watching // moone boy

any hulu subscribers out there? i'm going on my third year without cable -- best decision ever! -- and have found plenty to watch between streaming netflix, hulu, and amazon prime on my xbox. one of the things i love about hulu (to offset my annoyance with the same commercials that are played over and over and over again [first world problem, i know]) is that they have a few britcoms that i can't find anywhere else.

because britcoms are important to me.

these hulu "exclusive" series (exclusive to US audiences, i presume) include spy, whites, pramface,  rev, and, most recently, moone boy. and can i tell you how much i love moone boy? so, so much.

moone boy follows martin moone, a lovable and eccentric 12-year-old boy from ireland and his much-older, always empathetic, slightly sarcastic imaginary friend, sean murphy, who is played by one of my absolute favorite actors, chris o'dowd. martin and sean conquer bullies, siblings, adolescence, and the corrupt altar boy gang in an endearing and often laugh-out-loud manner (man, that description sounds a bit like a tv guide write-up, but it's true. i am endeared.). and there's some pretty great guest stars, too - steve coogan and jessica hynes, to name a few!

i love that chris o'dowd is a writer and producer and that moone boy is semi-autobiographical. it kills me to think of how stinkin' cute chris o'dowd would have been as a weird kid growing up in ireland.

i just finished watching the first series and am thinking of re-watching it straight away. i don't even want to think of how long it will be until the second series is available stateside. i don't think i've fallen this hard for a britcom since peep show or gavin and stacey (and that's saying a lot because i love, love, love g&s and have watched it more times than i care to admit).

what are you watching? i'm looking forward to checking out the wrong mans next (and really, really wishing i could get a glimpse at twenty twelve and miranda)!

britcom boys & girls // james corden and ruth jones

this installation of britcom boys & girls features the co-writing comedy duo of james corden and ruth jones.

name: james corden
age: 32
best known for: the role of neil "smithy" smith on gavin & stacey and timms in the history boys (film, theater, and radio productions)

name: ruth jones
age: 44
best known for: the role of vanessa shanessa "nessa" jenkins on gavin & stacey and the role of myfanwy on little britain

james corden, self-described as "the chunky unit," began his acting career in 1997 with small roles on various television programs before landing the role of jamie rymer on the comedy-drama fat friends, which aired on ITV from 2000-2005. corden's teenage character is one of eight slimming club members whom the show follows.

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after a (very) brief appearance on little britain, corden found a recurring role as timms in alan bennet's play, the history boys, in 2004. he joined the cast for the international tour and reprised the role for the film adaptation in 2006.

welsh-born ruth jones had a late start in acting and only began picking up bit roles in the early-to-mid 1990s at the ripe old age (for actors, of course) of 30. jones' career first crossed paths with james corden in 2000 when she also landed a role on fat friends, playing the overweight bride-to-be kelly simpson/chadwick.

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after fat friends, ruth regularly appeared as myfanwy, llanddewi brefi's local barmaid and friend of welsh daffyd "the only gay in the village" thomas (played by the always awesome matt lucas). following little britain, she portrayed t-shirt printing magz, girlfriend to steve coogan's tommy saxondale in the comedy saxondale.

while both their careers were picking up, james corden and ruth jones remained unlikely friends and eventually began writing what started as a one-off play, it's my day. the idea soon transformed into what would become gavin & stacey, one of my all-time favorite britcoms. after introducing the show to my british comedy-loving friend, he told me, "there are two parts of my television life: before gavin & stacey and after gavin & stacey." i completely agree.

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the show follows the courtship and eventual marriage of young, happy, and handsome british gavin shipman and welsh stacey west. their sometimes shaky, always lovey-dovey relationship affects and brings together their families and closest friends, who, in my opinion, are the real stars of the show.

those closest friends, intended as comic foils to the saccharine main characters, are, of course, corden and jones, who play the fun-loving, but sensitive smithy and the darkly enigmatic nessa. smithy and nessa have a delicious love/hate relationship that quietly develops into the main focus of the show.

