The Wonders Of Life: Is Brian Cox on Acid?

March 4, 2013 7:01 AM

Philomena Cunk and Barry Shitpeas from Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe show take a look at Brian Cox's programme about how science did all the life. Plus more 2013 commentary from Shitpeas and Cunk on Die Hard and the Harlem Shake.
posted by hot soup girl (48 comments total)

That reminds me of an old saying: “when a finger points at the moon, the idiot stares at the finger”.

More advanced idiots would presumably argue about whether the holder of the finger is on drugs, insane, or part of some conspiracy against all they hold dear.
posted by acb at 7:12 AM on March 4, 2013 [2 favorites]

"The chicken is radiating disorder out into the wider universe!"
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot at 7:19 AM on March 4, 2013 [14 favorites]

Due to living in the US or just plain ignorance, I had no idea who Brian Cox was or any of these other folks, but I find this hilarious. Seems like there's a bit of David Attenborough in Brian Cox.
posted by Hennimore at 7:21 AM on March 4, 2013

Oh god, the Die Hard one: "He's managed to make the same film five times without dying on the inside or looking like he doesn't really have much enthusiasm for the fucking thing anymore and just wishes it would stop. That's not what he looks like!"

I'm dying.
posted by Myca at 7:25 AM on March 4, 2013 [6 favorites]

"You realize, he thinks he's found the meaning of life. And so even though he's passed out, you think, 'Fair enough, mate -- good for you.'"
posted by aught at 7:25 AM on March 4, 2013

Crazy guess--that's not their real last names, is it?
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:30 AM on March 4, 2013

Seems like there's a bit of David Attenborough in Brian Cox.

Funny you should say that.
posted by fight or flight at 7:31 AM on March 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

That reminds me of an old saying: “when a finger points at the moon, the idiot stares at the finger”.

More advanced idiots would presumably argue about whether the holder of the finger is on drugs, insane, or part of some conspiracy against all they hold dear.

It's intentional comedy. Philomena Cunk and Barry Shitpeas are Diane Morgan and Doug Stanhope, professional comedy actors. It's not a serious review.
posted by talitha_kumi at 7:31 AM on March 4, 2013

Hah, briliant. Thanks
posted by monocultured at 7:32 AM on March 4, 2013

I like the parody of Cox on Newsjack where they blame him for using up all of the BBC's airmiles.
posted by Kitteh at 7:33 AM on March 4, 2013

Those build nicely from "Oh yes, right, some comedians playing thick people" to some pretty funny, cutting stuff. The Cox commentary seemed mostly affectionate, but Willis, his faux-humility and his media groupies really got worked over.

If you would like to hear Cox get gently abused some more, there's also The Infinite Monkey Cage.
posted by maudlin at 7:37 AM on March 4, 2013 [3 favorites]

Not quite, talitha_kumi - Doug Stanhope is a US standup who has his own regular segment. Barry Shitpeas is played by Brooker's often-director, Al Campbell.
posted by forgetful snow at 7:38 AM on March 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

> Philomena Cunk and Barry Shitpeas are Diane Morgan and Doug Stanhope

Barry Shitpeas is actually director Al Campbell. Doug Stanhope is an American stand-up comedian, who also appears regularly on Brooker's Wipe series.
posted by hot soup girl at 7:38 AM on March 4, 2013

I'm very curious as to how much Philomena Cunk is based on self-hating Northener Grace Dent.
posted by mippy at 7:40 AM on March 4, 2013 [4 favorites]

You are indeed right. That was a moment of reading comprehension fail.
posted by talitha_kumi at 7:40 AM on March 4, 2013

A. Every time I see a Brian Cox reference, I keep looking for Dr. Guggenheim or Robert McKee or the captain from Super Troopers.

B. Shitpeas has the Bluffball.co.uk voice that Moss uses when describing soccer on The IT Crowd -- you know, "saying football things in a football voice."
posted by Madamina at 7:44 AM on March 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

It's not a serious review.

