Comments on: Look Around You

Look Around You

jonson — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 15:48:45 -0800

Look Around You is an insanely funny BBC parody of 1970's educational programs filled with pure nonsensical lies clothed as facts & pitch perfect mimicry of the style of governmental approved childrens education television. Each of the entire first season's worth of 8 10-minute episodes can be viewed here and is highly recommended.

By: jonson

jonson — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 15:49:40 -0800

Anyone, by the way, who feels like chiming in to tell me how not funny this was is first politely and with all due respect requested to choke to death on a bucket of cocks.

By: jonson

jonson — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 15:52:11 -0800

And yes, Look Around You has been discussed previously, but this is the first time all the episodes have been made available online.

By: Shecky

Shecky — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 15:53:28 -0800

I'll have to watch these when I get home, but I can already tell I'm going to enjoy them. Thanks jonson.

By: ZippityBuddha

ZippityBuddha — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 15:53:56 -0800

I love Look Around You The half hour episodes weren't half as good, but they still had some brilliant bits, too

By: blackvectrex

blackvectrex — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 15:57:13 -0800

I really enjoyed the first season, but the second season hasn't been as funny IMHO. The 1st season Music episode is pure gold. Yes, I know, everyone is a critic. The first season has the better opening sequence too. So... go watch them!

By: dash_slot-

dash_slot- — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:02:09 -0800

Previously...

By: davejay

davejay — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:02:44 -0800

As someone who never saw the originals, I was fully prepared to find these not at all funny. I was completely wrong, and I couldn't be happier.

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:15:25 -0800

That voice reminds me of HGTTG.

By: ?!

?! — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:21:20 -0800

I predict someone will be fired from a children's television show for starring in one of these.

By: Samuel Farrow

Samuel Farrow — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:22:47 -0800

Gee are ee ay tea - thanks very much.

By: jonson

jonson — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:23:09 -0800

dash_slot - see my 2nd comment.

By: piratebowling

piratebowling — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:25:02 -0800

They're missing the Calcium one!

By: cobaltnine

cobaltnine — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:25:14 -0800

I grew up with early 1980s PBS educational stuff, some of which I'm sure was British. This stuff made me laugh so hard some of that element H20 came out of my eyes.

By: Kwine

Kwine — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:30:27 -0800

Great post, thanks. The maths episode is in places reminiscent of that Mr. Show sketch with the Mafia don and the biggest number. Hard to believe, but jonson's preemptive cock-bucket threat is actually keeping the MehFites away. Or their mouths are full.

By: piratebowling

piratebowling — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:37:05 -0800

Calcium, to fill in the one gap.

By: EndsOfInvention

EndsOfInvention — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:39:59 -0800

The first series was comedy genius. The second series was painfully awful. Bonus link: the full Look Around You periodic table.

By: ibmcginty

ibmcginty — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:40:51 -0800

Can't wait to check this stuff out-- thanks.

By: cillit bang

cillit bang — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:46:24 -0800

Has anyone sued YouTube yet?

By: Slack-a-gogo

Slack-a-gogo — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:52:29 -0800

This is great. I can't believe how meticulously they nailed the look and feel of those old films. I haven't seen any episodes yet that are outright hysterical, but they're funny enough that I keep watching "just one more" because they're so damn good. Thanks.

By: randomnoun

randomnoun — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:59:04 -0800

There needs to be more of this English TV > American TV

By: jaronson

jaronson — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 17:01:21 -0800

EndsofInvention: Thanks for that bonus link. Smile of the Week!

By: cabel

cabel — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 17:02:32 -0800

Call me crazy, but I really loved Season Two. Come on. Cobbles. Diarrhea Dan. For gods sake: MEDIBOT. When he started to play the harmonica, a piece of me died happily forever. And "Macadaynu" is, weirdly, constantly stuck in my head. Sure, it's quite different than season 1 -- more 80's, less 70's, longer, not so dense -- but painfully awful? There are more genuine gold moments than most everything else on TV claiming to be comedy, ever. I say: certainly worth a buy from the ol' amazon.co.uk. But I always say that.

