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Hello! And welcome to Who Do You Blame Game For The Last Ten Years? | 0:00:25 | 0:00:31 | |
Yes, we're celebrating ten years of The Blame Game. | 0:00:31 | 0:00:35 | |
It was back in 2006 that Jake, Neil, Colin and I | 0:00:35 | 0:00:38 | |
started taking the hand out of our politicians. | 0:00:38 | 0:00:41 | |
And a mere year later, what happened? | 0:00:41 | 0:00:43 | |
Well, we had a power-sharing executive | 0:00:43 | 0:00:45 | |
and the Chuckle Brothers were born! | 0:00:45 | 0:00:48 | |
Coincidence? I don't think so. | 0:00:48 | 0:00:50 | |
But we didn't tell all the jokes all by ourselves, no, no, no. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:53 | |
We had help. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:54 | |
In fact, some of the biggest comedy stars today | 0:00:54 | 0:00:57 | |
had their first-ever TV break on The Blame Game. | 0:00:57 | 0:01:00 | |
When I first came over to Belfast about 15 years ago, wearing a poppy. | 0:01:00 | 0:01:06 | |
And I was doing a different job at the time. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:08 | |
I went to the Royal Victoria Hospital | 0:01:08 | 0:01:10 | |
and I came out at the back, on the Falls Road, | 0:01:10 | 0:01:13 | |
trying to flag a taxi. | 0:01:13 | 0:01:15 | |
Wearing a poppy, 15 years ago, trying to... | 0:01:16 | 0:01:19 | |
And none of the taxis would stop. | 0:01:19 | 0:01:21 | |
And I thought, "This is a bit strange, isn't it?" | 0:01:21 | 0:01:23 | |
Then I saw a black taxi that was empty | 0:01:23 | 0:01:25 | |
and I got in the back of it and sat there. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:27 | |
And then, some woman got in with three kids and a pram | 0:01:27 | 0:01:30 | |
and we still didn't move. | 0:01:30 | 0:01:31 | |
And then, an old bloke got in. | 0:01:31 | 0:01:32 | |
I thought, "Well, maybe this isn't my taxi." | 0:01:32 | 0:01:34 | |
I got outside, and as I got outside, this old dear said to me... | 0:01:34 | 0:01:37 | |
-MOUTHING: -"The poppy. | 0:01:37 | 0:01:39 | |
"Think you want to take that off." | 0:01:39 | 0:01:40 | |
I thought... Cos this was when you were beginning the peace process | 0:01:40 | 0:01:43 | |
and everyone was trying to not offend everyone. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:45 | |
I thought, they're taking it a bit far | 0:01:45 | 0:01:47 | |
if they don't want to offend the Germans. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:49 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:01:49 | 0:01:51 | |
And not just John Bishop. | 0:01:52 | 0:01:54 | |
This next fella looks like he was about 12 years old | 0:01:54 | 0:01:57 | |
when he made his first TV appearance. | 0:01:57 | 0:01:59 | |
I've actually a story this week. | 0:01:59 | 0:02:01 | |
It was about a student that drove his car | 0:02:01 | 0:02:04 | |
-through the wall of a police station. -It was a van, I think. | 0:02:04 | 0:02:08 | |
A van, sorry. | 0:02:08 | 0:02:09 | |
He drove with that much force | 0:02:09 | 0:02:10 | |
that the van actually embedded itself in the police wall, | 0:02:10 | 0:02:14 | |
and as he was being dragged from the wreckage... | 0:02:14 | 0:02:16 | |
What was he shouted? "I own the police. You're all sacked. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:20 | |
"The code is 1-2-3 - let me in." | 0:02:20 | 0:02:23 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:02:23 | 0:02:25 | |
As you do, yeah. | 0:02:27 | 0:02:29 | |
And as he was being sentenced for dangerous driving, | 0:02:29 | 0:02:31 | |
what he said was, "It wasn't dangerous. Mental, maybe." | 0:02:31 | 0:02:35 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:02:35 | 0:02:37 | |
As well as showcasing the comedy stars of the future, | 0:02:41 | 0:02:43 | |
The Blame Game also has some very famous fans. | 0:02:43 | 0:02:47 | |
Yes, I'm taking about a certain international sporting superstar. | 0:02:47 | 0:02:52 | |
That's right, ex-Cliftonville forward Liam Boyce. | 0:02:52 | 0:02:55 | |
What do you mean "it's not Liam Boyce"? Joe Gormley? | 0:02:57 | 0:03:00 | |
Well, who is it? Who? Ha! | 0:03:00 | 0:03:03 | |
Him? That's not even a sport. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:06 | |
I remember the one about Joel Dommett | 0:03:06 | 0:03:07 | |
talking about Christmas time | 0:03:07 | 0:03:09 | |
and his dad falling asleep in front of the TV. | 0:03:09 | 0:03:11 | |
There's this thing he does at Christmas that really annoys me. | 0:03:11 | 0:03:15 | |
He falls asleep in the middle of movies. | 0:03:15 | 0:03:17 | |
Now, obviously, like, families, we always watch... | 0:03:17 | 0:03:19 | |
He always falls asleep. | 0:03:19 | 0:03:20 | |
And you have to do this - this is what I do every year, | 0:03:20 | 0:03:22 | |
it's an amazing thing to do. | 0:03:22 | 0:03:24 | |
Every time they fall asleep during a movie, | 0:03:24 | 0:03:26 | |
don't wake them up - that is a rookie mistake. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:28 | |
What you have to do is get up, then change the film... | 0:03:28 | 0:03:32 | |
..to a film with the same lead actor in it. | 0:03:34 | 0:03:37 | |
Then sit back down and wake him up | 0:03:37 | 0:03:40 | |
