Maxine Peake is magnificent in Adrian Shergold’s unflinching drama about a standup on the 70s northern club circuit
There are several moments in this astringently uncomfortable tragicomedy – which boasts a blistering central performance by Maxine Peake – that will leave audiences squirming and divided. Funny Cow follows the changing fortunes of a standup comic finding her feet in the northern working men’s clubs of the 70s. It has been described by writer and co-star Tony Pitts as “an unblinking obituary” and “unsentimental commentary” on the culture in which he grew up. Some will be shocked by Peake’s “Funny Cow” (we know her only by her stage name), winning round hostile audiences with un-pc gags that were once the backbone of the British club circuit. Others will simply nod in resigned recognition at this hard-knocks world in which “it’s not about being funny, it’s about surviving”.
There...
There are several moments in this astringently uncomfortable tragicomedy – which boasts a blistering central performance by Maxine Peake – that will leave audiences squirming and divided. Funny Cow follows the changing fortunes of a standup comic finding her feet in the northern working men’s clubs of the 70s. It has been described by writer and co-star Tony Pitts as “an unblinking obituary” and “unsentimental commentary” on the culture in which he grew up. Some will be shocked by Peake’s “Funny Cow” (we know her only by her stage name), winning round hostile audiences with un-pc gags that were once the backbone of the British club circuit. Others will simply nod in resigned recognition at this hard-knocks world in which “it’s not about being funny, it’s about surviving”.
There...
- 4/22/2018
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
We interview Michelle Gomez about slapstick, stand-up, Steven Moffat, playing Doctor Who's Missy, and her new web series...
Michelle Gomez, seen last year as Doctor Who’s havoc-causing, murderous Missy, has a memorable history of bananas TV roles behind her. There’s been Green Wing’s Sue White, Bad Education’s Pickwell, and more recently Psychobitches’ meth-head Mary Queen Of Scots and projectile-vomiting Margaret Thatcher.
If you were to make a Venn diagram depicting the crossover between deeply funny and fundamentally unhinged TV characters, you'd likely end up with just a .gif of Gomez, gnashing her teeth and riding a camel.
In new web series Heather’s American Medicine, she takes on another comic persona, that of a straight-talking online agony aunt doling out highly questionable advice to America’s troubled citizens.
We caught up with Gomez, whose take on The Master is confirmed to be returning to Doctor Who this year,...
Michelle Gomez, seen last year as Doctor Who’s havoc-causing, murderous Missy, has a memorable history of bananas TV roles behind her. There’s been Green Wing’s Sue White, Bad Education’s Pickwell, and more recently Psychobitches’ meth-head Mary Queen Of Scots and projectile-vomiting Margaret Thatcher.
If you were to make a Venn diagram depicting the crossover between deeply funny and fundamentally unhinged TV characters, you'd likely end up with just a .gif of Gomez, gnashing her teeth and riding a camel.
In new web series Heather’s American Medicine, she takes on another comic persona, that of a straight-talking online agony aunt doling out highly questionable advice to America’s troubled citizens.
We caught up with Gomez, whose take on The Master is confirmed to be returning to Doctor Who this year,...
- 6/4/2015
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
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