Can Ant+Dec do nothing wrong?

13

Comments

  • angelafisherangelafisher Posts: 4,150
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    konebyvax wrote: »
    Imo it takes a special talent to transform what are in some respects below average ideas for shows to be must watch shows only due to the presence of the presenters. Even though they are not really in the same genre, I do actually rate them as their Morecambe and Wise of their era (in fact, a few of their 'sketches' in this current series of SNT have shamelessly aped some of M&Ws best ever sketches). They are, quite simply, absolutely brilliant at what they do. The fact that they also seem so 'real' and so not 'up themselves' is merely an added bonus.

    I'd agree with that.

    Must follow the lead of an earlier poster too...off to YouTube to look at Wonkey Donkey clips!!
  • Cyril_SneerCyril_Sneer Posts: 2,314
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    So i like them, and they do have a natural chemistry, and they are nice guys.

    As far as what's "real" though, they are scripted and rehearsed down to the tiniest detail - and they don't write their own lines. All the "natural banter" you see is for the most part given to them (originally actually at times by David Walliams and a few others). This goes right the way across all their shows.

    They HATE their past. So much so, they bought up the rights to their music and old shows (especially Byker Grove) so they could control when it was shown. What is happening with LGRTR is interesting because they deliberately tried to take their songs out of the public domain. Very occasionally they have gone along with doing one-off's a few times - like this - so either they are mellowing or they went along with it because they knew it would be turned into a viral thing and promote the show which is obviously suddenly getting a massive ratings boost they want to keep up.

    The public do love them, and they are put across well on TV. I think videos going "viral" are just as much about the marketing of it to the public - if theres loads of things in the press saying "get them to number one, its amazing - the best thing ever" - to a degree, when its a name like Ant and Dec they will go and have a look.
  • kitten12kitten12 Posts: 3,505
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    I do not dislike them at all and they do what they do, well.

    However, I am a bit bored of them and like all ITV stars (Schofield for example) they are rammed down our throats at every opportunity.

    However I do not see many challengers to their crown.
  • Vodka_DrinkaVodka_Drinka Posts: 28,740
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    So i like them, and they do have a natural chemistry, and they are nice guys.

    As far as what's "real" though, they are scripted and rehearsed down to the tiniest detail - and they don't write their own lines. All the "natural banter" you see is for the most part given to them (originally actually at times by David Walliams and a few others). This goes right the way across all their shows.

    They HATE their past. So much so, they bought up the rights to their music and old shows (especially Byker Grove) so they could control when it was shown. What is happening with LGRTR is interesting because they deliberately tried to take their songs out of the public domain. Very occasionally they have gone along with doing one-off's a few times - like this - so either they are mellowing or they went along with it because they knew it would be turned into a viral thing and promote the show which is obviously suddenly getting a massive ratings boost they want to keep up.

    The public do love them, and they are put across well on TV. I think videos going "viral" are just as much about the marketing of it to the public - if theres loads of things in the press saying "get them to number one, its amazing - the best thing ever" - to a degree, when its a name like Ant and Dec they will go and have a look.

    I think if they were ashamed of their past then they wouldn't have performed Lets Get Ready to Rhumble on Saturday night. I also remember them peforming it on CD:UK one time. When they did Jonathon Ross the other week he also showed one of their other videos and took the piss out of it.

    Buying up the rights to their old shows so they can control when they are shown isn't unique to them as I know of at least one other celebrity who has done the same, though I'd question whether or not its true in A&D's case because I've seen clips of Byker Grove and the Ant and Dec show ( where they shaved that girls hair off) on various nostalgia shows over the years.
  • YULSTARYULSTAR Posts: 593
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    I love the fact they blew the Big reunion bands out of the water, and they don't even want a pop career!! Ha ha!
  • abbieuniqueabbieunique Posts: 4,223
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    YULSTAR wrote: »
    I love the fact they blew the Big reunion bands out of the water, and they don't even want a pop career!! Ha ha!


    I think the 7 million + audience helped that.
    Maybe if they all performed on the night it would have been interesting to see whos song was most popular ..
  • Brummie Girl Brummie Girl Posts: 22,415
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    They have a natural chemistry which is infectious.