and watch the confusion happen on his face. | 0:03:40 | 0:03:42 | |
-LAUGHTER -It's the funnest game. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:44 | |
We were watching, last year, Castaway with Tom Hanks in it. | 0:03:44 | 0:03:48 | |
Changed it to Philadelphia, right? | 0:03:48 | 0:03:50 | |
Like, oh, my God, how unlucky is this guy? | 0:03:54 | 0:03:56 | |
He finally gets off the island, now he's got AIDS. | 0:03:58 | 0:04:00 | |
You get an array of local comedians on there, | 0:04:02 | 0:04:04 | |
but you also have different comedians | 0:04:04 | 0:04:07 | |
that come on from different parts of the UK. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:10 | |
I guess, it's great to have so many different points of views | 0:04:10 | 0:04:15 | |
and opinions. And I think that's what makes it so great. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:18 | |
The thing about Marilyn... | 0:04:18 | 0:04:19 | |
-AS MARILYN MONROE: -Starts talking really quickly | 0:04:19 | 0:04:21 | |
in all her lines of dialogue, would spurt out word after word | 0:04:21 | 0:04:24 | |
and, all of a sudden, | 0:04:24 | 0:04:25 | |
she'd clamp her hand to her head and stop right there in her tracks. | 0:04:25 | 0:04:29 | |
Cos she'd realised she hadn't put any facial expression | 0:04:29 | 0:04:32 | |
in the previous two sentences. | 0:04:32 | 0:04:35 | |
So now, she'd have to slow right down, in order to fit in | 0:04:35 | 0:04:38 | |
as many contrasting facial muscular contortions as possible. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:43 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:04:43 | 0:04:45 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:04:45 | 0:04:47 | |
I've never known a panel game that kind of feels more like a live gig | 0:04:47 | 0:04:51 | |
than The Blame Game. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:53 | |
I'm going to do the rest of the show like Van would do it, | 0:04:53 | 0:04:55 | |
if he was on The Blame Game. Here we go. You crack on. | 0:04:55 | 0:04:57 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:04:57 | 0:04:59 | |
Physically, what you do on The Blame Game, which is very clever, | 0:05:03 | 0:05:06 | |
is your audience is closer, physically closer. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:10 | |
So, on Buzzcocks, there's a bit of a chasm with cameras in it, | 0:05:10 | 0:05:15 | |
and then you see them, but there's a lot of cameras. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:17 | |
Whereas, you... | 0:05:17 | 0:05:19 | |
The Blame Game is just shot from different angles | 0:05:19 | 0:05:21 | |
and gives you a much more... | 0:05:21 | 0:05:23 | |
"You're in the room with them and they're watching you" kind of feel. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:26 | |
So, it's got that live gig feel. | 0:05:26 | 0:05:27 | |
And obviously, that energy pushes what you're going to say | 0:05:27 | 0:05:32 | |
in a very different direction. It gives you more latitude. | 0:05:32 | 0:05:35 | |
HE SHOUTS GIBBERISH | 0:05:35 | 0:05:38 | |
Wah! Goldfish! | 0:05:38 | 0:05:39 | |
"Goldfish"! LAUGHTER | 0:05:39 | 0:05:41 | |
HE SHOUTS GIBBERISH | 0:05:43 | 0:05:45 | |
You're fired! | 0:05:45 | 0:05:46 | |
So, how does The Blame Game actually work? | 0:05:50 | 0:05:52 | |
Well, basically, we sit around telling jokes for about 90 minutes, | 0:05:52 | 0:05:55 | |
then we hand the recording to the BBC. | 0:05:55 | 0:05:58 | |
And then, they take out all the swearing. And the rude bits. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:02 | |
Ooh, and the bits that make the lawyers go... | 0:06:02 | 0:06:04 | |
HE GASPS "You can't say that!" | 0:06:04 | 0:06:06 | |
That's what I love about it, | 0:06:06 | 0:06:07 | |
is that it's dangerous and it's unexpected, | 0:06:07 | 0:06:10 | |
and you're always thinking, there's that sense of anticipation, | 0:06:10 | 0:06:12 | |
how far will they go? | 0:06:12 | 0:06:14 | |
Just time now for our quickfire round. | 0:06:14 | 0:06:15 | |
I will read you various newspaper headlines, | 0:06:15 | 0:06:17 | |
and unlike an on-the-run Republican, I want you to finish your sentence. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:22 | |
LAUGHTER AUDIENCE: Oh... | 0:06:22 | 0:06:25 | |
MUTED APPLAUSE | 0:06:25 | 0:06:28 | |
There was a smattering of applause there. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:30 | |
A lot of Republicans over there. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:32 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:06:32 | 0:06:34 | |
"Three Reasons To Die." | 0:06:36 | 0:06:39 | |
Larne, Lisburn, Strabane. | 0:06:39 | 0:06:40 | |
LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE | 0:06:40 | 0:06:45 | |
"Nod And A Wink." | 0:06:45 | 0:06:47 | |
Man in toilet mishears George Michael. | 0:06:47 | 0:06:50 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:06:50 | 0:06:53 | |
It does surprise me sometimes that they're so open and so honest. | 0:06:54 | 0:06:58 | |
I think they have all of this built up inside them, | 0:06:58 | 0:07:01 | |
especially if there's been a big political... | 0:07:01 | 0:07:04 | |
An event or some sort of a controversy. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:06 | |
