Recording on One Episode - Man to Man with Dean Learner (2006) Discussion

[–] tgray79 18 years ago

I'm going next tuesday, what went on, how long was it etc. Was it just one episode?

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[–] JammyB 18 years ago

To begin with, you get a couple of complimentary lagers and sit and wait in a marquee for a bit. 200 people can get into the studio. For starters, there are a few words from Richard Ayoade then a warm up stand-up comedian who is pretty good on his own! The show is performed continuously only stops and starts again for cock-ups which didn't happen often. It's recorded twice for "quality" reasons so you have to either forget the jokes or put on a good "false" laugh. Took about 2 hours in all. usually out by 9 - 9:30. It's basically "knowing me knowing you" but pretty interesting to see being filmed..was my first tv recording and I'm hoping to go back again. Tis just the one episode...But they may repeat recordings over the few weeks to get the best audience laughter et cetera.

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[–] domdino 18 years ago

SPOILERS INCLUDED**************************************************

I saw it yesterday! Had Matthew Holness in it again, but this time he played the character of a motor racer who now sells spare parts! It was bloody amazing (and the lager was nice too! :) )

They ran through it straight as an arrow the first time, then when it came to repeat it got much funnier because they were much looser and kept on cocking it up!

Can't wait to see the finished production, they did and excellent take off of "the apprentice" called "the learner" about a bunch of people learning how car parts are organised, and Dead learner basically fires everyone and keeps one girl to wash his car. hehe.

I hope there are some episodes with Matt Berry in as well... i wonder if it will just be Matt Holness each week though!?

Dom

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[–] ab263 18 years ago

I absolutely pray that the phenomonal Matt Berry does crop up, would probably be too much to dream of him actually turning up as Sanchez, but still.......

Saw it yesterday being filmed, was really very good, the Alan Partridge parallels are pretty clear, but i also agree that it doesnt seem like a rip off at all. The videos they played were extremely funny, and it was somehow still very funny the 2nd time around even having just seen the 1st go 30 mins before. All in all, i think this series will be very good, not quite Darkplace, but then nothing is. And im not just talking TV shows there.

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[–] tgray79 18 years ago

Brilliant, sounds class. Cheers

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[–] classicuk 18 years ago

I saw the recording on the 22nd and I agree totally with what you say about the comparisons to KMKYWAP (Alan Partridge), more so than to Darkplace. But nobody's done this type of thing since then, and if that launched Partridge as a comedy icon, maybe it will do the same for Learner.

I think that this type of show is definately more mainstream so hopefully will appeal to a more wide spread audience (which should in turn provide more awareness for Darkplace). Personally I'm glad that they chose to use the characters from Darkplace rather than go in another direction. Here's hoping Sanchez is in there somewhere.

But anyway, I thought the show on Monday was hilarious. There are some genius bits in there and as a Darkplace fan, I absolutely loved it. Got my tickets booked for two more shows!!!

All the best to Richard and Matt with this one.

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[–] tgray79 18 years ago

Oh yeh, another question. What time did you get there, and were any people turned away or anything, as it says on the ticket that they oversubscribe the show.
Thanks

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[–] JammyB 18 years ago

I had priority tickets, so was guaranteed a seat if I got there before 6:30. I turned up at about 6ish and had a low number..You get numbers as you go in and those with the lowest get to sit nearer the front. They said there was seating for 200, but couldnt see if it was full or not, so don't know if people were turned away. If you haven't got a priority ticket, I think you can convert it ont the tvrecordings site by emailing them and quoting man to man...Or sometimes you get invited to be automatically entitled to a priority ticket.

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[–] thom_ohz 18 years ago

Was there last night(30th May)
It was great fun, same layout as the other nights from what i can tell
Matt played a ex Sci-fi (or S.F) star, was very funny and enjoyed the whole experience.
Richard really held his own, with great jokes and kept the audience amused when he mucked up. Meanwhile Matt was very serious about everything
The show was mixed in with different recordings linked to the episode, one had Matt Berry in, and when i bumped into him along tottenham court road the other week he said he was going to be involved.