By: EndsOfInvention

EndsOfInvention — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 17:04:00 -0800

One thing you miss out on due to the lower quality of YouTube videos is reading the labels on all the containers. For example, the opening scene of Maths has bottles labelled: Manganese Michelle Mints Meths Moths Maths Magma Write this down in your copybook now.

By: quin

quin — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 17:06:19 -0800

Sulpher is not attracted to magnets. [Quite good.] /"the equipment is now dismantled and then destroyed" is so going be my new catch phrase around the office.

By: parki

parki — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 17:07:10 -0800

Excellent videos and an enjoyable bucket of cocks. Thanks Jonson.

By: gottabefunky

gottabefunky — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 17:10:07 -0800

Germs originated in Germany before rapidly spreading throughout the rest of the world. Gold.

By: C.Batt

C.Batt — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 17:21:12 -0800

This post is smothered in awesomesauce. Thanks.

By: wolftrouble

wolftrouble — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 17:26:29 -0800

Crazy fun fact of the day: Peter Serafinowicz, the guy who plays one of the scientists, writers, and I believe is one of the show's creators, has had a relatively eventful television careeer, although his only big-screen job was playing the voice of Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode 1. How do you go from starring in bizarre british teleivison comedies to getting tapped by Lucas to play Darth Maul?

By: timory

timory — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 17:31:57 -0800

Thants.

By: riotgrrl69

riotgrrl69 — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 17:46:05 -0800

[giant pair of scissors in the sky]

By: briank

briank — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 17:58:27 -0800

I need to run right out and buy some Anti-Garry Gum!

By: Soulfather

Soulfather — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 18:08:32 -0800

How do you go from starring in bizarre british teleivison comedies to getting tapped by Lucas to play Darth Maul? By having a Fraaaantastic voice.

By: Armitage Shanks

Armitage Shanks — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 18:09:11 -0800

I am delighted to report that I won't be requiring the bucket of cocks.

By: Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson

Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 18:16:03 -0800

"Hello?" It's the Brain. ... And here I was wondering why they hooked it up to a telephone line.

By: caddis

caddis — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 18:21:20 -0800

A little mafipulation and there you have it, an anti-fogmatic.

By: blacklite

blacklite — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 18:41:43 -0800

I absolutely loved 'Maths'. They drop off a bit from there, but.. yeah.

By: sgt.serenity

sgt.serenity — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 19:06:01 -0800

Maths is wonderful , the little countdown clock at the beginning is such a great touch ....it replicates the whole feeling of sitting in class and trying to learn stuff that seems so odd. I havent seen a protractor in ages either. there was a tv for schools programme called "how we used to live" - with characters in a kitchen going " gor blimey , look at the news in this paper , mr churchill just lorst the election" etc etc

By: A189Nut

A189Nut — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 19:41:44 -0800

Wasn't he Darth Maul first?

By: danb

danb — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 20:07:08 -0800

"But what is water? It's a difficult question because water is impossible to describe. One might ask the same about birds. What are birds? We just don't know."

By: chococat

chococat — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 20:26:11 -0800

This is great, I've never seen them before. I watched all kinds of stuff like this on TVO when I was a kid. I love the periodic table. In the Music one they zoom on the table to the "music" element, Mu. The element above it is To, "toronto."

By: chococat

chococat — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 20:27:37 -0800

sorry, TVO is public television here in Ontario, sorta like PBS. They carried lots of British programming.

By: newfers

newfers — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 20:54:46 -0800

That stuff is hilarious! Being Canadian, I am partial to euro-centric humor, and I have to say, in just 8 minutes of one episode, I laughed more than I did during...almost anything in recent years, except maybe Mr Show, or Da Ali G Show. Brilliant! Thanks for the post!

