Father Ted v Phoenix Nights
Prepare to cast your votes in the ultimate
comedic showdown! It's Leroy and Andreas here, and we've got something special for you—a Sitcom World Cup Special pitting the hilarity of 'Father Ted' against the club-running escapades of 'Phoenix Nights.' Who will snag the crown in this comedic clash of the titans? Your laughs and votes decide! Join us for a nostalgia-packed trip down memory lane, where we dissect classic scenes, chuckle over episodes that have us in stitches, and engage in a spirited debate over the sitcoms that have shaped our sense of humor.
This episode is a comedic goldmine, analyzing the antics of the naive Dougal from 'Father Ted' and the ingenious Brian Potter from 'Phoenix Nights.' . We'll weigh the irreplaceable charm of Dermot Morgan's portrayal against Peter Kay's old-school humor, reveling in the quirky character dynamics that have made these shows timeless treasures of comedy.
So, tune in, weigh in, and let's see who advances in the Sitcom World Cup! Will it be the priestly misadventures on Craggy Island, or the nightclub chuckles in the North of England? You decide!
Father Ted v Phoenix Nights
Prepare to cast your votes in the ultimate
comedic showdown! It's Leroy and Andreas here, and we've got something special for you—a Sitcom World Cup Special pitting the hilarity of 'Father Ted' against the club-running escapades of 'Phoenix Nights.' Who will snag the crown in this comedic clash of the titans? Your laughs and votes decide! Join us for a nostalgia-packed trip down memory lane, where we dissect classic scenes, chuckle over episodes that have us in stitches, and engage in a spirited debate over the sitcoms that have shaped our sense of humor.
This episode is a comedic goldmine, analyzing the antics of the naive Dougal from 'Father Ted' and the ingenious Brian Potter from 'Phoenix Nights.' . We'll weigh the irreplaceable charm of Dermot Morgan's portrayal against Peter Kay's old-school humor, reveling in the quirky character dynamics that have made these shows timeless treasures of comedy.
So, tune in, weigh in, and let's see who advances in the Sitcom World Cup! Will it be the priestly misadventures on Craggy Island, or the nightclub chuckles in the North of England? You decide!
Living with.
Speaker 2:Maidly Living with Maidly. Living with Maidly. Maidly Living with Maidly.
Speaker 3:Hello and welcome to Series 7, episode 6 of the podcast Living with Maidly. This is the Sitcom World Cup Special. I'm one of the podcast Living With Madeley. This is the Sitcom World Cup Special. I'm one of the hosts. I'm Leroy. The other host is Andreas and I can see him so I know he's there.
Speaker 2:He's live and lewd.
Speaker 4:How are you? Yeah, hello, we don't normally look at each other's faces when we're doing this, but we've had a few technical problems before, so we've gone for the old video today, so I can see you with your earphones on I've got staring to each other's eyes throughout yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm looking forward to this actually this is a I don't know about in terms of sort of big hitters.
Speaker 3:I'm not sure where these will sit, I don't know, but in terms of sort of, in my mind they're quite close rivals. Um, I'm really intrigued by the voting on this one. We're going to to do Father Ted versus Phoenix Knights. So this is two of the big boys, I'd say two of the ones early on we probably predicted would get quite far. But now one of them is going to have to go.
Speaker 4:Triple Glazer Hernandez, big friend of the show, when we were talking before, before the tournament started, this was his final. This was his final.
Speaker 3:He said these two are his favorite two sitcoms I can see why, yeah, and I think people, we've had some stick for not seeding it to try and keep the, the big boys apart until the end, but now we decided not to do that and we stand by it. This is purely done on viewer listener discretion. I suppose is, uh, is where it's going to end up. So, yeah, I'm going to do father ted. We're like well, identically to the last episode, not a bit like it. We've both picked out a kind of key episode, one that we think is very good and reflective of the show. Again, just like in the last episode, whichever one gets through to the semi, there will be a bit more detail. There will be some critique as well, so it won't be all positive in the next round. So, yeah, get your favorite through. I think, uh, let's get started. Let's get started with father ted. So if you didn't listen last time, you weren't sure what episode we're going to do. Series three, episode two uh, chirpy, burpy, cheap sheep and this is the king of the sheep tournament. I've got a little bit of background. I know when I did peep show, I did some story as to how we got there. You don't really need to do that with Father Ted. Father Ted is more like a cartoon, isn't it? It just resets each week. There's there's no progression. The orders could change, it wouldn't really matter. So I've not got massive research on this, but it's written, uh and sorry.
Speaker 3:Written by Graham Lynn Hearn and Arthur Matthews, directed by Declan Lowney, graham Lynn Hearn and Andy De'Ameny. Dermot Morgan, iconic as Father Ted. Ardalo Hanlon plays Father Dougal, frank Kelly plays Father Jack. Pauline McLean is Mrs Doyle. So these are. He's sent around three priests, but effectively sent around two priests. It's Ted and Dougal, but three priests have been sent to Craggy Island by Bishop Brennan. They've all done various misdemeanors. I won't go into too much detail because we might keep that for further rounds if it gets through. But yes, it's almost a punishment for all of them. They've all been banished to this island on the west coast of Ireland, and this one, as I I say it's the King of the Sheep. I mean just before we get into it. We both know Father Ted very well, but there were so many we could have chosen, weren't there? Some of the ones we picked were quite hard to find. One episode that summarises the show. I think, ted, we could have picked one of five, six, seven, eight, almost five episodes really same with Phoenix Knights to be.
Speaker 4:We could have picked one of five, six, seven, almost Five. Yeah, same with Phoenix Knights to be fair. So Phoenix Knights, I could have had the two series to be fair, yeah yeah, so, as I said, chirpy, burpy, cheap sheep.
Speaker 3:I mean, it almost feels a bit forced that why, like I know, cheap, cheap rhymes with sheep and it seems like that's. It didn't even work, doesn't it? Don't really work.
