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The Mary Whitehouse Experience

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    The Mary Whitehouse Experience

    I was too young for the radio series first time round but I've been listening to it on iPlayer recently and it's a lot more miss than hit. I've only listened to a couple of them but am I missing something beyond the context of the time?

    It seems a bit sneery, a little misogynistic, cruel without being funny. And it seems weird that there have been dad's army impersonations in both of them.

    #2
    Product of its time. Which was over a quarter of a century ago.

    At the time it was fresh and amazing. Supercharged my growing love of comedy.

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      #3
      Even at the time, it looked like the two double acts, that it would later become, forced together with Newman and Baddiel being the better half. Slightly changed now, of course, with Hugh Dennis having a much higher profile than the previously massive Newman and Baddiel. Dennis seems to be very charitable to Punt by still carrying on with the latter's seemingly only gig, the awful Now Show on Radio 4. The only thing that sticks in my mind is Dennis' "Milky Milky" catchphrase which , perhaps, shows how bad it was.

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        #4
        I think it’s largely great myself, but I have an inexhaustible appetite for David Baddiel’s stand up, and Punt & Dennis work well here because their material is still powered by youthful indignation, rather than being “we’re doing topical comedy because topical comedy is a thing you can do.”

        The songs are shit though, and Newman is completely anonymous. Also, who is/was Mark Hurst?

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          #5
          Punt has loadsa gigs btw - writes most of Mock The Week and plenty of Horriblr Histories. He won’t starve if Now Show is euthanised.

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            #6
            The TV Show was the most coolest thing ever when I was about 15. It was all we talked about in science class the next day. That and Red Dwarf.

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              #7
              I was just about old enough to get the cornier, more puerile and juvenile jokes and those are the ones that stick in my mind. I can't believe that Milky Milky was the only memorable thing about it though - History Today? This... is a potential deathtrap?

              Another reason Punt would be fine is that he was part of Jasper Carrott's writing team for many years (he and Dennis were part of Canned Carrott and although their sketches for that were not as enduring as The Detectives, the advert spoofs or even Wiggy, there are still one or two that make me laugh like a drain to this day), so he'll have had a cut of that sweet, sweet Celador money. They also had their own sketch show on BBC1 for a couple of series in the mid-90s that wasn't bad. Certainly a lot better than Me, You & Him anyway.

              As for Newman, the reason he seemed subdued is almost certainly that the matey, blokey attitude he had was an act. That and he was trying to hide his increasing sense of hatred towards Baddiel and "mainstream" comedy in general. Something like The History Of Oil is where you'll find the real Rob Newman.

              You could probably guess that I could write a book about this kind of thing. Tim Worthington's most likely already written a better one though.

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                #8
                History Today was "Baddiel and Newman" wasn't it?

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                  #9
                  I liked the character who could only speak in a sarcastic tone of voice. i have no recollection of whatever "milky milky" is.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Snake Plissken View Post
                    History Today was "Baddiel and Newman" wasn't it?
                    It was - I was going on about the show in general in the first paragraph.

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                      #11
                      Didn't they popularise the 'itchy chin, Jimmy Hill' stuff, or am I confusing it with Baddiel on Fantasy football League?

                      I remember Hugh Dennis as the Terminator working as a vet. And History Today, which very quickly stopped being funny. Newman and Baddiel's show just seemed to be trying to keep History Today alive.
                      Last edited by Patrick Thistle; 25-10-2018, 11:06.

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                        #12
                        Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                        I liked the character who could only speak in a sarcastic tone of voice. i have no recollection of whatever "milky milky" is.
                        A comment about how you always find a weirdo in the supermarket sniffing the milk. Cut to Hugh Dennis sniffing some milk before leering to the camera and saying "Milky, Milky."

                        Somehow that became a running gag on the show and the playground resounded to shouts of "Milky, Milky!"

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                          #13
                          Yes, I read about it after it was mentioned here, and yet it still rings no bells whatsoever.

                          I think the programme was after my time, and so I have probably only seen sketches rather than the whole thing

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by Lucy Waterman View Post
                            Punt has loadsa gigs btw - writes most of Mock The Week and plenty of Horriblr Histories. He won’t starve if Now Show is euthanised.
                            His occasional Radio 4 series "Punt P.I." in which he delves into curious unexplained events from recent history is very good as well.

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                              I liked the character who could only speak in a sarcastic tone of voice.
                              Ray.

                              “Oh no! What a personal disaster!”

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                                #16
                                One of my brothers went out with a girl whose father was comically similar to Rob Newman's Jarvis character, at the time when that was on TV.

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                                  #17
                                  We had a lecturer we called Jarvis because he was exactly like Jarvis.

                                  He was also the Dean of the local Anglican college. Imagine Jarvis as a priest.

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                                    #18
                                    There was also the Dad who turned up and Dad-danced to anything saying "This has got a good beat".

                                    I still say that occasionally when Mrs Thistle chooses some music that I don't feel like listening to. I do the dance and all.

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                                      #19
                                      Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                                      He was also the Dean of the local Anglican college. Imagine Jarvis as a priest.
                                      It works for me.

                                      Unfortunately this rules out the two Jarvis-alikes being the same person. It seems he was more of an everyman character than was commonly understood.

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                                        #20
                                        Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                                        There was also the Dad who turned up and Dad-danced to anything saying "This has got a good beat".

                                        I still say that occasionally when Mrs Thistle chooses some music that I don't feel like listening to. I do the dance and all.
                                        Is that the character transferred to Punt and Dennis's show who'd say "Nobody's looking at us!"

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                                          #21
                                          The Now Show is dreadful.

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                                            #22
                                            I liked P&Ds work on it - mostly - but Mitch Benn and Jon Holmes make me very very angry.

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                                              #23
                                              Are 90% of the jokes still about Holmes being a shortarse?

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                                                #24
                                                Neither Mitch Benn nor Jon Holmes have been on for some time now.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Originally posted by wittoner View Post
                                                  His occasional Radio 4 series "Punt P.I." in which he delves into curious unexplained events from recent history is very good as well.
                                                  Actually, I had completely forgotten about that which I do like if I can stop Mrs B shutting off the radio as she hates it.

                                                  I always thought that Ray and "History Today" were originally on the Newman and Baddiel show so, fair play on the score even if it was pretty much just N & B anyway.

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