The Dangers of Watching a Film with a Radio Comedy Nut

[tealin]

Scene: Late on a Thursday night, three people lounge on sofas. Upon the screen is the rather bizarre movie Mirrormask.

The movie churns on.

The loungers are drawn deeper and deeper into the progressively weirder story and visuals.

It's been over an hour now, and the strangeness has clobbered the audience into a sort of numb bemusement.

One begins to nod off.

And then a shout! "THAT'S ANDY HAMILTON!"



On a tangent, have you ever noticed that it is very hard to explain who Stephen Fry is to someone who doesn't know already? I imagine this is a predominantly North American phenomenon. It might be helped if they would just put his name under 'mellifluous' in the dictionary.

Comments

[phonixa.livejournal.com]

I don't know who Stephen Fry is.

Do explain, as an interesting experiment of North American Phenomenoness.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

OKay, I shall try to give the Aunthentic Explaining Experience and not resort to IMDb or YouTube which are luxuries the internet affords.

It usually goes like this:

Have you seen Jeeves and Wooster? (Usually no)

What about Blackadder? (Usually 'wasn't that a show that was on PBS, like, ten years ago? I might have seen a couple of episodes...')

I then resort to American media: Did you see V for Vendetta? (usually 'yes')
He was the TV host guy, Gordon, you know, the one who turned out to be gay?
(usually 'Um ... I don't remember him... )

And then I give up. If they haven't seen those things they almost certainly haven't seen Gormenghast (which was my introduction to him) or A Bit of Fry and Laurie or QI and have no clue that he was voted Cleverest Man in Britain.

Perhaps I shall post an educational post ... yes, that would be a good procrastination from the work I'm supposed to be doing ...

[phonixa.livejournal.com]

that was very educational! I actually missed out on Blackadder, I was too young to really enjoy it when it was out (if it was ten years ago, i was ten and firmly entrenched in the glut that is anime) Though i know it would be something that I would love now, if I had time/had the means of watching the episodes.

I do vaguely remember the TV host guy, but don't remember him being gay? ha.

Educational posts are a great thing!

On the subject of Radio Plays though, i have a story to tell you.

Probably ten years ago or so, my brother and I were in my room, listening to Christmas carols on the radio on Christmas eve. SUDDENLY THE LIGHTS FLICKERED. and the radio went on the fritz for a couple of minutes. SUDDENLY, A VOICE. It was a strange voice, really low at the beginning as if it was coming through a long distance but it became stronger. It was a radio play and i think it was "A Christmas Carol".

Anyway, that's mostly besides the point because at that moment my brother and I freaked out, and dived for cover, thinking that we had just traveled back in time.

TRUE STORY. ...I was a weird kid and I was very excited at that point.

[ally-gormasch.livejournal.com]

That's easy, Stephen Fry is GOD. Andy Hamilton is a minor deity too. I've tried explaining who Mr Fry is to an American friend, but she just thinks I'm nuts.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Andy Hamilton is a minor deity too.

Teehee, no, Andy Hamilton is Satan!

Oh, how I amuse myself.

[ally-gormasch.livejournal.com]

woops, totally walked into that one x)

[tony-cliff.livejournal.com]

You can't describe who Stephen Fry is anymore than you can describe the sound of someone smiling.

Apparently he's a huge geek, though. He has a tech blog on The Guardian now and was the second person in the UK to own a Macintosh computer, right after Douglas Adams. FACT.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

I can believe it! And that's a good analogy.

[harleythegreat.livejournal.com]

Mirrormask is beautiful, Neil Gaiman is my god... names don't ring a bell, but then again, I'm Icelandic *shrugs*

[azvolrien.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, I love that film.

It's weird as all hell, but I still love it. Especially Valentine.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

It did have an amazing amount of plot structure and even character development ... I was completely expecting some sort of stream-of-consciousness art film. Quite entertaining. Valentine did definitely win, indeed. And he didn't even die!

[azvolrien.livejournal.com]

Were you expecting him to?

[noodledaddy.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine who might have shouted that out.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

It was him! [points]

[inkblot-fiend.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine not knowing who Stephen Fry is... he's STEPHEN FRY! I think the Harry Potter audiobooks were my first real introduction to him, with Blackadder coming a close second. But he's just one of those people who's always been around. Like with Children in Need or Red Nose Day or QI or anything else he randomly popped up in...

