Cielo, Provocation and Money

Richard Herring, formerly of Lee & Herring and Fist of Fun, has a great blog. He's currently at the Edinburgh Festival and he's chronicling his up and down times there. I don't remember the his TV show that well to be honest but I do remember catching little snippets and laughing as he played the Morecambe to Lee's Wise. Stewart Lee wrote an article for The Wire a few months ago which I was very surprised to see. It was essentially about him experiencing a comedic awakening at a Derek Bailey gig. I loved this post of Herring's. It's a great example of a comedian taking a potentially controversial suject and ridiculing the reaction to it.

If I had a brand spanking new bike I would have to cycle everywhere shouting, "I
was going to buy this anyway, it's not because of terrorism. I am not a pussy.
Like all the other new cyclists that you can see in front of me. The terrorists
have not won"...We're all more scared of the police now anyway. It was a bit of
a nippy morning today and I couldn't find my leather jacket so was considering
putting on my long winter coat. But then I thought that the police might see me,
be suspicious of me wearing inappropriate clothing for our wonderful British
summer and execute me in the street, just in case. I do have a beard as well
after all. And there would be quite a hefty bulk under the coat that anyone
would assume was a bomb rather than the result of guzzling pizza and beer.
No-one would blame them for the mistake. So I just went out in my shirt instead.
People shouted at me, "You coward! Going out without a coat on. The terrorists
have won."

Have just finshed reading Martin Amis' Money. And also Paul Auster's New York Trilogy. Both courtesy of T. I can't profess my love for New York City enough (Money is set there as well). Have been listening a little too much to Lou Reed's NYC Man compilation, a fine, fine album if ever there was one. Coney Island Baby, Street Hassle, Pale Blue Eyes, Caroline Says II. T pointed me in the direction of this book. It's now on my wish list.

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's latest work Extras is currently on BBC2 on Thursday nights. I hold both of them (particularly Gervais) in such high esteem. Gervais constantly references my favourite shows: The Larry Sanders Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld (I admittedly obsess over all three to an unhealthy extent). Gervais credits George Costanza as the finest sitcom character ever. And he's probably right. Extras is influenced to a considerable extent by The Larry Sanders Show (as was I'm Alan Partridge) but, again, Gervais takes it to another level (as did Steve Coogan), making it universal and British all at once. Gervais and Merchant have had a show on XFM for a good few years now. It's really worth accessing the archives here.

Go see the Asian Provocateur: 'Life. Love. And a little bit of luxury'. Actually, its better than the by-line. Much better. She pointed me in the direction of this site, some great quotes from New Yorkers. Also, she went to see a DJ at this place, based in the trendier-than-thou Meat-Packing District in Manhattan which I visited (the district not the club) when I was there in 2003 (it's also referenced in a Seinfeld episode).

Go see Painter Girl. She's somewhat Anglophile in her tastes. She's paints good (as Gallo would say) and best of all, she lives in New York.

extras,ricky gervais,comedy,New York,Edinburgh,Seinfeld,books.