Comments on: Hugh Laurie

By: Jeeves » The Cartoon Blog by Dave Walker

Jeeves » The Cartoon Blog by Dave Walker — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 11:09:30 +0000

[...] Cartoon character Jeeves is being retired later this month. But all is not loss for Wodehouse fans – hopefully this Random Wodehouse Quote Generator can provide some solace. (Via Tim Worstall / Crooked Timber) [...]

By: Eleanor

Eleanor — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 10:42:47 +0000

Nathan Barley (which died a death, but…)

Clever but unsatisfactory, I thought; the kind of comedy where you sit unsmiling and occasionally say “That’s quite funny”, rather than actually laughing.* Sharp script, but I hated almost all the characterisation (which isn’t quite the same as hating the characters).

*except for “Erm, could you not rap?”, which made me hoot.

By: Liz

Liz — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 22:46:20 +0000

‘A Bit of Fry and Laurie’, their skit show, is available on video/DVD in a best-of format. I used to show snippets to my comp. classes, to get them thinking about word play. I have no idea if it worked, but we all had a good laugh.

If you’re obsessed with things Wodehousian, and particularly the Laurie/Fry show, try the Hat Sharpening Shop website:

http://www.hatsharpening.com/j&w/

Includes the wonderful soundtrack, and Jeeves & Wooster singing Minnie the Moocher.

By: Christine

Christine — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 22:26:38 +0000

I did think of Jeeves and Wooster, but I regret to say I only found out about 2 weeks ago that there was such a series (got them at the local library). I’ve been on a slight Wodehouse reading binge recently, and can therefore confirm djw’s point on Bertie’s musical talents. Though I don’t think he really struggled to remember the lyrics to songs so much. I don’t recall him really struggling with any such intellectual heavy lifting at all, really.

My son is not yet a big fan of Laurie’s work. But he loves Stephen Fry, in his incarnation as the Narrator of a short cartoon called ‘Pocoyo’. And I see he’s filled about every possible narrator position recently including The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide and Harry Potter. Wow.

By: djw

djw — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 20:58:57 +0000

Bertie once acquired a Ukelele that he was so monstrous at playing that Jeeves temporarily moved out. At various other points Bertie references popular songs, usually struggling to recall a particular lyric or something. But music was some part of his life in the books. There’s also at least one storyline that involves Bertie being cajoled into singing for some sort of rural entertainment, which he resists because he prefers to sing in the shower.

By: harry b

harry b — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 18:47:48 +0000

Tad,

in one of the Michael Williams George Cragge stories (In the Red, In the Balance, In the ?? and In the End, the radio comic/mystery series from which Absolute Power was a spin off) Laurie plays a guitar-playing Prime Minister (guess who?) and, just as in Jeeves and Wooster, is hilariously good at playing not quite well. My kids keep singing “Hi de Hi de Hi de Hi, Ho de Ho de Ho de Ho…” etc.

By: Russell Arben Fox

Russell Arben Fox — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 18:02:42 +0000

Richard J., you have a point, but then again I don’t think Waugh himself would have written Vile Bodies in quite the same way if he’d known in 1930 what was going to become of all those “bright young things” in about a decade’s time. Yes, he darkly satirized them, but I suspect he wouldn’t have left the tone at that level if he’d been writing with a knowledge of the civilizational calamities ahead. The ending of the movie was, admittedly, too neat, but I think Fry made the right choices for an audience which is fully aware that the target of Waugh’s invective did not simply collapse from within, but was actually blown away.

By: Tad Brennan

Tad Brennan — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 17:39:45 +0000

#32—
Yes, mention should be made of the music, which is uniformly splendid throughout, and which is, if I’m not mistaken, not present in the Wodehouse stories. I mean: not only do they not have a soundtrack (of course), but I don’t remember Wooster being terribly musical in them. That seems to come straight from Hugh Laurie’s own talents. He really can play, and my kids have adopted many of the horrible contemporary music-hall tunes as their own (“Sonny Boy” is especially favored for irritating the sibling). The bit where he has trouble counting out “Putting on the Ritz” is fabulous.

By: Richard J

Richard J — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 16:09:38 +0000

I saw it. I was comparing it to the book perhaps too much, and was sorely disappointed that it tore out the book’s satirical core (particularly the ebony-black humour of the last chapter), and replaced it with the vaguely nostalgic sheen of a BBC Sunday teatime series.

By: Russell Arben Fox

Russell Arben Fox — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 15:56:17 +0000

Good grief, Edward, talk about giving me some homework…

Regarding Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, some odd notes that ought to be also mentioned:

1) Hugh played Mr. Palmer in Emma Thompson and Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility, and got more dry comedic distance out of that toss-away character than any other comparable role I can remember.

2) Stephen directed the very clever adaptation of Waugh’s Bright Young Things, the best film that no one saw back in 2003.

By: delagar

delagar — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 15:15:52 +0000

My kid also loves that Hugh Laurie—in all his incarnations—can play the Jeeves and Wooster song on her recorder (the instrument, not the electric box), can quote most of the J&W episodes by heart, has her own copy of all the Blackadder scripts, which she studies with Talmudic intensity (my favorite moment? when she asked her father, with all seriousness, “Daddy, does ‘prick’ have two meanings?”), and this morning was dancing in delight because, yes! a new episode of House is, indeed, on television tonight! O joy! O bliss!

She too has noted that Bertie won’t marry so that he can stay with Jeeves—though she put it the other way: that Jeeves doesn’t want Bertie to marry, because he wants to keep Bertie for himself. Hmm, I said: no doubt, no doubt. Wouldn’t you,I said. Oh, yes, she agreed, blissfully.

By: Edward

Edward — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 14:44:28 +0000

Russell,
From my perspective
BBC;
Absolute Power (inc. Stephen Fry)
The Thick of It
The League of Gentlemen (surreal, predates little britain and more intelligent)
also
Help
The Mighty Boosh
C4;
Spaced
Black Books
Peep Show
also
Green Wing
Phoenix Nights
Nathan Barley (which died a death, but…)

Would be my start at a list for the 00’s

By: Moss Collum

Moss Collum — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 14:03:31 +0000

For the Jeeves and Wooster fan who happens to have on hand such a thing as a ten-sided die, I must recommend the Drones Club Role Play Game.

By: Alan Jacobs

Alan Jacobs — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 13:57:18 +0000

Laurie’s best moment as Bertie: when he’s trying to spread treacle on a sheet of brown paper—to place upon a window so that it may safely be broken, silly—and the paper keeps rolling up, thus preventing spreading. Bertie, after some reflection and unsuccessful experimentation, holds down one corner with the treacle jar and the other with his forehead.

By: Russell Arben Fox

Russell Arben Fox — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 12:42:20 +0000

All right, all right, David; next Christmas or birthday, it’ll be the Jeeves & Wooster boxed set, and nothing less.

Incidentally, so long as I’m making a list, what other fine British comedy imports ought I to be familiar with by now? (Don’t say Monty Python; I’ve been memorizing those episodes since high school.)