the attraction. I think I'm going to give it a go.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's brilliant, I think.
Speaker 4:Anyway.
Speaker 3:Created by Armando Inanuche and a large team of writers actually which is unusual for a British sitcom including Jesse Armstrong, simon Bakewell and David Quant, including Jesse Armstrong.
Speaker 4:Simon Bakewell and David Quantic. I thought Jesse Armstrong was involved as in. Succession and Peep Show.
Speaker 3:Peep Show. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he was one of the writers on it, but some of the dialogue were improvised. Peter Capaldi, who plays Malcolm Tucker, said 80% of the final script is not what they started with, because obviously it develops as they were.
Speaker 4:Well, there's some clips that give that away, I think, because I was watching one with him Peter Capaldi, and the guy who plays him out we mentioned him before. Out of the Thin Blue Line he says Namby Pam. He's called Steve, something in the thick of it Stephen A. Yeah well, there's a bit where they're arguing and he says something and he kind of starts laughing at Stephen. So it seems genuine and that makes sense, knowing that there's a lot of improvisation in there.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So what I'm going to do basically is why I think it's great and then if you can do. You know, as you said, you've not watched much of it, but I've seen Alistair Campbell say before that this is unrealistic. But when you look at the I don't know the shit show that we've had in the last decade in government, you can actually. I think you can imagine this happening, can't you in Westminster?
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, it's very authentic. You could believe that they're, I mean, all right, maybe slightly dramatised, but you could believe that these are based on real events, absolutely. I mean, I would imagine they got some insight. I don't think this is just people writing blind. It seems to me to be well accurate in my mind.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. So it's like a full scandal massive cock-ups, half-baked ideas and basically just shows that I think what the thing is it shows is that MPs, you know, according to this version of events, just try and cover their own back. But the best thing for me me and you mentioned about just people swearing at each other is how harsh it is, and I think that's the key selling point, because it's not just people being asked to each other or swearing at each other. I think it's the most creative insults ever used in any creative media. I can't think of any any show that has better insults than this yeah, no, I'll go with that, I think it's's.
Speaker 4:It is like it's kind of quite extreme abuse, isn't it like particularly yeah yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 3:It's unbelievable. I think it's really creative. I think those people who say swearing I want to write an article about this actually I'll swear in, like you know, if you swear a lot, you've got a lack of intelligence should be made to watch this, because I think it shows the beauty of a well chosen swear word and how it can transform a sentence, if you know what I mean.
Speaker 4:Just you trying to back up your own overuse of swear words. Oh, fuck off.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, it's true though. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's exactly what I'm doing, but obviously the biggest thing a mind-blowing performance, I think, from Peter Capaldi was Malcolm Tucker, who is like the spin doctor. He was Malcolm Tucker, who is like the spin doctor. He's not even an MP in it. He's supposed to be the Labour Party I don't know if you got this with the bits that you've seen. So Tucker's team are the Labour Party. There's Peter Mannion's team are the Conservatives and the guy I can't remember the name. They're the Lib Dems. Peter.
Speaker 4:Mannion, by the way, is brilliant. I really like his character.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely amazing, peter Mannion. But, like I said, we're going to pick a scene each. We're not going to go mad into these, like in terms of in depth. If it gets through, we'll go more and more in depth. But the scene I'm going to pick to what I probably probably have shown at you, actually to what I think could get people into it. This is a scene where Malcolm Tuckin it's just about him being in total control again, thinking everyone around him is completely incompetent and this is him having a go at an MP called Ben Swain.
Speaker 6:Enough. Can we all just shut the fuck up? Okay, so we can gather our thoughts. So one at a time. Private Godfrey, get to your station. I want to hear what the wad is on the street All right, ben has been seen coming into Dosak but not going out.
Speaker 7:Possibly Ben is her running mate as number two in a leadership bid. Right, I don't mind going out there now and telling them all face to face just how much I hate Nicola and how unlikely that is to happen. I can get myself a sandwich, I'm fucking starving. What did I just?
Speaker 6:fucking say. What did I just fucking say? I said one of the fucking times stand up. I'm telling you to fucking stand up. You sack of fucking cum. Stand the fuck up. Fucking move right. See that. Fucking play with that right. Never mind your fucking toys, play with that. Go and stand in that fucking corner, stand over there, right, and do not move, or I will perform a fucking living fucking autopsy on you with a fucking rusty speed and I'll have your kidneys for fucking conference yeah, yeah, it's good.
Speaker 4:Like I said, it didn't necessarily get me into it because you have sent me that clip before, but yeah, and I didn't go and watch it, so but, but yeah, I get where you're coming from. Now I've watched a bit more of it. I kind of I understand it a little bit more. I just don't think it's a bit cleverer than I thought. I just thought it was somebody saying you fucking idiot, you're a fucking idiot, you fuck.
Speaker 3:Which in some ways it is. Actually, I've never heard anyone be called a sack of fucking cum. I don't know. I'm telling you he's so exasperated, is he? I'm telling you to stand up, you, sack of fucking cum. Ben Swain's fantastic in it as well. I nearly picked another one for him, but I don't want to get away, in case you talk about it in later episodes. What clip did you go for, then? For the thick of it?
Speaker 4:So my clip we just mentioned him, peter. So my clip we just mentioned him, peter Manion and he's in one of these sort of think tank type meetings where everybody's sat cross-legged and having to sort of propose ideas. And yeah, I just love his sort of realistic response I suppose slightly over the top, but I get his frustration from a lot of this sort of crap. So here's my clip.
