RT @budgie: OK, here it is, this year’s update.
New on the BLOG: A Life In Pictures, December 2021 update j.mp/LifeInPics2021
As alwa… tweeted 1 year ago
RT @Cavalorn: If you want the former sentiment you need to add extend the phrase thusly: 'Bugger all this'. (It is almost mandatory to add… tweeted 1 year ago
Despite today being Sunday, you’re getting two sets of smiles this weekend. In part because I didn’t have a great Christmas, and I figure this is as a good excuse as any for an ‘in case of emergency break glass’ post.
I mean, I didn’t have a horrible Christmas, I hasten to add. I just didn’t have a Christmas at all. And while usually, that doesn’t matter… after this trash fire of a year, this year it kind of did.
So yeah, I’m not really in the mood to write anything of import today. And I figured that maybe finding some smiles for you lot would, I dunno, help.
So here are four more Christmas based videos that hopefully give you a smile.
This one amuses me more than it possibly should. It very much is as if she’s thinking ‘at last, someone who speaks my language…’
After Star Trek’s All I Want For Christmas Is Q, here’s the first of them all: Make It So
I’ll lay good money that a fair few of you have watched The Muppet Christmas Carol. If you haven’t, why the hell not? Here, let the trailer for it convince you…
MItch Benn, with The True Meaning Of Christmas
See you tomorrow, with… something else.
Sixty-one days. Sixty-one posts. One 2022 scarily rapidly approaching.
I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of quid every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting down to the new year. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here.
Well, yes, it’s Christmas and it’s [a] Saturday. So a combination of the usual Saturday Smile and Christmas Day.
So four Christmas based videos instead of the usual five.
As a Christmas gift, I give you some much needed silliness.
Sir Humphrey would like to crave your momentary indulgence…
Frank Kelly‘s version of the Twelve Days Of Christmas
Mitch Benn, last year, summed up so many of our feelings: Thank Fuck It’s Christmas
OK, and he sends us a wish for this years, to have Whatever Kind Of Christmas You Can
Merry Christmas, everyone… and most especially, have a day when you forgive yourself for you being, y’know… you. You’re allowed to, today.
See you tomorrow, with… something else.
Sixty-one days. Sixty-one posts. One 2022 scarily rapidly approaching.
I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of quid every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting down to the new year. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here.
As I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity. Silliness, even in the roughest of times, maybe especially on the worst of days, is never unimportant; a necessary break from the sheer nastiness of the absurdity in which we sometimes find ourselves.
So, after yet another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s
‘What’s happening?’
with a hearty
‘how the fuck should I know?‘
I give you some much needed silliness.
We haven’t had any Alistair Beckett-King for a few weeks; here’s his The Night Before Michaelmas
The Wonders of Life, BBC Trailer… with Eric Idle’s Galaxy Song rewritten, and performed, by him.
A gag real is all well and good, but TV News bloopers? Are even better.
During lockdowns, some creators went above and beyond. This never failed to make me smile: Kermit with a special performance of The Rainbow Connection. What makes it work and so very special? That he starts by turning on the camera and then switches it off at the end. Enjoy.
Mitch Benn sometimes goes a bit viral. In fact, there’ve been three that he’s gone viral with over the past couple of years, and one that went viral before going viral was a thing. Here’s this week’s, which Ant & Dec promoted to their 6.7 million followers…
See you tomorrow, with… something else.
Sixty-one days. Sixty-one posts. One 2022 approaching.
I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of quid every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting down to the new year. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here.
As I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity. Silliness, even in the roughest of times, maybe especially on the worst of days, is never unimportant; a necessary break from the sheer nastiness of the absurdity in which we sometimes find ourselves.
So, after yet another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s
‘What’s happening?’
with a hearty
‘how the fuck should I know?‘
I give you some much needed silliness.
You always wanted to see Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Jean Luc Picardsinging All I Want For Christmas Is… Q?, didn’t you? Well, don’t say I don’t give you anything…
Matt Green, once again, on firing employees on Zoom…
Dave Gorman on how to measure if someone is an A-list star, or a B-list or a Z-list… or an R-list…?
100 songs you don’t know the name of… ok, 100 tunes, some of which you don’t know the name of…
Way, WAY, back for this one. Mitch Benn and the Distractions on The Hardest Song In The World (To Find). And yes, if you’re of a certain age, this should spark memories…
See you tomorrow, with… something else.
Sixty-one days. Sixty-one posts. One 2022 approaching.
I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of quid every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting down to the new year. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here.
As I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity. Silliness, even in the roughest of times, maybe especially on the worst of days, is never unimportant; a necessary break from the sheer nastiness of the absurdity in which we sometimes find ourselves.
So, after yet another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s
‘What’s happening?’
with a hearty
‘how the fuck should I know?‘
I give you some much needed silliness.
