Beware, here be spoilers. Sherlock: The Abominable Bride has everything a Sherlock fan could possibly ask for. Moffat and Gatiss have really outdone themselves this time. It’s like they caved and said, “All right, give them everything they want. It is Christmas, after all.” It has Victorian garb and dialect (“the game is afoot”) for…
What is it? An Idiot Abroad (2010-2013) is Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s TV show starring their friend and former radio producer Karl Pilkington. Pilkington is not an actor or comedian but is nevertheless found (somewhat unwillingly) hosting a travel show. The series thrives on Pilkington’s unintentionally hilarious and unique outlook on life. The show ran three…
Will Proudfoot (Bill Milner) is a good little boy with a religious mother (Jessica Hynes) who isn’t even allowed to watch television and movies. What a perfect hobby for him, then, to be an amateur filmmaker. With the help of Lee (Will Poulter–the River Phoenix to Milner’s Wil Wheaton), the naughtiest kid at school, Will…
Michael (Bill Milner), his father (John Simm), and his pregnant mother (Kelly Macdonald) have just moved into a new home, making way for Michael’s forthcoming baby sister. While his family struggles with a premature birth, his father’s drunkenness, and his baby sister’s heart condition, Michael befriends the homeless man (played by Tim Roth) who, unbeknownst…
In the film adaptation of J. G. Ballard’s novel High-Rise, Anthony Royal (Jeremy Irons) has built what he believes will be the perfect residence: a high-rise apartment building that contains both affordable housing for the poor and luxury suites for the rich. It is so perfect that–with in-building super markets and swimming pools–one never needs to…
Yorgos Lanthimos’ dystopia takes place in the near future in a world where people who don’t find mates are sentenced to 45 days in The Hotel. If they don’t find a partner by the end of those 45 days, they are turned into an animal of their choice. If they try to escape, the other…
W1A is the sequel to the hit series Twenty Twelve. It has run two seasons, totaling 8 episodes. It is currently available on Netflix and DVD region 2/PAL. If you thought the London Olympics was a shambles in Twenty Twelve, just wait until Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville) gets to the BBC. After a much-needed and wildly unsuccessful vacation…
I caught the very tail end of the Lincoln Center Festival 2016 in New York, and what a surprise was Golem! Narrated by Annie–the frontwoman of a rebellious punk band doomed to never leave rehearsal due to stage fright–Golem centers around Annie’s keytar player slash brother, Robert Robertson, a pencil pusher in the binary backup department where…
What is it? Getting On (2009-2012) is a comedy hospital TV show written by and starring Jo Brand, Vicki Pepperdine, and Joanna Scanlan. It ran for three seasons, totaling fourteen episodes. Where can I see it? It was until recently available on Hulu but isn’t anymore. There is a region 2/PAL DVD if you have a…
Do not punish yourself. You deprive the world of its purpose. There is a man onstage in a Sainsbury-orange jumper wiping sweat out from under his large spectacles as he sings Bruce Springsteen songs, stopping occasionally to analyze the lyrics. Simon Munnery is not your traditional standup comic. In fact, he makes this very clear…
Here are Anglonerd’s top 10 favorite sketches from Chris Morris’s pitch black comedy sketch show Jam. Do not watch if you are a child, squeamish, easily saddened or terrified. 10. When the neighbor hears about the miscarriage, as a present, he handcrafts a tiny wooden coffin for the fetus, which is accepted with all the shock and…
What you’ll take away most from Jon Ronson’s investigative journalism book So, You’ve Been Publicly Shamed book is how terrifying the world of shaming is, especially at the hands of social media (that is, you). A lot of the time, the crime doesn’t fit the punishment. Many of the people Ronson interviewed for the book lost their jobs,…
The world was surprised when deadpan comedian Hattie Hayridge showed up in the sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf as the shipboard computer Holly, mostly because up until then the role had been played by deadpan comedian Norman Lovett. Similarly, the world was surprised when Hattie Hayridge showed up in the hospital on the day of her birth, mostly…
Quest for Wonder is a web-based children’s science program hosted by puppet versions of comedian Robin Ince and Professor Brian Cox. It is available for free at CosmicGenome.com with extra features available for paid Cosmic Genome subscribers. TV science presenter Brian Cox has lost his wonder. Oh no! He and his Infinite Monkey Cage co-host Robin Ince…
Hello! It looks like the hand-drawn edition of Anglonerd magazine is on tour this summer with the Sketchbook Project Mobile Library tour. You can check it out of the mobile library at any of these stops: July 23 Boulder, Colorado Firefly Handmade Market (29th Street Shopping District) 11am to 3pm July 19 through 31 Los…
What is it? Extras (2005-2007) is a sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, starring Gervais, Merchant, and Ashley Jensen. Like all Gervais’ shows, he quits while he’s ahead, just two seasons and a Christmas special, totaling thirteen episodes. Where can I see it? It comes in a nice boxed set on DVD (region 1/NTSC).…
Dylan Moran will be doing his new standup show OFF THE HOOK in the U.S. and Canada this fall. See below and his website for details. Use CAKE as the pre-sale code to get tickets before they go on sale this Friday. DATE CITY VENUE Fri Oct 14 TORONTO, ON Queen Elizabeth Theatre BUY TICKETS Pre-sale…
Nick Frost’s autobiography Truths, Half Truths, and Little White Lies was the most surprising biography I’ve read to date. It starts out giving character studies of his parents, like many biographies do, and I thought that perhaps I was going to be bored throughout this book. It quickly did an about-face and landed us in Tel Aviv…
What is it? The Real Man’s Road Trip: Sean and Jon Go West is a two-part TV mini-series, a travel documentary starring comedians Sean Lock and Jon Richardson, the team captains of 8 Out of 10 Cats. Where can I see it? It’s a little hard to track down. It’s on Vimeo for the time being,…
*There is some swearing in this article, as is appropriate. Don’t let the article title fool you. There are more than 50 facts in this list. I’m sure you’ll find at least ten you didn’t know before. 1. The Thick of It is the modern Shakespeare Aside from perhaps science fiction, which has popularized words like…
More Trees to Climb is Ben Moor’s collection of three short works of fiction that he has performed as spoken word. Coelacanth You’ve heard of office romances, but what if your office is a tree? The protagonist in Coelacanth, named after a deep sea fish who is unchanged over time, falls in love with a fellow tree climbing…
Four comedians talk about their experiences in The Alternative Comedy Experience, a recording of alternative Fringe Festival acts, put together by Stewart Lee. Most of the following are excerpted from interviews by Broken Nose Media whose Q&As and video podcasts are my new favorite thing. I listen to a lot of comedy podcasts and I get…
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