Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Chicagoland / Film / Performing Arts / Arts How to save journalism, Armando Iannucci edition
Posted by Whet Moser on 07.29.09 at 04:26 PM
You might have noticed that In the Loop, the new comedy directed by the great Scotland-born comedian Armando Iannucci, is one of our critic's choices this week. If you like it, it's worth reaching back into his catalog.
The Armando Iannucci Shows, a slept-on miniseries that premiered immediately after 9/11 and then languished for years because of music rights issues, is out on DVD but unavailable in region 1 format for reasons I will never understand or accept, but you can find them on YouTube or elsewhere. It's pretty unconventional sketch comedy - mostly dry, quiet, and loopy with bracing moments of profanity. Even calling it "comedy" is a bit misleading, depending on how you look at these things; not all of it's funny, or meant to be.
I especially like the more broad "Cockney Sunday Observer" bit, starring the great Alan Ford. I think anyone who's ever worked for a newspaper secretly wants to behave like this.
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