"I've fallen out me wheelchair"

This Ross and Brand thing is exasperating. Who'd work at the BBC now? What's really annoying is the reaction of the people you respect. Take Lucy Mangan in The Guardian. I'm a fan of her TV reviews and Cable Girl column, but then she writes this.

She didn't think it was funny, fair enough. But she takes a matronly tone (odd, as from her photo she definitely looks young enough to be a GDRBWLTF) and then compares what they did with other 'funnier' prank phone calls, listing examples of Peter Cook, Victor Lewis-Smith and Rory Bremner phoning up unsuspecting victims, including celebrities, pretending to be someone else.

Which is not the same thing at all.

Brand and Ross called up as themselves someone who had originally intended to be on Brand's show that day, and left a funny/inappropriate/offensive message, only to make it worse/funnier by phoning back to apologise.

I mean, what's the point if the jokes you're comparing are completely different? I'd have forgiven that, though, because they are funny examples, and it's worth repeating them. But then she says the funniest, actually she says 'greatest', prank caller was Jon Culshaw. Jon Culshaw! 

Every impression he does sounds like. Jon Culshaw! He's not even remotely funny and he constantly looks constipated, with a face you'd punch if you weren't certain he'd just turn around and do a really rubbish impression of you that's basically Jon Culshaw repeating something you just said. How on earth does he get to keep his job?

And to make matters worse, The Guardian's wonderful policy of outlining any updates or corrections to articles means we get to see that Lucy, the TV critic no less, originally referred to Lewis-Smith's brilliant hoax on the This Life office, rather than the That's Life office. Because a shakicam-heavy potty-mouthed genital warts 'n all drama about twentysomething lawyers and a one-for-all-the-family watchdog, campaigns and nudge, nudge, wink, wink comedy magazine show are so easily mixed up. She might just as well have referred to the show with the Irish fella and the big red book.

Speaking of which, I hated This is Your Life. The theme tunes for that and Sale of The Century still send bored 10-years-old shivers down my spine.

That Lewis-Smith call to That's Life is worth a listen. Mangan says reading about it makes her laugh, but why do that when you can use your lugholes here. 

I was hoping it would be on Youtube but no such like. Instead, there's this. And it's still current. Enjoy.