Phoenix Nights

petes · 20-11-2009 4:56pm #1

I watched this a couple of years ago and though it was great. I had no idea. I bought the box set there a couple of weeks back and I can't stop watching it. This is TV comedy at it's best in my opinion.

I am getting more and more jokes that I didn't get the first time around and the out takes are hilarious especially Max and Paddy - "What about Tommy dick fingers"!!

This is probably more of an appreciation post but to ask a question, does anyone out there not like it? Surely not!

Basq · 20-11-2009 5:00pm

Oh, there are probably plenty that don't like it.

But for me, it probably even surpasses 'The Office' as one of the best British comedies of the last 10 years!

Sammy The Snake:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DjTIiCJwCw

Young Kenny: Can't we disguise it?
Brian: Yeah Yeah, we'll put a wooly hat on it and say its you!

Superb!

fifth · 20-11-2009 5:01pm

Check out the spin off - Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere if you liked Phoenix nights.

Basq · 20-11-2009 5:02pm

funkyflea wrote: »

Check out the spin off - Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere if you liked Phoenix nights.

It was decent.. but far from the class of 'Phoenix Nights' unfortunately!

abouttobebanned · 20-11-2009 5:03pm

funkyflea wrote: »

Check out the spin off - Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere if you liked Phoenix nights.

Don't.

Shinyboots · 20-11-2009 5:04pm

funkyflea wrote: »

Check out the spin off - Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere if you liked Phoenix nights.

yea max and paddy is class......!!!!! ding dany do!

petes · 20-11-2009 5:04pm

funkyflea wrote: »

Check out the spin off - Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere if you liked Phoenix nights.

I've seen it. I just rang HMV in Dundalk to see did they have it and they do. Collecting it after work

Basquille, I have it above The Office (as good as it is) already,

I think my favourite character is Kenny Dawglaish, the compulsive liar. The stuff he comes out with is great!

Penn · 20-11-2009 5:05pm

Shinyboots · 20-11-2009 5:06pm

Insurgent wrote: »

I've seen it. I just rang HMV in Dundalk to see did they have it and they do. Collecting it after work

Basquille, I have it above The Office (as good as it is) already,

I think my favourite character is Kenny Dawglaish, the compulsive liar. The stuff he comes out with is great!

na, has to be Jerry St Clare!!!!

ronnie3585 · 20-11-2009 5:07pm

Tommy d*ck fingers!

So many one liners from a superb show. The Max and Paddy spin off wasn't a patch on Phoenix Nights.

petes · 20-11-2009 5:07pm

Shinyboots wrote: »

na, has to be Jerry St Clare!!!!

But I'm all clear!!

Shinyboots · 20-11-2009 5:10pm

Insurgent wrote: »

But I'm all clear!!

ha ha.....easy peasy...lemon sqeezy.....

Basq · 20-11-2009 5:20pm

Ahhh.. back when Dave Spikey was funny:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXHtokQ2bxc

It is a shame that Peter Kay is apparently still not talking to Dave Spikey and Neil Fitzmaurice.

Shinyboots · 20-11-2009 5:27pm

basquille wrote: »

Ahhh.. back when Dave Spikey was funny:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXHtokQ2bxc

It is a shame that Peter Kay is apparently still not talking to Dave Spikey and Neil Fitzmaurice.

didn't no that!!!! pity as it's class comedy........

Morgans · 20-11-2009 5:36pm

First series of Phoenix Night was very very good. Apparently Peter Kay accepted a BAFTA for best writing in a sitcom and never gave co-writer Spikey and Fitzmaurice any credit. I dont know if that was the actual cause of the disagreement or just a symptom of the breakdown in relationship.

Since Pheonix Nights, I havent liked any of Peter Kay's stuff. Max and Paddy was godawful with absolutely none of the charm of PN. Just set piece to set piece (wasnt there a girlfirend who was a dwarf in it) with little or none of the humour. Just awful, And then the X-Factor skit.

It doesnt take away from Pheonix Nights though. "Chorley FM, 'coming' in your ears." Second series not quite as strong as the first but very very good.

Shinyboots · 20-11-2009 5:37pm

Morgans wrote: »

First series of Phoenix Night was very very good. Apparently Peter Kay accepted a BAFTA for best writing in a sitcom and never gave co-writer Spikey and Fitzmaurice any credit. I dont know if that was the actual cause of the disagreement or just a symptom of the breakdown in relationship.

