NO. Type it up please!!
Irrelevant and unconnectedly I saw John Sparkes and Moray Hunter in Channel Four reception this afternoon.
And they both looked rough.
from Metro 17th October 2000:
YOU'VE BEEN WARNED...
Chris Morris is coming your way
Who?
Chris Morris. Comedian. Satirist. Genius.
Where?
Nowhere. Among the many arguments in Morris's favour is his dignified handling of the fame he has acquired over the past few years. Doesn't go to parties. Doesn't do game shows. Doesn't give interviews. Seems to prefer being known for his work - and his work is worth being known for, which is more than can be said for most of the complacement, talentless half-wits who infest our TVs and whose company Morris quite rightly shuns except when using them as unwitting stooges in his sketches.
When?
An album of Morris's radio sketches, Blue Jam (Warp), taken from the Radio 1 show of the same name, is available on Monday.
What programmes has he appeared on, then?
Only his own. Morris was the anchor of 1994's BBC2 news parody The Day Today and the Channel 4 follow-up Brasseye (sic), without doubt the two most influencial British television comedies of the 1990s. That their influence has so far been seen mostly in feeble, puerile undergraduate revues, such as The 11 O'Clock Show, is not Morris's fault.
What was so clever about them?
The Day Today and Brasseye, much like the American online satirical newspaper The Onion (www.theonion.com), both realised there was no mileage left in political satire, and that the new establishment (and, hence, the best target) was the media that interpreted our politics and culture for the rest of us. Unquestioned, all-pervasive and omnipotent yet awesomely pompous and foolish, it proved a target-rich environment. Morris, booming nonsense headlies with the authority of a Jeremy Paxman ('More cathedral-dumping in Leicester', 'Bouncing elephantitis woman destroys central Portsmouth') did a superb job of proving just how naked the emperor was.
Did he cause much trouble?
Yes. Brasseye was delayed and then broadcast in moderately bowdlerised form by a nervous Channel 4, provoking endless, and endlessly amusing, self-righteous rage from the likes of Noel Edmonds, Claire Rayner and Carla Lane, all of whom were royally stitched up in Morris's hoax interviews. He also provoked unseemly fracas in print, with a stint pretending to be a suicidal columnist for The Observer. More recently, his distinctly odd sketch series Jam - the television version of Blue Jam - was censured by the Broadcasting Standards Commission.
Should be be encouraged?
Encouraged? In a sane world, Morris would be hosting Newsnight.
>from Metro 17th October 2000:
I wonder if that was by old MM writer Simon Price? He's been earning a few bob doing quickies for Metro.
I met SP once. Fat Welsh bloke.
Me too! Fat Welsh *goth* bloke!
Bald, loads of make-up, pin-stripe suit.
>Bald, loads of make-up, pin-stripe suit.
Yep, that's the fella. I met him at the Lomax in Liverpool about 5 years ago when, er, ABC played. I recall his comment that such a dingy basement would be more appropriate for Skunk Anansie or their ilk, not the gold lam� dazzle of Fry & co. I reminded him of his 'body of Margot Fonteyn covered in white chocolate' review of Pale Saints from '92... I'm not sure who was more embarrassed for bringing it up, me or him...
I don't think he liked me for saying that "The Holy Bible" wasn't very good. But it isn't.
Also, I caught him out by pointing out that some early MSP lyrics echo the spirit of posters the SS put up before the end of WW2, about America destroying European civilisation.
You saw ABC at the Lomax too???
No, that was Bis at ULU in 1999.
Speaking of old, unemployed Romos, does anyone know what the fuck ever happened to Taylor Parkes? Smart chappie, he was.
He writes pornography.
He lives in a tent. (True.)
Know him, do you?
>You saw ABC at the Lomax too???
Yeah - it was pretty exciting, wasn't it? As exercises in shameless nostalgia go (and I don't believe *anyone* was there for the new material), it was terrific. Of course, I strongly disapprove of such ventures in principal, but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't travel a very long way indeed to see, say, Morrissey and Marr reunited or Mackenzie and Rankine (obviously, that one's a little difficult now).
Heck, I even saw Devoto and Shelley back together recently...
Just to get back to CM...