I’m not sure how I only discovered Matt Green fairly recently; he’s very good. Here he is with some takes on Brexit…
John Oliver said some very not nice things about Bob Murray, who then sued in a nuisance suit which he lost. Bob Murray doesn’t like John Oliver. The feeling’s mutual.
This is just lovely; Star Trek themes over the decades
I’m not usually one for pet videos. But this, about doggy day care? Yeah, definitely made me smile.
Sixty-one days. Sixty-one posts. One 2022 approaching.
I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of quid every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting down to the new year. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here.
As I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity. Silliness, even in the roughest of times, maybe especially on the worst of days, is never unimportant; a necessary break from the sheer nastiness of the absurdity in which we sometimes find ourselves.
So, after yet another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s
‘What’s happening?’
with a hearty
‘how the fuck should I know?‘
I give you some much needed silliness.
Matt Green on British political… accountability…?
One of my favourite ads, ever. If you have to ask why, you don’t know me very well…
And the ad that launched a thousand (well a couple of dozen, anyway) parodies; the original Cogs advert
Definitely one for the smile file; Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s niece, Lyla… who I confidently predict will have her own sub-volcano lair within the next 20 years.
Facebook Memories has reminded me of the time my niece Lyla stole the buttons from school. A lesson in getting your story straight… pic.twitter.com/hcnR9aUV5E
— Mitch Benn hates to say he told you so 🇬🇧🇪🇺 (@MitchBenn) November 29, 2018
See you tomorrow, with… something else.
Sixty-one days. Sixty-one posts. One 2022 approaching.
I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of quid every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting down to the new year. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here.
As I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity. Silliness, even in the roughest of times, maybe especially on the worst of days, is never unimportant; a necessary break from the sheer nastiness of the absurdity in which we sometimes find ourselves.
So, after yet another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s
‘What’s happening?’
with a hearty
‘how the fuck should I know?‘
I give you some much needed silliness.
Let’s start this week with some Monty Python, and their take on Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw…
For no reason other than I just thought about it, the marvellous Stubby Kaye and Sit Down You’re Rocking The Boat from Guys and Dolls
Peter Cook, or is it E L Whisty?
Not sure if it’ll make you smile, to be honest, but let’s watch a Timelapse of the Universe, anyway…
Mitch Benn identifies that pose they all do: Pose With A Phone
See you tomorrow, with… something else.
Sixty-one days. Sixty-one posts. One 2022 slowly approaching.
I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of quid every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting down to the new year. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here.
As I write this post, I’m taking a break from wandering the halls at this year’s Thought Bubble comics con; it’s the first time I’ve attended a con in a decade or so, and after two hour of comics con following a decade without it, I needed a brief sit down and a coffee.
So, this post is being written at around two pm, though it won’t go live until about half four as usual.
So then… the usual: as I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity. Silliness, even in the roughest of times, maybe especially on the worst of days, is never unimportant; a necessary break from the sheer nastiness of the absurdity in which we sometimes find ourselves.
So, after yet another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s
‘What’s happening?’
with a hearty
‘how the fuck should I know?‘
I give you some much needed silliness.
I was reminded of this sketch on Thursday, and after trading lines from it for a while, I figured it definitely needed re-appearance here. Peter Cook’s wonderfully biting satire of the judge summing up in the Jeremy Thorpe murder trial. (Thorpe was the married leader of a major political party who was accused of trying to murder his gay lover. If you’ve seeen A Very English Scandal, that was about this.)It’s entitled Entirely A Matter For You.
Been long enough without a Two Johns piece; here they are, with Sir George Parr being interviewed regarding Investment Bankers.
A simple gag, but always executed cleverly as hell. Shoeshine Johnny from Police Squad
Lovely animation here, showing the scale of the universe.
A completely up to date one from from Mitch Benn this week, sparked by the ending of COP26
See you tomorrow, with… something else.
Sixty-one days. Sixty-one posts. One 2022 slowly approaching.
I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of quid every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting down to the new year. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here.
As I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity. Silliness, even in the roughest of times, maybe especially on the worst of days, is never unimportant; a necessary break from the sheer nastiness of the absurdity in which we sometimes find ourselves.
So, after yet another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s
‘What’s happening?’
with a hearty
‘how the fuck should I know?‘
I give you some much needed silliness.
Rowan Atkinson and Hugh Laurie, Shakespeare and Agent, to start with this week:
No reason for this one other than I stumbled across it earlier today. Bing and Frank, Well, Did You Evah? from High Society
Been a while since this one’s seen the light, but the older I get, the more I sympathise with Bert and Charlie as portrayed by The Two Ronnies.
Something to make you smile? Well, you can’t do better than Donald O’Connor’s wonderful Make Em Laugh
A newer one from Mitch Benn this week, sparked by the recent government reshuffle:They’re Shuffling the Deckchairs…
See you tomorrow, with… something else.
