Mark Gatiss News

[J.P.]

Well Auntie Val also got older. :D

Or the prosthetic thingies shrank a bit.

 

 

BTW, I can hardly believe it, but I started to watch TLOG and somehow begin to find it funny. It's facepalm humour, but yes, I kind of like it. At least you get where the thumbs and the eye tea and the head in the fridge come from.

What's stunning though - the variety of characters played by the actors and the make-up.

  <-- doesn't she look like an old master's painting?

[Pseudonym]

I find it funny, though it is extremely sick humour. Tubbs and the piglet. I just... Tubbs and the piglet sums it up. 

 

You know the job centre scenes? It's one of the most subtle costumes but it took me ages to realise the thick bloke was Gatiss. 

[J.P.]

Yeah, Mickey. I really feel sorry for him to be honest.

He has some really heartbreaking moments. Ace acting.

 

Piglet? Still to watch, obviously.

 

I still laugh about the moment at the Local Shop when the content of one of the jars jumped at a new customer.

 

The humour is not only sick, it's also extremely political incorrect from today's POV.

I wonder how much they will have to tone down.

[J.P.]

http://glassjump.com/entertainment/leagueofgentlemen/

[Pseudonym]

I don't remember the jar. I haven't seen all of the episodes, just season 1 I think because I couldn't get hold of season 2. Though it's now on Netflix so I'll have to give them a watch.

 

I think the political incorrectness was always a factor, though perhaps not as sensitive as now. From what I remember it aired on the depths of BBC2 late at night, where there are all kinds of oddities. 

 

I had a look, the piglet scene is the second episode of the first series... though I could have sworn it happened later. 

[Hikari]

http://glassjump.com/entertainment/leagueofgentlemen/

 

And this is what MG wants to do rather than produce another season of Sherlock . . oy.

 

Mark is a very appealing person, very different than Mycroft.  Big M is appealing too, but in that more sinister, bureaucratic way.  MG looks a lot younger in real life.

 

The British seem to have embraced cross-dressing comedy much more than other countries.  They *really* get into it.  It's slightly mystifying, but then we had "Bosom Buddies" over here.  Launched Tom Hanks's career.  Also only lasted for one season.  That joke gets old kinda fast.

 

[J.P.]

I'm really curious about the reactions - TLOG can get much broader audience this time, because of Sherlock's and maybe Dr Who's popularity outside of UK, included those who were furious about BC's All. I better start to stash popcorn.

[Carol the Dabbler]

The humour is not only sick, it's also extremely political incorrect from today's POV.

I wonder how much they will have to tone down.

 

http://glassjump.com/entertainment/leagueofgentlemen/

 

Looks like you've answered your own question with the article you linked to -- and the answer is apparently "Not much."  Yay!   The world needs more political irreverence.

[J.P.]

Some new photos: TLOG, 10 years later

 

http://notfspurejam.tumblr.com/tagged/the-league-of-gentlemen-spoiler

 

The twins! :o They look like Mark's/Val's clones! I wonder if they are the same girls…

[J.P.]

An interview with Mark about TLOG

https://www.comedy.co.uk/podcasts/museum_of_comedy/mark_gatiss/

[J.P.]

Can you see this video? Mark's speech at BIFA and it's delicious.

https://www.facebook.com/anna.lisowska.horsevet/videos/1991821931066215/

[J.P.]

And an article in Jackal Magazine

https://thejackalmagazine.com/mark-gatiss-interview/

[Janyss]

Thanks for the video, J.P., and I'll also have a glimpse on the article tomorrow. OMG, I remember why I love English language! Of course oral French language, with some actors, also often takes me, but MG's speech is a pleasure to hear!

[J.P.]

Especially when he makes an effort to be understood. :P

[Arcadia]

Can you see this video? Mark's speech at BIFA and it's delicious.

https://www.facebook.com/anna.lisowska.horsevet/videos/1991821931066215/

 

Anyone know what he means by the Christopher Plummer joke? (I've never seen American Beauty, nor intend to.)

[J.P.]

If you need some Christmas mood: A Christmas Carol with Mark, Katie Melua, a big orchestra and others.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0858f4j

[HerlockSholmes]

Thought he was very good in Dr Who

[J.P.]

He is always very good, given a good script to work with.

Dr Who: Steven has an unique talent to dig up my emotional pressure points and play on them like on a beeping xylophone.

 

And I really liked TLOG, although it almost made me cry at least twice.

 

Have you seen London Spy?

[Arcadia]

Dr Who: Steven has an unique talent to dig up my emotional pressure points and play on them like on a beeping xylophone.

Me too.

[J.P.]

As expected the TLOG Special got shot at.
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/12/20/league-of-gentlemen-defends-transphobia-accusations-saying-there-is-room-to-have-a-laugh/
 
Of course I knew it as I watched (and I'm sure the makers knew it too). Even more, I have the impression that a certain dialogue in Barbara's cab is a direct reaction to an earlier interview of Mark - he's got called a "disgrace" for it, especially for the line chosen for a title.
https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/sexuality/fast-lane/article/2017/08/14/actor-mark-gatiss-says-lgbt-community-should-be-worried-about-isis-and-chechnya

 

It immediately reminded me of the nasty discussion that followed.

 

It is also related to the discussion we've just had at "John Watson"
http://www.sherlockforum.com/forum/topic/2928-john-watson/?p=137513

[Pseudonym]

Hmmm. Admittedly I've not seen the special yet, but TLOG always was, and is intended to be, offensive. That's kind of the whole point, isn't it? To get a bit of a sick snigger out of things that wouldn't fly elsewhere. You know what you're going into, and it's hardly a town of well adjusted politically correct individuals. I've never found it offensive (gross, yes) because I get that that's the point and you have to leave sensitivities at the door. At the end of the day it's a twisted, deliberately offensive, fringe comedy series. Getting angry over it is pointless; if you don't get that kind of thing, don't find it funny, then don't watch.

 

It's a wholly different beast than turning on a mainstream comedy show and encountering transphobic/homophobic language. Yes, that would be insulting and worth a rant. I've recently been watching my way through old episodes of a comedy panel show I enjoy and found some of the comments on there a bit shocking and on the nose by todays standards. But this is Royston Vasey FFS. You've got incest. Blackface. Animal cruelty. It's not going to be PC about anything. 

 

I think one of my favourite scenes is the one of the guy doing tours of the caves, going into a flashback of the school kid he let drown. It's sick, it's not PC, but god it's funny. 

[J.P.]

From the caves I mostly remember Mark in SHORTS, LOL.

[Pseudonym]

Yup, short shorts!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Haven't seen TLoG yet, but your comments about it remind me of certain sketches on Saturday Night Live, back when it was still fresh and irreverent.  Unless you took everything at face value, it was pretty obvious that they were NOT ridiculing minorities, but rather making fun of things that really and truly were ludicrous, but that most people didn't dare laugh at for fear of being called racist, sexist, etc.
 
As MG said in that article:
 
"To me, some of the wilder extremities of gender politics create a kind of madness where almost nothing is capable of being said anymore.  I think that’s still an area where there is room to have a laugh.”
 

[J.P.]

The Special and some episodes from the 1st season are on BBC's iPlayer.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b006t8d1

 

BTW, I'm glad that they got rid of the off screen laughter in the later seasons.