What did you all think? - Man to Man with Dean Learner (2006) Discussion

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] Munky216 18 years ago

The laugh track was strange. Sometimes it didn't feel right, like that moment wasn't really a funny moment.

The whole Wasp seen was brilliant. I was laughing my ass off.

It's an okay programme but it was always going to be hard to follow up the awesomeness of Darkplace.

Lucien: Not my fault. Monkey bastard hands!

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[–] ethanrunt 18 years ago

Had the audience laughed only at the 'jokes' it would have been brilliant, a piece of classic art, then again, that whole meranghi the artist was terrible.
I felt the lack of mentioning about Darkplace was wrong, since this is the same channel, and a peak of both careers, it should have popped up, glad Romford got a reference again, even if they did get the cinme chain wrong.

If you wished "The Sound of Music" was really called "Snakes on a Plane" You'll love this film!

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[–] veemacdee1971 18 years ago

Unfortunately when the actors are playing it deadpan and the audience are laughing after each sentence the whole concept is messed up. Imagine if Darkplace was filmed this way, it would have been a disaster. As much as I like these guys and can see what they are trying to do, I'm going to have to give this a thumbs down.

When I'm not here I'm listening to DEADPIT.COM , HORROR TALK RADIO !!!

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[–] trippingbomb 18 years ago

It pains me to say that I didn't really enjoy it.

veemacdee1971, I know exactly what you mean.. I just don't think the pair are suited to this type of show. There are plenty of shows I could imagine them doing and being hilarious, and a chat show isn't really on the list.

War of the Wasps was pretty good though - that's the kind of thing they should do for a Darkplace movie.

Although, I think there's a chance the series will get better.. not just because they always do, but because maybe the Garth Marenghi character just wasn't suited.

He should've been appearing to promote Darkplace on DVD.. that might've given it a jumpstart.

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[–] Cyclone_Chyno 18 years ago

I quite enjoyed it

Never paid too much attention to the audience or laughter track myself but some of the stuff that the two came out with was awesome

Here's hoping the next episode keeps it up

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[–] dr_evil444 18 years ago

where can i download it?

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[–] Slippery_Jack 18 years ago

Yep I think everyone hear has summed up what I thought - quite funny - never really laugh out loud - spoiled by the live audience - the problem is the actors are playing it straight while the audience are reacting to a spoof - SURELY Matt and Richard knew this would undermine everything ???

It would have made much more sense if the whole thing had shoddy production values on purpose like Darkplace, with badly added on canned laughter for the 'jokes', while the bits that the knowing live audience laughed at would remain silent - you get me?

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[–] JammyB 18 years ago

I think a lot (Well, nearly all of you) are missing the point entirely, and focussing on DARKPLACE and its lack of much of a mention. There are other episodes where Matt doesn't play Garth Marenghi and therefore would be ridiculous if the folk singer or ex racing car driver or ex sci-fi actor talked about darkplace. It's simply a chat show where Dean Learner talks with his friends in show business and needn't make any links to Darkplace. Yes, Darkplace viewers do get that additional perspective on it but Darkplace is merely one piece of work Garth Marenghi has done.

The laughter wasn't canned either...Because I was there in the audience and I've never been in a can...

The ideas from the odd person suggesting they should make Man to Man in the same poorly dubbed, jumping frame style as Darkplace again seem to be misunderstanding it entirely.

Keep watching, and maybe it'll grow on you, but please, it isn't Darkplace!!

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[–] AnthonysBrother 18 years ago

well i liked it alot

that bit at the start when the limo rolls up and Learner opened the door! haha!

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[–] lpsandwich 17 years ago

There was a live audience AND a laugh track. This is very common.

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[–] JammyB 18 years ago

What chat show doesn't have a live audience? Breakfast with Frost? That's a barrel of laughs! All good chat shows have a live audience because it's the whole concept of engaging other people and sharing anecdotes. Imagine a recorded stand-up comedian without an audience? Having a live audience enables the performers to gauge a reaction to their humour. Darkplace wouldn't have been suitable for laughter as the idea from a non-spoof perspective is that it wasn't supposed to be funny. Nobody laughs at diagnosis murder or quantum leap. The fact that we laugh is because it is a spoof of such programs from the 70's and 80's with the poor dubbing, the stunts, doctors with guns and jumping frames. Man to Man is made in 2006 for 2006.

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[–] morganlee 18 years ago

Diagnosis Murder was made in the 90's and 00's.

Stuff and/or nonsense.

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[–] JammyB 18 years ago

And it's still appalling and laughable

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] Slippery_Jack 18 years ago

I think JammyB is the one mising the point - this is meant to be a spoof chat show (JammyB does get that the interviewees aren't 'real' people, right???), but the live audience are undermining the spoof by laughing at the spoof humour - I think it should have audience laughter, but it should've been badly added on canned laughter just over the 'jokes' which would keep up with the spoofness . . .

Plus I don't understand Jammy's comment about not mentioning Darkplace - Im not bothered about furure episodes but the guest this week was Garth Marenghi, as in the man behind Darkplace, being interviewed by Dean Learner, who was also in (and directed) Darkplace - surely Darkplace should've been mentioned at some point . . . ?