Sixty-one days. Sixty-one posts. One 2022 slowly approaching.
I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of quid every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting down to the new year. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here.
As I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity. Silliness, even in the roughest of times, maybe especially on the worst of days, is never unimportant; a necessary break from the sheer nastiness of the absurdity in which we sometimes find ourselves.
So, after yet another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s
‘What’s happening?’
with a hearty
‘how the fuck should I know?‘, I give you some much needed silliness.
(As with other ‘regular’ posts, this is the final one of these for a month or so. I’ll be back, almost certainly with a countdown to 2022, along with more Saturday Smiles. Probably a 61 day countdown – yes, there are reasons for it being a 61 day countdown – on Monday 1st November. But there are a few more ’57 plus…’ posts to come before that interregnum…)
Until then…
A couple from the wonderfully bizarre mind of Alistair Beckett Smith to start with this week: Every Haunted House Movie
Guy Who Is About To Die In A Movie
Did you know you wanted to watch something about the evolution of Daffy Duck?You didn’t? You do know…
Roman Atkinson doing “The Devil”… a special performance for Prince Charles’ 70th Birthday.
Well of courseSesame Street did a parody of Game of Thrones entitled Game of Chairs
Facebook went down this week… did you notice? Mitch Benn did…
See you tomorrow, with… something else.
Fifty-seven more days. Fifty-seven more posts. One fifty-seventh birthday just had.
I’m trying something new with this run. I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of dollars every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting up from my fifty-seventh birthday on 17th August 2021. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here. (And you can see the posts in the run counting down to the birthday here.)6
As I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity. Silliness, even in the roughest of times, maybe especially on the worst of days, is never unimportant; a necessary break from the sheer nastiness of the absurdity in which we sometimes find ourselves.
So, after yet another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s
‘What’s happening?’
with a hearty
‘how the fuck should I know?‘, I give you some much needed silliness.
Ok then…
I don’t care how many times this one is shown; it’s never enough.
To celebrate the return of CSI…
The fella who did the Animaniacs ‘Countries of the World‘ song? Updated…
Here’s a baby, laughing a paper being torn. Because why the hell not?
Mitch Benn got the vaccine several months ago, because of course he did. But before he did…?
See you tomorrow, with… something else.
Fifty-seven more days. Fifty-seven more posts. One fifty-seventh birthday just had.
I’m trying something new with this run. I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of dollars every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting up from my fifty-seventh birthday on 17th August 2021. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here. (And you can see the posts in the run counting down to the birthday here.)6
As I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity. Silliness, even in the roughest of times, maybe especially on the worst of days, is never unimportant; a necessary break from the sheer nastiness of the absurdity in which we sometimes find ourselves.
So, after yet another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s
‘What’s happening?’
with a hearty
‘how the fuck should I know?‘, I give you some much needed silliness.
Ok then…
This shouldn’t be as relevant today as it was once upon a time when Not The Nine O’Clock News took a shot at Reagan
I know I’ve put this up a couple of times before, but dammit, if I think of it, you get it: Punt and Dennis, playing Spot The Stiff.
It’s not uncommon on Twitter for me to observe, regarding something in the news, that #TheresAlwaysAYesMinisterClip. Because there always is. Like this one, on how to discredit a report you don’t like.
Oh, you haven’t seen The Muppets do Bohemian Rhapsody, you say? Well…
Earlier today, I saw the following tweet.
4yo telling me about the harvest festival service:
"We went to the church and we sang some songs and there was a zombie on the wall."
And, yes, I know it’s not Easter, but I was of course inevitably reminded of the following from Mitch…(It’s) Zombie Jesus Chocolate Day!
See you tomorrow, with… something else.
Fifty-seven more days. Fifty-seven more posts. One fifty-seventh birthday just had.
I’m trying something new with this run. I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of dollars every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting up from my fifty-seventh birthday on 17th August 2021. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here. (And you can see the posts in the run counting down to the birthday here.)6
As I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity. Silliness, even in the roughest of times, maybe especially on the worst of days, is never unimportant; a necessary break from the sheer nastiness of the absurdity in which we sometimes find ourselves.
So, after yet another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s
‘What’s happening?’
with a hearty
‘how the fuck should I know?‘, I give you some much needed silliness.
Ok then…
Let’s ignore the awful, awful film and just revel in the original short: Pixels
Some videos you can’t watch just the once. Some videos need repeat watching. Here’s John Oliver and a group of kids expressing their… frustration at DC getting repeatedly screwed by Congress.
WSfkNLbzwTM
When they announced the return of Animaniacs, I think I wasn’t the only one to wonder whether they could pull it off. Until., that is, I saw the promo.