And they're building this up and building this up | 0:07:06 | 0:07:08 | |
and they just...whoosh, spew it all out. | 0:07:08 | 0:07:11 | |
And sometimes, it surprises me what they say, | 0:07:11 | 0:07:14 | |
that they're blatantly honest. | 0:07:14 | 0:07:16 | |
But we're all sitting at home saying, | 0:07:16 | 0:07:18 | |
"You're right, you're right. You can say it. I can't". | 0:07:18 | 0:07:22 | |
I think audiences here are probably slightly darker | 0:07:22 | 0:07:26 | |
and I think all comedians are slightly darker than average, | 0:07:26 | 0:07:30 | |
so I think that's why comedians like playing here. | 0:07:30 | 0:07:32 | |
Obviously...they like the political stuff, | 0:07:32 | 0:07:35 | |
obviously they like the talking about the local stuff. | 0:07:35 | 0:07:38 | |
But I think, because there's a good mix between us, | 0:07:38 | 0:07:40 | |
you know what I mean? | 0:07:40 | 0:07:42 | |
If it was just to be all that, it would get tedious after a while. | 0:07:42 | 0:07:45 | |
So, we've all got our wee roles, do you understand? We've all got... | 0:07:45 | 0:07:49 | |
I'm, basically, the grumpy old man that they tear apart, | 0:07:49 | 0:07:53 | |
when he makes mistakes about words or pronunciations or facts... | 0:07:53 | 0:07:57 | |
Facts - they're very big on facts. They like things to be right | 0:07:57 | 0:07:59 | |
and I don't know why that is. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:00 | |
But that seems to be my role. | 0:08:00 | 0:08:03 | |
He's whimsy and he's a cheeky southerner. | 0:08:03 | 0:08:06 | |
Prince Philip has carpal tunnel syndrome. | 0:08:06 | 0:08:08 | |
Which is better than Princess Diana's Mercedes tunnel syndrome. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:11 | |
AUDIENCE: Oh... | 0:08:11 | 0:08:13 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:08:13 | 0:08:16 | |
That was interesting. An "ooh", and then a clap. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:20 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:08:20 | 0:08:22 | |
The Blame Game is something I grew up with. I used to love watching it. | 0:08:22 | 0:08:26 | |
Again, like, talking about the humour, | 0:08:26 | 0:08:29 | |
it's very close to the line | 0:08:29 | 0:08:31 | |
and, sometimes, nearly oversteps the line, | 0:08:31 | 0:08:33 | |
but for an Irish comedy show, I think it's been so popular | 0:08:33 | 0:08:39 | |
and it's something I used to love watching. | 0:08:39 | 0:08:41 | |
Steven Gerrard was asked what his favourite cheese was, | 0:08:41 | 0:08:43 | |
and he went "Melted." | 0:08:43 | 0:08:44 | |
LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE | 0:08:44 | 0:08:49 | |
It's not just celebrities. | 0:08:51 | 0:08:53 | |
I think fans, kind of, do stupid stuff, as well. | 0:08:53 | 0:08:56 | |
Like, I used to steward at a football club. | 0:08:56 | 0:08:58 | |
I won't say which one, cos it always divides people, | 0:08:58 | 0:09:01 | |
but I'll give you a clue - it rhymes with "middle cl-arsenal". | 0:09:01 | 0:09:04 | |
Yeah, they are a bit prissy over at Highbury. | 0:09:06 | 0:09:08 | |
But, yeah, so I had a permanent position, | 0:09:08 | 0:09:11 | |
and behind me there was this one guy who just couldn't get | 0:09:11 | 0:09:13 | |
his head round the inflection of this particular chant. | 0:09:13 | 0:09:15 | |
Everyone else was going, "Who are ya?" | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
But he just couldn't get it. | 0:09:17 | 0:09:18 | |
He was going, "Who are you?! Who are you?!" | 0:09:18 | 0:09:21 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:09:21 | 0:09:23 | |
We'll have an idea of what's in the news, | 0:09:23 | 0:09:25 | |
so you'll have an idea what they're going to ask. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:27 | |
You've read the papers, you've kept up with what's going on, | 0:09:27 | 0:09:31 | |
but the vast majority of the time, I think, | 0:09:31 | 0:09:33 | |
when it takes off is when we go off. | 0:09:33 | 0:09:37 | |
It isn't scripted - you can't script this show. | 0:09:37 | 0:09:40 | |
There's no way we can script this show. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:42 | |
We'd have to be the best actors in the world to be able to, like... | 0:09:42 | 0:09:46 | |
Cos that's the thing, you've got... | 0:09:46 | 0:09:49 | |
You're supposed to... "Keep your powder dry". | 0:09:49 | 0:09:52 | |
-That's the phrase, isn't it? -Yeah. | 0:09:52 | 0:09:54 | |
So you know, we'll chat and talk about things, and... | 0:09:54 | 0:09:57 | |
The way anybody does about the news. And then you have an idea. | 0:09:57 | 0:10:00 | |
And then you go, "Oh," and then you start writing things. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:02 | |
Then you know when somebody's got an idea whenever | 0:10:02 | 0:10:04 | |
-they stop talking and start writing. -Like that. -And then, "What is it?" | 0:10:04 | 0:10:08 | |
"No, nothing." And then, so... | 0:10:08 | 0:10:10 | |
But you have to try and get that in. | 0:10:10 | 0:10:13 | |
But the fun of it is whenever one of us jumps in and goes, | 0:10:13 | 0:10:18 | |
"I'm going to take it over here," | 0:10:18 | 0:10:20 | |
because the chances of bringing it back to where you want to go are... | 0:10:20 | 0:10:23 | |