Speaker 7:I want to hear new ideas ricocheting off. Your silence is like a pinball, not just a two-year-old slogan. Okay, dr jazz, let's hear it. We do away with computers. Idiot, that's fucking mental. No blocking, peter, only counterpoint do away with computers. What do we think? How would it affect us? Good idea, bad Good idea for me. I wouldn't get any more of your fucking emails.
Speaker 7:Try and stay cross-legged if you can, but don't break the circle. I'm 54, stuart, my knees are fucked and my patience is snapped. Some of us had to go through this hippie shit the first time around. I'm not talking about trying to sell it to the electorate, peter I about exploring it within the free space of the circle. Okay, give me the ball. Give me the ball, give me the ball. No, give me the fucking ball, stuart, let's do away with you. What Filters off? Daddy-o, let it all hang out. Just suppose your free-range, no-consequence bullshit was hugely entertaining when we were in opposition and shitting money, but now that we're in government and it's all gone a bit jg ballard, it's irrelevant and infantile. Very drunk, oh, and maybe the reason you don't mind handing your phone in is that it doesn't ring as much as it used to but it's just good, I just I like him, I like his voice as much as anything.
Speaker 4:I think peter manion yeah fantastic.
Speaker 3:Um, so that's it. Like I say, we're not going to go madly in debt for this, because we're going to try and get the ones that deserve, according to you, the most analysis are the ones that are going to get through, but this, the thick of it, is up against the Royal Family. I'll hand the floor over to you for this.
Speaker 1:I would like to leave this city. This old town don't smell too pretty and I can feel the warning signs Running around my mind. So what do you say? You can give me the dream to find, anyway, half the world away.
Speaker 3:Half the world away. Do you know on the theme they asked Noel Gallagher like can we have one of your songs? This was obviously back in the 90s, when the race was massive and he gave them Married With Children. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Speaker 3:Maybe, all right, it's shining, then he goes, I don't know, I want this was obviously back in the 90s when the race was massive and he gave them Married With Children. You know, definitely maybe your music's shiny. Then he goes I don't know, I want half the world away. And he says to this day he doesn't know. It does work, but it's not about you know what I mean.
Speaker 4:It's not about a family or anything like that, but it does work yeah, it's brilliant, but actually it's a great TV theme, but then I don't kind of almost acknowledge it as a proper song now. I wouldn't listen to it on an album now I'd skip it because it's a TV theme now. Yeah, that's happened. So it ran for three series, 1998 to 2000,. And then they did some specials after that, written and directed Sorry, no, written by Craig Cash and Carolina Hearn. Obviously there are some other writers that pop up in some of the later episodes, so Phil Mealy, who we'll get a mention later on. He writes a couple of the specials.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Directed by Mark Mylod, Steve Benderlach, Carolina Hearn. I had in my head it was directed by Craig Cash, so I was wrong on that.
Speaker 3:I think Hearn they wanted to bring in. They said it wasn't going to work because it was so unique at the time.
Speaker 4:Just having a show with Nell Can laughter as a comedy were unique at the time and that is one of the bits of trivia that I've got for you they did want to create this in front of a live audience and then even possibly add more laughter on after that. And yeah, for anyone who's not seen this, I highly recommend it. It's basically we're watching the life of the royal family. They live. I think they live in Stockport or kind of on the edge of Stockport.
Speaker 6:Yeah, I think, yeah.
Speaker 4:And it's basically just. It's just a view of family life. It's to me it's so well sort of what's the word it's so well captures a moment and a time of just a family going about their normal business. Really, there's no ridiculous over-the-top plot that drives the story.
Speaker 4:There's no big crashing moments and reveals and punchlines. There are loads of gags and loads of laughs, but some of the brilliant bit is just the really subtle moments where people are watching a telly and it's just people reacting to each other. It's a really clever concept. I don't think you could have hundreds of this type of comedies on tv, like, at one stage, a load of sketch shows. I think this was a bit unique. I don't think you could have loads of these on at any one time because, as much as I loved it, I can't imagine sort of sitting and watching three or four of this type of show in one evening, but it was so unique at the time, as you said.
Speaker 3:Like you said, the subtleness the Office gets loads of praise for being like, oh, you know the subtle comedy so well and obviously this is before it. There's no, like you say, there's not many huge scenes on this, like in terms of all the other ones that we're going to talk to. There's a lot of massive scenes you know what I mean like they'll stand out. There's not one here that I can really think of, where you think, oh, that you know that's what's what really sums up the royal family, because it's all so subtle and I think you have to watch a full episode to fully get how funny it is. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think, if I just went so. So Ricky Tomlinson as a Jim Royal, really iconic character in terms of comedy, but Sue Johnston as Barbara, his wife, Caroline Hearn and Craig Cash as Dave and Denise Best and Ralph Little as their son uh, oh, go on, his name's gone out of my head Anthony, Anthony.
Speaker 8:You lazy little shit, get the red sauce, you lazy little get.
Speaker 4:Yeah, this is brilliant. This is of a time. I mean, there's other members of the cast that are really good in it Jessica Hines, jeffrey DeLate, jeffrey Hughes, sheridan Smith briefly appears in it. It kind of changed tone though, after the series, didn't it? So the three series were very, as we've said, very kind of realistic. Here's life at home for a family. You could have known this family. They could have lived on your street or somewhere that you knew, but then they did go a little bit more wacky towards some of the specials and, you know, to some people that's good.