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] josephbleazard 18 years ago

I felt the audience laughter was jarring. but i think it was deliberate. i think it sets up an atmosphere of strange unease that will probably define the series (for better or worse)

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[–] JammyB 18 years ago

We did watch it through twice and were asked by Richard to hear the jokes with fresh ears. Some of the laughter may appear "forced" since jokes are rarely funny the second time round....especially with less than 30minutes apart.

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[–] classicuk 18 years ago

I really liked the first episode, particularly the 'War of the Wasps' sketch. I saw two episodes recorded live (though not episode one) and there are more of these types of 'sketchs' that pop-up, with the same kind of 'Darkplace humour' and maybe for a lot of people they might come to be what is remembered most from the show. (So who knows, maybe that could be the way forward after this if they wanted to take the characters onto something new).

But as far as the the laughter goes, I can only say that from being there I (and the rest of the audience) found what we were watching genuinly funny. Perhaps we were a little hypered up. After all, at the time of filming (June time if I remember correctly), the DVD still seemed as though it was never going to appear and the fact that something else involving the Darkplace boys was actually happening in front of our eyes, probably did make the audience a little hyper.

From the two other episodes I saw recorded, I think people will be pleasantly suprised with what is to come. The other characters that Matt Holness plays are really quite interesting and the ironic comedy continues throughout. I, for one, really enjoyed the first episode and hope people that didn't think that much of it, give it a chance and keep watching.

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] Slippery_Jack 18 years ago

"The other characters that Matt Holness plays are really quite interesting and the ironic comedy continues throughout."

Yes you see glimpses of them in the title sequence - Im looking forward to seeing him tackle some non-Marenghi characters - maybe one of them will develop into a spin-off show of their own if they are any good . . .

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[–] OliverPG 18 years ago

The Whole Thing Was *beep*

We Want A 2nd Season Of Darkplace... Not This Crap!

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[–] AliceLovesYou 18 years ago

i really really wanted to like it as i love everyone involed in GMD but i just didn't find it that funny. there were parts that were funny, but i agree with what a lot of people have said about the laughter. it must be completely different when you're there but i found it realy off-putting. i'm not writting it off yet though, hopefully the next episode will be better.

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[–] Slippery_Jack 18 years ago

... and no we don't all want a 2nd series of Darkplace - Im all for comedians trying new and different things rather than churning out more of the same (*cough* LittleBritainCatherineTate *cough*) . . .

Check out - www.cafepress.com/slipperyjacks - I deal in Zombies !

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[–] Aberdeenfortheolympics 18 years ago

... and no we don't all want a 2nd series of Darkplace - Im all for comedians trying new and different things rather than churning out more of the same (*cough* LittleBritainCatherineTate *cough*) . . .
_________________

Yeah agree with you there, especially about Little Britain. I don't think another series of Darkplace would work mainly because the series that was shown was supposedly lost for many years, are they going to suddenly find another one. I don't think they could top it either and if they can't improve on the first series then they should try something different like Dean Lerner Man to Man.

Jesus is coming, look busy.

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[–] a_nortoft 18 years ago

Well I was at this show, and it was very good live. I must apologise about the laughter in places however ;) The laughter was getting more and more during the moan about parties and portaloo's.... and this was because it was ad-lib'd. He didn't say anything on the sbject the first time round, but they were running a little short of time so decided to throw some ad-lib in here and there, and our already amused selves just couldn't help but find this extra funny as we have to watch the show through twice and laugh at the same bits twice. Any ad-lib gets far more attention than it should do.

What the show lacks is all the fkups, as they always stay in character, and Garth at one point got up and threatened a fight with one of the audience. All extremely humerous. Dean's wooden persona may all seem scripted, but he's a very spontaneous guy, just very good at putting the character across. He was making plenty of ad-libs and off screen jokes with the audience etc.

I guess until some of you people who moan about real laughter being fake or just not realistic in places should leave your homes and actually go see a show like this being made. All in all I think it was a very well put together show across the board, and alot of people seemed to have missed the point.

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[–] Slippery_Jack 18 years ago

See, them not including the fkups makes it even more annoying - they took em all out to keep it an in-character spoof, but then break the spoof by bringing in a live audience of Darkplace fans. I don't blame the audience for laughing, OF COURSE they're gonna laugh at every bit, the guys are funny! But in doing so they break the spoof of the set-up, understand?

It would have been much funnier for the viewer (and made more sense in the context of the dodgy chat show spoof) if Deans 'unfunny' cheesy host lines had played to silence (and a few dry coughs), rather than a big audience laugh . . .

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[–] FakeDom 17 years ago

It's weird because I expected it to be terrible as I didn't find the adverts at all funny - just annoying. But as soon as the credits started with the jazzy music and pretensious city shots like some cheesey US chatshow, I got the joke straight away and found the whole thing hilarious.

The out-of-place laughter and Garth's struggle to keep a straight face gave it a great live feel which I felt added to the sense of fun. The way these guys string sentences together is very clever - each line says something about the way the character thinks. The Wasp clip was an amazing B-Movie pastiche that had me in stitches. It's certainly a different beast from Darkplace and might be a bit of a disappointment to people who were wanting more of the same. This will probably will appeal to a slightly different audience anyway I think as it's more low-key, but I loved it and will definitely be tuning in very week.

(I still prefer Darkplace by the way - I just felt I should stick up for this as not many people seem to like it!)

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