Have you read Moab is my Washpot? I just finished it and I think my love for him increased tenfold....

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, see, that's another one: Americans (and Canadians too,. because of an odd quirk in publishing) have no idea that there are Harry Potter audiobooks that are not voiced by Jim Dale. A travesty! Especially because I despise his readings!

[htenywg.livejournal.com]

Try: 'Friend and partner-in-crime of Hugh Laurie'. That might help, somewhat... and well, sitting them down and YouTube-ing British comedies might help, too.

[infiniteviking]

*snickers* Heh, that's a great movie. I watched it the same week as Labyrinth and the contrast was astounding.

[jamiegoucher.livejournal.com]

I'm not the only one! Freaking score!

[chainedwind.livejournal.com]

Meh, I didn't like Mirrormask so much. It was pretty, and the ending was pretty awesome, but... I don't know. Some people had a problem with the surreality. I didn't. What bothered me was the acting.

(Let's stop here and clarify that I don't know the first thing about acting. The furthest extent of my knowledge/experience/etc of acting is one semester of introductory drama in seventh grade. Okay? Okay.)

I mean, maybe it was a feature of the dreamworldly other side? Maybe it was because they all wore masks and the only way to adequately communicate your feelings was to talk in an exaggerated manner that touches on "stilted"? Whatever the reason, it detracted from my enjoyment of the movie.

[peacefuldragon.livejournal.com]

As an avid Stephen fan living in the US, YES IT IS VERY HARD TO EXPLAIN WHO STEPHEN FRY IS.

I've found that usually people either recognize him by name, or they've never seen him before.

As for explaining him, I usually go for the "He's an awesome British comedian/actor/writer/director/what-have-you who loves language." And.. yes. I actually do end up explaining who he is quite a lot (although when someone does recognize him by name it pretty much makes my day).

[(Anonymous)]

Yes sadly, Stephen Fry is usually "lost in translation" with the US which is hillarious for us in the UK as over here its hard to imagine life without him! He is one of our national treasures (in the UK they are people not places) and yes, he is without a doubt one of the cleverest people in England (He has been banned from appearing or taking part in shows such as Test the Nation and Mastermind because of it!).

But yeah his notable work can be broken down to:

A Bit of Fry and Laurie (as in Hugh "Greg House" Laurie)
Blackadder ("Melchy! Still worshipping God? Last thing I heard he had started worshipping me! AHAHAHAHA!!")
QI (with the wonderful Alan Davies)
Harry Potter audiobooks/video games (he narrates them)

ALso, interesting Fry fact for those not "in the know" as an adolescent Fry spent many years in celibabcy due to his homosexuality.

Oh and his dad pronouces "Volvo" as "Vulvu" ("I pranged my vulvu and have taken it in for a cervix!")

[truetitipudlian.livejournal.com]

I've always found that people know who he is should I mention I.Q, which is my least favorite of his movies and therefore everyone would know that one.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

I ... have never even heard of IQ.

[azvolrien.livejournal.com]

Neither have I. It's probably not as good as QI.

[truetitipudlian.livejournal.com]

Never heard of the only romantic comedy which has Albert Einstein as a main character? That alone is worth the price of admission, plus the fact that he is charmingly played by Walter Matthau. Fry plays the love interest of Meg Ryan's character before Tim Robbins comes along. It is charming about the first three times you see it, however, it tries a little too hard to be like the romantic comedies of the 30s and 40s, and sadly, despite all it's trying, it doesn't quite get the charming eccentricism of say "Ball of Fire."

[azvolrien.livejournal.com]

It does sound interesting, but no, I've never heard of it.

[meganphntmgrl.livejournal.com]

I always say "He narrates the Harry Potter audiobooks in Britain and is generally awesome." Occasionally I'll mention Wilde.

[thearchduchess.livejournal.com]

Loads of people don't know in England either! It is so frustrating, especially for the co-President of the nonexistant Stephen Fry Appreciation Society at my school, which is basically my friend and I saying, "We love Stephen Fry!" a lot.

Usually we just point them in the general direction of the Internet.