Speaker 5:The one outside the house.
Speaker 3:I don't remember. I don't remember in the first least first couple of series ever actually venturing outside their house at all. They talk about the feathers a lot, but they're never they're.
Speaker 4:All you see is the, the living room in the kitchen yeah, that's right, and I think at the end of series one you see the bathroom when denise goes into labor. Yeah, yeah, but but yeah, it really is sort of. It's almost quite a hard sell, I would imagine, on paper, cause it is set in two rooms and I can see why they thought that would work on stage. But I'm so glad they didn't.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I mean, I heard and said actually in an interview that she she was massive at the time and Mrs Merton, that were like her big thing, they were a deal breaker. If you're going to film this in front of a studio audience, I am not doing any more, mrs Merton so she's like use the power if you want. And Craig Cash said he'd not really done anything in TV at that point, he'd been on radio and things like that. But he was sort of, quite sort of in a, didn't we?
Speaker 4:find out that he wrote for something else. Was it that Peter?
Speaker 3:Kay thing, that Peter Kay thing. He was script editor, yeah, but it wasn't a star. I think this might have even been the first thing he appeared in. Actually, If it gets through, we'll do more research. Yeah, definitely yeah. But yeah, and he was sort of like took a step back. I'm like took a step back and was like, wow, you know what I mean. She's like that passionate about this. She was fantastic in Hearn, in all the characters that she played in the Fast Show as well, and Sister Mary and Mrs Merton were fantastic. Apart from that spin-off, they were awful. Do you remember Mrs Merton and Malcolm?
Speaker 4:I think, yeah, I don't know if you sent me some stuff from that. Yeah, I don't remember watching it at the time, but yeah, that was his first thing.
Speaker 3:actually, we're in that. It's fucking awful.
Speaker 4:Anyway. Anyway, in this Caroline Hearn is absolutely fantastic, I mean, as are all the cast, really they all you know. Ricky Tomlinson manages to find some sort of likeability in what should be a kind of awful horrible character really. Ralph Little doesn't have sort of the most to work with as Anthony, but manages to create a really well-rounded character and, yeah, it's one of them where the key characters are brilliant, but the characters on the proliferate, so Joe and Cheryl Twiggy, there's just some fantastic characters in that and you might not know people exactly like that, but certainly I don't know kind of living in a northern town. It all felt very comfortable, like these were people you could recognise from your childhood almost.
Speaker 3:I imagine that every single, at least northern person looked at Nana and said that is exactly the same as my nan. I think when everyone said it they probably thought, oh my God, my nan's like that as if they're the first person, because that's another fucking amazing character in it Nana, maybe the best.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, I mean she's got some real iconic moments. They're not. They're not. There is one particular moment that we might save that for further down the line to discuss, if it does get through, actually. But yeah, I think it's time where I'm going to play my again not necessarily favourite, but a clip that I think, if you've never seen it, hopefully this might make you want to watch it. So this is the neighbour, Cheryl's. Come round and she basically she's got a Lonely Hearts ad, so a Lonely Hearts ad in the paper, and she wants them to read it. Here we go.
Speaker 2:Look what does it say? Bab, oh, hang on, hang on. Charismatic 30s female. No, read Cheryl's out. Oh, bubbly, cuddly, likes going out for meals or staying in for meals. Both vegetarian and meat eaters considered. Oh good thinking babes Looking for friendship, stroke, love with male aged, any, able bodied or otherwise. Skin colour not essential, no height restrictions. You're not a roller coaster, are you Chad? Own vehicle not necessary, as father will pick up and drop off.
Speaker 7:Oh, you know what the problem is here, don't you? You're playing too bloody hard to get girl.
Speaker 1:Ha-ha.
Speaker 3:Amazing this because she's amazing in itessica stevenson in this, like it's just so again. So she's so shy and like timid and you know, I mean it's amazing actually the dynamics brilliant.
Speaker 4:Yeah, she, she plays a bit sort of bit dumb, not knowing what's going on. Jim's kind of mocking her, but but with some affection I think. And yeah, I love the line from uh carolina hearn where she said I can't remember what it says, but she says uh, oh, great move, babes, or something like that babes, there's another great seed in there and that's another one I'm going to play is when um cheryl comes in and they're all.
Speaker 3:So. Congratulations, cheryl. Oh, wow, what's happened? Because, well, she went to see a clever. You know she's, you're going to find love within two days, two weeks, two months or two years, and they're all like celebrating about it and then, um, I can't remember her name now. Uh, one of denise's mate says oh yeah, she's full of shit, that clairvoyant. And then her, um, cheryl's mom goes well, it's better to have loved them more than loved them all.
Speaker 4:Yeah, mary's brilliant, she reminds me a little bit of my grandma, actually Mary Carroll from Next Door, played by Doreen Keogh.
Speaker 3:She's absolutely brilliant my clip I'm going to pick is Denise and Dave have just come to the house because obviously it's their mum and dad. We don't see Denise. As far as I know, we don't see's their mum and dad. We don't see Denise, as far as I know. We don't see Dave's mum and dad at all. They are spoken about.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I don't see them in the Christmas special where they go around for Christmas dinner, because it's him, isn't it Fair point well made.
Speaker 3:Jimbo. Fair point, well made, Jimbo.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, of course you do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sorry, dave and Denise have just come round to the house and they've just taken a seat.
Speaker 8:I think you take your coat off. Am I right?
Speaker 4:May as well take it off, Dave.
