I turn for (more) respite to the glorious inanity of a couple of very funny women.
First up, in a clear concession to readership capture, SNL At Home’s brilliant Kate McKinnon:
Next up, the incomparable Catherine Tate, ably straight-manned by “I’m Not A Doctor” David Tennant:
There is a back story to that video that may be the funniest six minutes of classroom time every conceived:
So, yes, the world is turning to shit and we are led by vicious morons, but Dr Who abides. (And if you are an anti-Whovian, or merely, like me, mostly indifferent, perhaps the comments can be the place in which y’all offer up that which whacks your funny bone the most in times like these (or any others).)
And with that, it’s 0-Bourbon-00 here. Slainte, and have some thread…
J R in WV
A tree fell in the woods, and we were right there to hear the BAM when it landed on our house. Davey Tree guy, Ed, came out, and if the weather breaks, which it may, they will show up in the morning to start sawing up the big ole black oak and taking it away.
Right now, it’s raining outside, and in here also, too. A slow drip, a running down a wall, and a slower drip. But it is supposed to stop raining after a while. Maybe. The roof over the front door porch is bent, and in other places there appear to be holes. Dammit!
No one was harmed in the events described above, but it did startle us.
ETA:
Mnemosyne
Speaking of David Tennant, we finally got around to watching the miniseries of “Good Omens” on Amazon Prime. Neither of us liked it quite as much as the book, but it was impeccably cast, with Tennant and Michael Sheen being particular standouts as the odd couple angel and demon pair. Plus it was nice to have something apocalypse-themed to watch that had a happy ending.
Oh, and “Schitt’s Creek.” I finally got on that bandwagon this year and LOVED IT. It manages to be snarky, hilarious, and heartwarming all at the same time.
NotMax
Managed (eighth time’s the charm) to get right through to a real live person on the phone to straighten out a minor burp involving a credit card to my satisfaction.
She mentioned she’s currently working from her living room.
dmsilev
@J R in WV:
But if you hadn’t been home, would it have made a noise?
scav
There’s also, for those missing Cabin Pressure, Cabin Fever with Arthur Shappey! Now in Fitton!
zhena gogolia
@J R in WV:
OMG, I’m glad you’re okay!
zhena gogolia
David Tennant was in the Foyle’s War episode we watched last night.
planetjanet
OMG that classroom skit has me doubled over. Genius! Yes, I am a Doctor Who fan. That is the most that I have laughed in weeks. Bless you for sharing it.
scav
Oh, and if we’re going with the Big Night In, I’ve had Matt Lucas’ Baked Potato as an earworm for more or less forever now.
Another Scott
@J R in WV: Here’s hoping the leak is an easy fix, and there’s not too much major structural damage! :-(
Rest easy.
Cheers,
Scott.
hueyplong
FWIW, P Campos at LGM has done a 180 and taken the hook out of his mouth about T Reade.
If this gets slapped down as effectively as the Ukrainian crap, disinformation campaigns against Biden are going to get a lot tougher to pull off.
Sort of a herd immunity.
Ms. Deranged in AZ
And Slainte to you, Tom! It’s always bourbon o’clock here.
@J R in WV: Glad you are ok. I’ve had a few close calls with trees back in my Florida hurricane days.
Lateforheparade
Wonderful stuff. Thanks. Schitt’s Creek for sure. Any Letterkenny fans out there?
raven
We watched more of “Mrs America” and then “The Accident” with Sarah Lancashire. Warning about “The Accident” it’s really dark.
LeftCoastYankee
This thread is sub-standard without Ducks on a Slide. That should be on every thread.
Baud
Cole is trying to make people on Twitter think he reads this blog.
J R in WV
@dmsilev:
Hell, YES — it was loud as FUQ~!!~…
ETA: Thanks all for positive thoughts. If it wasn’t for the rain we would probably be fine. I hate having a good rain on top of roof damage just 8 or 9 hours ago. We have good contacts, Davey tree took out a giant damaged beech tree last fall. I hope to find a good crew for the damaged structure and roof repair tomorrow.