Or if you ever see... | 0:10:23 | 0:10:24 | |
Sometimes we have the same idea, so if you see Colin... | 0:10:24 | 0:10:26 | |
Say Jake is talking about something and Colin writes something down | 0:10:26 | 0:10:29 | |
and I write something down and then Colin does it, | 0:10:29 | 0:10:31 | |
and you see me just going... | 0:10:31 | 0:10:33 | |
Just crossing it out. | 0:10:34 | 0:10:36 | |
It's interesting if, like me, you've followed The Blame Game | 0:10:36 | 0:10:39 | |
all the way through, and at first they were in... | 0:10:39 | 0:10:42 | |
I'm not saying they were dowdy, but it was a bit grungy. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:45 | |
You know, you had the sweatshirts or the jumpers or the shirts. | 0:10:45 | 0:10:49 | |
Now it's, you know, Mr Armani McGarry, | 0:10:49 | 0:10:53 | |
and Neil is exactly the same. | 0:10:53 | 0:10:55 | |
They have the shirt... Even waistcoats. Did I see Jake...? | 0:10:55 | 0:10:58 | |
Yeah, Jake, I think, loves the waistcoats. | 0:10:58 | 0:11:00 | |
Dog gives away owner's hiding place to cops. | 0:11:04 | 0:11:07 | |
-GRUFF VOICE: -She's in here! | 0:11:07 | 0:11:09 | |
She's under the bed! | 0:11:14 | 0:11:16 | |
HE HUMS | 0:11:24 | 0:11:26 | |
The great thing about The Blame Game is that we're basically | 0:11:29 | 0:11:32 | |
one big family, which means we hate each other's guts, | 0:11:32 | 0:11:36 | |
slag each other off and turn like a pack of wolves | 0:11:36 | 0:11:39 | |
on anyone who shows weakness. | 0:11:39 | 0:11:41 | |
Belfast Castle, you find them wandering up around the Cave Hill, | 0:11:41 | 0:11:44 | |
"Can I see the castle?" It's not really a castle. | 0:11:44 | 0:11:46 | |
But what are the letters? KFL? | 0:11:48 | 0:11:49 | |
-Cave Hill. -Cave Hill. | 0:11:49 | 0:11:51 | |
Oh, Cave Hill. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:53 | |
I'm sorry. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:54 | |
I will speak slower for you. | 0:11:56 | 0:11:58 | |
I know it is difficult to understand. | 0:11:59 | 0:12:01 | |
Cave...Hill. | 0:12:01 | 0:12:03 | |
-Not Cavehill. -Well, let me tell you, | 0:12:03 | 0:12:05 | |
if I was saying run, you would run. | 0:12:05 | 0:12:08 | |
East Belfast, you can't... | 0:12:09 | 0:12:11 | |
They're having to redirect planes landing at George Best Airport. | 0:12:11 | 0:12:16 | |
Tango 24, Tango 24, pull up, pull up! | 0:12:16 | 0:12:19 | |
That's Donegall Road! That's Donegall Road! | 0:12:20 | 0:12:23 | |
What kind of pilot is guided in by a...? | 0:12:23 | 0:12:26 | |
They have one of those. | 0:12:26 | 0:12:27 | |
Like, they have one of those, | 0:12:27 | 0:12:29 | |
they don't have one of those in the plane. | 0:12:29 | 0:12:31 | |
They do have one of those! | 0:12:31 | 0:12:33 | |
-Hello? -Operator, operator! | 0:12:33 | 0:12:35 | |
Put me through to the flying machine contraption. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:38 | |
Angels 15, Angels 15. | 0:12:38 | 0:12:41 | |
HE HUMS RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES | 0:12:41 | 0:12:44 | |
It's the idea of bringing them from here and then | 0:12:51 | 0:12:53 | |
some German guy turns up and goes, "Hello! How are you?" "Erm..." | 0:12:53 | 0:12:57 | |
I'm here to tell you that you have been dumped. | 0:12:57 | 0:13:00 | |
I don't know why I am suddenly speaking in this weird... | 0:13:00 | 0:13:03 | |
The Vatican has criticised a German bishop | 0:13:05 | 0:13:08 | |
for spending £26 million on his residence. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:10 | |
Yes, it's the new frugal Vatican. | 0:13:10 | 0:13:13 | |
Can't wait till they have to... | 0:13:13 | 0:13:14 | |
Can't wait until they have to redo the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:18 | |
-Two tonnes of... -The Lord has struck you down! | 0:13:18 | 0:13:20 | |
Struck you down! | 0:13:20 | 0:13:22 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:13:22 | 0:13:24 | |
The power of Christ compels me! The power of Christ compels me! | 0:13:32 | 0:13:37 | |
Did you see the Catholic brain melting? | 0:13:37 | 0:13:39 | |
50 Shades Of Pray. | 0:13:43 | 0:13:45 | |
I'm going to try and read this again. | 0:13:47 | 0:13:49 | |
This joke isn't even worth it. | 0:13:49 | 0:13:51 | |
My touchstone in life is coming back home to Northern Ireland | 0:13:52 | 0:13:57 | |
and realising that people do find things funny. | 0:13:57 | 0:14:00 | |
Because having spent 30 years of my career working in | 0:14:00 | 0:14:04 | |
quite a liberal environment in England, | 0:14:04 | 0:14:08 | |
particularly in London, the banter thing doesn't happen. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:12 | |
Increasingly the banter thing is taboo, it's not supposed to happen. | 0:14:12 | 0:14:16 | |
It's as if everything to do with banter is like bullying, | 0:14:16 | 0:14:20 | |
it's racist, it's... | 0:14:20 | 0:14:22 | |
Oh, you know, you're xenophobic, you're, you know, whatever. | 0:14:22 | 0:14:26 | |
And suddenly you get back, | 0:14:26 | 0:14:27 | |
and the thing that we have here is that we can do the banter | 0:14:27 | 0:14:31 | |
and it's not necessarily sneering, it's ridiculous. | 0:14:31 | 0:14:35 | |