Speaker 2:Yes, I am okay. Can you just take it off? I'm fine with it all on. Take your jacket off, dave, I'm ok. Barbara, you won't feel the benefit, you know, when you go out, I don't matter why don't you just take it off, take your bloody jacket off will you, dave, get out Bloody hells right.
Speaker 9:Get the hell out of my corner, get out.
Speaker 6:I was all right, then, with that one.
Speaker 3:His voice is absolutely amazing, dave. He goes like I was all right, then me, yeah yeah, yeah, I mean I love it.
Speaker 4:even when he becomes a bit more ridiculous towards the end, he's still a great character. But yeah, I love the sort of the early stages of Craig Cash really where he just humbles to himself, doesn't he?
Speaker 3:Yeah, he's brilliant Because, obviously, the sort of joke there is that they're all saying, like you know, take your coat off, take your coat, and jim goes mad. But my favorite bit is you know, dave, just like, all right there, like, but he's still taking it off.
Speaker 4:Like it's amazing yeah, everyone else is sort of uncomfortable with him having his coat on. It's not bothering him, but yeah, they sort of badger him into taking it off.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think my think my favourite bit of it is when Barbara goes take your car off, dave. She's supposed to be like the voice of reason, isn't she?
Speaker 4:Well, I nearly played a clip that really made me laugh, where they're having bacon sandwiches and again there's nothing happening. But it brings bacon sandwiches in for him, hasn't it? And Jim's saying oh, brown sauce, but any old brown sauce. He keeps mumbling brown sauce. But, dave, when he gets his, he puts it on his lap, he lifts it up like the bread. He's going to put red sauce on it or tomato sauce, but they call it red sauce. But he lifts up the top piece of bread and it's just like a I can't whistle very well on cue, but it just looked like twit, true whistle like, because he's seen his bacon, his bread and and Barbara gives him like a completely confused look, this little subtle moments it's so good.
Speaker 3:There's a thing, actually, where you calm. There's a lot. Even though it's, like um, mostly dialogue based, I always thought it worked well as a radio comedy. Some of the physical stuff that's not going to work on a podcast is absolutely just phenomenal. Yeah, some of the looks they give each other.
Speaker 4:Yeah, jim, sort of. You can see he plays it really well. You can see his brain thinking when he's trying to get out of doing something or he's got a plan yeah, again, just really really good. I mean that first match up there. It's up for you guys to vote Two really strong contenders there and we'll be really intrigued to see whether you think the thick of it or the royal family should progress into the quarter-finals. Sorry no, no, that is the quarter-final, isn't it?
Speaker 3:No, no, no, it's to go into the quarter-final. Alright, that's 16 to go into the quarterfinal.
Speaker 4:All right, last 16 to go into the quarterfinal. Yeah, so who do you want in the quarterfinal? The votes won't go up until we've done all four of the first episodes, but when it comes to it, you're going to be choosing Royal Family against the thick of it.
Speaker 3:So match number two is going to be Father Ted versus Early Doors, and this I will start with, father Ted. Do you like that theme, by the way?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I don't love it but I do like it, and actually I know this is jumping right to the end, but what I liked when I was re-watching some episodes for this is the ending of the last ever episode where it plays the theme music and it goes back through some clips of what they've done and I thought, God, it was actually brilliant. Father Ted, I've kind of forgotten how good it was, yeah.
Speaker 3:Neil Hannan Divine Comedy wrote that he also on this series wrote my Lovely Horse.
Speaker 3:My lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely horse not the crap version, the one where I have a dream that they've uh, yeah anyway. So let's get to the uh, the elephant in the room the inclusion of father ted has caused. Well, since I'm controversial, we've had one message it's not a uk sitcom, which sent me down a massive rabbit hole on reddit of people arguing about whether this should be classed as british or irish. It's written by irishmen, it's mostly irish actors that appear in it, but it's actually mostly set in britain and it was produced by a british company and shown.
Speaker 3:Well, it's not set in britain, but it's filmed in britain. Sorry, filmed in britain. Sorry, it's filmed in britain, like the house, uh, that they're in is filmed in Britain. So the reason, like I think it's okay IMBD, channel 4, rotten Tomatoes, all of it down as a British comedy. The BBC included it in their best sitcoms ever, which they did about 15 years ago, which comes second, by the way, this behind Towers, by a panel of comedy experts as well, and I just think if we didn't include it, then we are going to go against what far more established media.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but I don't even think it matters. I think you're overthinking this. Our criteria was was it produced by a British company? And it was. So, yeah, I get there's all sorts of stipulations and I get some people might say, oh, I wouldn't have it as a British one in my list. Well, that's fine, you do your World Cup of sitcoms, do the podcast, and we'll check it out. But this is the rules that we used.
Speaker 3:The rules are, and it's fucking brilliant anyway. So it aired over three series from April 1995 until May 1998, including a Christmas special, for a total of 25 episodes. If you've never seen it before, it's about three priests and their housekeeper living on an island. I can only describe it really as completely mad. It's like, unlike the other two that we've spoken about, this isn't in any way meant to be realistic.
Speaker 4:It's surreal slapstick and it's just really quite out there Borderline, like there's nothing in there that couldn't happen slapstick, and it's just it's really quite out there borderline, like there's nothing in there that couldn't happen. It's just that these characters are almost too mad to all exist in one.
