Year: 2017
Director: Michael Cumming
Its pretty fair to say that Chris Morris’ ‘Brasseye’ series arrival in January 1997 was like a bomb going off in my head. I was at university and awaited the series starting the year before for it only to be pulled from the schedules at the last moment. I watched the first episode alone and thought I would die from laughing. After showing it to my housemates it became a weekly event as the series aired – I have never seen a room of people laugh so much – people were crying, exploding and convulsing – helpless. I am guessing this is how Python hit the student population in the 60s except we often rewatched the show immediately as we had missed lines drowned out by laughter. In the final year of my degree I used Brasseye as the subject of my dissertation. Yes – that’s how I spent your tax dollars, mercifully without tuition fees.
Oxide Ghosts is an hour of cream from series director Michael Cummings box of mouldy old VHS tapes featuring 70 hours of often timecoded, film and studio rushes. He has assembled a documentary that attempts to show a little of the one off man mental behind the curtain plus some of the material that didn’t make the legal or physical edit. The only thing I can compare it to for a comedy fan like me is watching Bob Dylan recording session of one of your favourite albums and getting the false starts, the goofy bits, lost verses and music plus him explaining how he wrote some of the song.
So we get an extended section of the infamous Peter Sutcliffe Musical that was hinted at on the DVD complete with a song. The Reggie Kray call which earned them a visit from “one of the boys”, extra bits of Cake, Chris inadvertently making an elephant piss itself, more bothering of drug dealers whilst in nappy and space hopper hat. A couple of things didn’t really work and were trying too hard to be tasteless but I laughed constantly and loudly throughout
There was also a real thrill of seeing Chris Morris break character or just burst out laughing as he’s cultivated this image of being serious and remote, rarely does interviews or explains himself. Extended versions of broadcast scenes demonstrated his improvisational skills and his commitment to his art.
The film was followed by a Q&A with Cummings where he expanded a bit more on how he put the film together, that Toyah was the only celebrity who refused to read out the nonsense they gave her to say, how they could never do the show today mostly thanks to the loopholes closed up as the result of their duping skills. He was clearly delighted that 20 years on the show is still remembered and celebrated but wonders if some news programme makers who aped its bombastic style knew that it was supposed to be a joke.
Might appeal to people who enjoyed:
The only way you will ever see this film is at screenings like the one I attended with 200 other fans. Chris saw and approved of the footage being seen but he and Cummings believe that in a world where everything is available at the click of a mouse that the film should be something you have to get off your backside and go see. Screenings are beings held all over the UK and Ireland for as long as there are people who want to see it.
The Good Doctor says
That’s stimulated my Shatner’s Bassoon and I shall check out this reminisci-package asap
retropath2 says
Loved it! A favourite was the american correspondent, talking over the slightly odd green tinged colour US TV seemed to have in clips of the time.
Rigid Digit says
Brilliantly done.
I am reminded of a conversation at work when one of my older colleagues had seen the Bomb Dog bit on The Day Today, and believed it to be true
(this was obviously the only bit they saw).
If you do something with enough confidence and gravitas, the absurd becomes people’s truth.
Brass Eye took that absurd to another level of believability
Gatz says
The show which was meant to be a warning of where TV news was heading, but was instead treated as a design guide by real news programmes. Ted Maul disturbs …
Arthur Cowslip says
It was really prescient, wasnt it?
I have to admit I preferred Blue Jam and Jam though. Flotation tank comedy that challenged and reflected the absurdities of modern life in a less frenetic and pointed way than Brass Eye. A feast of awkwardness and anxiety – mmmmmm.
DogFacedBoy says
Blue Jam was ace to listen to live when it went out at 1am as you were tired so let it was over you like evil mental fog
GCU Grey Area says
On The Hour and The Day Today are wonderful. I’ve seen Brass Eye a couple of times, and don’t think its quite as good. I get the feeling that C4 gave him a lot more latitude with Brass Eye, compared to what the BBC gave him for OTH and TDT. For me, Brass Eye seems very ‘chilly’ compared to its predecessors.Clever, squirmy watching, funny – yes, but not as endearing as the Day Today. Perhaps the other writers and producers on TDD helped.
DogFacedBoy says
The BBC commissioned Brasseye and viewed the ‘Animals’ pilot that they paid for. They said they could only broadcast the first 90 seconds of what had been produced. So Channel 4 “bought” the pilot off the BBC and gave them the green light for a series.
The idea was for it to be a solo current affairs spin off show for Chris’ news anchor character from The Day Today. Much more a Morris mindfuck than the team dynamic of The Day Today (which is equally fucking genius) or On The Hour.
cleanersvenus says
It’s Cumming, not Cummings. He’s a lovely bloke. I once spent a very long and enjoyable evening with him at Martin Newell’s house and he introduced me to the work of Jake Thackray. I’ve been a fan ever since.
DogFacedBoy says
Yes I know – allow me a couple of random ‘s’ and misplaced ‘ in a late night review
cleanersvenus says
Chortle. My only brush with Chris Morris was when he tried to sell me tickets to the Divine Comedy gig I was attending. It was the night they recorded ‘A Short Album About Love’.
Pessoa says
Great and prescient stuff, but I agree that On the Hour and The Day Today are wittier, and Blue Jam ( the radio version) was his cleverest effort. The celebrity send ups were not undeserved, but seem a bit too easy.
DogFacedBoy says
People remember the celeb spoofing to a greater degree than it was present in the show
Cumming said the only one he felt slightly guilty about was Darcus Howe as he and Chris had a great but unfunny hour of verbal jousting between two great mind and debaters where Chris tried to get Howe to accept a silly concept but Howe kept skilfully slipping out of reach.
dkhbrit says
I loved all his stuff but agree that Brass Eye (which was still very good() wasn’t as good as TDT. I think when it started to morph into being edgy and controversial it lost some of its charm and strength.
DogFacedBoy says
Since when did comedy have to be charming or warm? And it’s not the subjects that are controversial but the reaction that treating subjects rarely used for comedy produces.