Speaker 3:It's like you're forced, in a joke about him burping, to get the thing chirpy, burpy, cheap sheep. Because he's not cheap. I don't get the chirpy bit at all, but anyway it's a great name. It's set in 1998 king of sheep tournament, sheep tournament. And we we learned that Ted has put a bet. He's put all the heat in budget. So Ted has sort of a history with dodgy finances. He's put all the winter heat in budget on Chris the Sheep to win the King of the Sheep tournament and we join him. There's two farmers, so there's a fantastic names. By the way, there's Giant Reed, and is it Hood?
Speaker 4:Hood Hast. Fantastic names, by the way. There's giant reed and uh, or is it hud hud hastings? They look amazing as well. One of them looks like uh, laurel off laurel and arden. Other one looks like you know the, the pg tips man. They look like cartoon characters.
Speaker 3:They're amazing yeah, and that is the kind of thing everybody's so exaggerated in this that, yeah, you know, we've sort of done things where we said, oh you, royal family. For example. We said, oh, you know, people like this. These are such exaggerations of people, these they are cartoon characters, but yeah, it's actually another great name. So farmer fargo boil, he owns the sheep chris, and the first clip I'm going to play, which again is hud hastings and, uh, giant reed, and they're in front of Chris, they're having a chat and they're discussing a beast which has popped up on the island.
Speaker 1:Have you heard about this creature going around terrorising sheep on the island? No, tell me more.
Speaker 3:They say it's as big as a jaguar.
Speaker 1:The cat, no, the big cat thing, and its face is all teat, big white teat as sharp as knives. Has it killed yet? No, but it's only a matter of time. I hope it doesn't get any of my sheep. No man's sheep is safe.
Speaker 4:Oh dear, I love how you said, chris, it's just a sheep. Obviously you can't see it on a podcast. The sheep is like so is it a stuffed sheep? I don't know.
Speaker 3:I love how they keep saying, oh god, should I look at him? He's not right and it's just a cheap statement. So then we go into the house on Craig Island and Ted and Dougal are having one of their many chats to do. Dougal's bought himself a BBC sound effects album and he's playing various different clips from that.
Speaker 4:Ted's checking his head, almost like he's got one of those again. Like it's like. Like it's like. Dougal is basically like his child going. Are you into that? Still, you're still listening to the old sound effects, are you?
Speaker 3:yeah, I mean, to me it's almost, it's even more exaggerated. It's almost like a grandparent who, yeah, yeah, yeah, he doesn't sort of tell him off. He's almost like's even more exaggerated. It's almost like a grandparent who, yeah, yeah, he doesn't sort of tell him off. He's almost like sure, back in my day that sort of thing wouldn't have gone like he sort of speaks to him like a toddler and he's a sort of experienced old man. But yeah, I mean, and obviously for those that know it, the joke is, you know, ted's kind of forever sort of handing out words of wisdom, but he's quite often the most sort of naive fool in the room really. But yeah, they get a phone call from fargo boil and he says ted, you're gonna have to come here quick. So they rush off to his farm. Um, mrs doyle reveals at this moment she's not been sleeping. There's lots of howling at night.
Speaker 4:There's a brilliant bit sorry where uh father ted goes um. Oh, mrs, do you look awful? Don't change you. Yes, your book's absolutely awful.
Speaker 3:Brilliant, like how horrible it is, yeah yeah, she's, she's been in howling at night and, a very matter of fact, dougal says, yeah, that'd be the beast. So dougal's kind of aware of these rumors of a beast roaming the island. Ted doesn't really know much about it, thinks it's just a legend. But anyway, they rush off to see Fargo Boyle and he reveals that Chris the favourite, the one that Ted's put his money on, he's not himself, he's not been eating Again. He started to burp, which again seems very much kind of forced in there to make the title.
Speaker 4:It's brilliant because he puts he puts pictures of the sheep down. He's looking in here, ted, and then look at it. It's exactly the same photo.
Speaker 3:It's a mirror image but it's exactly the same photo. But I love how he says to ted like he's absolutely off, it is not the same as last year. And ted says, oh, come on. And he shows him a picture. Ted's like, oh god, yeah, he's not right and it's just the same sheep mirrored.
Speaker 4:It's the same sheep, it's a different way around. So they put one photo where he's like facing right and another where he's facing left. He's like, oh yeah, he's not the same sheep at all.
Speaker 3:I've got another clip now, so they go. They go back to the house and again a little bit more chat. They share a room. They've got twin single beds in a room in the priest's house. Dougal always sleeps in his Ireland football shirt.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Somehow a great guy. I don't know why, but he always sleeps in his. I've got that shirt.
Speaker 4:You might have got that shirt. I'll let you in Ireland shirt. I've not seen it since. Actually.
Speaker 3:I've been sleeping. I'm wearing it now, yeah, so here's a clip of Dougal in bed describing all the kind of stories and legends about the beast of Craggy Island.
Speaker 2:To say it's as big as four cats and it's got a retractable leg so as it can leap up at you better. But you know what, ted? It lights up at night and it's got four ears, two of them are for listening and the other two are kind of backup ears, and its claws are as big as cups and for some reason it's got a tremendous fear of stamps.
Speaker 2:Mrs Doyle was telling me that it's got magnets on its tail so as if they're made out of metal, it can attach itself to you, and instead of a mouth, it's got four arses.
Speaker 4:Brilliant.
Speaker 3:Yeah, ridiculous sort of thing, but I love again how Childlike Dougal Kind of. It's not enough that there's a beast roaming the island, I love that it has to have a retractable leg and four arses instead of a mouth. What's brilliant about it as well.
Speaker 4:Again. Is that Ted's the same one. Mrs Doyle and Dougal Are both like, oh my god, this beast, this beast, this beast. And it's like, no, there's not a beast. But, as it goes along, ted again, although he's the same as one in this episode. But we'll get to the end, go on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and so obviously Ted tells him that in that clip it doesn't exist and he says add it to the board of the other things that don't exist. There's a great list. Dougal pulls down like almost like a sort of roller chart down from the wall and on his list he's already got the top things that don't exist. We've got the Loch Ness Monster, frankenstein, non-catholic gods, darth Vader, and the one that really made me laugh was Magnum PI.
Speaker 4:Magnum PI. I love that they've had that debated. Yeah, dougal thinks Magnum PI is real. Get it. What a detective. I can't believe it.