Speaker 3:I don't know, I can't think of anything off the top of my head, I don't know. But anyway, yeah, so for a popular sitcom though I mean Mighty Boos just missed out from playing this, actually, because Early Doors just managed to beat it and that is obviously like a cult classic, but Father Ted's massive and it's probably, as I wouldn't say it's as mad as Mighty Boosh, but it is really bizarre.
Speaker 4:I think it's one that's very easy at a glance to misunderstand, and I did this, and I did this also with Alan Partridge. So when I first tuned into his sort of chat show, I thought, god, this is awful, because I only spent 10 seconds watching it and thought it was just a real chat show.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 4:This is at a glance it seems all the colours are quite dingy. It's about some priests in a room talking that you think God, this could could be quite dull. It's absolutely mad, it's wacky, it's. I mean, father ted crilly, you know, is one of the best sitcom characters ever. He's so strong, I mean, there are good people around him and when you first come to it I think you think our doogle's the star. But actually Ted is, is so good as a character, the best thing about.
Speaker 3:Ted is he is. When you first watch maybe three or four episodes, he's the sanest one in the entire island. By the end of it, he's as mad as them all, but just in a completely different way, isn't he?
Speaker 4:yeah, I love the kind of constant uh joke about the money that it should have gone to some charity event ended up in his account and he has to keep justifying that the money that it should have gone to some charity event ended up in his account and he has to keep justifying that the money was resting in his account. I love that. It's absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3:But I think this is one of the best uses in comedy history. Side characters you mentioned side characters in Royal Family. What I love about this is some of these characters only appear in like one episode but you feel almost every one of them could have a series to themselves. Those one of them could have a series to themselves. Those are the main four characters are great in their own way and, like I said, ted is my favorite. But it's incredible that in this one comedy, which only ran for three series, you've got people like bishop brennan, who's like ted's boss, like the angriest prick's ever, father dick burn, who is absolutely ted's main rival. He's brilliant father larry duff, who ted's always rings at inconvenient moments when he's brilliant. Father Larry Duff, who Ted always rings at inconvenient moments when he's skiing, or whatever. Father Noel Furlong, played by Graham Norton, who was the most irritating priest in the world. Graham Norton in this. I remember watching this the first time and thinking that character was the funniest character I'd ever seen. It's the funniest.
Speaker 4:I've ever seen Graham Norton. But yeah, it's, it's the funniest I've ever seen Graham.
Speaker 3:Norton. But yeah, it's brilliant, it's so funny. It's just like the most irritating priest ever. But my favourite of all the side characters, to be fair, is Father Fintan Stack, who plays jungle music really loud. It's described by Ted as being worse than Hitler, because Hitler would never play jungle music at three o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 4:You know what? I nearly had that as my clip because I love that as a joke. He says his words because Hitler wouldn't play jungle music, but I love the question Dougal posed to him.
Speaker 3:When they say, god, he's so bad, what would he be like Hitler or one of those mad fellas I just love the way he says that this was difficult to pick a clip out because a lot of it is um sort of based on, let's say, I won't say slapstick as such, but you do need to see quite a lot of the best things. You know that. I mean I'm going to pick a clip, but I could have picked the clip before that.
Speaker 4:But I think, on this one, just before we go into the clips, if you are interested in giving it a go, I would say you probably give it a couple of episodes, don't just watch five or ten minutes, so this is going to be hard within a couple of clips. It doesn't necessarily lend itself that well to that.
Speaker 3:This was the most difficult one in terms of clips out of the four that we've done today, because I didn't really know Everything's funny about it. But again, it's really in the way that a lot of things come back. It's got that sort of thing to it as well and a bit like it's obviously nothing like Cable enthusiasm, but you have to sort of watch the beginning of an episode to get the ending a lot of the time.
Speaker 4:Yeah, there is definitely sort of gags that run through the episode and come together. Yeah, it's very cleverly written.
Speaker 3:The scene I want to play is from Are you Right there, father, ted? This is bizarre. Well, not bizarre, but Ted, the actor David Morgan, had actually died before the third series was aired. This was the first episode that were aired after his death. Anyway, ted's being falsely accused of being a racist because he's put a lampshade on his head and pretended to be an Asian farmer and he does an offensive impression of a Chinese person. And he turns around and I love that the Yin family, who are a Chinese family living on the island, are so close to his window looking in. Why would they be that close to his window? So they've seen him. So they accuse him of being a racist. Ted comes out of his house and is greeted by this Again another great use of characters you'll never see again.
Speaker 5:Hello there, father. Hello Colm, out and about I am Same as yourself. Good good, I hear you're a racist. Now, father, what? How did you get interested in that type of thing? I said I'm a racist. Everyone's saying it. Father, should we all be racist now? What's the official line the church has taken of me? Oh no, only the farm takes up most of the day, and at night I just like a cup of tea. I might be able to devote myself full-time to the old racism. Good for you, father. What?
Speaker 8:Oh, Mrs Carberry Good for you, father, when someone had the guts to stand up to them at last coming over here, taking our jobs and our women and acting like they own a faggot place.
Speaker 1:Good, good, father, good for you, good for our women, and acting like they own a fucking place. Godfather, good for you, good for you. I'm like a fucking God.
Speaker 5:God, god, god God. It isn't the Greeks, it's the Chinese. He's after I'm not after the Chinese.
Speaker 4:That is a good choice of clip, actually, because that is a mad If you said I'm watching a sitcom about priests and you said, all right, yeah, I'll give that a minute, and now you're a racist. Now, father, yeah, brilliant, really good, should we all be he's so cold.