OK, this one is just cute. Short and cute. Both the subject matter, and the video itself.
A brand new one from Mitch, this week, inspired by this week’s government reshufffle…
See you tomorrow, with… something else.
Fifty-seven more days. Fifty-seven more posts. One fifty-seventh birthday just had.
I’m trying something new with this run. I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of dollars every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting up from my fifty-seventh birthday on 17th August 2021. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here. (And you can see the posts in the run counting down to the birthday here.)
As I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity. Silliness, even in the roughest of times, maybe especially on the worst of days, is never unimportant; a necessary break from the sheer nastiness of the absurdity in which we sometimes find ourselves.
So, after yet another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s
‘What’s happening?’
with a hearty
‘how the fuck should I know?‘, I give you some much needed silliness.
Ok then…
The Frogfather: The Muppets do The Godfather. Be fair, you always wanted to see it, didn’t you?
.
You’d think that Wile E Coyote would have learned not to play with explosives by now, but nooooo.…
I attended school back in the days when corporal punishment was still allowed, and yes, I was caned. Never fatally, though… Rowan Atkinson and Angus Deayton, on the other hand…
Another Kermit the Frog one, but one that’s surprisingly touching, I think it’s the way it starts and ends, by Kermit turning the phone cam on and off… Kermit in Lockdown, and The Rainbow Connection
I’ve always liked The Postcode Song from Mitch; wasn’t aware someone had done the obvious and annotated it. But they have, thankfully.
See you tomorrow, with… something else.
Fifty-seven more days. Fifty-seven more posts. One fifty-seventh birthday just had.
I’m trying something new with this run. I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of dollars every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting up from my fifty-seventh birthday on 17th August 2021. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here. (And you can see the posts in the run counting down to the birthday here.)
As I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity. Silliness, even in the roughest of times, maybe especially on the worst of days, is never unimportant; a necessary break from the sheer nastiness of the absurdity in which we sometimes find ourselves.
So, after yet another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s
‘What’s happening?’
with a hearty
‘how the fuck should I know?‘, I give you some much needed silliness.
Ok then…
John Oliver was on Sesame Street, reading the news with Cookie Monster. Which was fine. And good, I guess. And silly. Which would normally qualify it for this. If it wasn’t for the outtakes… which are just glorious and scoop the slot.
One of those sketches where you’re not quite sure where it’s going until three seconds before the reveal… and then it’s obvious. Clever as hell.
What the hell… have a Road Runner cartoon
This isn’t particularly… funny, but that’s not what this slot is for. It’s just something I smile at whenever I see it: Laurel and Hardy, in 1937’s Way Out West
A newer one from Mitch Benn, this week: In power? Need to show you’re doing something, even if, especially if, you’re not? Solution: Pose With A Phone
See you tomorrow, with… something else.
Fifty-seven more days. Fifty-seven more posts. One fifty-seventh birthday just had.
I’m trying something new with this run. I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of dollars every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting up from my fifty-seventh birthday on 17th August 2021. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here. (And you can see the posts in the run counting down to the birthday here.)
As I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity. Silliness, even in the roughest of times, maybe especially on the worst of days, is never unimportant; a necessary break from the sheer nastiness of the absurdity in which we sometimes find ourselves.
So, after yet another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s
‘What’s happening?’
with a hearty
‘how the fuck should I know?‘, I give you some much needed silliness.
Ok then…
Reaching back almost sixty years for this one… 1964’s original One Leg Too Few. Peter Cooke and Dudley Moore somehow managing not to corpse throughout.
After Sesame Street did their Law & Order tribute, I suppose it was only a matter of time before they’d do a CSI one… so here’s their CSI: Rhyme Scene Investigators
Somehow, the ‘one liner’ has come back into fashion the past few years. Stuart Francis and Gary Delaney are both superb, but I think it was Milton Jones who started its comeback as an art form. And here he is, being very very Milton Jones.
Gag reels proliferate. I still think it was a pretty genius move for Pixar to do outtakes though…
Here’s Mitch Benn, with a very – to my mind – sensible attitude towards life.
See you tomorrow, with… something else.
Fifty-seven more days. Fifty-seven more posts. One fifty-seventh birthday just had.
I’m trying something new with this run. I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of dollars every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting up from my fifty-seventh birthday on 17th August 2021. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here. (And you can see the posts in the run counting down to the birthday here.)
I’m genuinely amused that when I started looking for something to use in today’s title, I thought do a quick search for Saturday in song titles and see if there’s something I can adapt. Man, there are a lot of songs entitled ‘Another Saturday Night‘.
Silliness, even in the roughest of times, the worst of days, is never unimportant.
Indeed, as I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity.
So, after another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s ‘What’s happening?‘ with a hearty ‘how the fuck should I know?’, here’s some much needed silliness.
