Monthly Archives: March 2013

The making of Shaun the Sheep

In the last post I included a wonderful episode of Shaun the Sheep. Laugh out loud funny to most folks who peruse it, I highly recommend the show. Here is a little video on how it is made. Very fascinating and insightful. Enjoy!

It also gives you a rundown of the main characters. My favorite is Shirley. No, maybe it’s Bitzer. The Farmer is pretty cool too. I like Timmy, come to think of it. Nope…Shaun’s the one!

Superb humor from Aardman

I have always had a soft spot for good stop motion animation. There have been some wonderful examples of this over the years. It all started with King Kong back in the 1930’s. Soon to follow were The Voyages of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts, The Time Machine, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Clash of the Titans and many more. Heck, even Star Wars, The Terminator, Robocop and the Evil Dead trilogy including the superb Army of Darkness had some. The pioneers were the supremely talented George Pal and Ray Harryhausen. All the examples that I mention are entertaining and in most cases the stop motion technique really enhanced the movies they were used in. Most of these applications were of the adventure/action/sci-fi type, hardly any pure comedies in the collection…a good argument could be made for Army of Darkness but that’s about it. Then came Aardman Animations. Specializing in Stop Motion Clay Animation these folks created a series called Wallace and Gromit. Wallace is an affable but absent minded British gentleman and Gromit is his faithful and highly intelligent dog. I highly recommend this series, it is very humorous and a testament to Nick Park, the creative mind behind Aardman, and the people who work for him. But it doesn’t end there. They make a show that is absolutely hilarious. Whenever I watch an episode I laugh…out…loud! Intrigued? What if I tell you that all this humor comes without dialogue, conversation or human speech of any kind?! Interested yet? Behold the genius that is Shaun the Sheep!

I cannot watch these without laughing out loud. Can you?

Comedy Appreciation

I have always been a fan of British comedy. There is so much to like. The characters, the material and the intellect are a huge draw for me. Not to mention the diversity. Some of the best comedy sketches ever came from the other side of the pond. Monty Python, Not the 9:00 News, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore and Benny Hill, are a short list of the funniest skit makers ever. And there is Rowan Atkinson. One of a kind. Forget Mr. Bean, that’s humorous but not as good as his sketch material. The Awards Ceremony, Fatal Beating with Angus Deayton and Tom, Dick and Harry are all classics in the best sense of the word. This is one of my favorites pieces from him. I have two variations of this skit that I play on the show. This is the shorter of the two. Enjoy…

The Surreal Stuff

The weird has always captivated me.
I look for it to play on the show but not all that is weird can be a good fit for pure audio.
A lot of it has to be seen AND heard.
The few exceptions are groups like the Evolution Control Committee,
most Barnes and Barnes and individual bits from folks like Chandler Travis,
Napolean XIV and Paul Green and Bob Morledge, to name a few.
I am constantly looking for strange and funny.
Come to think of it, off-beat would work too.
As would Surreal.
This piece is a classic example of what I am ramblin’ on about.
This is by Barry Murphy, an Irish comedian from his show Couched,
a zany little program from the nineties.
His partner in the series was Mark Doherty.
Behold God, the Devil and the Hungry Referee…