Speaker 3:So Ted's now decided that after All this talk of the beast, having seen Chris the Sheep, he actually wants to Take back his bet. So they decide to go. Next morning they go off to see Mary and John, fantastic couple on the island. They hate each other, so they decide to go next morning they go off to see.
Speaker 3:Mary and John Brilliant, fantastic couple on the island. They hate each other, they despise each other, they're always fighting very violent to each other, but they live in that society where the sort of Catholic priest is king almost. So as soon as they see Ted or Dougal or both, they have to pretend to get on. I'll play another clip here which is them arguing before Ted and Dougal come in on.
Speaker 1:I'll play another clip here which is them arguing before ted and dougal come in and you can stay in there till you learn some fucking manners and I've thrown away the key. How do you like that? Huh, hello, john, hello, father crilly hello father mcguire every scene that they're in.
Speaker 4:It's like this they're arguing like going mad, like stab each other and stuff yeah like doogle and ted, like come in, or whoever it is, comes in. Hey there, father, how's it going like yeah, it's like, really like that.
Speaker 3:You're freaking idiot, I'll fucking sure hello fighter. Yeah, obviously she's looked in a wardrobe or in a cabinet.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And I love Dougal. Again, it's like that sort of little toddler in him. He steals some lollipops and he looks so sort of sheepish when he does it. It's brilliant. Ted tries to wriggle out the bet. We even sort of catch him halfway through explaining that he's such a sort of I don't know so dodgy dealings of money, isn't he, ted? He's explaining to him, even though it's the heating money he's bet. He's saying if they don't get the money back, he's worried because there's a small girl who won't be able to take water back to her village anymore.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, brilliant.
Speaker 3:So they're not allowed to rescind on the bet. John tells him sorry, the bet stands, so they walk out. At that moment they see.
Speaker 4:But before that, sorry, just before that, where obviously Dougal's gone there but he's looking for sound effects. Volume four is it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think he's got four. He's after BBC sound effects, volume five, I think.
Speaker 4:Volume five because Ted.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that's it, we might as well not be here. They come out and they see Giant Reed, one of the farmers we saw at the start and obviously at the time this will become significant but he's riding a bike and he's in a fur coat. So obviously, because Ted can't rescind his bet, he has to stand by it. They decide to take action. So they're going to bring Chris over to the colloquoquial house. They're going to see if they can help. Well, they're like sort of somehow because this sort of priest they seem to have this, this knowledge of how to sort of tend to sheep and make them better. It's almost like it's a given that if anybody can do it, it's the priest brilliant, though, when uh doogle says um, like he'll say like on this scene.
Speaker 4:he says look, ted, there's nothing we can do about it, and that's that, and he goes. Well, what about if we bring it over here? Oh, that's brilliant, ted, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Well, there's actually a clip there that I'll play it, because it's where Dougal completely contradicts himself. But he's got Dictaphone with him to prove that he hasn't contradicted himself, which then proves that he does contradict himself. So I'll put a clip in there you said the exact opposite.
Speaker 2:There was absolutely nothing we could do. Actually, ted, you've done this to me before, so I took the liberty of taping the conversation now. We'll just have a listen, ted. It's pointless even thinking about it. You're only wasting your time. There's nothing we can do about the situation. We've just got to accept the fact, and that's that I stand corrected.
Speaker 3:I love his kind of instant like oh yeah, sure you're right there, ted, yeah, sure you're right there, ted.
Speaker 4:I love the idea, by the way Dougal's got. Imagine him walking around with your dictaphone all day. It's like imagine him walking around with a dictaphone all day. He's got me on this before, so I'm going to start recording everything.
Speaker 3:I love how he's that convinced that Ted keeps getting it wrong that he's bought a dictaphone for himself to prove himself right. So Fargo Boyle comes across the farmer with Chris the Sheep. It's a mad scene. I mean, again, if this gets through, we'll sort of talk about some of our critiques. Certain elements of Father Jack will probably fall into that. I mean, again, if this gets through, we'll sort of talk about some of our critiques. Certain elements of Father Jack will probably fall into that. But there are moments that he's great, father Jack, and I love the sort of just almost mundaneness of that. A farmer brings a sheep round for the priest to help and the other priest who lives there comes tumbling down the stairs like smashing all the sort of banister to bits as he comes down. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's brilliant. And because obviously this was a Channel 4 show at that moment we cut to an ad break.
Speaker 4:It's amazing with this scene Sorry, two Channel 4 shows up against each other. Actually, how short for the set of Phoenix Nights. The things that they fit into the episodes is genuinely brilliant.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is less than 23 minutes. I think Phoenix Knights is the same, isn't it?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think it's less than this. I think it's like 22 or something. Yeah, so we've got the sheep.
Speaker 3:now we get a fantastic scene which it wouldn't really be worth playing the clip, because it is literally just Search for the Hero. You've done a rendition of this before at some point, aren't you On a previous episode.
Speaker 4:Search for the hero inside yourself. I don't know where I come up with that, but I think that definitely should be a version of that Search for the hero inside. I don't know why I started singing it like that Search for the hero inside yourself.
Speaker 3:Anyway, that plays and we see a montage of them getting Chris the Sheep in shape. Yeah, I mean first time I ever saw this episode. I remember really laughing at this. It's so ridiculous what they do to kind of get him back in shape. There's a scene of him he just drifts by on a little rowboat I don't know how that's getting him in shape. They've got him listed some ambient sounds. And then the last one they've got him in an isolation tank, like he's sort of in underwater with, like, yeah, mask on him and then all the way through.
Speaker 4:This brother the sheep is so like he's got earphones on at one point, like yeah, it's just like there's never any expression from the sheep.
Speaker 3:I mean, why would? I don't think a sheep has ever had an expression. But yeah, I love how everybody's sort of reading into it.
Speaker 4:So uh, fargo boyle comes to collect by the way before that, every every time they throw a photo down saying day one, day two, day three of the sheep it looks exactly the same all the way through, like fargo boyle comes to collect sheep, ted meets him at the door.