I am astonished that this needed to be said. Astonished.
posted by Decani at 7:51 AM on March 4, 2013 [2 favorites]

> I am astonished that this needed to be said. Astonished.

It didn't really need to be said. acb is very familiar with Brooker's oeuvre.
posted by hot soup girl at 7:53 AM on March 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

RE: Harlem Shake. I can't think of anything I've been completely over with and tired of the moment I heard of it.
posted by hellojed at 7:59 AM on March 4, 2013 [4 favorites]

Philomena Cunk is the funniest thing I've seen in ages.
posted by maggiemaggie at 8:16 AM on March 4, 2013 [3 favorites]

I won a sushi dinner the other night after watching the Die Hard clip. My boyfriend insisted that Philomena Cunk was played by Katherine Parkinson from The IT Crowd. Reader, I ordered the sashimi boat.
posted by fundip at 8:21 AM on March 4, 2013 [9 favorites]

It didn't really need to be said. acb is very familiar with Brooker's oeuvre.

Short for Actually Charlie Brooker?
posted by Authorized User at 8:23 AM on March 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

RE: Harlem Shake. I can't think of anything I've been completely over with and tired of the moment I heard of it.

Really? Oh.

(scraps plans for Mefi Harlem Shake Meetup)
posted by orme at 8:30 AM on March 4, 2013

Philomena Cunk is done so well she's crossed back into being actively annoying. Of course she's an update of our Janine off off the Fast Show.
posted by MartinWisse at 8:44 AM on March 4, 2013 [2 favorites]

You know that episode of Archer where Burt Reynolds is in it and everybody flips out about how awesome and hot he is? That's how I feel about Brian Cox.

("Briaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan Cooooooooooooooooooooooooox is on line ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooneee!!!!!!! for you, for some reason.")
posted by WidgetAlley at 8:46 AM on March 4, 2013 [2 favorites]

Short for Actually Charlie Brooker?

Alas, no. I did however have the hypothesis for a while that Charlie Brooker and Christopher Brookmyre were one and the same.
posted by acb at 9:04 AM on March 4, 2013

I tend to think of Brian Cox's documentaries as being all one series called "Brian Cox Standing Smiling at Science"
posted by srboisvert at 9:12 AM on March 4, 2013 [8 favorites]

Kitteh: That made me laugh, because I had somewhat the same thought watching the series. The locations did seem sometimes random in terms of the subject matter at hand, but usually distant and exotic. I'm not sure they really needed to go to Brazil to explain solar fusion!
posted by tavella at 9:22 AM on March 4, 2013

Brian Cox is just wonderful. I have a major nerd crush on him. The episode of QI with him is fantastic.
posted by lazaruslong at 9:28 AM on March 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

I remember watching the original Bruce Willis interview* and thinking at the time 'okay I'll be charitable and assume he's badly jet lagged or something'

*(I'm not proud, but I was eating my dinner and there was sod all else on and the one show can be quite watchable, especially when the insect/spider expert is on)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:29 AM on March 4, 2013

The episode of QI with him is fantastic.

This one?
posted by maudlin at 9:34 AM on March 4, 2013

Shitpeas & Cunk would be tedious IMO if it weren't for their placement in the flow of the Wipe shows (now Weekly Wipe). Often you will see Brooker absolutely obliterate some pop-cultural artifact (reality shows are of course a perennial favourite), and only then he'll have Shitpeas on to explain how said artifact is actually "brilliant, yeah", turning the whole thing into a sort of cynical point-counterpoint meditation on the inanity of not only popular culture but of pop culture commentary. Or something.

I'm still getting used to the Cunk character but I think I like her: the unique selling point of her schtick is that she's not quite as thick as Shitpeas, placing her in a delicious sort of "straight man to the straight man" role, allowing her some brilliant deadpan Brookerian lines that Shitpeas could never deliver:

It shows even men who've been trained to kill and have been handed implements of death by the state still like to let their hair down.