By: trip and a half

trip and a half — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 21:18:18 -0800

[This is good]

By: lumpenprole

lumpenprole — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 22:25:44 -0800

I actually first watched 'Maths' while waiting for some mushrooms to come on. What an experience...

By: scody

scody — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 22:37:17 -0800

Looks like teamwork is not on this ghost's agenda. Brilliant. Thanks, jonson!

By: moonbird

moonbird — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 22:43:34 -0800

BLANTS

By: moonbird

moonbird — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 22:44:06 -0800

I mean, er, thanks... (hic)

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 22:50:26 -0800

English TV > American TV That used to be an unarguable fact. Not so much any more though. It's been a very long time since we made any extended drama series with the writing quality of shows like Deadwood or The Wire. I suppose the last ones would have been things like This Life, Our Friends in the North, and more arguably Queer as Folk but the most recent of those was at least five years ago. Lots of Big Brother and Celebrity Love Island though.

By: greycap

greycap — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 23:33:27 -0800

I'm rappin, I'm rappin, I'm rappity rappin. Wasn't he Darth Maul first? He was - a fact riffed on in Spaced where his character bastardises a few of the Phantom Menace lines when seeking revenge against Tim.

By: angeline

angeline — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 00:00:14 -0800

I love Peter Serafinowicz. Such a dreamy voice...a fact they poke mild fun at in an episode of Black Books, season one (another brilliant British comedy) That said, the one episode of this series I saw squicked me out something fierce, even though I know it's just supposed to be funny. I'm going to have to brace myself to watch all of these.

By: scallion

scallion — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 01:11:07 -0800

In addition to Peter Serafinowicz, Look Around You co-writer Robert Popper also has some great books under the pseudonym "Robin Cooper" called the "Timewaster Letters." Available on Amazon. Highly recommended.

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 01:18:37 -0800

Good Lord, those were good. Shame that the second series was such bilge (except the last one, which was kind of a compendium of the previous episodes).

By: jam_pony

jam_pony — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 01:43:31 -0800

Brilliant. Thanks jonson!

By: macdara

macdara — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 03:00:16 -0800

The first series was comedy genius. The second series was painfully awful. But at least there was one moment worthy of a belly laugh: "I'm rappin', I'm rappin', I'm rap-rap-rappin', I'm rappi-dee-rappin..."

By: ninebelow

ninebelow — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 03:04:27 -0800

Serafinowicz groupies might want to seek out the excellent How Do You Want Me? which starred Dylan Moran, recently of Balck Books.

By: longbaugh

longbaugh — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 03:06:17 -0800

Thanks Jonson. Thonson.

By: chicobangs

chicobangs — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 04:41:15 -0800

There are a bunch of hey-it's-that-guys throughout both seasons of the show, especially if you watch any British TV at all. I know if I was a British actor with any pull at all I'd want to be a part of this show. It really is amazing. Both seasons. Beasons.

By: PinkStainlessTail

PinkStainlessTail — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 07:24:58 -0800

Isn't Serafinowicz's voice also used on the PA announcements in some supermarket chain? There were a number of jokes on this show that involved him saying "Cashier number four please" and getting a huge laugh.

By: painquale

painquale — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 08:57:25 -0800

I love this! Thanks!

By: Marla Singer

Marla Singer — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 09:57:18 -0800

Wonderful! Thank you.

By: jaronson

jaronson — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 13:10:22 -0800

By: blag

blag — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 19:10:47 -0800

Thanks - I'd only seen some of these. Maths is fantastic

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 19:20:42 -0800

I love this; completely awesome.

By: coriolisdave

coriolisdave — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 21:35:50 -0800

Cawsome.

By: kcds

kcds — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 03:37:52 -0800

"The sulphuric acid has broken down the iron into its most basic form - brown iron - or bumcivilian"

By: flosh

flosh — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 04:30:45 -0800

Serafinowicz fans should check out O! News: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4Dmj50y0jA