You know, other programmes, other satirical programmes, | 0:14:35 | 0:14:37 | |
it's all very sneering, it can be quite evil, | 0:14:37 | 0:14:40 | |
it can be quite looking down on people. | 0:14:40 | 0:14:43 | |
I actually think we just look at each other. | 0:14:43 | 0:14:46 | |
We say, look, really, we do do this, and why do we laugh at it? | 0:14:46 | 0:14:49 | |
Because we realise we do do it. | 0:14:49 | 0:14:51 | |
And that's the thing about The Blame Game - | 0:14:51 | 0:14:54 | |
it's observational humour | 0:14:54 | 0:14:55 | |
and they're observations that we can't deny. | 0:14:55 | 0:14:59 | |
Bin collecting here, it's the campest thing. | 0:14:59 | 0:15:01 | |
Since the wheelie bin introduction, right? | 0:15:01 | 0:15:03 | |
You know, being a bin man was a manly job, it was a heavy, hard... | 0:15:03 | 0:15:06 | |
-Big wobbly thing over the shoulder. -Big thing, oh, grr! | 0:15:06 | 0:15:09 | |
Walking like John O'Dowd to the bin lorry. Arrrgh! | 0:15:09 | 0:15:12 | |
And that was hard, unbelievably physical work. | 0:15:12 | 0:15:15 | |
And now it's wheelie bins and it's just sort of "wha-poom". | 0:15:15 | 0:15:18 | |
Machine - "whee-boomf". | 0:15:18 | 0:15:20 | |
I'm knackered. | 0:15:20 | 0:15:22 | |
You know, and I had to chase the bin lorry about... Oh, months ago. | 0:15:22 | 0:15:26 | |
I missed... | 0:15:26 | 0:15:27 | |
You know you hear the lorry going down the road and you go, "Bins!" | 0:15:27 | 0:15:30 | |
I'm running out and it'd gone down the road and they won't come back, | 0:15:30 | 0:15:33 | |
so you have to chase them down the road. | 0:15:33 | 0:15:34 | |
It is the campest thing I have ever done. | 0:15:34 | 0:15:37 | |
Running with two bins, you look like the beginning of | 0:15:37 | 0:15:39 | |
The Sound Of Music, running down the road. | 0:15:39 | 0:15:42 | |
Would you empty these, please? | 0:15:43 | 0:15:45 | |
And when you got there and then they go, "It's brown bin, mate, sorry." | 0:15:45 | 0:15:50 | |
I think one of the funniest moments was during | 0:15:50 | 0:15:52 | |
the Sports Personality of the Year award, | 0:15:52 | 0:15:55 | |
whenever Colin Murphy tried to get stuck into Tyson Fury. | 0:15:55 | 0:15:59 | |
And it just showed, he really doesn't have a clue about sports. | 0:15:59 | 0:16:03 | |
I didn't know who this man was until that fight thing that happened | 0:16:03 | 0:16:08 | |
a couple of weeks ago. I'd no idea, I'm not into sport. And... | 0:16:08 | 0:16:11 | |
-You'd never guess. -No, really(?) No! | 0:16:11 | 0:16:13 | |
And the Tyson Fury thing I thought was, you know, a state of mind. | 0:16:13 | 0:16:16 | |
I didn't realise it was his name. I thought it was going to be, | 0:16:16 | 0:16:19 | |
"Tyson Fury, Tyson Happy, Tyson Hungry." | 0:16:19 | 0:16:22 | |
I didn't realise that was his actual name. | 0:16:24 | 0:16:27 | |
And... | 0:16:27 | 0:16:28 | |
You could have thought he was one of the Fureys, like Finbar Furey. | 0:16:28 | 0:16:31 | |
Erm, yeah, and it turns out he's not and he's a boxer man. And he's... | 0:16:31 | 0:16:36 | |
Boxer man! | 0:16:36 | 0:16:38 | |
I say! | 0:16:38 | 0:16:39 | |
He won some boxing game. | 0:16:41 | 0:16:42 | |
I believe that's an accurate description of it there. | 0:16:45 | 0:16:48 | |
Comedian Mark Steel was a regular on the programme. | 0:16:48 | 0:16:51 | |
Last time he joined us in Derry-Londonderry | 0:16:51 | 0:16:54 | |
during the UK City of Culture, | 0:16:54 | 0:16:56 | |
and Mark had a few things to say about Northern Ireland's | 0:16:56 | 0:16:59 | |
peculiar love of murals and street art. | 0:16:59 | 0:17:02 | |
Well, I say art... | 0:17:02 | 0:17:04 | |
The murals as well, | 0:17:08 | 0:17:09 | |
oh, it's spectacular, very poignant and so on. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:11 | |
But it reminded me of... | 0:17:11 | 0:17:12 | |
I did a joke when I came here a long time ago and the joke is ruined now. | 0:17:12 | 0:17:16 | |
But I never realised, | 0:17:16 | 0:17:18 | |
I never anticipated why the joke would be ruined. | 0:17:18 | 0:17:20 | |
The joke was, I said, the graffiti over here is just extraordinary. | 0:17:20 | 0:17:24 | |
It's not like London at all. | 0:17:24 | 0:17:25 | |
-In London you get graffiti and someone will put -BLEEP | 0:17:25 | 0:17:28 | |
-with -BLEEP -spelt wrong and stuff like that. | 0:17:28 | 0:17:30 | |
But over here you've got all this spectacular... | 0:17:30 | 0:17:33 | |
It's like you've got a whole city of Rolf Harrises running round. | 0:17:33 | 0:17:36 | |
-AUSTRALIAN ACCENT: -Do you know what it is? | 0:17:36 | 0:17:38 | |
A little guy from the UVF with a little Armalite rifle. | 0:17:38 | 0:17:41 | |
And I thought, well, | 0:17:41 | 0:17:42 | |
maybe one day that joke will be ruined for historical reasons. | 0:17:42 | 0:17:45 | |
I never realised it would be ruined | 0:17:45 | 0:17:47 | |
because Rolf Harris would be taken in... | 0:17:47 | 0:17:49 | |
You were right about the political stuff, | 0:17:52 | 0:17:54 | |
but it's serving the audience here, you know? | 0:17:54 | 0:17:56 | |
Like, there's nobody else doing that and that's why I think it appeals. | 0:17:56 | 0:17:59 | |
Like, you know, Have I Got News For You isn't going to talk about | 0:17:59 | 0:18:02 | |