Speaker 3:It's so sort of like even ted's not quite childish in this. He meets him and he says I'm so sorry, fargo, even Ted's not quite childish in this. He meets him and he says oh, I'm so sorry, Fargo, there's absolutely nothing we could do. And he's like oh, don't worry, Ted, Come through Again. Just a sheep, just looking like a sheep. He goes. Oh, we tricked you there.
Speaker 4:It's amazing he's so happy Ted so Fargo's absolutely delighted.
Speaker 3:He says I knew you could do it, father. So apparently this sheep is now kind of back where it needed to be. Fargo then says he wants to take father Ted out for a pint. So they leave Dougal in charge of the sheep and say don't open the door, dougal, look after the sheep. They go off to the pub and in the pub the other farmer, hud Hastings, is sat there with a couple of women in the corner, and again this is going to come back. The other farmer, hud Hastings, is sat there with a couple of women in the corner, and again this is going to come back into play. He's wearing a crown, so which is so ridiculous?
Speaker 4:He's a farmer, it's such a shit pub as well. It's like a working man's club. Someone's in the corner wearing a crown With two girls. He's got like a like his arms around both.
Speaker 3:Ted gets home, the doors open, chris is gone. Dougal produces a dictaphone again. Quite like this as well in terms of sort of the writing, because I thought they were going to play the same joke twice, but they don't actually. Before we even get through the joke they interrupt it. So there's a great and Father Ted's so well written and there's things that come back, but they also do.
Speaker 3:What I love Father Ted does is some of the old school sort of visual stuff. They hear the howling again of this beast. So Ted I love his sort of smug knowingness sort of says there's a trick the older Patches used to use there to find the. So he bends down and puts his head down on the floor. Dougal actually spots in this instance Dougal is the brains of it spots a stereo up in the tree, but Ted sort of pops up and it's almost like that Captain Manor in where he pops up with his glasses, sort of lopsided. Ted comes up with a face half covered in mud. It's not a massive gag but it just works really well. It's really well done. Dermot Morgan is a was a an absolute genius of comedy.
Speaker 4:I think about. They're all about doing a Pope, pope, ted. The musical uh, all the shit that's going on with Graham Lennon like it's been cancelled or whatever. I I can't imagine anyone else playing Ted. I can't. I know everyone says this about the favourite characters, but he, I can't. He is Father Ted. I can't imagine anyone playing Father Ted and getting away with it.
Speaker 3:No, because I think you'd almost end up doing a spoof of him, because he he's quite ridiculous, like his big hair flopping about and it I don't know. Yeah, you'd almost have to to redo the character and make him look slightly different. I think if you tried to visually copy Ted, it would look like a copy of.
Speaker 4:It's a show they wanted to do and they've done Fools and Horses and stuff like that. But even Fools and Horses, it might be a brilliant show, the Fools and Horses thing but the guy playing Del Boy I can't remember his name now he's in phone shop. He's in uh, life. It's pretty good actually. Yeah, yeah, he's a decent actor, but you think, oh, it's not the old boy, though, is it do? You know what I mean, but that that's just the character that you've grown up with and the actors, so yeah, but it's funny.
Speaker 3:I agree I can see jack and dougal being played by other actors.
Speaker 3:I can't yeah there's anybody else, yeah, um, so yeah, the the final speaker. I. I love as well Ted's sort of. I'm not going to play the clips. It's a really short one, but there's a line where he says something like I think things are starting to come together, dougal, he's kind of in his detective brain. He's putting all the pieces together. So we now go to the King and the Sheep ceremony and this is the mayor.
Speaker 3:I'm going to play the clip, but it's not actually worth it, to be honest. But he's doing a really sort of boring speech. It's really slow. He sort of says, oh, I'm not going to be boring, but this is, and he just keeps repeating himself. It is boring. It's not worth playing the clip. I I love the bit where ted bursts in. Um, I'll play it. I'll play a short clip from where he first burst in, and, and part of it is because I love it's the first time we hear this, but whenever there's a sort of key moment I love the sheep goes, yeah, whenever there's like a revelation, so so here's a clip from where ted Fargo.
Speaker 1:Boyle, what Fuck it? Al, yeah, that's nonsense. I just go now and kick my trophy.
Speaker 2:It was you who was disappointed at the poor odds Chris was receiving, you who planned to manipulate those odds by sabotaging your own sheep and then staging a miraculous recovery on the day of the competition. You, who paid Giant and HUD to talk about the beast in front of Chris, didn't count on the vanity of your accomplices, who use their newfound wealth to buy a fur coat and a crown.
Speaker 4:Angle. This is super. For a start. We all say this to each other like fucking hell.
Speaker 3:If.
Speaker 4:I say like I don't know if it's something like United or United have got minor two next year, I'll say fucking hell.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I like to do it as well. Where, say, if I don't know? Say, if somebody drops a drink in a pub and everyone goes, oh fucking hell. A drink in a pub and, like, everyone goes, oh fucking hell. Brilliant in the background.
Speaker 4:I love it he's got his hands on his hips all the way through, nodding his head so smug. I've cracked this. It is like. Obviously it's not like Sherlock, but in his head this is like an episode it is it's like he's so ridiculous in this moment.
Speaker 3:He is the sort of the Sherlock Holmes. You're right, it's an analogy. Yeah, I love, then, that at the end they sort of reveal that obviously, you know, should they get the police involved? And again, the smugness in Ted where he's sort of nodding to himself and he says, no, he's lost the trust of his sheep, that's punishment enough for a farmer, it's brilliant because obviously he's going like, don't look at me to the sheep, sheep's, just exactly the same face all the way through.
Speaker 3:Blank expression sheep. We're coming to the end of the episode. Now the final shot. Really well shot, I'd say. It's kind of shot. I don't know why. It's shot from low down there. The silhouette again is quite a sort of I wrote this down.
Speaker 4:Actually, it's almost like I don't know, it's really depressing, but it's like, uh, I don't really like it.