A real shame we just entered a rainy cycle. Looks like a week of rain off and on…
Gin & Tonic
I spent nearly half my day exchanging e-mails with a co-worker, who’s not the sharpest bulb in the tray, trying to get him to answer a simple question about what he did yesterday. It started as a one-line e-mail, which got a vague and noncommittal reply, so I elaborated, which didn’t work, so I added screen shots and detailed explanations, which didn’t work, which led to more detailed explanations, which didn’t work, which after a couple more iterations led me to an e-mail with two screen shots displaying the only two things he could have done at a critical point and my question: was it this step, or was it that step?
And he replied “Yup, that’s the one.”
I desperately needed a drink.
At least it kept me from following the news.
Sab
@J R in WV: YIKES!!
Central Planning
We started Miracle Workers (TBS) last night. Funny, and I think they are making fun of Dokt 45 via the God character. We will watch the second season soon
Elizabelle
@zhena gogolia: I look forward to the local library reopening, because they have all the Foyle’s War seasons on DVD. Would love to see more. Or: about $83 for a full set from Amazon.
Tom Levenson
@J R in WV: Ouch! Best of luck glad everyone is OK.
Levenson family history: my parents and their then-infant first kid (my older brother) were visiting dad’s parents in MA when the category 2-3 hurricane Carol hit. The limb that hit the house dove through the bedroom about 6 ft. from my brother‘s crib.
Everyone slept downstairs that night…
Sab
I would feel sorry for Kate McKinnon’s cat, but he/she is probably used to her.
NotMax
@Mnemosyne
Gently off kilter Canadian sitcoms?
Corner Gas (the live action series)
Little Mosque on the Prairie (link is to full first episode)
Mr. D
Brachiator
Another funny woman. From the YouTubes, Julie Nolke
Explaining the Pandemic to my Past Self
Understated, brief, and very witty
ziggy
@J R in WV: Glad to hear you are okay, and damage sounds manageable. I’ve been through a few of those and it’s pretty freaky. Hope you can get some sleep!
Betty
Thanks for the laughs, Tom! So needed.
Duane
Maddow is reporting on Blackhawk County Iowa’s Covid-19 outbreak. 1300 cases, mostly due to the Tyson plant. The County Sheriff and Health Director are fine examples of leadership. We really need more like them.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I was watching a video of the shut down protestors, someone was going around and interviewing them and it was painfully obvious they were trolling and didn’t believe a word of it. In fact I got the impression a lot of the “protestors” were really mocking the serious ones. Since there have been accusations that the Astro Turfers are paying the protestors, I am thinking those Astro Turf group are pumping their Faux News addled donors and these trolls are grifing the grifters. It makes the whole thing even more disgusting.
TS (the original)
Paul Krugman on Rachel
J R in WV
@Tom Levenson:
Ouch!
We have spent afternoons and evenings down stairs for foul weather periods. This came more or less out of the blue, it was windy but not alarming.
So we were each surfing the web, just a few feet apart, when we heard stuff rattling onto the roof, followed by a huge bang. Rain seems to have slacked off, so won’t need to set a clock to wake up in the week hours and empty catchments of leakages.
Yay!
Nora
@Brachiator: That was hysterical, thanks! Especially the reference to travel.
Mike J
@Lateforheparade: Pitter patter, let’s get at ‘er.
CaseyL
I remember when I first saw that classroom sketch, and how gleeful I was to see The Doctor and Donna together again. The Zoom appointment is a nice follow up.
JR in WV – You seem really calm for someone with a tree-shaped hole in their house, now filling with rain. I’m glad to hear no one was hurt!
Sab
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: One of the Ohio zombies was running for state rep, and got clobbered in the Republican primary. Ha ha.
evap
Thanks for that, Tom! I love Catherine Tate and have all of her shows on DVD. She’s just an amazing actress and so funny. Also, David Tennant!!! Currently watching him in Deadwater.
Brachiator
@TS (the original):
Good interview. McConnell and his fellow Republicans don’t seem to grasp what is happening. Or they are willing to try for a grand experiment in libertarian anarchy. I don’t think that the plutocrats will do as well as they think without state and local government.
I like that Krugman was clear and to the point about the need for the federal government to step in and support the states where necessary.
Adam L Silverman
@J R in WV: Sorry to read that. You all stay safe. Remember, the Cole Holdfast is always available!