Speaker 3:Should we all be racist? My favourite bit is when she goes fecking greeks and he goes no it's the chinese is after.
Speaker 3:So he's after. Yeah, it's the chinese. Um, just before you go to your clip, by the way, there's something I forgot to say which I found quite interesting. In january 2007 I might have got these two names, I presume I'm just going to pronounce them a dispute arose between inishia and inishmore over which island can claim to be craggy Island and therefore a three-day host of three-day Friends of Ted Festival, and this dispute was settled by a five-a-side football match, and now Ishmael won 2-0. And they're now allowed to use the title the Craggy Island Festival, and there's been a convention held there at the Craggy Island Festival since 2007.
Speaker 4:Did they win it with A man in a remote control wheelchair?
Speaker 3:Those are fake arms. That is again when you're watching it. It's an over 75s match and it's ridiculous, but the fact that he's got fake rubber arms Controlling the ball and the music, it's ridiculous. Anyway, what's your clip, liam? My clip is Father Ted the mainland controlling the ball and the music is ridiculous.
Speaker 4:Anyway, what's your clip, liam? My clip is Father Ted the Mainland, and it's where they see Richard Wilson in the distance, and I love the childlike innocence of both because, like you say, ted's supposed to be the sane and sensible one, but actually how out of touch with the real world they both are. So this is when they spot Richard Wilson.
Speaker 6:God almighty, look what it is. It's that actor who.
Speaker 7:You know your man from One Foot on the Grave, the. I don't believe it, man. Oh wow, god, that's amazing.
Speaker 6:Look at him there. Do you know what he'd love?
Speaker 7:He'd love it if somebody came up to him and said his catchphrase oh yeah, ted, he'd love that. You should definitely do that, should I? Oh yeah, I'd say no one ever does that to him. He'd think you're hilarious. You know, this is one of these times when I'm absolutely 100 million percent sure that you'd be doing the right thing. I can safely say you definitely, definitely won't regret doing that. I'm going to do it Brilliant, will I? Yeah, go on, hold the camera.
Speaker 3:I don't believe it it's so good, it's so good. This the whole is. This is where, uh, graham norton's in this one as well. Yeah, you get caught in a cave, like get stuck in a cave, and he goes let's have a game. Let's have a game. Who can screech loudest? I'll go first. Ridiculous, but yeah, that's a fantastic clip. I love how doogles going. What did he say?
Speaker 4:yeah, I'm not sure kind of how well it's translating the clip, but obviously richard wilson ends up attacking him and yeah, it's just. I love the sort of naive innocence of ted, like I tell you what he, what he'd love, as if I love that concept that that's never happened to him.
Speaker 3:They can't comprehend that Google says, doesn't it? Yeah, I bet no one's ever thought of doing that before. Brilliant.
Speaker 3:Yeah so Father said that is going up against Early Doors which, like I said, as we said, got through with a late Craig Cash winner. So we've got two Craig Cashers in this one Just before you start on Early Doors. I know you've got two Craig Cashers in this one Just before you start on early doors. I know you've got some facts on here. Peter Kay was a script editor for this. After Caroline Hearn pulled out, oh wow, didn't know that. So he returned the favour because obviously Craig Cash was a script editor on that Peter Kay thing. But anyway, on you go, liam, here we go.
Speaker 4:This is early doors.
Speaker 1:You never have to feel that the night is yours alone, rushing through the stars, captivated by the world's beyond. You aren't alone. It's a small world that you've grown. What?
Speaker 3:do you think is the theme tune? By the way, I'm probably going to ask you first, for everyone yeah, I like it.
Speaker 4:It fits really well. Bit, I don't know. Small world. I think that's perfect summary of a title for a song.
Speaker 3:Roddy Frame, isn't it? Aztec Camera, do you know what they did? Somewhere in my heart, there is the world. To carry on, by the way. What Are they the words? No, probably not.
Speaker 4:Somewhere in my heart there is a star that shines for you. Um, maybe there's another verse anyway.
Speaker 3:Um, but the only thing I don't like about it when I start singing it, I start going into bodger and badger. But you loves mashed potatoes?
Speaker 4:yeah, sorry, so I've ruined that, for I absolutely hate Bodger as well, so yeah, no I quite like it, captivated by the world beyond.
Speaker 4:Yeah, just quite a Ash potatoes, quite sort of downbeat, and Small World absolutely sums up this. So these are people. Well, first of all, written by Craig Cash and Phil Mealy, it's another one set in a pub in Stockport. It's uh, how how would you? It's not downbeat as such, but it kind of is that the. The life evolves around being in this pub. The grapes yeah, everything evolves around this. The landlord, ken, or Kenneth um, played by John Henshaw, who's actually also in the Royal families, the scouts bloke he's absolutely brilliant. He's the, he's the bit that ties the whole thing together, but this is one where, rather than sort of it being central to him, he's just the moving part that lets everybody interact. The side characters are absolutely fantastic. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:I think it's. It's not. It is a bit. I can understand again. If people watch this for a first step, I think this is a definitely one that you might have to watch the entire series to really really get and it seems to have got more uh credit over time. I think it's one of those things you think back of. I don't think the characters are in it are depressing, but other than um, oh, what's the old guy called for? His name now? But yeah.
Speaker 4:Tommy, yeah yeah, played by Rodney Litchfield, really downbeat character. Oh bloody hell, it's not worth it, is it? Yeah, the rest of them seem really content to be fair, I think they, any of them really but because they get to come to this pub. Uh, early doors is a reference to before the licensing act changed that people used to have to wait for this sort of evening opening hours and sometimes they try and get there a little bit before and get in early doors. Um should have said, by the way, just two series 2003, 2004.