Speaker 3:It's like the beginning of like a fucking gangster film or something they're sort of walking into the sunset and, yeah, doogle, sort of just thinking out loud, says but but ted, doesn't that mean if, if chris disqualified, you've lost all the heating money? Ted, again, just great visual comedy, acting Without saying anything. He's sort of absolutely kind of like ah, fuck's sake, it's all gone wrong again. Despite the fact he sort of solved the case and cracked everything, he's ended up losing all his money because the sheep got disqualified. And the final shot of the episode and again this is where it strays back into that cartoon territory. So they're getting ready to hibernate for winter, so they've got themselves wrapped up, they're getting in cardboard boxes and they say, right, see you in three months. It's brilliant.
Speaker 4:It's a brilliant episode. It's to be honest episode. It's to be honest. I don't think there's a bad episode of father ted. I think if you like father ted every single episode, you can get something out of it. Um, but I do think it's a good way to promote. But what I like about this is purely ted and doodle, which for me are the the best two characters in it or the best the best two sort of.
Speaker 3:They summed the show up brilliantly yeah, we debated if you're sort of screaming at your podcast device right now, why didn't they have this one? We considered the Milkman one. We thought about that. We thought about the one on the airplane, as you say. We could have almost gone for it. I mean, I hear you're a reassist now, father. I hear a reassist now, father. Yeah, could have been many, but that to me, is one that stands out in my mind, is one when I watched it. I remember really really finding that funny. So, yeah, a strong episode there and it goes up against something else very strong actually, and you're going to take the lead.
Speaker 4:It goes up against the episode of Phoenix Knights so a bit of background to this episode that you might need if you've never seen phoenix in series one wheelchair bound, brian potter.
Speaker 4:He runs a working man's club in bolton but at the end of the first series it gets burnt down convinced. Well, we all know as an audience it is Dempere who's burnt it down and Dempere owns the rival Banana Grove club that's burnt it down. So in the second series Gerry they redo the Phoenix, but Gerry has to be the owner because Brian is no longer allowed to be the owner of any club because he's had two clubs in a row that's burnt down. So this episode starts. It's straight off. I think it's brilliant like it starts off with brian potter vigorously cleaning his glasses saying this yeah, yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1:That's it straight up, straight up. Keep going. Oh, yeah, that's it. You can keep as far as you can go, right up, no right up right up as far as you can go, that's it, and we're 100 yards down on. Your left love, that's right. Just pass the dry cleaners as far as you can go, right up. No, right up. Right up as far as you can go, that's it, and we're 100 yards down on your left love.
Speaker 3:That's right, just past the dry cleaners. All right, mr Potter, you're not. Knock, depends Brian. Potter's one of them characters isn't he who is so well kind of cleaning his glasses and yet somehow that's still funny. That's not a gag, really, but it is.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I love Ray Vaughan in this scene. Ray Vaughan comes in, do you not knock? And he goes depends. What does he mean? Depends, depends, depends. Ray Vaughan's outfit, by the way. I know you're looking like what I'm talking about. He's wearing a pink and blue shell suit with a big chain, I don't know. He's like a granddad top. What would you call that top that Ray Vaughan's wearing?
Speaker 3:Yeah, he's almost got like a knitted T-shirt with a track suit over it and then a bum bag. Ray Vaughan is a fantastic character.
Speaker 4:This was made in 2002. Why is he dressed like that? No one's dressed like that in 2002. For those who don't know, ray Vaughan is a former fairground worker, an electrician, who's a club DJ In the first series. Everyone thinks he's a murderer, but he's not a murderer Anyway. Ray Vaughan's put a speed trap down so punters have to slow down when they come into the club, which is a good idea in a way. He's put speed traps down so they have to Like look at the club Erm. So they come into the club and this is what they get.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, oh yes, I like that. Oh, very good, it's that way To Lampost, is it?
Speaker 4:So Brian's delighted. There's a lot of Waiting around, though it's just them three Like waiting. There's him and young Kenny who's always got Tiger paint on his face In second series, which I know you love.
Speaker 3:Again, I love that it's not mentioned. It's mentioned in the last episode where one of Dan Perry's sort of henchmen says to Dan Perry I caught Potter's tiger outside. I love that. It's just become like the tiger now.
Speaker 4:So young Kenny has to wear on the first episode of the second series. They're doing like a family fun day, so he dresses up as a tiger and he can't get the paint off his face for the entire series anyway. So after a lot of waiting around, a car comes up and triggers the sign and we get this. And then sorry, there's a lot of clips here, but and Brian says this- I don't know if we're going to fit them all into the car park.
Speaker 1:Ray, I really don't.
Speaker 3:Do you just want to play the episode? I'd love to play the episode I know.
Speaker 4:So we've got three clips already. It's not as clip-heavy as it seems. After this we get Max and Paddy and this is Club Tropicana having a fake tan in the solarium. I love the fact that the Working man Club have put a solarium in. It's brilliant, so fun. Yeah, so fun, and they're joined by Kenny W Senior, who's a compulsive liar. Amongst other things, he claims to have asbestos skin skin and he once told some kids that Jackie Chan were coming to see him about some pain. Brilliant anyway.
Speaker 3:I wasn't studying there, in the dressing gowns coming out of the solarium I mean, these are the club bouncers. It's so like ridiculous, isn't it? Yeah, yeah fantastic.
Speaker 4:So they're saying the burger tastes like horse shit. And, uh, kennedy D'Avoli. So they're saying the burger tastes like horse shit. And Kennedy says, and I've tasted horse shit, where's it tasted Horse shit? But it turns out, I've written this up. It turns out the two illegal Chinese immigrants were employed by Brian as chefs. The club accidentally brought them over into the country to import some lager and they're trying to stir fry the chips. That's why they sort of like taste like horse shit. That's what I don't know about, like how bad the food is.
Speaker 3:It's not relevant to this particular episode, but they do, in the end, kind of start doing chinese food, don't it?
Speaker 4:and it becomes a big yeah, yeah yeah, but daniel kitson, who plays spencer, uh, this is actually his first episode. He comes into it later. He disses himself from phoenix knights uh, due to these characters, and he said the jokes were lazy and racist. And in the DVD commentary Kay's not happy with this and every time Daniel Kitson Spencer comes onto the screen he only refers to him as the bastard. Have you ever heard the DVD, dvd?