what's happening to Royal Avenue or what's happening in Derry | 0:18:02 | 0:18:05 | |
or in Armagh or whatever, so that's why... | 0:18:05 | 0:18:06 | |
People want to hear about what's going on down the street, | 0:18:06 | 0:18:09 | |
that's why it's so successful, I would have thought. | 0:18:09 | 0:18:11 | |
I suppose serious news and current affairs and comedy, satire are... | 0:18:11 | 0:18:16 | |
In a way they're complementary. | 0:18:16 | 0:18:18 | |
You know, it works like that in America, | 0:18:18 | 0:18:19 | |
it works like that across the rest of Europe and the UK | 0:18:19 | 0:18:22 | |
and it works very well on the island of Ireland too. | 0:18:22 | 0:18:25 | |
And I think in a good, civilised society, decent democracy, | 0:18:25 | 0:18:29 | |
those two should go hand in hand. | 0:18:29 | 0:18:31 | |
Politicians don't always like the big political interviews on | 0:18:31 | 0:18:34 | |
the serious programmes and I imagine they don't particularly like | 0:18:34 | 0:18:37 | |
the mickey-taking that goes on on a programme like The Blame Game. | 0:18:37 | 0:18:42 | |
But that's what's meant to happen, | 0:18:42 | 0:18:44 | |
that's the way it's meant to be, | 0:18:44 | 0:18:45 | |
and if you weren't asking difficult questions | 0:18:45 | 0:18:47 | |
in a politics programme and if you weren't making fun | 0:18:47 | 0:18:50 | |
and lampooning the politicians on a programme like The Blame Game, | 0:18:50 | 0:18:53 | |
then you might as well, you know, pack up your camera and go home. | 0:18:53 | 0:18:57 | |
Protests are like catnip for politicians in Northern Ireland. | 0:18:57 | 0:19:01 | |
You have a march or a protest, | 0:19:01 | 0:19:03 | |
they will pop up and they're running about. | 0:19:03 | 0:19:06 | |
Nigel Dodds, Nigel Dodds up in Ardoyne, running about, | 0:19:06 | 0:19:11 | |
trying to get his picture taken like a lunatic, know what I mean? | 0:19:11 | 0:19:14 | |
The whole day Nigel was doing it large. | 0:19:20 | 0:19:23 | |
The whole time going, "My people, my people are behind me!" | 0:19:23 | 0:19:28 | |
Brick. Oh! | 0:19:28 | 0:19:30 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:19:31 | 0:19:33 | |
A show like The Blame Game is a release valve. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:39 | |
I doubt that anywhere in the United Kingdom, anywhere in Europe, | 0:19:39 | 0:19:43 | |
maybe anywhere else in the world there is such a fascination | 0:19:43 | 0:19:47 | |
and a concentration on news and news events and politics. | 0:19:47 | 0:19:51 | |
We are so politically aware in Northern Ireland | 0:19:51 | 0:19:54 | |
compared to most places. | 0:19:54 | 0:19:56 | |
But let's face it - it's ridiculous, a lot of it's ridiculous. | 0:19:56 | 0:20:00 | |
I have spent years of my life since 1982 presenting news programmes. | 0:20:00 | 0:20:05 | |
How often do I want to turn to the camera and say, | 0:20:05 | 0:20:08 | |
"Just bear with me, you may think I'm joking about this. | 0:20:08 | 0:20:11 | |
"But, honestly, this really did happen." | 0:20:11 | 0:20:14 | |
And a show like The Blame Game is that release. | 0:20:14 | 0:20:18 | |
Of course news is ridiculous but, in a news environment, | 0:20:18 | 0:20:22 | |
you can't say that. You should be able to say that. | 0:20:22 | 0:20:24 | |
News should be interesting, it should be very controversial, | 0:20:24 | 0:20:27 | |
but it's also very funny. | 0:20:27 | 0:20:28 | |
You just can't be funny on a news programme, | 0:20:28 | 0:20:31 | |
but you can on a satire programme. | 0:20:31 | 0:20:33 | |
Gerry Kelly! Gerry Kelly! | 0:20:33 | 0:20:36 | |
Invented a whole new sport! | 0:20:36 | 0:20:38 | |
Land Cruiser surfing. | 0:20:40 | 0:20:42 | |
LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE | 0:20:42 | 0:20:47 | |
A perfect... perfect example of hubris, right? | 0:20:47 | 0:20:50 | |
Gerry was caught up in the protest, | 0:20:50 | 0:20:52 | |
and he wanted to talk to one of the policemen in the police Jeep, | 0:20:52 | 0:20:55 | |
and Gerry... "Police Jeep! Pull over! | 0:20:55 | 0:20:57 | |
"Pull your police Jeep over!" | 0:20:57 | 0:20:59 | |
Policeman drove on. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:02 | |
Second police Jeep. "Gerry Kelly! Do you know who I am?! | 0:21:02 | 0:21:04 | |
"Policing Board! Pull your Jeep over!" | 0:21:04 | 0:21:08 | |
Police jeep drove on. Third police Jeep. | 0:21:08 | 0:21:11 | |
Gerry stepped out in front of it. | 0:21:11 | 0:21:13 | |
"Pull your... ARGH! ARGH! | 0:21:13 | 0:21:14 | |
"Stop! Stop! Stop, will you?! Stop! Stop, please! Stop!" | 0:21:16 | 0:21:19 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:21:19 | 0:21:21 | |
But you just don't have to be an MLA or a city councillor | 0:21:21 | 0:21:25 | |
to get a slagging. No, no, no. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:27 | |
On The Blame Game, everybody and everything | 0:21:27 | 0:21:30 | |
is a legitimate comedy target. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:33 | |
It was about blood donations and all the rest, | 0:21:33 | 0:21:35 | |
and some guy from Carrickfergus texted in and went, | 0:21:35 | 0:21:39 | |
"I am 78 and I wouldn't take a gay man's blood | 0:21:39 | 0:21:42 | |
"if I was on my deathbed." | 0:21:42 | 0:21:44 | |
And you think... | 0:21:44 | 0:21:45 | |