For this run, I’m going to try and find, each week, three archive clips, one example of something that’s just… nice. And then end every week with something from my mate Mitch, who fortunately has continued to provide videos over the past year.
Ok then…
Some of Pixar’s shorts are good, some very good. And then there’s Geri’s Game, which is just sublime.
Mel Brooks on the Ed Sullivan Show: The 2,000 Year Old Man
How to Make an Action Movie Trailer. Once again, does what it says on the tin.
Y’know, not enough people are aware of the genius of Monsterpiece Theatre. Let’s address that now.
Take it away, Alistair Cookiemonster:
Me Claudius
The King And I
Upstairs Downstairs
and the delight of…
Little Red Riding Cookie
Way, WAY back in the past for this week’s from Mitch. A few years ago, BBC’s Watchdog consumer affairs programme covered the scandal of Virgin Media billing the deceased, and there being no way to cancel the contract. Well…
See you tomorrow, with… something else.
Fifty-seven more days. Fifty-seven more posts. One fifty-seventh birthday just had.
I’m trying something new with this run. I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of dollars every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting up from my fifty-seventh birthday on 17th August 2021. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here. (And you can see the posts in the run counting down to the birthday here.)
Silliness, even in the roughest of times, the worst of days, is never unimportant.
Indeed, as I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity.
So, after another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s ‘What’s happening?‘ with a hearty ‘how the fuck should I know?’, here’s some much needed silliness.
For this run, I’m going to try and find, each week, three archive clips, one example of something that’s just… nice. And then end every week with something from my mate Mitch, who fortunately has continued to provide videos over the past year.
(And, since I said yesterday that I’m running the blog on after my birthday, that’s going to stay the rule when we switch to ’57 plus…’)
Ok then…
Oh, haven’t seen this one in ages. From the very first series of Not The Nine O’Clock News: Trade Union Negotiations
I believe that it’s obligatory at some point or another to show Four Candles, so here it is
How to Make a Movie Trailer. Exactly what it says on the tin
I have rarely wanted to be at Glastonbury. Very rarely. No, seriously, only vanishingly rarely. I wish I’d been here for this.
Absolutely no apologies for sticking this one up again, following the news from Plymouth this week. Mitch, on the Alternative Right, and, yes… incels.
See you tomorrow, with something else…
Fifty-seven days. Fifty-seven posts. One fifty-seventh birthday.
I’m trying something new with this run. I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of dollars every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting down to my fifty-seventh birthday on 17th August 2021. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here.
Silliness, even in the roughest of times, the worst of days, is never unimportant.
Indeed, as I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity.
So, after another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s ‘What’s happening?‘ with a hearty ‘how the fuck should I know?’, here’s some much needed silliness.
For this run, I’m going to try and find, each week, three archive clips, one example of something that’s just… nice. And then end every week with something from my mate Mitch, who fortunately has continued to provide videos over the past year.
Ok then…
Long before the word “Brexit” was even coined, The Two Johns (Messrs Bird and Fortune) nailed the Eurosceptic wrong of the Conservative Party. (Apologies for the not great visual quality of this, but the quality of the sketch makes it worth sticking with, I promise…)
Ah, yes, Not The Nine O’Clock News, with ‘Do you have an aleebee?’
Time for a couple more of Alistair Beckett–King’s glorious work. They’re very short, so have two of them.
Every episode of ‘popular space show’
If Poirot was your housemate…
There’s never a good reason not to show this one… the classic Duck Amuck
Didn’t intend to put this one up again today, but caught myself whistling it earlier, so I figure it’s fate. Mitch, on If Dogs Ruled The World…
See you tomorrow, with something else…
Fifty-seven days. Fifty-seven posts. One fifty-seventh birthday.
I’m trying something new with this run. I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of dollars every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting down to my fifty-seventh birthday on 17th August 2021. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here.
Silliness, even in the roughest of times, the worst of days, is never unimportant.
Indeed, as I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity.
So, after another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s ‘What’s happening?‘ with a hearty ‘how the fuck should I know?’, here’s some much needed silliness.
For this run, I’m going to try and find, each week, three archive clips, one example of something that’s just… nice. And then end every week with something from my mate Mitch, who fortunately has continued to provide videos over the past year.
Ok then…
Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller play Holmes and Watson, because of course they do (I’m not about to put the Mitchell & Webb one up. Though it’s glorious and wonderful, it’s not something to make you smile; it’s something to make you cry. And that’s not what these posts are for.)
It’s rare, I’ll admit, that anything to do with the orange poltroon makes me actually smile. Michael Spicer manages it, every time. The Room Next Door
I offer no excuse for including the following, other than that I’ve been watching a lot of Law & Order recently.
Nothing to say about this other than 100 Songs You Heard And Don’t Know TheName Of. (Unfair; you probably know most of them, but I’d bet not all of them.)
