Bill Bailey - The ultimate song about loneliness, love and loss

G' Brown

Brilliant: The National Money Hole

In The Know: Should The Government Stop Dumping Money Into A Giant Hole?

Obama: The Aftermath - at The Onion

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Chubby Chuckler

Not likely to set alight the internet with this post but let's face it, you've gotta embrace the baby love that's doing the rounds at the moment - it's more infectious than the Winter Vomiting Virus. This is bound to bring a smile to the face of even the most hardened cynics. Tom, you're clearly a very gifted comic.

Louis Theroux and the Survivalists

Spotted at BoingBoing - You can also see Louis Theroux and the:
Neo-Nazis , Westboro Baptist Church , Black Supremacists , Swingers, Body Builders, UFO Hunters, Apertheid Diehards in South Africa, Thai Brides, Gangsta' Rappers, Hypnotists, Televangelists, Wrestlers, Enlightenment, San Quentin State Prison.

4 Candles

The handwritten script for this classic 2 Ronnies sketch just sold for £48,500. Great stuff.

The rise of the idiots

Possibly the best half hour of comedy I've ever seen, episode 1 of Nathan Barley unrelentingly bashes the Big Brother Generation and also those who react against it. I can't help but feel challenged by this damning indictment of British popular and "alternative" culture. I think it's basically saying that whether we desire to embrace or reject this shocking dumbing down of society, we are all, in the end, idiots.

Peep Show

I've been awfully blogshy over the last couple of weeks, a state of affairs which isn't good, especially considering I'm responsible for instigating this chronicle. Jake has been waiting for me to post something because, after all, this is supposed to be The Bettany Blog not The Big Brother Blog (although now that I mention it a post condemning the evils of that wretched show might provide some outlet for me to vent my frustration at the mediocrity of popular television, but I digress) and recently he's been the only contributor.

Jake has entered into the spirit of this bloggish endeavour with more enthusiasm than the rest of us put together, which isn't so suprising really since over the last few years he has usurped me from the position I held undisputed during the early noughties as The Bettany Media Man, becoming very media savvy indeed... I still find it hard to believe that his multi-tasking skills are so profoundly tuned that he can work and watch TV simultaneously, but as business is booming I can't really criticise anymore!

So, what's he been watching recently while he's been working? After all the high quality TV (and admittedly not so high quality - Jericho was a bit of a stinker, but still I watched!) he's introduced to the family I'm pleased to say I've finally been able to give something back. I had to go all the way to Australia to discover Peep Show, which is a bit bizarre since it is a thoroughly homegrown British comedy. However, Jake and I both agree that Peep Show is very certainly the best sitcom since Extras... the fact that technically it came before Extras is, frankly, a trifling irrelevance.

This clip is actually the very first scene of the very first episode, which was screened on Channel 4 back in September 2003. Series 5 has just been commissioned and I'm downloading Series 4 as we speak! Although I'm tempted to synopsise the show for you by way of an introduction to it, I figure it's probably best you work it out for yourself.