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corden and jones' writing is familiar and comfortable in the sense that what their characters say and do is so natural, normal, and universal that you can't help but feel at home with the cast; you really do end up emotionally attached to them. one of the things i kept thinking as i watched gavin & stacey for the first time (i began streaming the show on my iPhone right before bed one night and ended up watching all six episodes of the first series in one go) was how much i would have loved to be friends with nessa, smithy, the shipmans (gavin's parents), and the wests (stacey's mother and uncle). it's the same feeling i had as a child when my favorite aunts and cousins would visit. you just feel as if you're with family.

the show shies away from absurd plot lines, focusing instead on simple, everyday occurrences:

enjoying a take-away curry at home,

getting a mani-pedi from friends,

messing about with your mates,

and having a quick history lesson. even when they do nothing, you want to see them and hear what they have to say.

and they say the best things! the welsh contingent of the cast speak beautifully and use the most awesome and catching of phrases: oh! what's occurin'?, tidy, lush, crackin', fair play, i's not gonna lie to you, and so many more. a linguists dream.

i totally have this app.

like all good writers, james corden and ruth jones, both of whom won a british comedy award for their portrayals, knew to stop at the top of their game. after only three series (plus one christmas special) and several awards, gavin & stacey ended on new year's day in 2010.


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though corden and jones have both gone on to new and bigger projects, they remain the best of friends and occasionally hint at the possibility of a one-off return special. here's hoping. 

definitely make room on your queues for james corden and ruth jones. they are an amazing britcom boy and girl.

britcom boys & girls // richard ayoade

name: richard ayoade
age: 33
best known for: maurice moss, a.k.a. moss, on the it crowd


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born in ipswich, england, richard ayoade began writing plays and comedic sketches for his catholic boys' school before ending up at cambridge, where he joined the footlights, an amateur comedy troupe founded in 1883. starting in 2001 with the edinburgh fringe festival comedy award for co-writing the sci-fi/horror spoof garth marenghi's netherhead, he's won a string of awards for his comedic work, including nme's title of coolest guy in london. a self-proclaimed film nerd, he's self-deprecating, a low-talker, and would rather be behind the camera than in front.

when he's in front of the camera, though, nerd magic happens. in heaps. continuing his work in the garth marenghi franchise, he appears as fictional horror author garth marenghi's agent, dean learner, in garth marenghi's darkplace. the show is presented as a show-within-a-show, a never-aired 1980s television series with current day commentary by the "cast" and features all the great low-budget sets, clothes, and filming techniques of the era.


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you can catch most of the series on google video - score!




in addition to a recurring role in the mighty boosh as saboo, a belligerent shaman, ayoade is best known and loved (at least by me) for his role as moss on channel 4's the it crowd. maurice moss is a sometimes cowering, sometimes strident, always socially awkward, uber-nerd extraordinaire. he's pretty amazing.



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best moss moment? if i had to choose, the moss xp reboot. it's slightly genius.



the ayoade more comfortable behind the camera has made a name for himself, too. he's directed music videos for the arctic monkeys, the super furry animals, the last shadow puppets, vampire weekend, kasabian, and the yeah yeah yeahs.

his most current venture in writing and directing is the feature film submarine, adapted from joe dunthorne's prize-winning novel. the film received sparkling reviews at the toronto international film festival and is due to be released in spring 2011.

add richard ayoade to your personal queue! he's a brilliant britcom boy.

britcom boys & girls // new blog series

i'm embarking on a new blog series dedicated to my insane love of british comedies. believe it or not, i do have a few credentials for bringing britcom bits & bobs to the masses (or the small group who will actually enjoy my probably too-enthusiastic praise of those kooky brits): i've been a fan since middle school, i've spent a small fortune accumulating entire series dvd collections, and in grad school, i wrote a thesis-length report on and built a database for the fictitious bbc digital laugh initiative, a corporate library dedicated to preserving all forms and genres of british comedy.

and also? they make me laugh.

so please bear with me as i periodically present a few of my most favorite actors and actresses from the beeb.