Skip to main content

"University Challenged: Week Nineteen' (27.11.17)


Once again, tonight’s episode of University Challenge was a largely Monkmanless environment, with no-one of enough character to marvel over with humorously.

Okay, we were reunited with Ulster Milliken’s slightly threatening look and the odd comical voiceover from Roger Tiling, but there was still too little going on to really rouse your interest; Paxman was as rude and dismissive as ever, but that’s par for the course when he’s about.

See below for my tweets from tonight; hope you enjoy them.

Warwick Vs. Ulster (27.11.17)
8:01PM: Jeremy Paxman; oh, so weary.
8:02PM: "I'm from the Welsh borders area"; very vague, Charlotte; what are you hiding?
8:04PM: I'll show you MY French region
8:05PM: I know I said this last time, but...'Milliken'.

8:06PM: "Juno?"; I don't know...do you?
8:09PM: TRIVIA: McDaid's son replaced George Dawes as scorekeeper on Shooting Stars in 2010.
8:11PM: Salter looks like someone's mum.
8:12PM: Arribas and Salter buy their clothes from the same big-print shirt shop.
8:15PM: Milliken to be cast in “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels: The Musical.’
8:17PM: "Warwick Arribas!" sounds like an exclamation.
8:20PM: There's nothing more dismissive than when Paxman refuses to even acknowledge the fact someone has answered incorrectly.
8:22PM: ...well, I knew the Dylan and Springsteen ones. That's about my limit.
8:25PM: “We HATE Saint George, sir. We HATE Prince George.”

8:27PM: I want Roger Tilling shouting "Warwick Arribas" as my morning alarm

8:28PM: Is there such a thing as a fear of clowns' belly buttons?


Popular posts from this blog

Shakerpuppetmaker.

Have Parker from Thunderbirds and Noel Gallagher ever been seen in the same room? The resemblance is uncanny. So much so, I think something’s afoot. If my suspicions are correct, I've stumbled across a secret that will blow the music and puppet industry wide apart. In the mid-60s / mid-90s at least. It doesn’t take long to see the signposts. There’s the similarity between the name of Oasis’ first single, Supersonic, and Supermarianation, Gerry Anderson’s puppetry technique. The Gallagher brothers would often wear Parkas . Live Forever was clearly a reference to Captain Scarlet and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants to the size difference between Noel and his bandmates. The more you think about it, the more brazen it gets. It’s fishier than Area 51, Paul is Dead and JFK's assassination put together. The only glitch to the theory is scale . According to Wikipedia, Anderson’s marionettes were 1’10” and Gallagher is 5’8”. How does he maintain an illusion of avera...

Comedy That's Worth a Letch.

Today, I nipped to Letchworth to meet with illustrator (and one-time - two-time - comedy poet) Mushybees, to discuss an event Mostly Comedy will act as surrogate parents to as part of Letchworth’s Arts Takeover in a couple of weeks. Months ago he got into contact to see if we’d be up for co-organising a comedy stage as part of Letchworth’s weekend of arts-based attractions in July; something I’d provisionally said yes to, before things got hectic in the lead-up to Edinburgh and we didn’t take it any further. Despite not getting down to the nitty-gritty straight away, we managed to pull a line-up together in a back-and-forth of emails yesterday, leading to me getting Glyn’s blessing and us deciding we’d officially go ahead with it (whatever ‘officially’ means in this context). In reality, it’s not complicated: from 12pm until 6pm-ish on the 22 nd July, Glyn, Mushybees and I will host four Edinburgh previews from four acts (including me), before Nor...

Stevenage: A (Tiny) River Runs Through it.

If ever a river was mis-sold, it’s the Roaring Meg in Stevenage. I just walked past it on my way to the retail park that has taken its name. They’re similarly uninspiring. The river is less of a roar and more of a dribble; cystitis sufferers produce greater flow. The retail park is soulless. What was once a thriving enterprise is nearly devoid of atmosphere, save an underlying essence of emptiness and despair. With a Toys R Us. When it was first built I was excited. Back then, the thought of a bowling alley, an ice rink, a Harvester and a Blockbuster Video within a small surface area was enticing. I celebrated many birthdays on site. There was an indoor cricket pitch there for a while where I once had a joint party with a friend. Why someone with an almost pathological fear of sport would agree to such a venture is beyond me, but I did it. Now, there’s very little at the Roaring Meg of note. The river would be a metaphor for the shopping ce...