Speaker 3:yeah, dvd. I think you've told me that, certainly somebody's told me that before, but no, I've never heard it. But he's playing like a what's the word learning difficulties type kid. So he was quite happy to play a stereotypical character, wasn't he? So maybe he is the bastard.
Speaker 4:The bastard. Anyway, jerry St Clair, the club compare Another great name, by the way, jerry St Clair Such a good name, he's a great name, by the way, jerry St Clair such a good name. He's driving into the club with no idea about the speed traps that Ray Vaughan's put in, so he has to slam his brakes and he smashes his nose up. We get a great line where Mary the barmaid is helping him like stop the blood coming out of his nose, and he says this shut up, you girl.
Speaker 1:you should have had your seatbelt on. I did have my seatbelt on. Just weren't expecting a speed shop in the middle of the road, just put that there. Brave on, just trying to get more people in In work casualty.
Speaker 3:I love and I know it's very deliberately done in this way, by the way but I mean, when was this? This was early 2000. Looking at this clip of him sat in this working men's club, this could be like 1987, couldn't it? Yeah, it's outdated.
Speaker 4:It's the end of the working men's club I think I might have mentioned this before where I used to go to a working men's club with my dad, obviously. Then my mate Fat Nige is Dabra Committee man. I think I were in the working men's club, probably until the very end. Obviously, they're still going, but not do you know what I mean? They were massive working men's clubs, weren't they?
Speaker 3:to be fair, yeah, it's not something we do anymore. Is it Jerry's interviewing?
Speaker 4:Spencer, as we said before. Daniel Kitson the bastard, a fairly oddball character, a fairly obvious oddball character, to be fair, as you said. And he says he's the man for the job because he's seen the film Cocktails six times. We then get Mary wiping a picture of the snooker player, tony Knowles. Like is the Tony Knowles sweet she's painting. Like wiping a picture. And this is what I love a lot about Peter Kay's work, where he'll name drop some obscure person who's not been on TV for like years. I've never heard of Tony Knowles. It was before my time, but he's still funny. Shine him up.
Speaker 3:shine him up this picture, sorry just on that, if we sort of reveal, so we've done this before, but we'll reveal it now. I'm sort of watching along to this because I watched the wrong episode.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So I thought, yeah, I've seen this loads of times so I feel I feel quite happy to commentate and and watch along as you're talking, but I thought we were doing the last episode of this series so I'd made some notes on that. But what I think phoenix knights is great at is those. Peter k is so funny in his delivery you don't even necessarily need to get the joke and I think that's such a kind of unique. There's a bit where it comes out Brian Potter in the last episode. So I know this is interrupting your episode, but just to summarize my point. It comes out Max and Paddy are washing their kind of camper van motorhome and he goes Oi, petrocelli, I've got no idea what that means. I laughed my head off.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, hey, Petrocelli.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, yeah, but yeah, sorry. Back to the episode. But yeah, you're right, phoenix Knights is fantastic. Even if you don't necessarily get the joke, the delivery still makes it funnier. That's quite unique, that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, the Toronto Sweet. By the way, the picture of the Tony Knowles suite went in an auction.
Speaker 3:I'm laughing at that Tony Knowles suite. I've got no idea who he is.
Speaker 4:Went for £720 in an auction they sold off all the stuff from Phoenix, Nice and yeah, he got £720. Anyway, Kenny Dogley Senior is reading the paper and he sees that Dan Perry, Brian's rival. He owns the Banana we said before. He's taking out a full advertisement about his new Bermuda triangle suite.
Speaker 3:I love that.
Speaker 4:Bermuda triangle suite and it's going to be opened by a top Jewish tribute act called Rabbi Williams. It's so shit Like it is funny, like Rabbi Williams, anyway. So as they're all like just nothing's going on, the crime time comes on TV as everyone's like eating in the club. Basically crime time is crime watch, isn't it like? Basically like he's, so it's funny, he's so surprised. Stuart McConey, which I found interesting because he's not an actor, he's a music journalist and a radio presenter. But anyway, there's a great headline on the crime time sorry, stuart, mcconey, mark and lord, is he lord?
Speaker 4:no, no, no, but he did, uh, a show on radio six with mark ratcliffe, but it's not him, right, okay? It's not him, um, that's another great. Anyway, I'll come back onto that. A great headline on the crime time thing and this, uh, this little bit where this is on the dvd commentary, where case has a real headline, because please goes, please probe, girl Snatch, that were a real thing that Peter Kay saw, remember we used to get them in Star.
Speaker 4:I don't know if you still do it in Sheffield. Who remembers we're doing Peter Kay, so we're allowed to do it? Who remembers Remember the headlines are like what was going on that day's news to buy the Star on the front of the thing yeah. Please probe Girl Snatch, you'd buy it wouldn't you.
Speaker 3:You want to know what's going on, wouldn't you?
Speaker 4:Anyway, as they're watching this, ray Vaughan points out that Crime Time is a great way to advertise your business because it's publicity that don't cost a penny. You do a reconstruction of your business and it gets on national TV. So Brian then goes hey, I've had a brainwave. He's delighted. He goes, you'll get crime time in to deconstruct his club burning down for the last series. To get free publicity. He says crime time, he goes. They must get 100 million viewers easier. Think about it. There's only 67 million in England. I think 100 million viewers easy. Think about it. There's only 67 million in England, I think 100 million viewers easy. 100 million easy. Yeah, kenny Douglas goes. Why would they come in here, though, brian? He goes because we're an unsolved case. Poirot, poirot, yeah, yeah, brilliant at that. So the crime time, it gets. Crime time, ian. The crime time team arrive and Brian bumps into the actor who's going to be playing him in the reconstruction and he's not happy with it.
Speaker 3:His expression when he sees. It is absolutely fantastic. It just freezes pointing at him. It's absolutely brilliant.
Speaker 1:They'll be playing me. I'll be playing me. Go on, get up, go on off, you go. You thought wrong. That's what you thought. You thought nothing. But Mr Potter Potter, have you ever worked in TV before? Have I ever worked in TV before? Oh, mr TV pal, eh, you name it. I've done it. Pimp mandagold queer. As folk played one of the folk, you just shout cut and I'll do the rest.
