Never mnd the buzzcocks, Simon Anstell the thread.

Preston does the "strop"

The Amy Winehouse one was the best thing I've seen on TV in ages.

In the offending passage from Chantelle's book, Living the Dream, the reality star described a photo shoot where she wore clothes from Marks and Spencer.

"I've always loved M&S but it has always been too expensive for me," she wrote, adding that the session made her feel "very posh and upmarket".

But you don't really go on unless you're sure you have some kind of comeback ability do you :P

fru the magic of youtube i've been able to see some of this, mostly the recent ones but some of the older ones as well. all i knew about the show was mark s calling it self-regarding somewhere (Noise Piece maybe?).

i know this is less of a big thing in the uk, but it was refreshing to see a game show/reality thing where the "contest" is obviously irrelevant and treated as such. i don't think a show like this would work here, for that, and also cos you couldn't get US c-listers to show up and have some dick make fun of them, while doing a bs quiz about music. so, tired as the show may be, i liked it!

on the evidence, amstell is funnier than lamarr.

amy winehouse was funnier than anyone on the show, ever. better comic timing, more charismatic. and she was tanked.

british indie is truly dire.

dale winton was pretty funny, too.

fair points all

When are the new episodes starting again? Any official word? Last few years they've started end of October or so.

The best recent episode of the show, and the episode I direct people to when I want to get them to start watching, is the ep with Donny Tourette and Noel Fielding.

I think Amstell > Lamarr too.

"i DICK on them" still makes me laugh

ha yes "donny tourette"! couldn't believe he existed.

the other big uk/us difference: the cruelty that they visit on the extras in those lineups is pretty breathtaking. it'd never work here. a picture is fair game, but someone standing in your presence?!

lamarr was never good and by the end (ie 1998-2006) unwatchable.

I'm old enough to remember MLamarr *was* good and occasionally good in later episodes (the one with Sparks on was brilliant)...

Amstell gets as good as he gives, and so is better.

Series being repeated at the mo (was on last night)

amy winehouse was funnier than anyone on the show, ever. better comic timing, more charismatic. and she was tanked.

My brother worked on post-production of this and said there was tons of Winehouse that was unshowable.

Oh wait he sez it up there ^^^^^^

I'm intrigued enough by Simon Amstell to have booked to see his stand up show in London in October. It got very mixed reviews at the Edinburgh Festival.

He is a consummate artist at needling people, but can he carry a full show by himself?

gf saw Amstell at charity gig and apparently he was appalling.

no-one uses their "good" material at charity gigs!

not very charitable of them

Not difficult if you don't have any good material tho

new buzzcocks season is pretty disappointing.

katy brand seemed nice (but only 90s dawn french funny)

I think it's OK so far. Noel is a good choice as stand in for Bill. Last weeks episode with Cheggers was funny, particularly Amstell's line about "at first glance Keith might sound like a poor booking, but he's the most famous person here!". One thing I don't like though is that "Parkinson" style extreme close up on people's faces.

Jupitus is quite subdued. I think he might be sad about something.

anstell taken down a peg on gamesmaster in 1993, lol

The one with Miquita Oliver was quite funny. Rubbish "hall of" tho.

omg xpost

gamesmaster was kind of ravey.

reckon he got ripped at school for that for years.

wow clip. Gamesmaster with Dexter Fletcher really sucked.

dominic diamond is a bit of a knob, but yeah, i preferred him on that.

not just that but had better vibe going with the cathedral environs. take that playing bomberman was the best.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article705815.ece

^^^possibly my favourite news story ever

wow!

That's crazy! Who would have thought the man who bantered with Patrick Moore's giant, distended head would nearly end getting crucified?

end up above!

"god made me bottle it."

wau

next time i wimp out of something i told everybody i was going to do, i'll blame god. nice one.

"you still haven't asked her out yet?"

"naaah, big guy wasn't into it."

http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2009/04/25/8788/amstell_quits_buzzcocks

Probably a good move, quit while he's ahead, etc.. I wasn't sick of him, but I could imagine that another series with him as host would have left me disinterested. Sayle's "you're shit!" heckle while Amstell was dressed as a rabbit was in jest but hit a nerve for me. Maybe it was the abscence of Bill Bailey for most of the last series, but it felt like it was more about Amstell's set pieces rather than the interplay between the team captains and the hosts.
Anyway, BBC should a) glue Bailey to that captain's chair, and b) get some of the people who were guest team captains back on as guest hosts. Starting with Stephen Fry.

Right, this thread will do.

New series started last night.

It was particularly poor. Mark Ronson chaired, PhillJupitus was somewhat phoned in, Noel Fielding had a mate on, um, it was dull.

OK, last nights was a lot better. Managed to avoid the "I hear you have a new album out" moment...

Has Phil Jupitus EVER been funny?

nu-uh

and apparently he didn't like amstell

Is Bill Bailey back on this, or is there now absolutely no reason to watch?

NoelFielding.