The news this week about GB News’ viewing figures falling off a cliff reminded me, for no apparent reason at all, of this, one of Mitch’s more sweary songs. No, really, it’s very sweary. But it was a fond (?) farewell to UKIP, when it finally started to implode.
See you tomorrow, with something else…
Fifty-seven days. Fifty-seven posts. One fifty-seventh birthday.
I’m trying something new with this run. I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of dollars every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting down to my fifty-seventh birthday on 17th August 2021. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here.
Silliness, even in the roughest of times, the worst of days, is never unimportant.
Indeed, as I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity.
So, after another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s ‘What’s happening?‘ with a hearty ‘how the fuck should I know?’, here’s some much needed silliness.
For this run, I’m going to try and find, each week, three archive clips, one example of something that’s just… nice. And then end every week with something from my mate Mitch, who fortunately has continued to provide videos over the past year.
Ok then… let’s start.
While this week’s isn’t going to be all medical/covid related, this video definitely gets prime spot this week: Matt Green on A Minister gets pinged…
The first of two “every so often, I remember that this exists”. I’m a sucker for cover versions, and re-interpretations. This, by The Post-Modern Jukebox does exactly what it says on the tin, with a couple of guest stars at the end to lend their seal of approval: The Evolution of The Friends Theme Song, 1920s to 1990s.
I’m not sure when I first discovered Rik Mayall; it’s possible, I guess, I’d come across him before what I first remember encountering him for, as Kevin Turvey. but Turvey was the first time I saw him and thought ‘holy hell, this is something special’. Here’s Mayall as Kevin Turvey Investigates… Sex.
For today’s ‘nice’ smile(s), here’s the second of the “every so often, I remember that this exists”: Emma Stone and Maya Rudolph doing Call Your Girlfriend
A more recent one from Mitch, this week, about how nice it must be for international get-togethers now that someone isn’t there any more…
See you tomorrow, with… something else.
Fifty-seven days. Fifty-seven posts. One fifty-seventh birthday.
I’m trying something new with this run. I’ve signed up to ko-fi.com, so if you fancy throwing me a couple of dollars every so often, to keep me in a caffeine-fuelled typing mood, feel free. I’m on https://ko-fi.com/budgiehypoth
This post is part of a series of blog entries, counting down to my fifty-seventh birthday on 17th August 2021. You can see the other posts in the run by clicking here.
Silliness, even in the roughest of times, the worst of days, is never unimportant.
Indeed, as I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity.
So, after another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s ‘What’s happening?‘ with a hearty ‘how the fuck should I know?’, here’s some much needed silliness.
For this run, I’m going to try and find, each week, three archive clips, one example of something that’s just… nice. And then end every week with something from my mate Mitch, who fortunately has continued to provide videos over the past year.
For this week, however, there’s a theme. You might be able to detect it and wonder why I’ve chosen this theme. A glance to the right should explain why.
Ok, let’s start.
Simon Pegg, surgeon, on the phone, from Big Train. We’ve all been there…
I never thought that Michael Spicer had nightmares. But when Matt Hancock resigned, and especially WHY he resigned… well, it must have given him night terrors in case he was asked to do a video on all of that… Here’s Michael’s farewell to Hancock, anyway.
Here’s some more of Johns Bird & Fortune, this time on the NHS.
This week’s ‘nice’ smile(s): I used to work in telly. I’ve seen a few of these ‘thanks to everyone involved’ videos over the years. I still think this one, from the end of David Tennant’s run on Doctor Who is up there with the best, and best natured, of them all.…
An older one from Mitch, but given the anti-vaxxers around right NOW, here’s one from the vaults that’s always worth showing to the sun…Vaccinate Your Kids
See you tomorrow, with something else… probably related to the image shown above.
Silliness, even in the roughest of times, the worst of days, is never unimportant.
Indeed, as I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity.
And some thing don’t change. In the year and a half’\s absence from this place, things are still not great for most people. So, after another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s ‘What’s happening?‘ with a hearty ‘how the fuck should I know?’, here’s some much needed silliness.
For this run, I’m going to try and find, each week, three archive clips, one example of something that’s just… nice. And then end every week with something from my mate Mitch, who fortunately has continued to provide videos over the past year.
Ok, let’s start.
You wanted to see Bob Newhart receiving a call from the Colonies, didn’t you? I knew you did.
I have very fond memories of the movie Airplane. I saw it the same day I got my O’Level results. The results were ok. The movie was better than ok. Here are some ‘best bits’…
It surprises me to remember, on rewatching this one, just how nuts the reaction was to Monty Python’s Life Of Brian.Not The Nine O’Clock News was having none of it…
This week’s ‘nice’ smile(s): There are two types of people… those who find night shots of small kids getting up to mischief after the lights go out… and those who don’t. If you’re the former, you’ll enjoy these. If not, well, there’s always next week…
The first is one that went viral: twin toddlers who really should be going to sleep…
The second is what happens when one small child won’t go to sleep and enlists her brother’s aid.