Speaker 4:I love how he shouts cut, cut's the end of the scene. You shall cut, I'll do the rest. I'll do the rest. Not action Cut, you shall cut and I'll do the rest. So Brian starts acting, but Max and Paddy somehow have got all the Crime Time walkie-talkies and they say this Potter.
Speaker 3:Let's do Potter, you do Potter. Yeah, go on.
Speaker 1:Taxi for Potter Taxi. The Potter Toxie, the Potter Outside. It's them two tits that you should go and tell them. Couple of clowns, I had them in the bag then.
Speaker 4:There was none of this on Bergerac. Absolutely amazing.
Speaker 3:Brilliant, yeah, so good at names and old shows. Peter Kay is fantastic at just dropping in. Well the old, Do you Remember stuff innit?
Speaker 4:Who remembers Bergerac. For some reason I don't understand why this is Dempere's been invited to act in it. I don't know why this is. It's a reconstruction of their club burning down, and Brian Potter is convinced that Dempere has burned it down. Dempere's not an actor. Why is he part of the reconstruction?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't know. And, like you said earlier on in the episode, we know that he did, didn't he? Yeah, just so it's kind of square in my mind. He threw a. The end of a cigar in a paper bin. Did he do that to burn the club down? Was it deliberate? Yeah, yeah, yeah it was right.
Speaker 4:Yeah, they got talent track above him. So Perry and Potter are acting, and Potter says this 43, take one, here we go.
Speaker 1:Action. He did it. He did it in there, he burnt us down. That's the one you want. He can't work with this.
Speaker 3:I think it's straight after that bit. It's a fantastic scene where Jerry Sinclair comes in with dyed hair, leather trousers. It's absolutely amazing.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so he's got a white suit on and he says Jerry Sinclair for hire on the bike. It's absolutely amazing. So it goes to Jerry and he's singing Reach by S Club 7, because obviously they're doing the reenactment so good, like it's Reach, and this thing comes down you sign with Phoenix Dye, so the Phoenix Club and a telephone number on it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's just brilliant. Yeah, and actually obviously Toby Foster up there. A telephone number on it. Yeah, it's just brilliant. Yeah, and actually obviously Toby Foster up there. We should probably mention as a Sheffield man but, I love how the director of the crime show is just. He's literally sat open mouthed at how ridiculous it's gone.
Speaker 4:So the next scene is they're all watching crime. So it's a really short episode, as I say. So it might seem like we're going through it, but it's only 22 minutes long this episode, while all the Phoenix Knights episodes are. There's a regular bit. So all the main characters are watching Crime Time in the pub on a really, really, really small screen. And there's a good bit on Crime Time where it goes, because we'll bring you an update at 11 am. Sorry, 11 pm, after a night with jockey wilson. I love how he puts those, those things in fucking ptk. Brilliant doing stuff like that. So the phoenix club bits comes on on crime time and brian's on screen and max and paddy start booing. They're all watching the club boo. Pad Paddock is wanker, side to TV wanker, but they're all bit. Where they're watching themselves on TV is absolutely fantastic. So then young Kenny comes on.
Speaker 3:Young Kenny, young Kenny we were talking about earlier, who you called young Kenny as well, didn't you on the yeah he's got face paint on.
Speaker 4:He's got face. He can't get this tiger face paint on. So he put mascara on, because, oh, it's mascara, so it was. It was michael jackson's. So, uh, max, a party event showed on the reconstruction and they caught paddy's line. All you see is paddy doing like a massive tits gesture. Then paddy goes, they cut me line. The back goes, yeah, because that's shit. So kenny dog leash has read a newspaper, uh, on the reenactment that it's got dem perry in the background. Basically all the way through the reenactment there's little bits in the background saying dem perry did it. It's a really short reenactment and brian, who's in the studio, is not happy and the people in the club aren't happy as well, because, is that it? Yeah, he's got like a. So brian's in the club aren't epic as well? Is that it? Yeah, he's got like a.
Speaker 3:So Brian's in the studio. Yeah, that's what I was just going to say. He's in the studio with like a. It's a sculpture of a young child and he's stroking its head. It's got something hung around its neck and it says Dem Perry did it.
Speaker 4:Dem Perry did it. Yeah, Brian's in the studio with a police officer who mentions that Brian has been involved in a number of clubs that have burned down in suspicious circumstances. Brian goes absolutely mad. He starts kicking off and the police officer holds him trying to calm him down and he says this what we've known about Mr.
Speaker 1:Potter for quite a while now is. He's been involved with a number of clubs that have been destroyed and in suspicious circumstances. Whoa, whoa, whoa, roll that back. What do you mean? Suspicious circumstances, really? Whoa, whoa, roll that back. What do you mean? Suspicious circumstances? What's all that about? Hey, you're not accusing me, are you? Yeah, that's suspicious. What's all that about? I tell you the person who broke the club down and you cut him out of the bloody film, den Parry. That's who you want, den Parry Potter you can't publicly accuse somebody of doing an ongoing investigation?
Speaker 1:Mr Potter, you can't publicly accuse somebody of doing an ongoing investigation. Well, someone's got a duty job. You don't piss off, that's what you've done.
Speaker 3:Look at this, you see that, see where he went from it. Then.
Speaker 1:That's how it happens. See that Two words B Corp. That's what you're good at, eh.
Speaker 2:Calm down, calm down. He's doing, it again he's doing it again.
Speaker 1:Oh, I tell you he fell your Honour that Rodney King on your ass. Tell the bloody Norman.
Speaker 4:Tebby to you Finish Like a bull to a red rag. Mr Potter, please calm down and could we return to the subject?
Speaker 1:No, I've lost my licence and I've come on here and he starts accusing me and you've cut out, and you've cut out, and you've cut out, and you've cut out, and you've cut out, and you've cut out and you like one of the Bee Gees brilliant so good, it's right.
Speaker 4:It's brilliant because it goes back to the club as he's doing this and they're all like watching it going.
Speaker 3:Go on Paddy's giving punches like one of the Bee Gees so, brian, that's it, I've had enough.