It's not true that he doesn't do interviews. He just doesn't do many of them, that's all.
Now back to Taylor Parkes...
>
>Heck, I even saw Devoto and Shelley back together recently...
>
>
Really? Where and doing what?
>>Heck, I even saw Devoto and Shelley back together recently...
>>
>Really? Where and doing what?
Performing as Buzzkunst at the ICA in early September. There's a good review of it here: [http://shotbybothsides.com/buzzkunst.htm]. Ferociously loud, very short, Devoto barely audible, utterly unlike their previous work. Goldfrapp and Speedy J were on later, but I could tell by companion's mile-wide grin that he felt the same way as me - *nothing* could follow that, so it might be best just to catch the bus back to South London.
It doesn't seem right that the most exciting gigs I've seen this year featured 40-something post-punkers (the other was Arto Lindsay), but there you go...
Apparently, there's an Morley-conducted interview with the Master himself in this month's Uncut - along with Penman on Sylvian and a lengthy Reynolds piece. What is this, 1985? I'll have to break the habit of a lifetime and buy the bugger...
Didn't Devoto make a guest appearance on the 2nd Mansun album? I read at the time that he is now working in a design agency in London, or something.
>Didn't Devoto make a guest appearance on the 2nd Mansun album? I read at the time that he is now working in a design agency in London, or something.
I thought that was Dave Formula, the old Magazine keyboardist. Or perhaps *that* was producing some Romo band.
Howard was a photo archivist for many years, I believe. I very much doubt the Buzzkunst thing will bring him back to music full-time (I just don't think he's interested in that life anymore) - there's talk of an LP on Mute, but that's it.
Which label is bringing out the album of his show? Is this for real? Coz I heard it wasn't availalbe anymore.
>Just to get back to CM...
>
>It's not true that he doesn't do interviews. He just doesn't do many of them, that's all.
>
He only appears to do ones that he personally finds interesting (notably the one with the Peter Cook Appreciation Society). An example that others would do well to follow.
>Now back to Taylor Parkes...
>Which label is bringing out the album of his show? Is this for real? Coz I heard it wasn't availalbe anymore.
It's on Warp - out this Monday (23rd), I believe. Rave review in this month's Uncut (which I *did* buy at lunchtime) - and yes, it really was 'better on the radio'.
[on Taylor Parkes]
>He writes pornography.
Did I tell you that, Jon - or did you hear it from another source? Do you know any more?
He was at Scalarama recently - along with Simon Price. I didn't go, but a chum of mine (another early-90s MM alumnus) was chatting with them (well, more like shouting if the bar area was as loud as reported). Of course, Taylor's old flame Caitlin is now Peter Paphides' wife.
You didn't tell me. I can't remember where I first heard it, although it was mentioned again recently on :
members.boardhost.com/natureshated/
The strand may have disappeared now, though
How old is he, btw? I sometimes wondered.
No members of Magazine were on the 2nd mansun album, 'Six'.
Dave Formula demoed Devoto's 'Railings', which was to be on the album but ended up as a b-side for 'Being A Girl'. The full version, which Howard wished to be available, is downloadable at the site Mike J mentioned. It's great.
The other track HD did with Mansun was 'Everyone Must Win', another b side, this time for the 'Closed For Business' EP.
Buzzkunst sounds like a one-off - "world wide wank" indeed. Oh, and Howard still works as a photo archivist.
Can we get back to Morris? I reckon the Brooker story is a hoax. Discuss.
I think it's a hoax, too... the "jam monologue" one sounds far more likely.
WHAT Brooker story is tis ten?
I think it's a big fat hoax. TVGH pretty funny on the whole, but the TV spin-off...hmmm. Not sure. Ready to be proved wrong.
*I* hope it's a monologue series of jam too.
btw Bent - have now found the Morris R5 highlights tape after much searching! At long last, you will receive a package. Kiss Me Kates to be included, if you're still interested. Big apologies for delays on this.
Justin, I do still have the same address. Cheers though for finding the tape.
>
>Justin, I do still have the same address. Cheers though for finding the tape.
Expect it early next week! (I would have e-mailed you direct, but there are problems with my server for some reason.)