TS (the original)
@Brachiator:
I’ve been a Krugman fan since forever. The antidote to Milton Friedman. When I cancelled my NYT subscription (2016 & I had a super cheap rate) I told them the only pundit worth reading was krugman.
zhena gogolia
@hueyplong:
I’m losing it over this. Please tell me it’s going to go away.
What a coincidence that this 1993 incident is coming up just as he ices the nomination.
zhena gogolia
@Elizabelle:
It really is such a fine series. I’m thinking of buying Season 2 on Amazon so I can see the great “Rex Talbot” (Mark Umbers) episode.
Planetjanet
@hueyplong: I am glad to hear that. May go check it out.
TS (the original)
@J R in WV: Stay safe there.
We had a roof ruined 25 years ago by a hail storm. The cat & I sheltered under the kitchen table, we were both hysterical.
You seem to have a calmer take on it – hope there is minimal damage.
Denali
Thank you, Not Max, for Corner Gas! I needed that!
Brachiator
Posted this one before, but still has to be the most wicked, and wickedly funny, SNL game show parody ever:
Meet Your Second Wife.
hueyplong
@zhena gogolia: It’s going to go away.
Ukraine was Plan A.
Tara Reade is Plan B.
Plan C will be extra lame.
(Who am I kidding? Bernie was their Plan A.)
Feathers
OMG! Looks like someone uploaded the Tate/Tennant production of Much Ado About Nothing up onto YouTube! Link: https://youtu.be/Cwy2a6ScZ-c
I found out about that after it happened. Would have really tried to make the trip to see it. Also on YouTube, National Theater Live has been streaming a different production each week. This week has been Twelfth Night with Tamsin Greig.
I have been trying to watch my Criterion Channel movies when they show up rather than as they are leaving, however it has been a losing battle. Was trying to catch the 70s Style series, which was only up this month, when I noticed The Draughtsman’s Contract and realized I hadn’t seen it. Have now fallen down a 48 hour Peter Greenaway rabbit hole. Send help.
One note. I do wish the US would do some sort of Red Nose Day event. There are lots of great ideas which can be done in a 3-10 minute sketch and don’t need to be longer. Having an outlet for that format is a great thing. Of course it would probably become all noble here, rather than being very good comedy. (of course, the UK people probably think that it is terrible.)
Searcher
@Mnemosyne: DuckTales also makes good use of David Tennant. Scrooge is very nearly a Timelord. In the updated chronology, he (and Goldie O’Gilt) were both born in the 19th century (as they originally would have been back whenever the comics/movies started), so that they could still have a history as prospectors in the Duck-equivalent of the Old West, but because of the various fountains of youth they’ve found, backwards aging dimensions they’ve been trapped in, and icebergs they’ve been frozen in, they’re merely “old” in the modern time.
SFBayAreaGal
@J R in WV: OMG, I used to work for Davey Tree many years ago in Livermore, CA
Zzyzx
I had no clue they reprised the Lauren skit!
prostratedragon
@TS (the original):
I imagine you and your cat having improvised a new section to the famous Cats’ Duet.
geg6
Watched Dr. Who once. Never again. Worst shit I ever set eyes on. And the super fans are even worse than the show. We’re talking Bernie or Trump level cult like zombies. I don’t get it at all.
What I am loving is John Oliver. His show is the only one I’ve seen with the host doing it all from home and not one ounce of quality has been lost. He’s brilliant and hilarious.
Just One More Canuck
@NotMax: Mr. D is fingernails on a chalkboard awful. Painfully unfunny
artem1s
@hueyplong:
Plan C-Z…. BUT HER EMAILS BENGHAZIIIIII911IIIIIIII
HumboldtBlue
@hueyplong:
The holes in her story are pretty hard to ignore.
Another Scott
@HumboldtBlue: Thanks for the pointer.
Cheers,
Scott.
HumboldtBlue
@Another Scott:
Glad to help.
Jeffery
There is also this:
Matt Lucas & David Walliams bringing Little Britain back | The Big Night In
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-OwVBuYNLM
Miss Bianca
@Feathers: late to the thread, but bookmarking this. My heart has been heavy since having to cancel our Shakespeare season. I was to have directed Much Ado this summer. I may send this out to my cast. Thanks!