Speaker 4:So Brian like can't get out of the studio, but the show's still going on, so it's just him in the background wheeling around as they're trying to close the show up Absolutely fantastic. So that scene ends and then we're back at the club. Brian and Jerry's locking up and someone drives past saying are you on TV tonight? Is this that club that burned down? And then Brian's going Jerry open the bars, jerry, jerry open it. So I think the thing there is, it worked. Brian's idea was Ray Vaughan's idea. It actually worked, yeah.
Speaker 3:I think there's no such thing as bad publicity. I think their take is anything that gets eyes on the club is a good thing, yeah. How farcical the whole thing is, yeah, it does work.
Speaker 4:And then the final bit we get an audition. But if you're doing it, at the end of every episode you get an audition with the uh, uh, the people who work for the club watching, and this one it's one-legged elvis. I don't really like these bits. It's all right, you know the end of every episode where you get like a yeah people love these bits.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, it's not, I don't know, it is what it is. I think it's a. It's a nice kind of ending to the episode that they give you like a funny little clip at the end. But yeah, there's, there's better stuff in there for me that I thought genuinely I've not.
Speaker 4:Phoenix night is one of those shows where it's not repeated much, like the office has repeated quite a lot. It was anyway like um 10 years ago or whatever, um alan partridge I think it's repeated quite a lot. It was anyway like um 10 years ago or whatever, um alan partridge, I think, repeated quite a lot. Thick of it's repeated quite a lot. This has never repeated and it's the first time I've genuinely like sort of gone back to phoenix nights, probably since it came out. I were blown away. I mean, look, this is not my favorite. It might be my favorite sitcom by the end of this, but I was amazed at how good this was. Yeah well.
Speaker 3:I don't know. Probably two years ago we went to Jodie's dad's caravan and Jodie ordered the DVD and we sort of both said, oh yeah, phoenix Knights is great, but sort of forgotten some of it. And yeah, absolutely brilliant. I don't know why it's not shown. I don't know if there's some kind of licensing thing. I think it was. It's not even on.
Speaker 4:YouTube. It's not on 4OD and it's not on YouTube. This is Dailymotion, if you want to watch it. By the way, it's all the good stuff, to be fair.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean you get adverts now and again. But yeah, fair play. Dailymotion is where we've watched this, or you might have found a DVD, but certainly where I watched it I've seen Father Ted with Dailymotion as well.
Speaker 4:to be fair, if you want to watch stuff for free without signing up to anything, I was really, really surprised at how good this was.
Speaker 3:I think I'd watched more of it more recently than you, so I kind of knew how strong it was. But yeah, if you've not watched it for a while, I mean to be fair. But both the tonight's, I think father, ted and Phoenix nights this is this is a really close one.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I would really struggle with this. I mean there's some that we could pick, but we wouldn't want to say I don't know, I almost don't want to sort of take myself down that route. I want to just just keep ourselves out of it. Let's let the listeners and the Twitter followers decide. But I'd really struggle with this. But we might get no votes because people can't decide.
Speaker 4:People can't decide. Yeah, no votes at all. This is the for me. All the ones we've got left, this is the one where I'm still 50-50. And I mean that, like, obviously, we're not trying to put our opinion across. But I don't know, I'm going to on the day, on the night I'm going to, might have a few drinks and see what's going on.
Speaker 3:We get a vote, don't we? So our vote counts equally to anybody listening or voting on Twitter. So, yeah, we're going to have to think long and hard about this. I think I know which way. I no, I don't know, I don't know, not sure. But I think I know which way. I no, I don't know, I don't know, not sure. But I will vote. So when the votes go up, I will vote, but I need to just put a bit more time into it.
Speaker 4:I think Blazer and Anders were right where this could be the final. This could be the final, oh yeah, this could be the final.
Speaker 3:This is one, isn't it? Where when you're watching the World Cup and you get a game in the quarters and this is and Ian Wright saying this could be a final man.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:This could be a final man, and then, like Keane, well, surely England have to be in it. You decided already Quarters semis final.
Speaker 4:Final Final.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Strong competition tonight. So thank you for listening. Yeah, I mean we are getting quite a lot of comments and stuff Because of the format. We're getting quite a lot of comments and stuff because of the format. We're getting through quite quick. Appreciate we're not reading stuff out, but that doesn't mean we're not reading it.
Speaker 4:We're going to do like one at the end what people have said. So if you really appreciate all the comments we're getting, and at the end of like this, once the winner's been decided, we're going to do like a bonus episode or whatever, where we go through everyone's comments. But yeah, these two fucking shows are absolutely fantastic and whichever way you go, I'll give you a high five.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you can't be wrong on this one. So go, go with your heart, go with your I don't know, go with whichever. How would you? I don't know. I almost don't want to start trying to categorise it, because it's up to the listener, isn't it?
Speaker 4:Oh, you give your vote away. Irish blood, English heart.
Speaker 3:But I think we've had this debate before, haven't we? So we don't want to give categories as to is it worth more points if it has more series? Is it worth more points if it's won awards? Is it worth more points if it sort of has that re-watchability? I don't know, these are all.
Speaker 4:These are all yours to decide, but yeah next week by the way are absolutely like knife edge for me, these two yeah, next week it seems clear-cut this rickage of a star by. But I've been speaking to our friend mark Eggington today. He prefers Extras of the Office. It's Extras versus the Office. I think the Office is by far the favourite to win this. Yeah, the book is favourite definitely.
Speaker 4:Ricky Giver, stephen Merchant Derby, and that's what we're going to be doing. Next, we're going to be doing the Les Dennis episode and we're going to be doing Series 2, episode 1 of the Office, which is the merger episode in Series 2, episode 1 of the Office, which is the merger episode, and we're going to go through them. Then the one after that is Gavin and Stacey versus Alan Partridge. Then the votes are open.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so thank you for today. The closest quarterfinal, I think, but we'll see. We'll join you for the Richard H Stephen Merchant derby next time round. Thank you very much, anderson, for, yeah, a tough one tonight. Not a tough one because they were both easy to do, but a tough one in terms of I'll be disappointed whichever one goes, I think yeah, completely.
Speaker 4:Anyway, thanks a lot.
Speaker 3:Cheers goodnight 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 living.