Speaker 3:So you wanted to do another one, didn't I? I don't know if you've read this, but you wanted to do another one. And the bb I don't know if you've read this, but he wanted to do another one and the BBC said, no, well, they pissed it about. They sort of put it on at different times. The people lost the series and stuff, which is fucking so shit.
Speaker 4:This is one that, despite loving Royal Family and liking Craig Cash, I didn't watch this when it was on telly, and this sort of sums it up. The BBC didn't put it in the best place time, but we went. I don't know what it would be now. About 12 years ago, me and Jodie went down to St Ives for New Year's Eve and she bought this as a DVD for me and said I think you'll like this. And we put it on and straight away we had both series and I just thought, wow, I kind of couldn't believe that I'd not watched it when it was on telly. I think it's so clever, it's so. I don't know if it's got the absolute laugh out loud moments as some of the ones we've mentioned, but I just think it's just such nice comfort viewing I could watch him over and over again on a loop and still sort of chuckle to myself every time.
Speaker 3:Every character is a little bit sort of, I don't know. I suppose like your real mates they've all got big faults, but you like them all. You know what I mean. They're all really charming, aren't they?
Speaker 4:Yeah, and it's quite clever, the format as well, because it's almost a sketch show in a sense, that Ken moves from scene to scene. So when the police guys come in they sit in the back room. We get their scene. Then we cut to the front room where you've got people like Eddie, you get Tanya, you get Tommy, you get Mel, moving from one piece to another. But she then introduces sometimes going upstairs and speaking to his mom, who's got a housekeeper, winnie. She's a fantastic character. Some of their interaction is mom and winnie, uh, gene and winnie. Some fantastic dialogue there and there's also some sort of bit more sitcomy moments. So like winnie snaps back at gene and then to sort of cut the silence, the noises is gene sucking in on her inhaler and that sort of whizzing sound that I thought was just so well done I didn't think this was too short, but there's a brilliant bit where I mean this is this was before his crimes became, uh, public.
Speaker 3:You probably know what I'm going to say, but he's uh before his crimes became public, but everyone sort of knew what was going on, which which is ridiculous anyway, but he's on the phone, yeah. Yeah, I know it's only Cliff Richard and Jimmy Savile that can sleep safely in their beds these days. He's in threads as well, which is always a good thing for me.
Speaker 4:Yeah, one of your favourites. So in the first series we see the relationship between Mel and Liam, whose first time, as far as I'm aware that we see James McAvoy, who went on to massive success and he's part of Series 1. And then Series 2 is still Mel. She gets a different boyfriend, but it also looks at the fact that Ken is her sort of adopted dad yeah, not a real dad is it? And it does kind of have some quite touching moments in there because Ken's worried about is she going to push him out? And she clearly sort of still loves him and calls him a dad. And yeah, it's not. It's one of them. That's not all just silly gags. I think there is some clever right and it's quite, quite sort of sad, sad moments in there. I think sort of Tanya's clearly got a thing for Ken.
Speaker 3:He kind of doesn't really want to go down that route, I think it came back as a stage show, but I think there were a lot of loose ends that could have done with another series to finish him off, weren't there?
Speaker 4:Yeah, but again I suppose and this is where the Royal Family went a little bit they went down the specials route and did some mad episodes, whereas this just felt like almost we just had CCTV in this pub for a few years and then it got taken down. I quite like the fact it was quite open-ended. I know loads of people are really critical of Sopranos ending, but I kind of quite like that. There's your own interpretation to what happened?
Speaker 4:So, yeah, only two series to go out. If I'm honest, I'm probably slightly surprised it got through.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but at the same time, when we were doing the nominations, loads of people said you've got to have the early doors. Someone's actually sorry. I'm not going to who it was, but someone actually said what's the point of doing this when early doors is the best? I think the people who love this absolutely love it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, agreed, I think it's quite cultish, it's quiteish, it's quite. I mean, there are some sitcoms that do that, aren't? They will come to others through the series that never made it really on tv and became bigger on dvd. So, yeah, I'll be interested in the next round to see see what it's got against the sort of might of father ted. Um, what clip have you got for us? My clip. So my clip is where phil and nides, who are two of the policemen are, are speaking to. I mean, they're brilliant characters, they're so. They are amazing.
Speaker 4:Not even just corrupt, it's just incompetent, they're ridiculous, but you can kind of almost imagine them as real people. And this is I could have picked any one of their clips, to be quite honest, but when I was watching through this, this made me laugh. So this is what I'm going to play. It honest, but when I was watching through this.
Speaker 9:This made me laugh. So this is what I'm going to play. It's them discussing, kind of these days, things that you can say and what you can do. And yeah, here it is. It's this Chinese flu, isn't it? Oh, it's terrible, but we can't be caught saying that anymore, kent. Well, chinese flu, it's not PC. You are having me on. Pc's have got to be PC now. You can't be an un-PC PC anymore. You can't talk about race, creed, colour. It's racism, that sexism, this, which is fine, I agree with all that. It's wrong. There's no place for it in today's society. But you can't even laugh at dwarves anymore, ken. Where did it all go wrong? I don't know. Where did it all go wrong? I don't know. When they're jumping about at the panto in Snow White and you're paying £35 a ticket, that's fine. They want you to laugh at them then. But you see the same fella out shopping with his family on Deansgate.
