"HUSH, Rod!"
August 18, 2015 7:27 PM Subscribe
Harry Enfield & Paul Whitehouse: Smashie and Nicey - The End Of An Era Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 (note: the very end edited out). [Previously: "Do you... do you like Tina Turner, Ted?"]
I do have a question... I think, maybe... there's sort of a Dead Men Wear Plaid thing going on with this? Only I don't have the cultural media context to recognize what is being sampled / recreated / referenced? I got the Doctor Who reference even before the theme song played, so maybe that's what is happening?
It's still funny, but I think I'm missing... a lot.
posted by hippybear at 2:34 AM on August 19, 2015
It's still funny, but I think I'm missing... a lot.
posted by hippybear at 2:34 AM on August 19, 2015
Anyway, UK MeFites might be interested to know (if they didn't already) that Enfield and Whitehouse are doing their first ever live tour later this year. (I saw them interviewed on something... Graham Norton? Of course I remember (as BBC America named it) Brilliant!)
posted by hippybear at 2:40 AM on August 19, 2015
posted by hippybear at 2:40 AM on August 19, 2015
Only I don't have the cultural media context to recognize what is being sampled / recreated / referenced?
Capsule summary: in 1967 the BBC founded Radio 1 for the glorious entertainment of young people everywhere. They staffed it with DJs - who they decided had their finger on the pulse. Over time the, under the management of Johnny Beerling, the DJs became very well known - since there were not many other radio stations to choose from - and they stuck around long enough to become the kind of middle aged figures that had their fingers a very long way from the pulse. Eventually, in 1993, Beerling was replaced by a new manager, Matthew Bannister and it was the night of the long knives for the old guard. These are the figures that Paul Whitehouse was satirizing. The Fast Show's suggestion of creepiness was, it turns out, pretty accurate and most of these figures are now in prison for their years of BBC sanctioned pederasty. Happy days!
posted by rongorongo at 4:32 AM on August 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
Capsule summary: in 1967 the BBC founded Radio 1 for the glorious entertainment of young people everywhere. They staffed it with DJs - who they decided had their finger on the pulse. Over time the, under the management of Johnny Beerling, the DJs became very well known - since there were not many other radio stations to choose from - and they stuck around long enough to become the kind of middle aged figures that had their fingers a very long way from the pulse. Eventually, in 1993, Beerling was replaced by a new manager, Matthew Bannister and it was the night of the long knives for the old guard. These are the figures that Paul Whitehouse was satirizing. The Fast Show's suggestion of creepiness was, it turns out, pretty accurate and most of these figures are now in prison for their years of BBC sanctioned pederasty. Happy days!
posted by rongorongo at 4:32 AM on August 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
most of these figures are now in prison
That's a bit harsh - Enfield's character is almost entirely based on Tony Blackburn and Simon Bates, who are not predatory paedophiles as far anyone knows. Whitehouse is basically doing Peter Powell and the ridiculous David 'Kid' Jensen, who really did speak in that mid-Atlantic accent. If you grew up when there was not much else on the radio, these guys are still loved.
posted by colie at 4:37 AM on August 19, 2015
That's a bit harsh - Enfield's character is almost entirely based on Tony Blackburn and Simon Bates, who are not predatory paedophiles as far anyone knows. Whitehouse is basically doing Peter Powell and the ridiculous David 'Kid' Jensen, who really did speak in that mid-Atlantic accent. If you grew up when there was not much else on the radio, these guys are still loved.
posted by colie at 4:37 AM on August 19, 2015
PS Simon Bates' career path since Radio 1 is very Alan Partridge: Radio 1, Classic FM.. Gold FM... Smooth Radio.......... Radio Devon.....
posted by colie at 4:41 AM on August 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by colie at 4:41 AM on August 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
I always assumed there was supposed to be more than a little of Alan ‘Fluff’ Freeman in Enfield’s Nicey.
Given that David Jensen grew up in Canada and then spent most of his career in the UK, I would have thought his mid-Atlantic accent was just a natural outcome of that.
posted by misteraitch at 5:08 AM on August 19, 2015
Given that David Jensen grew up in Canada and then spent most of his career in the UK, I would have thought his mid-Atlantic accent was just a natural outcome of that.
posted by misteraitch at 5:08 AM on August 19, 2015
Lotta work for charidee mate.
Er that's right mate.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 9:00 AM on August 19, 2015
Er that's right mate.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 9:00 AM on August 19, 2015
Capsule summary:
Yeah, actually, I know about all that bit, the back-story and history. I was talking about the actual construction of the piece, where they've inserted the DJ characters into old bits of TV footage. It was those I don't have context for. (That was my Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid reference, but maybe not everyone has seen that.) As the piece went on and it started to actually reference things I have seen before, it got funnier because I had the references.
posted by hippybear at 10:00 AM on August 19, 2015
Yeah, actually, I know about all that bit, the back-story and history. I was talking about the actual construction of the piece, where they've inserted the DJ characters into old bits of TV footage. It was those I don't have context for. (That was my Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid reference, but maybe not everyone has seen that.) As the piece went on and it started to actually reference things I have seen before, it got funnier because I had the references.
posted by hippybear at 10:00 AM on August 19, 2015
Enfield's character is almost entirely based on Tony Blackburn and Simon Bates, who are not predatory paedophiles as far anyone knows. Whitehouse is basically doing Peter Powell and the ridiculous David 'Kid' Jensen, who really did speak in that mid-Atlantic accent.
Right -- and although Smashey (Enfield) and Nicey (Whitehouse) are portrayed as contemporaries, they're references to adjacent but very different eras of Radio 1 DJ. Smashey is gruff, old-guard, sees himself as an elder statesman; Nicey is bubbly, new-era, sees himself as down with the kids. Smashey's lightly-concealed resentment is because he sees Nicey as a pretty boy who didn't earn it the way he did.
(Smashey's closeted self-loathing is probably fairly accurate to that era's homophobia too. I always suspected that Nicey's reaction would have been mostly "whatever makes you happy, great mate"; but he's too self-absorbed to notice.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:31 AM on August 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
Right -- and although Smashey (Enfield) and Nicey (Whitehouse) are portrayed as contemporaries, they're references to adjacent but very different eras of Radio 1 DJ. Smashey is gruff, old-guard, sees himself as an elder statesman; Nicey is bubbly, new-era, sees himself as down with the kids. Smashey's lightly-concealed resentment is because he sees Nicey as a pretty boy who didn't earn it the way he did.
(Smashey's closeted self-loathing is probably fairly accurate to that era's homophobia too. I always suspected that Nicey's reaction would have been mostly "whatever makes you happy, great mate"; but he's too self-absorbed to notice.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:31 AM on August 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
Smashey's lightly-concealed resentment
There was a delicious undercurrent of absurdly out-of-touch angry victimhood to Simes, DLT, Fluff, and Mike Reid as they realised they were being phased out which Smashey caught perfectly.
posted by colie at 1:11 PM on August 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
There was a delicious undercurrent of absurdly out-of-touch angry victimhood to Simes, DLT, Fluff, and Mike Reid as they realised they were being phased out which Smashey caught perfectly.
posted by colie at 1:11 PM on August 19, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by hippybear at 2:28 AM on August 19, 2015