Anyway...Might try and go to another one, if only there was a live studio for Dark places but i think that would have taken away from it

(sorry, verry bad spelling today!)

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[–] JammyB 18 years ago

I got the idea that Matt was very serious. Maybe he's shy. He did get pretty dispondent when he cocked things up a bit, but Richard interacted with the Audience a lot better.

****************SPOILERS***********************

So, so far in the series we have:

A a folk singer who never sold many records, made no money and ended up being ditched by his girlfriend after suggesting to an angry mob of fole fans that they used a heavier gauge guitar string to hang her with.

An ex motorsport racer now selling car parts with Dean Learner hiring and firing people in an Apprentice-style format

and an Ex sci fi star!

Anymore viewings that anyone's seen? I'm going again on the 7th with Priority tickets, should be awesome!

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[–] thom_ohz 18 years ago

Cool so we should get the whole layout for each show!
Im going again to the one on the 6th, should be good fun!
I pray Matt Berry is in one episode?! He has to be!
I would also love to see Matt playing Garth!
Anyways all good fun!
Someone please reprt back with tonights episode details!

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[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] thom_ohz 18 years ago

Yeah i think everyone in the audience felt the same way about that c u n t! I thought the pre-scene entertainer was good!
Can't wait for next tuesday!

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[–] JammyB 18 years ago

How can someone be such a low life they feel the need to try and upstage the guy at a free event, with free beer and great entertainment! What did this guy say? How did the audience react? Was the comedian the Bristolian fella?

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[–] gavhicks2000 18 years ago

I saw the ex former formula 5,000 racing driver one with matthew holness last week, i would like to add that it was pure genius and very very funny. I would like to know if Matt Berry is going to be in the series as would love to hear his "sanchez" voice from dark places again.

on the whole pretty damn good.

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[–] Jim_Miles 18 years ago

I saw this live at the Cambridge ADC in December, when they were still working on material. I throroughly enjoyed it - you can find my opinions here:

http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/jmiles/entry/deanos_after_dark/

I really look forward to the TV version.

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[–] chriscoates 18 years ago

***SPOILER ALERT***

We went last wednesday. Think it was for ep.4. Holness was Uri Gellar (under another name), who bent forks instead of spoons. He had mad hair and a great accent. Matt Berry showed up on some VT (not live, unfortunately), for two seconds and the audience started cheering like mad. I looked down at Ayoade and Holness and they had "that b*stard's upstaged us and he's not even here", grins on their faces.
The second take was messier, but they started cutting loose a bit, and trying to make each other laugh, some of it was really good.
Richard Ayoade didn't break character once; not when talking to the crew and not when talking to the audience between takes.
Me and my friends are already using quotes from the show in our conversations.
Favourite quote?
Dean Learner announced the end of the first half by saying;
"Do stay with us for part two. Unless you're in peril".

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[–] thom_ohz 18 years ago

Cool, cool, cool!
Im going again tomorrow, looking forward to it alot!
Im praying for Matt Berry tomorrow but maybe hes only going to appear on the VT
How was Matt Holness? Last time he was very serious while doing everything
But still a bag full of fun!

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[–] chriscoates 18 years ago

***SPOILERS***
I'd say Richard Ayoade was the more restrained, though it's not surprising with all the other stuff he must have had on his mind. In the second take though he was just trying to make Matthew Holness laugh. Holness kept screwing up and Ayoade didn't care if he put him off or not. He kept saying things like "Yes, Matt. It'll probably be funnier the eighth time". And the girl (there's a foreign model type who sometimes stands around), kept mis-pronouncing one of her lines.
He made her repeat it a million times and she just got worse and worse. In the end he told her to stop because "Now all I'm hearing is just a noise".

Oh, yeah, it also had VT of Holness as the psychic in a bath and talking the audience through relaxation techniques. Really funny.

___________________________________________________________________
Dean Learner: I had a cat once. I dropped a safe on it. It was a write-off, so I stood on its head.