From the moment Mitch played this one to me, I knew I wanted to see a video of it. Now I’m not saying that’s the reason he made one…. It’s from his most recent Edinburgh show, Ten Songs To Save The World, and it’s a thought I suspect is becoming more serious every day…
Silliness, even in the roughest of times, the worst of days, is never unimportant.
Indeed, as I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity.
And some thing don’t change. In the year and a half’\s absence from this place, things are still not great for most people. So, after another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s ‘What’s happening?‘ with a hearty ‘how the fuck should I know?’, here’s some much needed silliness.
For this run, I’m going to try and find, each week, three archive clips, one example of something that’s just… nice. And then end every week with something from my mate Mitch, who fortunately has continued to provide videos over the past year.
Ok, let’s start.
Here’s another of Randy Rainbow’s moments of genius: SEDITION!
Have somePrime Cracker; Robbie Coltrane and Helen Mirren being very silly.
A classic: Abbott & Costello with Who’s On First?
This week’s ‘nice’ smile: This delightfully charming animation of how the vaccine works.
From 2020, Mitch had some advice during lockdown: Do Fuck All… (yeah, this one’s a bit sweary…)
Silliness, even in the roughest of times, the worst of days, is never unimportant.
Indeed, as I’ve grown older, if not wiser, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity.
And some thing don’t change. In the year and a half’\s absence from this place, things are still not great for most people. So, after another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s ‘What’s happening?‘ with a hearty ‘how the fuck should I know?’, here’s some much needed silliness.
For this run, I’m going to try and find, each week, three archive clips, one example of something that’s just… nice. And then end every week with something from my mate Mitch, who fortunately has continued to provide videos over the past year.
Ok, let’s start.
One of the joys of the past year has been discovering Randy Rainbow’s glorious parodies. They’re [almost] all fantastic, but there are a few I’ve got a specific love for. This is one of them.
Funny and relevant. Sadly, always relevant. The ‘Are we the baddies?‘ `sketch from Mitchell and Webb.
Peter Ustinov explains Post-Keynesian economics… to Fozzie Bear. Because of course he does.
This week’s ‘nice’ smile: The BBC reminding those of us born… at a more comfortable distance from tne apocalypse… what childrens’ tv used to be like, in a promo entitled Small People…
After the news broke that Dolly Parton had financed vaccine research, and some discovered just how much she’s ploughed into provid8ng books for young children, Mitch Benn had a suggestion…
Silliness, even in the roughest of times, the worst of days, is never unimportant. Indeed, as I’ve grown older, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity.
And especially right now, we can do with silliness. Fuck me, can we do with some silliness. So, while not all of the videos below are of the ‘stay the hell at home’, some…? Yeah, some are.
I’ve got to start with the obvious this week: Mitch Benn’s exhortation to do right now what the government tells us to… in his usual subtle way.
And following Mitch Benn, here’s Samuel L Jackson (and how often do you get to say that?) with essentially the same message.
Housekeeping:: Yeah, I genuinely went back and forth as to whether to retire the Saturday Smiles for 2020. For one thing, it’s getting harder to find videos or clips or even funny stuff that I haven’t used at least once before. And while some of them are definitely worth a re-airing, it’s not fair nor sensible to keep pulling out stuff I’ve put up in this slot before.
On the other hand – ah, Tevye, thank you – on the other hand, the central message of these posts is still relevant, perhaps more relevant than ever.
So for the moment at least, they’ll continue.
Silliness, even in the roughest of times, the worst of days, is never unimportant. Indeed, as I’ve grown older, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity.
And after yet another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s ‘What’s happening?‘ with a ‘how the hell should I know?’, here’s some much needed silliness.
I’m always had a soft spot for Marvin The Martian. Here’s some of his history.
Rachel Parris shows you how to deliver a public apology
Here’s Laurel and Hardy. What else do you need to know?
While I loved the clever and satirical congs of Flanders and Swann, sometimes you just need some silliness from them.
Johns Bird and Fortune, as ever being wonderful; This time, George Parr is a senior diplomat at the British Embassy in Washington during the time of George W Bush…
OK, one of my favourites from Mitch Benn, this time, about a certain song that’s hard to track down…
Silliness, even in the roughest of times, the worst of days, is never unimportant. Indeed, as I’ve grown older, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity.
And after yet another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s ‘What’s happening?‘ with a groan, a shrug, and a wince, here’s some much needed silliness.
Something a bit different this week; no videos; a couple of other things instead.