Since Pheonix Nights, I havent liked any of Peter Kay's stuff. Max and Paddy was godawful with absolutely none of the charm of PN. Just set piece to set piece (wasnt there a girlfirend who was a dwarf in it) with little or none of the humour. Just awful, And then the X-Factor skit.

It doesnt take away from Pheonix Nights though. "Chorley FM, 'coming' in your ears." Second series not quite as strong as the first but very very good.

Max - yea, she's a kinda midget.........................
Paddy - isn't that a Queen song?

haha......

Basq · 20-11-2009 5:39pm

Peter Kay's stand-up is absolutely superb if you've never seen it by the way.

A lot of sly references in Phoenix Nights (e.g "Garlic Bread"?)

petes · 20-11-2009 5:43pm

basquille wrote: »

Peter Kay's stand-up is absolutely superb if you've never seen it by the way.

A lot of sly references in Phoenix Nights (e.g "Garlic Bread"?)

It's the future. His stand up is brilliant. Do you wanna brew?

Basq · 20-11-2009 5:45pm

One of my first uploads on YouTube with almost a million views:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA0q_vkeoDA

Morgans · 20-11-2009 5:47pm

Pretty sure his best stand up is from the same era as Pheonix Nights. They "Mam wants a bungalow tour" and it is very good as was the earlier stuff. (That Peter Kay thing was good) For someone who was going to be absolutely huge at that stage, he has kept it pretty much low-key for the last 5 years. For whatever reason.

I dont get why garlic bread is so funny. I dont understand why it became a catch phrase. It was only mentioned once in the program. I suppose its whatever grabs the most people, but several funnier one-liners throughout.

grumpytrousers · 20-11-2009 5:49pm

It's quite sad the way Peter Kay has gone. Phoenix Nights was absolutely inspired and the forerunner - That Peter Kay Thing - was very good as well. Since then, however it's happened, he appears to have alienated Spikey and Fitzpatrick and tried to carry on the laughs himself.

I sat down to watch Max and Paddy when it ran originally, beer in hand, wanting to laugh and just feeling embarassed. It was buttock-clenchingly awful. Landfill comedy, pure and simple. The only good moment in it was when they brought back the other Phoenix Nights characters to spring the lads out of prison.

I dunno what to make of Kay. In a sense, he should stop NOW. If Phoenix Nights was all he'd ever be remembered for, it's a bloody good legacy. As things stand, he's just attained such success that people are afraid to tell him when an idea or a joke is just sh*te. I think that in Fitzpatrick and Spikey he had that; they must have ruthlessly worked on the PN scripts as there isn't a dull moment in there and the lines come at you thick and fast.

Contrast with the X factor parody he did and, once you look beyond the guest cameos and the piss taking of the format, it wasn't actually that 'belly laugh' funny as it thought it was.

Seems over at www.peterkay.co.uk that he's performing for a few nights in Manchester next year. Hope he gets his mojo back. I saw him live years ago and he was great but he needs to do something *more* now and i'm not sure what!

Shinyboots · 20-11-2009 5:51pm

Morgans wrote: »

Pretty sure his best stand up is from the same era as Pheonix Nights. They "Mam wants a bungalow tour" and it is very good as was the earlier stuff. (That Peter Kay thing was good) For someone who was going to be absolutely huge at that stage, he has kept it pretty much low-key for the last 5 years. For whatever reason.

I dont get why garlic bread is so funny. I dont understand why it became a catch phrase. It was only mentioned once in the program. I suppose its whatever grabs the most people, but several funnier one-liners throughout.

Jesus Wept!!!!

abouttobebanned · 20-11-2009 5:53pm

I agree grumpy, I saw him the other night that comec relief concert...he's put on some weight for starters! But I's pained me to see him churn out all his old material again and again. He's a shrewd business man, and like many shrewd business men, he's lost some good friends along the way.

Penn · 20-11-2009 6:01pm

The problem is that he's just coasting. How many different versions of the same stand-up tour can he possibly release? He released it on DVD, then released it again on DVD, but this one was the final show of the tour or something, then he released a DVD with the best bits from both, even though they're pretty much the same.