"Good." | 0:21:45 | 0:21:46 | |
It's very contemporaneous. | 0:21:49 | 0:21:51 | |
Whatever's happened during the week, | 0:21:51 | 0:21:53 | |
whatever's happened the day before the show, | 0:21:53 | 0:21:55 | |
you can be guaranteed that the guys are going to include it | 0:21:55 | 0:21:59 | |
in some form, twist it around, make comedy out of it. | 0:21:59 | 0:22:04 | |
And I think that's ingenious, actually. | 0:22:04 | 0:22:07 | |
I think it's very, very clever. | 0:22:07 | 0:22:09 | |
It shows how good they are as comedians, | 0:22:09 | 0:22:11 | |
that they can react so quickly, | 0:22:11 | 0:22:13 | |
and be alert to whatever's going on in society. | 0:22:13 | 0:22:16 | |
Because we are all part and parcel of it, especially newspeople - | 0:22:16 | 0:22:20 | |
we're dying to hear how they're going to treat it. | 0:22:20 | 0:22:23 | |
I really genuinely hope that that man needs blood at some point | 0:22:23 | 0:22:26 | |
because, you see, if there's a shortage of blood here, | 0:22:26 | 0:22:28 | |
you will accept blood from Northern Ire...er... | 0:22:28 | 0:22:30 | |
from England and Wales and Scotland, | 0:22:30 | 0:22:32 | |
where they do allow gay men to give blood. | 0:22:32 | 0:22:34 | |
So that guy doesn't know. | 0:22:34 | 0:22:36 | |
So he'll be lying on the bed and you're going, | 0:22:36 | 0:22:37 | |
"We're going to play homosexual roulette! | 0:22:37 | 0:22:41 | |
"Now, look at this. What do you think of this? | 0:22:41 | 0:22:43 | |
"Look at this red blood. Bit pink. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:45 | |
"Ooh, you'll never know, will you? Let's check. | 0:22:45 | 0:22:47 | |
"Oh, it has platelets? Yes, it does. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:49 | |
"Red blood cells? yes, it does. | 0:22:49 | 0:22:51 | |
"Glitter?! Wait a minute!" | 0:22:51 | 0:22:53 | |
This is like a slot machine. | 0:22:55 | 0:22:56 | |
You're going to pull down the handle and take your chances, | 0:22:56 | 0:22:59 | |
but YOU don't want three fruits to appear. | 0:22:59 | 0:23:01 | |
LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE | 0:23:01 | 0:23:05 | |
When the guys can tap into something that we all experience, | 0:23:05 | 0:23:08 | |
that we all observe, that we all have opinions about, | 0:23:08 | 0:23:10 | |
and maybe can't articulate, that is when you hit gold. | 0:23:10 | 0:23:15 | |
I loved the flags. I thought that was just such a clever... | 0:23:15 | 0:23:19 | |
..piece of comic genius, to be honest. | 0:23:20 | 0:23:22 | |
It absolutely nailed everything that we all hold so dear. | 0:23:22 | 0:23:27 | |
I mean, it was brilliant. | 0:23:27 | 0:23:29 | |
He came in with the notion that we're going to do the flags thing, | 0:23:29 | 0:23:32 | |
and he wanted all these wee flags made. | 0:23:32 | 0:23:34 | |
And he got the flags made and he was all chuffed, | 0:23:34 | 0:23:36 | |
-he knew it was going to go well. -Yeah. -Knew it. | 0:23:36 | 0:23:38 | |
-I didn't know it! -You did know. | 0:23:38 | 0:23:39 | |
You knew, "This is bulletproof. This is bulletproof. | 0:23:39 | 0:23:42 | |
"This is going to wreck the place." | 0:23:42 | 0:23:44 | |
And he had his wee props and everything. | 0:23:44 | 0:23:46 | |
He was all proud of his wee props, and he was sitting there going, | 0:23:46 | 0:23:49 | |
"This is going to be brilliant, I've got props and jokes and everything." | 0:23:49 | 0:23:52 | |
And then... Have you got one of them with you? | 0:23:52 | 0:23:54 | |
And then he produced his little props, right? | 0:23:54 | 0:23:56 | |
And he had his little props and he's there going, | 0:23:56 | 0:23:58 | |
"Oh, these are brilliant. Got these things here." | 0:23:58 | 0:24:00 | |
And then I said to him, at the last minute, | 0:24:00 | 0:24:02 | |
whenever he was sitting, ready to go. | 0:24:02 | 0:24:05 | |
-With no glasses, probably. -And he had them all like this. | 0:24:05 | 0:24:07 | |
And I said, "You do realise... | 0:24:07 | 0:24:09 | |
"they're only printed on one side?" | 0:24:09 | 0:24:12 | |
And then you could see his face going... | 0:24:12 | 0:24:15 | |
"What?! What?!" Just as the camera's about to roll. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:18 | |
Cos I thought he's going to... I shouldn't have said anything. | 0:24:18 | 0:24:21 | |
-I should have just let him go. -That would've been hilarious! | 0:24:21 | 0:24:23 | |
LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE | 0:24:23 | 0:24:26 | |
-This is not a flag. -Right. | 0:24:26 | 0:24:29 | |
This is... | 0:24:29 | 0:24:30 | |
"..a fleg!" | 0:24:30 | 0:24:31 | |
"A fleg!" | 0:24:32 | 0:24:33 | |
-With you. -The people who have this fleg... | 0:24:33 | 0:24:36 | |
Suddenly, the people who like this fleg... | 0:24:37 | 0:24:40 | |
..took this fleg down off the City Hall. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
Nobody noticed it was there until they took it down. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:49 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:24:49 | 0:24:51 | |
Then... | 0:24:54 | 0:24:55 | |
..six weeks of mayhem! Six weeks of mayhem | 0:24:56 | 0:24:59 | |
because the people who love this flag are going, | 0:24:59 | 0:25:01 | |
"They have taken my fleg! | 0:25:01 | 0:25:03 | |
