Big Gay Picture Show

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema and more

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema & more

Russell Howard – Wonderbox Live (DVD Review)

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Thanks to Mock The Week and Good News, Russell Howard is now one of the UK’s biggest stand-up acts. While many comics have a shtick to help them stand out, Howard is a more traditional stand-up, telling funny stories and jokes, and finding the general silliness of life.

What help makes it work is that he comes across as such a friendly, slightly dorky but cool guy. He’s the sort of person where it feels like if you went out for a drink you’d have a good time and a lot of laughs, and what he manages to do with Wonderbox better than he has on previous DVDs, is fully pull the viewer into so that it truly feels you’re truly part of a fun night out. There’s none of the anger or snide-ness that so many comics trade in, as even when he’s making fun of something there’s a positive edge where he feels the need to point it out not specifically to tear it down but because he thinks there’s something better. [Read more…]

Lee Nelson – Live (DVD)

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I’m not sure about Lee Nelson, as my initially lefty think can’t help but wonder if he’s busy reigniting the class wars. I find it difficult not to feel there’s a slightly have-your-cake-eat-it aspect to Simon Brodkin’s character, so that some will see it as a critique of clueless chaviness and laugh at his dimness and stereotyped antisocial attitudes, while others will see him as some type of working class hero. Are we meant to laugh at or with his shoplifting and sexist jokes? Is it an act that essentially makes fun of marginalised people or celebrates them? I suspect Brodkin is playing both ends against the middle, or else he solely cares that it works and people enjoy it. [Read more…]