Anglo-Saxon Attitudes

Best Answerphone Message Ever: Just One of the Reasons to Love "Murphy's Law"

The Jekyll thing was exciting in that sick adrenaline-fueled way that leaves you feeling exhausted and a bit in need of a good brain bleaching afterward, but my real James Nesbitt love is reserved for him as Murphy .  Yet another reason you need---or should have had---BBC America.   That said, he should have had the Golden Globe for Jekyll.  I didn't care for it, but he was amazing.  I'd watch it again if I could stomach the violence.  Much as I love Jim Broadbent and liked Longford, that must have been a relatively easy task compared to what Nesbitt had to do, surely (?) 

Anyway, some favorite fragments from Murphy's Law:

Here's the website for the show.  There are plenty more clips on YouTube, but as it happens, the answering machine was exactly the bit I was looking for. 

What American woman doesn't love a Northern Irish accent? My husband can do a kickass Nesbitt imitation and for awhile we had this exact message on our answering machine, till my mother and a couple of my colleagues objected....

Why Everyone in the Whole USA Needs BBC America: Life on Mars

Read more here.....

Why You Need BBC America NOW: Gordon Ramsay + Jonathan Ross = AWESOME

It's a heaping spoon full of awesome.  To see and hear for yourself, click this link.

To do a Proper Gallows Laugh Requires a Stiff Upper Lip.

[published on August 5, 2005 in "The Flatland Oracles"]

Terror brings politics to comedy. The London bombings mean comedy at Edinburgh will be the most political since the 1970s, the Fringe boss says. [BBC News | Entertainment | UK Edition]

   I remember reading a comment shortly after 9-11 by some pundit or maven (I truly don't remember who) that those tragic events had put the Nineties into proper perspective---specifically that it had overnight sucked out all the edgy, cynical humor that the Nineties had spawned.  Seinfeld was mentioned, I remember.   

The Office (UK)---Accept No Substitutes.

IMAGE HOSTING BY FLICKR.

[published on July 6, 2005 at "The Flatland Oracles," my previous blog]

Contemporary English comedy makes me believe the theory that laughter evolved as a response to an enemy's defeat and discomfiture.  I saw the original (UK) version of The Office  [link to bbc website] when I was visiting England in 2002.  I watched it with my hands over my eyes, peeking through the fingers.  It's so painful.  So excruciating.  So gut-wrenchingly funny.  But not in the good-natured American sitcom way.  No, not like that.