If Shitpeas had said that he would appear clearly out of his depth, and it would sound "written" somehow. With Cunk it's much more natural, and it's easier to go along with the conceit that she actually believes this is an argument for the appreciation of the Harlem Shake meme, which is hilarious to me for reasons I can't quite put into words.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 9:47 AM on March 4, 2013 [10 favorites]

maudlin: "The episode of QI with him is fantastic.

This one? "

Yup!
posted by lazaruslong at 9:58 AM on March 4, 2013

I wish the Wipe shows were like the Daily Show - produced in perpetuity. They're much funnier and much, much less smug.
posted by Summer at 10:05 AM on March 4, 2013 [2 favorites]

What?

Who?

Uh.
posted by clvrmnky at 10:44 AM on March 4, 2013

I know nothing of the people involved, but the Harlem Shake one is just great and takes its time to make a couple of really good jokes ("And the music's quite loud, which would drown out the screaming") rather than aim at easy targets. And lord knows Harlem Shake is like a giant writhing time-wasting Mardi Gras of easy targets.

Also, ID'ing Barry Shitpeas as "Praise retweeter" is some pretty outstanding characterization. All you need to know about him.
posted by gompa at 10:56 AM on March 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

Ugh they're the most annoying bits of Brookers Wipe. That and Doug Stanhope.
posted by 13twelve at 11:18 AM on March 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

Also, 2nding the Infinite Monkey Cage podcast. It's fantastic.
posted by lazaruslong at 11:33 AM on March 4, 2013

Barry Shitpeas is awesome but if you let yourself you can feel that he's an actor having you on. But with Philomena Cunk I can't see the performance at all. Another performer I've noticed recently who can do this is one of the new "featuring" cast on SNL, Cecily Strong, who's just scary good at becoming her characters.
posted by George_Spiggott at 12:29 PM on March 4, 2013

I like that Barry always has his hand(s) in bandages and it's never been explained why (to my knowledge)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:30 PM on March 4, 2013 [2 favorites]

... That and Doug Stanhope

Have to agree with you on that part, at least. He reminds me of the "The American" bit that Zaltzman and Oliver used to have on The Bugle, which is a guy doing the identical schtick while the two of them chortle helplessly on mic like the Magliozzis. Funny if you're British one supposes, dull and stupid if you're an American.
posted by George_Spiggott at 1:05 PM on March 4, 2013

mippy: I'm very curious as to how much Philomena Cunk is based on self-hating Northerner Grace Dent.

You know, I'd never made that connection before, but ... Yeah.
posted by Sonny Jim at 1:14 PM on March 4, 2013

The Die Hard bit left me feeling genuinely sorry for Bruce Willis, a man with an apparent net worth of $150 million. Oh, Spiegel im Spiegel, why can't you use your powers for good instead of evil?
posted by Zeinab Badawi's Twenty Hotels at 2:07 PM on March 4, 2013

Metafilter: People who've been handed instruments of death by the state still like to let their hair down.
posted by symbioid at 2:47 PM on March 4, 2013

Loved it. Americans can't maintain a character that long without trying to make the audience like them.
posted by benito.strauss at 4:23 PM on March 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

Due to living in the US or just plain ignorance, I had no idea who Brian Cox was or any of these other folks, but I find this hilarious.

He was in a band.
posted by empath at 12:44 AM on March 5, 2013

The title of that song - Things Can Only Get Better - betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
posted by Grangousier at 1:29 AM on March 5, 2013 [8 favorites]

My wife has developed a mildly disturbing passion for physics and cosmology. More precisely, she's developed a mildly disturbing passion for having Brian Cox talk at her about physics and cosmology. I'm conflicted.
posted by kjs3 at 8:03 AM on March 5, 2013 [1 favorite]