Graham ([info]tao_) wrote,
@ 2007-04-22 15:12:00
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The story so far...


The image “http://www.nedbatchelder.com/pix/itcrowd.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
...four episodes down, two to go. Rolling along happily at the moment; nice, warm audiences, cast in great form, feel like we're hitting the beats bang on ninety percent of the time. Making the first series, every episode was like episode one, in that each audience was being introduced to the characters and really only grasping the show towards the end of the night. Now, because everyone's seen series 1, they come in warmed up and ready to laugh.

Sometimes they're too ready. Last week, Moss's first line "Well done" was greeted by such a huge laugh, I'd thought one of the other actors might have done something off-screen that the audience had caught. But no, when we re-did the scene, there it was again, as if "well done" was somehow a brilliant catchphrase that I hadn't realised I'd created. We had to do it three times in the end, just to see if everyone would stop laughing. They didn't, so we're going to have to remove it in the dub (it's when you don't remove laughs like this that people start accusing you of using canned laughter).

Speaking of canned laughter, Chris O'Dowd tells me he saw a review for a comedy program that described it as being like another show "but with canned laughter".
 "Not only is there no canned laughter on the show," Chris told me. "There's not even a laughter track! It's all on location and they didn't show it to an audience!" But somehow, this reviewer watched it, heard laughter in his head and then decided that the laughter was fake! If this doesn't prove that you can't win in the studio-audience/no studio audience debate, I don't know what does.
 


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[info]joepublic
2007-04-22 03:21 pm UTC (link)
It's been agony not telling people about the "Well done" but I want them to see it for themselves.

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yukimaster
2007-04-22 05:23 pm UTC (link)
This is going to be fun to see on TV! :-)

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[info]andricongirl
2007-04-22 11:03 pm UTC (link)
excellent cant wait to see it
funny how real laughter is often taken for canned when watching shows on telly

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[info]fr0mthepast
2007-04-23 06:29 am UTC (link)
Brilliant! I really can't wait to watch it!

I could see Roy, wearing this t-shirt.

The canned/not canned debate is frustrating. Viewers should just sit down and enjoy the show, not worry about the people laughing.

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[info]fr0mthepast
2007-04-23 06:34 am UTC (link)
Hmmmm, the links not working. http://www.play.com/Clothing/T-Shirts/-/547/705/-/1015120/I_Read_Your_E_mail/Product.html

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DVD Extra
(Anonymous)
2007-04-23 08:59 am UTC (link)
I know it's a little early to talk about the DVD of series 2, but I thought of a good idea for a hidden extra.

How about a bit of audio in one of the menus (after a long silence) which could be played into a Spectrum, making it come up with a message / game / whatever. Various spectrum emulators take audio as input too, so you wouldn't need a Spectrum to view it.

Jake.
me@jakearchibald.com

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[info]nearside
2007-04-23 11:59 am UTC (link)
I'm assuming the situation had intentional humour, it's just that the reaction to it was much greater than intended, right?

If not, does that happen often? Is it something about the delivery (or deliverer) that does it?

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[info]tao_
2007-04-23 05:41 pm UTC (link)
Well, Rich has funny bones, but it was still weird.

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[info]tao_
2007-04-23 05:42 pm UTC (link)
...and yes, it does happen quite a bit. Certainly not complaining. Rather a warm audience than a cold one.

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[info]neobubble
2007-04-26 09:30 pm UTC (link)
My friend & I were lucky enough to go to the recordings on March 30th & April 20th. Enjoyed ourselves immensely, series two looks set to be amazing. Keep up the excellent work :)

(We appreciated being allowed to stand up half way through :)

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(Anonymous)
2007-04-27 06:10 am UTC (link)
I've been to two recordings, and I'm interested to read that the reason why we've sat through quite a few re-takes is that we were *too* ready to laugh. :)

I think you should see this as flattering, rather than worrying about the 'canned laughter' argument. People only use that as an excuse when they don't like a show. If you're laughing along, you don't notice the audience half the time.

This series is shaping up to be great, by the way. Me and my loved one laughed so much during the theatre scene that we'll probably cause you editing problems!

Tanya x

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[info]tao_
2007-04-27 07:23 am UTC (link)
Oh, gosh, please don't think I'm not grateful for the laughter! I have huge sympathy for our studio audiences, who sit for three hours (sometimes more) while a 24-minute show gets recorded. My comment on the 'well done' laugh was just to illustrate a point--that sometimes audiences are so enthusiastic that you can get laughs where you really don't need them (in fact, where they might do you some damage). We had to do the re-takes for many other reasons--boring technical stuff that you probably didn't even notice, but which a viewer at home would take as evidence that we are a group of klutzes in charge of a telly studio.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for responding to the show the way you did. I take it as a huge, huge compliment.

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[info]tao_
2007-04-27 07:25 am UTC (link)
looking at my original post, I see that i say we did the re-takes "just" to see if we could lose the laugh. Not true. Expedient bullshit to prove a point.

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Tired but Happy !!!
(Anonymous)
2007-05-06 12:08 am UTC (link)
Graham

Travelled down from Sunny Yorkshire, for last nights show, as it was the only one I could get to. It was well worth the trip, as it was up to your usual excellent standard. Even got dragged out to make an idiot of myself, by Patrick during the warm-up.

The cast were great, loved the new Denholm !!

Can't wait to see the rest of the series.

Have you started writing the third series yet?

Regards

Dave R.



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Re: Tired but Happy !!!
[info]tao_
2007-05-06 07:48 pm UTC (link)
Gis a chance! Haven't even cut this one together yet!

Thanks for the kind words.

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Re: Tired but Happy !!!
(Anonymous)
2007-05-17 04:02 pm UTC (link)
Apologies for rushing you Graham, but can't get enough of The IT Crowd.
Wanted to shake your hand at the studio the other week and thank you personally for this series and Father Ted, which is another of my favorite comedy shows; but didn't get the chance.

Do you know when the series 2 of the IT Crowd is to be aired?

Regards

David.

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Re: Tired but Happy !!!
[info]tao_
2007-05-17 07:43 pm UTC (link)
The latest air-date I've heard is September 12...

Sorry we never met but I really appreciate the kind words.

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