Speaker 9:You wind your window down, start singing hi-ho, hi-ho he'll turn around and tell you to piss off, didn't he, phil? He did.
Speaker 3:It's brilliant how outraged they are. It's like what am I telling you? I'm not going to. I've got a feeling I could be wrong, but I've got a feeling this might go out. So I'm going to say this scene now before I forget it really good scene with those two where they intercept like a burglary and they end up keeping the thing. I tell you what it's like a burglary and they end up keeping. I think they end up keeping the thing because, hey, I tell you what it's like a one generation game Great.
Speaker 4:Yeah, there's a bit as well and we talked about this when we were discussing them earlier but where it's just something like it's rough down that state now and they say, oh, we wouldn't know, ken, you wouldn't catch us stopping down there. When we drive through that pit blue lights on straight through.
Speaker 3:Yeah, obviously, like they gave. They're so corrupt. They give Ken like a disabled badge, don't they? So he can park anywhere. And it's funny when Ken's daughter always says, like where's disabled badge, dad?
Speaker 4:Well, like, where's disabled badge dad? It's not. Like it's not that they're saying look guys, is any chance for no, I love how off like they offer up the disabled.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they'll say, okay, another one, if you want that, have you seen disabled badge.
Speaker 4:Uh, no, I haven't loved. No, yeah, ken, no trouble, we'll get you another one if you want one yes, brilliant characters.
Speaker 3:He's having a pint in in the pub they're supposed to be still, because all of them got left. He says an hour and a half, a couple more in here, then on to the next pub and we'll have to clock off.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, really good this one, and I'm really interested in this match-up. I think on paper, father Ted not necessarily I want to get through, we're not doing that. I think Father Ted probably is the favourite to get through. But yeah, I'm intrigued to see whether Early Doors can pull it out the bag again.
Speaker 3:Well, this is my Early Doors clip. There's no reason to tell you what's going on, because it's self-explanatory. Really, this is all that's happening.
Speaker 8:Do you like circuses, Joe?
Speaker 4:Not forced.
Speaker 8:Oh, I like circuses. Do you like circuses, joe? Not first. Oh, I like circuses. Do you like circuses, tommy? No, they're shite. Oh, I do. Do you like circuses, tanya? Not really, oh, I do, they're great. Do you like circuses, Debbie? Yeah, they're good, fun. Kids like them. They do, don't they? So do I. Do you like circuses, nicola? Yeah, they're all right they are, aren't they? So do I. Do you like circuses, nicola? Yes, they're all right, they are, aren't they? What about you, duffy? Do you like circuses?
Speaker 7:Never been to one.
Speaker 8:Oh, you'd love them, I do. Do you like circuses, ken? I don't know, Joan.
Speaker 7:What are we talking about, Joan?
Speaker 8:Circuses Eddie.
Speaker 7:Oh, I love circuses. They're great, do you?
Speaker 4:like circuses, joe, there's a certain type of humour to get that. I can see why you'd think I can't understand. It's so funny. There's a lot of clips like that.
Speaker 4:I love the bit where Eddie's talking about the roadworks and he's saying it's this rehearsed lines in his head that he's got, where he tells everybody the same thing and it's like if you go around on King Street and take the first left and round on the corner and turn around and he's so pleased with himself that he knows the way around so many people like that that I've met who have no awareness of you keep saying the same thing over and over and over.
Speaker 3:But I've said amazing about 50,000 times tonight to be fair. But yeah, he just keeps saying the same things over to different people in exactly the same manner. Got it spot on with that Another great bit where Joe goes for a shit in toilet and Eddie comes out and goes Joe's just having a shit and tells everybody he goes to his missus and goes just been goes Joe's just having a shit and Tom tells everybody because, like, he goes to his missus and he goes just been saying Joe's having a shit yeah, fantastic.
Speaker 4:So they are your first matchups. You're not going to get to vote until you've heard us discuss all the matchups, but we're going to try and get three pogs out in the next two weeks because you're going away, aren't you?
Speaker 3:so, basically, we think the groups are going to be Am I right in saying 2nd of April, liam? That's when you're going to be Off to vote. Should I say?
Speaker 4:No, no. So this one and the next three episodes Will all be out by the 8th, which is when I go away.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 4:I'm fucking shit sorry. So that week that I'm away Will be the voting week and then I'll come back and on Tuesday, the 16th, we'll have a look and see who's got through into the quarters and we will discuss match one of the quarterfinals.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so this sorry it's the 8th. I've got a week in advance, yeah, so you should be able to vote on these by the 8th. But we've got another three podcasts coming in where we're going to discuss the rest of the matches, and next the next podcast will see us debate Peep Show versus Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere and Friday Night Dinner versus Phoenix Nights. I've not seen Friday Night Dinner, so I've had to watch a couple of episodes.
Speaker 4:I've pretty much finished series one now, so yeah, I need to refresh myself, but yeah, I've seen it. So, yeah, just refreshes for me. But good episode. Hope you enjoyed it. As we've said, each time something gets through few more clips, bit more detail, but hopefully that's given you a snapshot of each. And yeah, please carry on voting when we get through to the voting stage.
Speaker 3:And thank you for all the interaction we've had yeah, thanks a lot and I will see you next time. Leroy Jenkins, arrivederci.
Speaker 4:If anyone wants to get in touch with us, send us anything. Find us on Twitter at livingwithmade1, or you can send us an email at livingwithmadelee at outlookcom.