Starting with something I came across years ago and – at one point – I had it printed out in Olde English above my desk.
It’s fairly self-explanatory, and I suspect will spark some recognition among anyone who like me thinks one of the essential skills you learn online is to read fluent tyop.
An Owed to the Spelling Checker
I have a spelling checker
It came with my PC
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.
Eye ran this poem threw it,
Your sure reel glad two no.
Its vary polished in it’s weigh
My checker tolled me sew.
A checker is a bless sing,
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles two reed,
And aides me when aye rime.
Each frays come posed up on my screen
Eye trussed too bee a joule
The checker pours o’er every word
To cheque sum spelling rule.
Be four a veiling checkers
Hour spelling mite decline,
And if were lacks or have a laps,
We wood be maid to wine.
Butt now bee cause my spelling
Is checked with such grate flare,
Their are know faults with in my cite,
Of non am eye a wear.
Now spelling does knot phase me,
It does knot bring a tier.
My pay purrs awl due glad den
With wrapped words fare as hear.
To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should be proud.
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaws are knot aloud.
Sow ewe can sea why aye dew prays
Such soft wear four pea seas.
And why I brake in two averse
Buy righting want too pleas.
—– anon.
And for those who prefer something about pronunciation?
I used to know this by heart, but it’s been a long time since then. Again, it’s anonymous, as far as I know, but worth sticking it here:
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, lough and through?
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
And dead; it’s said like bed, not bead –
For goodness sake, don’t call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt).
A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother.
And here is not a match for there
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear;
And then there’s dose and rose and lose –
Just look them up – and goose and choose.
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword,
And do and go and thwart and cart –
Come, come, I’ve hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive!
I’d mastered it when I was five!
—– anon.
(Feel free to leave a comment below when your tongue has removed itself from the roof of your mouth and unknotted itself.)
This next bit has always amused me; as someone who’s met thorugh their career of friends more than a few ‘household names’, this rang so true. If you ignore the names of those in the piece below (an small piece in the Readers’ Questions and Answers slot in The Times), you could be reading about any two people…
Did Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington ever meet?
The fact that they met probably won’t surprise anyone. How they met and what happened might…
Nelson met the future Duke of Wellington in a room of the Colonial Office, where they were both waiting to see Lord Castlereagh. Nelson had no idea that he was talking with somebody of any reputation or importance, although Wellington recognised Nelson. According to Wellington: “He [Nelson] entered at once into conversation with me, if I can call it conversation, for it was almost all on his side and all about himself and, in reality, a style so vain and so silly as to surprise and almost disgust me.”
Nelson then left the room for a moment, apparently to find out who exactly he had been speaking with. When he came back, his manner was totally different. Wellington continued: “His charlatan style had quite vanished . . . and certainly for the last half or three quarters of an hour, I don’t know that I ever had a conversation that interested me more. I saw enough to be satisfied that he was really a very superior man; but certainly a more sudden or complete metamorphosis I never saw.”
And that’s it. No videos this week.
OK, one video, since the latest Star Wars has just been released.
One very silly video.
Enjoy.
Darth Vader Feels Blue
See you tomorrow, as we approach the final days of this year, and the final days of this countdown.
Silliness, even in the roughest of times, the worst of days, is never unimportant. Indeed, as I’ve grown older, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity.
And after yet another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s ‘What’s happening?‘ with a groan, a shrug, and a wince, here’s some much needed silliness.
Let’s start this week, with some more Road Runner. Enjoy.
Have some Gary Delaney, because… well, just because.
if you’ve not seen this before, from Duck Soup, or even if you have…
Ronnie Barker, with a poor… thingummy.
Johns Bird and Fortune;the Investment Banker interview
Mitch Benn has a message for those of you who, at this time of year, drink at the Bar Humbug…
Silliness, even in the roughest of times, the worst of days, is never unimportant. Indeed, as I’ve grown older, I’ve come to appreciate silliness as one of the best, the most superlative, things about humanity.
And after yet another week when the only sensible reaction to the news is to answer Twitter’s ‘What’s happening?‘ with a groan, a shrug, and a wince, here’s some much needed silliness.
Let’s start this week, with the glory that is What’s Opera, Doc? If you haven’t seen this, you’re in for a treat. If you have, then you know what a treat it is. Enjoy.
Have some Stewart Francis being daft, just because why not…?
And here’s some Milton Jones, at the same veune
Ever ordered a large round of drinks? Yeah, me as well. Ronnie Barker shows us how it’s done.
Sir Humphrey explains to his minister The Five Standard Excuses inYes, Minsitsr
Mitch Benn lays out the rules about celebrating Christmas before December.
For this run, I’m going to try and find, each week, three archive clips, one example of something that’s just… nice. And then end every week with something from my mate Mitch, who fortunately has continued to provide videos over the past year.
budgie's perch 