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[–] JonnyTanna 18 years ago

she only had one line and the bloody Scandinavian couldn't even get it right! ONE LINE!
she should be "put on the next tug boat back to Helsinki"

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[–] JammyB 18 years ago

***************SPOILERS***********

I watched the final recordning of Man to Man and Matt Hollness played the oh so scary Garth Marenghi! Dean learner talks about the combining of Marenghi and himself to create a mixed genre of Horror and erotica, or Herotica and defining expressions such as "Scared Stiff" from Scary Porn.

Marenghi discusses his latest work, a film about Giant mutated wasps where he plays Ken Dagless (I think it was) brother of Rick Dagless. Matt Berry appears in a Stars Wars spoof clip.

Actually...I'll stop putting in semi help-ful spoilers, just wait till summer time and it'll be on the screens!

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[–] tom-newman 18 years ago

I saw last nights too, was amazing. Really lucky to have seen the Garth episode! 'Canvey... isalnd... arts centre...' haha.

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[–] chriscoates 18 years ago

Lol. To be fair though, she's only there to look pretty. And the second take, when she was made to say it over and over a zillion times, was priceless. They need to put that in the finished show. If anyone from Avalon is reading this; that bit just *has* to be in the actual show.

___________________________________________________________________________
Dean Learner: I had a cat once. I dropped a safe on it. It was a write-off, so I stood on its head.

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[–] thom_ohz 18 years ago

SPOILER******Tuesdays episode!

Was there on tueday where Matt played Garth aswell!
It was a tribute episode to Randolph Caer(also played by matt in VT), a hidious ex horror star who was ment to appear on the show but died before the filming. Other characters that mtt played also made appearances, the Uri Gellar guy, The F1 man and The ex Sci Fi(SF) star. it was so so funny.
They also filmed the trailers for channel 4 which richard made up on the spot.
Can't wait until its shown on tv! great stuff

Also! heres my theory. If Man to Man gets good ratings maybe a second series of Darkplace will be put into action?!
I Hope so.

Thom

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[–] chriscoates 18 years ago

I think they always do the random ad-break links at the end. They didn't have anything prepared at all. You could really tell. It was really, really, funny, but we were left thinking "Which one of those could they possibly use?".

I think the Uri Geller one is going to be a real grower. Everything about that character is spot on.

_______________________________________________________________________
Dean Learner: I had a cat once. I dropped a safe on it. It was a write-off, so I stood on its head.

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[–] tom-newman 18 years ago

Randolph Caer looks suspiciously like Randolph Carter which was pseudonym of HP Lovecraft I believe. Eugh i sound like a horror geek!

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[–] alxander50 18 years ago

is there any connection to dark place?

http://www.geocities.com/mrgiles15/KillerSocksposter3.bmp

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[–] Super_Fu_Manchu 18 years ago

Why do you guys just focus on Darkplace? Darkplace was great, but I'm happy they've moved on. It was a concept show, and the concept was played out to the full, there's really no need for a second series. This new project sounds exciting, can't we just get hyped up about this without worrying whether it will incur a new series of Darkplace?

Any more filmings taking place? I'd love to go along to one if someone would be so kind as to give me the heads up.

* IMMA STREET WALKIN CHEETAH WITH A HAND FULLA NAPALM! *

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[–] JammyB 18 years ago

The show is nothing like Darkplace at all and isn't about Darkplace. It's simply a spoof chat show with Matt Holness playing various character guests each week - The only Darkplace link is when Matt Holness plays the character of Garth Marenghi in a couple of episodes and discusses his humble portfolio of terror. Darkplace viewers will make other links, but firstime views of Ayoade and Holness will find this show equally funny, but some hidden and subtle humour will give Darkplace viewers an extra laugh here or there.

No more recordings, I believe they finished many moons ago now. I was lucky enough to see two being filmed, all I am now awaiting is a date for airing!

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[–] planet_bob 18 years ago

Thank you all for posting this info. I so hope it will make it to the states somehow. If more Darkplace doesn't come from it, okay (I guess). I just love the humor in it (along with the bad "cinematography", etc.). It's interesting that Richard is the funny one with Matt being the straight guy. I didn't really catch that with Darkplace. Any more info, please post! Thanks!

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