On an episode of It’s Sowerby & Luff a couple of weeks ago, Brian revealed that the most recent editions of Fluffy TV were filmed at the same location as Monty Python’s Fish Slapping Dance.

For the two and a half of you out there who have no idea what he was talking about (not that we need an excuse to post such a fine sketch on this site), here it is:

And to follow, here’s Jasper Carrott with his impromptu critique of Python from 1977:

Please note that the preview scheduled for July 30th will now not be happening.  Sowerby and Luff are attempting to secure at least one more full preview of their Edinburgh show in London during July and we will keep you posted.

Here are the other two gigs for this month where Brian and Georgina will be appearing in shorter guest spots:

July 16th - 8pm (Doors 7:30) - Doug’s Sketch Night, Lowdown at the Albany, 240 Great Portland Street, London W1 (£7/6 conc.) (Pre-bookings: 020 7387 5706)

July 17th - 8:15pm (Doors 7:30) - Laughter-House, The Red Lion Hotel, Red Lion Lane. Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 7NY (£7) (Pre-bookings: laughterhouse@hotmail.co.uk) (Only out of town appearance before Edinburgh)

More topical stuff, this time one of the most memorable and oft-quoted sketches from Spitting Image, poking fun at the then still-alive Larry (Olivier, voiced by John Sessions) and Johnny (Gielgud, voiced by Chris Barrie).

The sketch was written by the show’s then Script Editors Rob Grant & Doug Naylor, which dates this clip no later than 1986, when they left the show to write the hugely successful Red Dwarf.

Ever wondered what the gallery sounds like during the transmission of a live pan-European television event? Well, wonder no more.

Thanks to some enterprising BBC staffer and some technical shenanigans on the night itself, here are the titles and credits from the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest, held here in the UK at the then brand new Wembley Conference Centre.

Some background: the event was riddled with problems, having seen the withdrawal of the Tunisian entry, a threat by the Belgian act to perform in see-through costumes, and some trouble with filming the inserts between songs that had attracted the attention of the country’s finest hacks for all the wrong reasons.

The show had also been postponed owing to industrial action by BBC outside broadcast cameramen. At one point, the BBC withdrew from televising the contest, and alternative options were considered, including the pre-recording of entries by each country’s own broadcaster and moving the whole event to another country.

In the end, things went ahead five weeks later, by which time patience with OB crews was in short supply. So it is perhaps understandable that the director, British light entertainment legend Stewart Morris, was working on a short fuse, given the show’s massive audience worldwide.

Morris was unquestionably a man of his time. Such behaviour in a gallery these days would probably see a director suspended. Indeed, this particular tape has been used by the BBC in recent times as an example of how not to direct.

Yet Morris continues to be respected and fondly remembered by those who worked with him, perhaps even by the “cow in Network One”.

A tribute to Alfred Hitchcock this week from the wonderful Big Train.  You’ll never look at a plumber in the same way ever again.

And, as a bonus, here’s something that’s bound to set off Luff’s allergies:

This week, Charlie Brooker’s essay on the real credit squeeze, including the lost art of spoofing TV continuity, with a little help from Victoria Coren, who I’m a little in love with, if truth be told:

And if that wasn’t enough, here’s some classic clips to highlight what fun spoofing continuity and cocking a snook at “brand identity” used to be from Look Around You, End of Part One, Rutland Weekend Television, Inside Victor Lewis-Smith, Jerry Sadowitz, Alexei Sayle’s Stuff, The Kenny Everett Video Show, and a Morecambe & Wise Christmas Special for Thames in the 80s:

Take that, suits!

Please note that Sowerby & Luff will now not be performing their Sex Tips for Pandas preview at Ryan’s Bar in Stoke Newington tommorrow night (June 3rd), owing to a nasty bout of flu.

However, you can still catch Alfie Moore, Kiosk of Champions, and Peter Buckley-Hill there, along with, we assume, a hastily arranged replacement act, so go along and support PBH’s Free Fringe if you can.

The cancellation is a real bummer, given the amount of Facebook confirmations we had for the event, but there are a few more dates to come, and it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that the Dynamic Duo will add another full preview to the schedule in the coming weeks. 

Here are the dates still to come:

July 16th - 8pm - Doug’s Sketch Night, Lowdown at the Albany, 240 Great Portland Street, London W1 (£7/6 conc.) (Pre-bookings: 020 7387 5706) (Short set)
July 17th - 8:15pm (Doors 7:30) - Laughter-House, The Red Lion Hotel, Red Lion Lane. Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 7NY (£7) (Pre-bookings: laughterhouse@hotmail.co.uk) (Only out of town appearance before Edinburgh)

And, by way of an apology for the cancellation and the lack of a Video Pick of the Week on Friday, here’s a couple of great clips from two shows that did more than any other to help smash TV sketch comedy’s colour bar on both sides of the Atlantic in the early 90s.

From America’s In Living Color, here’s the first of many instalments of Men on Films from the superb Damon Wayans and David Allen Grier.  I give it three snaps up in Zee-for-mation!

And from good ol’ Blighty, a memorable sketch from BBC2’s The Real McCoy, where some classic British television shows get dubbed into Jamaican patois…with one notable exception.

There’s been a sudden resurgence of topical comedy on British television and radio these last couple of months, but nothing has come close to the standard of Not the Nine O’Clock News.

Even the show itself has received a rough ride from the BBC in recent years, with only compilations being available on DVD, which is a shame, as watching the original episodes intact really does act as an evocative reminder of what Britain was like in the early days of Thatcherism - and there aren’t many dramas that manage that without resorting to hamfisted plots and dialogue.

But never mind the politics - here’s Gerald the Gorilla (also known as David Attenborough! David Bloody Attenborough! or, if you prefer, plain old Gorilla Sketch), written by Richard Curtis & Rowan Atkinson, and originally transmitted in April 1980, when daffodils were a lot tastier.

Dr Rabbit and Nursey Lamb are back, with a brand new series of sick-making Medical Matters, filmed down by the riverbank in leafy Teddington Town. The shows will also feature Bleak Mouse and a brand new character Teeny Weeny Panda. Filmed in FLUFFYVISION, the series will syndicate right here on Comedy 365, but is also now available in high definition, on its very own Fluffy TV HD feed at iTunes

Three years ago today, Luff asked me a small favour.

“We’re in the process of testing a streaming audio service,” he said, “and I need some listener feedback.”

A couple of months later, that streaming audio service became a podcast and this listener had been joined by thousands of others all around the world. And in Lambeth.

As of today, we’ve had over 4.2 million downloads of more than 750 programmes. Despite an increasing amount of competition out there from bigger names and large media corporations, we’ve held our own and still enjoy an average 100,000 downloads a month, which ain’t bad. We’ve even seen some of our competitors off.

So, if you’ll forgive us for blowing our own trumpet, join us today in celebrating our third birthday by listening to an hour-long special programme containing some of our favourite moments from Comedy 365’s own productions plus some highlights from shows we’ve syndicated since 2005.

And we’ve no intention of quitting while we’re ahead. Yup, with an Edinburgh run to come and several new programmes in pre-production, there’s plenty more to come in this and future years - starting on Monday with the return of the planet’s furriest medical professionals.