"My flag! They have taken my identity! | 0:25:03 | 0:25:07 | |
"I don't know who I am any more." | 0:25:07 | 0:25:09 | |
Flags are more complicated, cos you may be in a part of Belfast, | 0:25:10 | 0:25:13 | |
you will see that flag, but we don't just go for two flags - oh, no. | 0:25:13 | 0:25:15 | |
Not in Belfast, no, no, no. We like lots of flags. | 0:25:15 | 0:25:18 | |
We love lots of flags. | 0:25:18 | 0:25:20 | |
You'll get that flag. You get that flag, and you'll also... | 0:25:21 | 0:25:24 | |
On this side, you'll also get that flag. | 0:25:24 | 0:25:26 | |
CHEERING | 0:25:26 | 0:25:28 | |
Even though both those flags are already in that flag! | 0:25:28 | 0:25:30 | |
They don't know their flags are already in that flag. | 0:25:30 | 0:25:34 | |
Not to be outdone, the lunatics with this fleg... | 0:25:34 | 0:25:38 | |
they decided to adopt this fleg. | 0:25:38 | 0:25:40 | |
APPLAUSE | 0:25:40 | 0:25:44 | |
Oh, yes. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:45 | |
"Because they are brothers in the revolution. | 0:25:47 | 0:25:50 | |
"They are similar to us, | 0:25:50 | 0:25:51 | |
"only with a suntan. They are with us, you know?" | 0:25:51 | 0:25:54 | |
So, because these ones took that fleg, | 0:25:54 | 0:25:56 | |
these ones then took that fleg. | 0:25:56 | 0:25:58 | |
Because my enemy's enemy is my friend. | 0:25:59 | 0:26:02 | |
Can you imagine being a tourist wandering through Belfast, | 0:26:02 | 0:26:04 | |
try to work out what's going on? | 0:26:04 | 0:26:06 | |
What really works about it is it looks effortless, | 0:26:06 | 0:26:08 | |
but also it taps into something that I think's very clever, | 0:26:08 | 0:26:11 | |
which is the way North Ireland people, I think, | 0:26:11 | 0:26:14 | |
are bit obsessed about themselves being the centre of the universe, | 0:26:14 | 0:26:17 | |
and they try to draw everybody else and every other conflict | 0:26:17 | 0:26:19 | |
and every other political situation into the Northern Ireland situation. | 0:26:19 | 0:26:23 | |
And, in fact, if you look at a world map, | 0:26:23 | 0:26:25 | |
you struggle to find Northern Ireland. | 0:26:25 | 0:26:27 | |
This is a very small place. Um... | 0:26:27 | 0:26:29 | |
But we seem to connect | 0:26:30 | 0:26:32 | |
with all of these other huge areas of conflict | 0:26:32 | 0:26:35 | |
and huge political stories. | 0:26:35 | 0:26:38 | |
And I think people in Northern Ireland quite like doing that. | 0:26:38 | 0:26:40 | |
I think Jake tapped into that very cleverly, | 0:26:40 | 0:26:43 | |
in that particular sequence. | 0:26:43 | 0:26:45 | |
But it gets better! | 0:26:45 | 0:26:47 | |
Then this flag gets involved. | 0:26:47 | 0:26:49 | |
The Italian flag. | 0:26:49 | 0:26:51 | |
Do you know why the Italian flag got involved in all this? | 0:26:51 | 0:26:53 | |
-I think you do. -Tell me. | 0:26:53 | 0:26:55 | |
Willie Frazer can't tell the difference between those two flags! | 0:26:55 | 0:26:59 | |
LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE | 0:26:59 | 0:27:03 | |
Willie Frazer! | 0:27:04 | 0:27:05 | |
Now, God love Willie. | 0:27:07 | 0:27:09 | |
A haircut from the 1960s and a brain from the 1690s - I love Willie. | 0:27:10 | 0:27:15 | |
Willie saw this flag, the Italian flag, | 0:27:15 | 0:27:17 | |
in a primary school and mistook it for this flag. | 0:27:17 | 0:27:19 | |
What was Willie...? What was Willie doing in a primary school? | 0:27:19 | 0:27:21 | |
I don't really want to know | 0:27:21 | 0:27:23 | |
what Willie was doing at a primary school. | 0:27:23 | 0:27:25 | |
Better than going home for lunch. | 0:27:25 | 0:27:27 | |
So Willie said it was a Proddie training camp for youth. | 0:27:27 | 0:27:30 | |
Because, like Batman, like Batman and Robin, | 0:27:30 | 0:27:33 | |
you have to have... You have Willie and Jimmy Bryson. | 0:27:33 | 0:27:36 | |
Now Jimmy does not call it a flag or a fleg. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:40 | |
Jimmy calls it a fwag. | 0:27:40 | 0:27:42 | |
LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE | 0:27:42 | 0:27:45 | |
"They have taken my fwag. | 0:27:45 | 0:27:47 | |
"They have taken my fwag away. Where is my fwag? | 0:27:47 | 0:27:50 | |
"I tawt I taw a puddy tat. | 0:27:50 | 0:27:52 | |
"Did the puddy tat take my fwag?" | 0:27:52 | 0:27:54 | |
LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE | 0:27:54 | 0:27:57 | |
So... | 0:27:59 | 0:28:00 | |
..Richard Haass has arrived, and he wants to know from the public | 0:28:02 | 0:28:06 | |
what we could possibly do to help the situation. | 0:28:06 | 0:28:10 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:28:11 | 0:28:14 | |
I think that that kind of open-ended nature of The Blame Game, | 0:28:18 | 0:28:22 | |
the culpability, the fact that we've not found out, | 0:28:22 | 0:28:24 | |
after ten years, who is to blame... | 0:28:24 | 0:28:26 | |
-Perfect show. -HE LAUGHS | 0:28:27 | 0:28:30 | |
Well, that's it. Ten years of The Blame Game. | 0:28:31 | 0:28:34 | |
And, as you can see, | 0:28:34 | 0:28:35 | |
I'm the only one to have kept my youthful good looks. | 0:28:35 | 0:28:39 | |
What? | 0:28:39 | 0:28:40 | |
Until next time, don't blame yourselves, blame each other. | 0:28:40 | 0:28:43 | |
Goodbye. | 0:28:43 | 0:28:44 |