Marcus Brigstocke:
Planet Corduroy
“Enter
the Supreme Ruler
of Planet Corduroy,
Marcus Brigstocke —
looking for all the world
like a supply teacher
and hanging an entire
irreverent show on the
virtues of corduroy!”
FOLLOWERS OF MARCUS BRIG-STOCKE —
the star of The Late Edition and News Knight—
will know what's in store for them
in Planet Corduroy, his first
stand-up show now out on DVD.
The show opens with a film featuring tea-pickers, accompanied by a witty dialogue
with the assurance that all the jokes on the DVD are "one hundred per cent organic…
farmers like these have been paid a fair price for the gags they produce. Organic,
locally-sourced, fair-trade jokes. Partially recycled."
The yellow Corduroy planet, encircled by Saturn-like rings, is made from some
of the largest gauge corduroy in the world, and it forms the backdrop of Marcus
Brigstocke's show. Marcus states: "If you object
to any of the content of this film then… Good. It would be creepy and wrong
if anyone agreed with all of it…"
You've got it. Following a totally sold-out run with a live version of his television
show The Late Edition at the Edinburgh Festival this year, Marcus Brigstocke
—
the award-winning stand-up comedian from We Are History, News Knight,
Have I Got News For You and BBC Radio 4's The Now Show —
released his first DVD, Planet Corduroy, on 19 November (SonyBMG).
Directed by Geoff Posner (Little Britain), Planet Corduroy was
recorded at the Shaw Theatre, London, on the 18 and 19 September. Marcus also
went on tour with his show Your Time Is Up.
Marcus is the king of satirical comedy. There's not much that hasn't come under
his comedic gaze with blisteringly funny results —
Climate Change, Religious Extremism, Immigration, Loan Companies, That Special
Relationship, Compensation Culture, Women's Magazines, The EU and David Blaine
—
not to mention his own personal battle against his middle class roots. (I said
not to mention…).
Marcus has fun with Sharia law, fellow Londoners, the Olympics —
which, he says, nobody wanted until we thought the French were going to get
it (Paris? I don't think so, son!). On immigration —
illegal
or otherwise —
he envisages Pole-vaulting in Dover and on sharing values with America ("we
don't"), he saw their response to a people turning guns on crowds as: "If the
others had had guns, too, this wouldn't have happened!" Marcus speaks with some
irony, as if by making a mockery of a situation —
however serious —
it brings attention to it. You don't feel that he is entirely without feeling,
rather that he has his own pet hates.
He mocks: "I know America loves me, 'cos he told me." He also draws attention
to the compensation culture: It works in the 'States, he says, but in Britain
you could be laying on a zebra crossing nearly dead, apologising to the driver
for denting his four-by-four and daring to walk out in front of him!
Other countries come in for it, too. "There is a movement for one European history
book," he jests. "Written by the Germans." And Ireland, he says, "has learned
to play Europe like a little fiddle."
As well as for the last three years hosting The Late Edition on BBC4,
Marcus's television appearances are numerous. He was in BBC 2's Excuse My
French learning French (alongside Esther Rantzen and Ron Atkinson) and then
performing stand up in French to a discerning Parisian crowd.
After several years as the 'angry young man' on the BBC Radio 4's The Now Show, Marcus is regularly heard in the 6.30pm slot on
Radio 4. He has written and recorded three series and four specials of Giles
Wemmbley-Hogg Goes Off (GWH was also seen on television at Glastonbury earlier
this year in a special programme for BBC4). Marcus has written and performed
three series of The Museum Of Everything, and appears on Just A Minute,
Newsquiz and The Today Program.
He's funny and he's charismatic. But if you can't accept a liberal sprinkling
of bad language, crude gestures and very irreverent jokes, this DVD won't be
for you. However, if you are a fan of Marcus Brigstocke and know and love his
brand of humour, don't miss it.
•
Marcus Brigstocke: Planet Corduroy is out now on DVD (released
19 November 2007 from SonyBMG). Running time 65 minutes approx | Cat: 88697169
| barcode: 886971696196.
"Dazzling, Inspired, perfectly observed. I've yet to see anything funnier" —
The Daily Telegraph
"Planet Corduroy has to be his most outstanding achievement so far. This
is corduroy with cutting edge" —
Malcolm Hay, Time Out
"Intelligent, dark subtle stuff" —
The Observer
Happily married to his university sweetheart and a proud father of two, Marcus
lives in South London. He is committed to non-violence and
is an active campaigner for CND and Campaign Against Arms Trade. He once accidentally
had a number 11 chart hit. It is worth saying that Marcus also worked (very
briefly) as a podium dancer, and also on an oil rig in the North Sea (although
not as a dancer!). He is fanatical about snowboarding —
so much so that he will be the artistic director of the 2008 Altitude Festival
in Mirabel —
and he adores music and movies.
As well as touring and filming The Late Edition, there's also a trip
to
the Arctic with Cape Farewell, which brings artists, scientists and educators
together to address and raise awareness about climate change. No empty gesture
this; he will be attempting to sail the 78th parallel between Northern Greenland
and the melting Arctic Ice Sheet, which has opened for the first time due to
global warming.
Each day he will be writing a newspaper column from the boat and filming a documentary
of the trip, which also includes climate scientists, oceanographers and various
artists and writers, including Vikram Seth. For more information about this,
check out capefarewell.com.
“Enter
the Supreme Ruler