Tittererer’s Digest #9 (feat. Sharon Horgan)
Good day fellow comedy cognoscentes and welcome to the Digest. I’m very excited because I bought a table this week. Myself and the life partner headed out to that relationship graveyard IKEA, ran the gauntlet and bagged ourselves a doozy. It’s already making a BIG difference. I’ve never felt so excited about the future. I’ve even decided to cast off the shackles of my desk and write this week’s Digest on the new table. Here’s the proof. Anyway, I hope a little bit of that new table magic rubs off on this post.
Clip of the Week
Let’s just take a couple of minutes to talk about Kate McKinnon. Just cos I think she’s fantastic, is all. And also because, unless you’re comedy nerd enough to go seek out Saturday Night Live (through means foul or fair), you may not be overly familiar with her. Pretty much since the day she joined SNL she’s been the funniest thing on it. She’s an Upright Citizen’s Brigade alumnus and a former cast member on the LGBT comedy programme The Big Gay Sketch Show. But it’s her work on SNL that has really marked her out as a star in the making. This is my favourite sketch of her’s. My clip of the week is McKinnon’s parody of the predictably preposterous Justin Bieber Calvin Klein ads. Enjoy…
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On TV This Week
I can’t wait to see Catastrophe on Channel 4 this week. Sharon Horgan, creator of the underseen Pulling, quite literally one of the finest British sitcoms of the last 20 years, teams up with US stand up Rob Delaney to write and star in this wonderful looking show about an Irish woman and American man who get pregnant following a brief fling. They’re such wonderful performers who have fabulous chemistry. This has all the ingredients to be your new favourite sitcom. Catastrophe begins on Channel 4 at 10pm on Monday January 19th.
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Podcast of the Week
For the last 18 months or, as part of his award winning podcast An Irishman Abroad, comedian Jarlath Regan has been interviewing Irish men and women who have left home to chase their creative dreams (from Chris O’Dowd to Terry Wogan). He’s recently seen the podcast grow to weekly audiences of one million (one million!). Jarlath is a total natural when it comes to this sort of thing. He’s funny, honest, engaging and earnest in a way that inspires fascinating insight from his subjects and achieves a level of candour that most interviewers can’t get near. This week’s episode (number 70) features legendary comedian’s comedian Michael Redmond – a star of the late 80’s British alternative comedy explosion and, of course, Father Stone.
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Any Other Business
– One of my absolute favourite shows of the last five years, Fresh Meat, is to return for a fourth and unfortunately final series. I’ll miss this absolutely brilliant cast and their perfectly pitched misadventures when they’re gone. [Read More Here]
– Another show embarking on its final chapter is Amy Poehler’s Parks and Recreation. Poehler’s co-creator Mike Schur spoke to Spidesplitter this week about wrapping up the programme. [Read More Here]
– Al Murray (The Pub Landlord) is running in this year’s UK general election. This week, The Guardian asked him just why he wanted to do it. [Read More Here]
Well that’s it for this week. Thank you so much for reading. I hope your week is filled with as much joy, contentment and excitement as mine is.