Then last year he released a DVD with clips of tv interviews and appearances he's done. I think there was something like 17 minutes previously unseen footage, but I don't think any of that was new. The only thing he's really done since Max and Paddy (apart from the Comic Relief songs) was the X Factor thing, and that really wasn't great. One or two funny bits, but... just not great at all.

Basq · 20-11-2009 6:02pm

With regards to his stand-up, he announced he was giving up stand-by a few years ago to focus on family. That plus the 180-night "Mum Wants A Bungalow" tour was some achivement.. and anyone would need a break after that.

Personally, I would consider myself a very big fan of Peter Kay.. but i've made my opinion of his recent stuff clear.

'The X Factor' parody wasn't funny.. tongue-in-cheek and accurate? Yes, but funny? No.

These "Best Of" DVD releases pain me. I own, in my mind, what is the essential Peter Kay DVD releases - the 2 Phoenix Nights series and his Live 2 DVD boxset (Top Of The Tower / Bolton Albert Hall). Everything since has been repackaging of bits of the two live DVD's above (and the "Live at Manchester MEN Arena" which is the same tour as "Bolton Albert Hall") into 55 minute packages.

The Peter Kay nowadays is a far cry from the talented man of the late 90's / early 2000's.

But in saying that, I would love to see the man live. He is still very witty and engaging in interviews - that hasn't changed - but I do think it's obvious Fitzmaurice and Spikey as owed as much credit as Kay for the absolute comedy gold that is "Phoenix Nights".

Bazzy · 20-11-2009 6:05pm

funkyflea wrote: »

Check out the spin off - Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere if you liked Phoenix nights.

I'm sorry but it was one of the best spin offs in a long time pure genius i even went and bought the pakistan cricket shirt!!

Penn · 20-11-2009 6:10pm

basquille wrote: »

But in saying that, I would love to see the man live. He is still very witty and engaging in interviews - that hasn't changed

Agreed. Him and Paddy on Who wants to be a Millionaire especially were brilliant. He is funny, no doubt about it. Like I said, he just needs to stop coasting

bullpost · 20-11-2009 6:11pm

I loved phoenix nights but when I saw his stand-up I just wasn't mad about it.
It was missing the surreal quality that gave pn that genius edge.

Shinyboots · 20-11-2009 6:12pm

paddyirishman85 wrote: »

Agreed. Him and Paddy on Who wants to be a Millionaire especially were brilliant. He is funny, no doubt about it. Like I said, he just needs to stop coasting

yea, the xfactor thing was crap....he's just puttn anything out there, the dvd's clips and books..........the stand up tour now should get him back to his best.....

Basq · 20-11-2009 6:17pm

bullpost wrote: »

I loved phoenix nights but when I saw his stand-up I just wasn't mad about it.

I think what makes his stand-up so great is it's just so well observed and true to life!

His stand-up is about his home-life growing up on Bolton.. but it may have well been a small town in Ireland.

Stuff like the "mum's buying crap cola" ("there's starving kids in Africa!", "send it to them, they won't drink it. They'll send it back - it's crap!") and ringing people and asking "what time is it over there?!" while on holidays - it's just so well-observed.

His stand-up is probably not for everyone.. but it shows that real funny stand-up doesn't need a swear word every 8 seconds to be funny (take note, Mr Tiernan!).

Actually.. this thread has made me wanna pop on one of the live shows later.

Shinyboots · 20-11-2009 6:19pm

basquille wrote: »

I think what makes his stand-up so great is it's just so well observed and true to life!

His stand-up is about his home-life growing up on Bolton.. but it may have well been a small town in Ireland.

Stuff like the "mum's buying crap cola" ("there's starving kids in Africa!", "send it to them, they won't drink it. They'll send it back - it's crap!") and ringing people and asking "what time is it over there?!" while on holidays - it's just so well-observed.

His stand-up is probably not for everyone.. but it shows that real funny stand-up doesn't need a swear word every 8 seconds to be funny (take note, Mr Tiernan!).

Actually.. this thread has made me wanna pop on one of the live shows later.

watched the bolton albert hall DVD bout a week ago....funny as hell.....mammmm.me biscuits fallen in me brewwww maammmm

Phoenix Nights

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