Look Around You: Music

February 3, 2005 5:49 AM

Listen Up!It's a 'Synthesizor' masterclass. And after this, if you still think you know about music, then take the pop quiz and be amazed.
posted by Chunky (18 comments total)

I don't get it...
posted by melt away at 6:02 AM on February 3, 2005

Ah, but I doubt synthesizers will ever be able to imitate the sound of the BASSOON!
posted by Harry at 6:20 AM on February 3, 2005

The crappest 'comedy' to hit uk screens in a long time.
One joke repeated again and again with a shoreditch twat accent.
posted by dprs75 at 6:40 AM on February 3, 2005

The quiz was good, but the rest was a little... shall we say, dry... for my particular taste.
posted by soyjoy at 6:50 AM on February 3, 2005

I agree that the original was better.
posted by Harry at 7:01 AM on February 3, 2005

dprs - I think there's lamer uk comedy around than this and if you have a particular hatred for the shoreditch scene then you might love Nathan Barley (due to hit UK screens soon) .
Warning: it might be a little.. ehe'm' 'dry' for some.
posted by Chunky at 7:09 AM on February 3, 2005

dprs75
The crappest 'comedy' to hit uk screens in a long time.

Damn, the rest must be really funny. Can you suggest some so that I might look out for them?

One joke repeated again and again ...

Huh? It's a parody, so it has a recurring theme, but I'm not just seeing "one joke repeated again and again". What are you referring to?

... with a shoreditch twat accent

Who? The narrator?

I grew up watching BBC television for schools and colleges, and to me, Look Around You is a dead-on parody of the joyless, grimy, confounding atmosphere of these terribly earnest educational shows. The confusing units, the non-explanatory "explanations" and the outright inaccuracies - they're all there. And just enough surreal and bizarre little details to remind us that it's above all a British show.

Comedy gold.
posted by kcds at 7:26 AM on February 3, 2005

i don't get it either.
posted by Beerman at 7:35 AM on February 3, 2005

I love it; I just wish I had BBC. No torrents, either.
posted by gramcracker at 7:38 AM on February 3, 2005

I had no idea The Legacy of Doctor Cavendish was a Benson's song.
posted by hellbient at 8:11 AM on February 3, 2005

I got nine out of ten on the quiz, and I still think they're wrong about the glockenspiels. I remember marimbas.
posted by kozad at 8:48 AM on February 3, 2005

kcds
Try black books, spaced, little britain, the book group, the office.
See 'The Day Today' on how to do parody.
It's not enough to recreate an old show convincingly , you really should add some humour. The 'Mind your language' humour of synthesizer patel was lame - but was the best bit.

The shoreditch reference was about how some people think its enough to wear the t-shirt but have no idea what they are wearing or its implications, it's just fashion.
posted by dprs75 at 8:53 AM on February 3, 2005

oh, too bad. I thought it actually was a newer version of rockschool.
I think that was a BBC show too.

I think I'm actually tired of parody, even if it's sort of funny. The big challenge these days is to make something new, even if it's pretty much crap. At least we haven't seen it a thousand times in a thousand differant ways already. **sigh**
posted by milovoo at 9:25 AM on February 3, 2005

KCDS gets it completely - the joyless flat 'mind your language' BBC style of the 70's is all in there.

dprs - It's not enough to recreate an old show convincingly

Black Books - unlikely owner of shop hates customers -hardly original.
Spaced - a veritable pot pourris of old show referenced based comedy.
Little Britain - 100% Dick Emery.

They're all pretty good but I'm tired of parody too.

I'd plump for Blue Jam, Monkey Dust or Peep Show above any other uk comedy.
posted by Chunky at 9:41 AM on February 3, 2005

The crappest 'comedy' to hit uk screens in a long time.

In comparison to what? My Hero?

One joke repeated again and again with a shoreditch twat accent.

I'm sorry, did you watch the same programme I did? Already a runner for the best series of the year. After one episode. How could you not find the rap song or the skit about record company ethics funny?
posted by feelinglistless at 2:06 PM on February 3, 2005

KCDS gets it completely - the joyless flat 'mind your language' BBC style of the 70's is all in there

'Mind you language' was an ITV sitcom and is representative of the 'Love thy neighbour' type of comedy.
LAY is taking the piss out of 'Tomorrows World' which was neither joyless or flat, unlike the parody.
posted by dprs75 at 2:02 AM on February 4, 2005

The crappest 'comedy' to hit uk screens in a long time.
Ok I'm going to qualify that statement : When the alternative comedians took over and started producing comedies that were relevant to a younger generation, the 'comedies' like 'Terry and June' , 'Last of the summer wine' etc.. were exposed for what they were ; bad nostalgia with dodgy politics.

The implied promise that the alternative comedians made was that comedy would change forvever.

Now that the Benny Hills , Cannon and Balls have died/been rejected and have no place in the mainstream it seems that the comedy is reverting to the old lazy format.

The 2 Ronnies could have made LAY and made it better.
posted by dprs75 at 2:13 AM on February 4, 2005

I thought it was all style and no substance. Some of the ideas were alright, it just wasn't that well done.
posted by lunkfish at 4:22 AM on February 4, 2005