    And after watching their 'Let's Get Ready To Rumble' performance on You Tube - strange to see how everyone has gone mad over it - I've seen them do it before on SMTV Live - but I then spent a very happy hour on Saturday night watching old clips of Wonkey Donkey from SMTV Live and I laughed a lot at Dec losing his temper with the kids ringing in :D

    Dec losing his temper at the kids ringing in to Wonkey Donkey was always my favourite bit: "IT'S GOTTA RHYME!!" :D

    I'm 3 years younger than them so I have grown up with them since the early Byker Grove days nearly 25 years ago. It's lovely to see how successful they have become over the years. Young kids to OAP's seem to love them.
  • AoibheannRoseAoibheannRose Posts: 1,617
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    Dec losing his temper at the kids ringing in to Wonkey Donkey was always my favourite bit: "IT'S GOTTA RHYME!!" :D

    He was so funny, but unfortunately he'd never get away with it now. Laughing at and shouting things like 'stupid little idiot!', 'stupid fool!', 'why did you bother ringing in?!' and 'I know where you live!' (can you tell that I watched a 'wonkey donkey 14 episode playlist yesterday?!) at dozey kids these days would not go down well with OFCOM. :D
  • BinCatBinCat Posts: 2,125
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    They seem nice enough fellas but I've never understood the huge success they've had. Must have just been a right time, right place type thing.
  • Cyril_SneerCyril_Sneer Posts: 2,314
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    I think if they were ashamed of their past then they wouldn't have performed Lets Get Ready to Rhumble on Saturday night. I also remember them peforming it on CD:UK one time. When they did Jonathon Ross the other week he also showed one of their other videos and took the piss out of it.

    Buying up the rights to their old shows so they can control when they are shown isn't unique to them as I know of at least one other celebrity who has done the same, though I'd question whether or not its true in A&D's case because I've seen clips of Byker Grove and the Ant and Dec show ( where they shaved that girls hair off) on various nostalgia shows over the years.

    What happened was they went through phases - and it may well have had something to do with who was influencing them. There was a long period where they wouldnt let anything out - maybe they felt some of it was poor or it was just getting boring people pulling the footage out every time they got interviewed on a talk show, but other than the Byker paintball clip, and certainly not the music - very little was shown. They seemed to open up a bit with the clips a couple of years ago, and since Gallowgate was aquired by James Grant and they now have less to do with the actual release of stuff it seems that anything goes. Maybe they have matured a bit and gotten over it but there was definitely a phase where they were very serious over the control aspect, but as you say, there are others that do the same thing.

    They are great guys, but the idea its all natural is wrong - they are compared to Morcambe and Wise a lot but M&W were naturally funny. Ant and Dec are given all their jokes and told what to say, they arent funny without the script or at least being told how to act. But then again, i could name a lot of other presenters the same.
  • lexi22lexi22 Posts: 16,394
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    They are great guys, but the idea its all natural is wrong - they are compared to Morcambe and Wise a lot but M&W were naturally funny. Ant and Dec are given all their jokes and told what to say, they arent funny without the script or at least being told how to act. But then again, i could name a lot of other presenters the same.

    Frankly, I think that's rubbish. I've seen them in loads of contexts and they both have a natural wit. Of course a lot of what they do will be scripted but they're the ones who have to deliver it. And they do, in spades, and that takes skill and an inate understanding of what does and doesn't work. As for natural, nothing on tv is natural.

    I don't watch them on any regular basis as the format for a lot of what they do is just not my thing, but I always catch IAC and to try and reduce them to just a pair of puppets spouting other people's lines on that is ridiculous.

    As for the M&W comparison? Why?? They were comedians, comedy was their business. Ant and Dec are tv presenters. That they're very entertaining is a bonus. The only comparison between the two is that they're double acts.
  • Cyril_SneerCyril_Sneer Posts: 2,314
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    lexi22 wrote: »
    Frankly, I think that's rubbish. I've seen them in loads of contexts and they both have a natural wit. Of course a lot of what they do will be scripted but they're the ones who have to deliver it. And they do, in spades, and that takes skill and an inate understanding of what does and doesn't work. As for natural, nothing on tv is natural.

    I agree a lot of it is in the delivery, and it does take skill to do that and not taking anything away from them - thats their talent. But what i'm saying is they aren't that funny without the script. Have you actually seen them off air? The interaction is there between them but not the clever lines - though a lot of the looks to each other are rehearsed to get the timing right. But the public (and i guess this is to their credit) mostly get the impression they are just naturally talking to each other on TV but i've rarely ever seen them do anything off-script. I guess thats where the M&W stuff comes in, a lot of people think they are presenting in a comedy style like the M&W show was.
    lexi22 wrote: »
    I don't watch them on any regular basis as the format for a lot of what they do is just not my thing, but I always catch IAC and to try and reduce them to just a pair of puppets spouting other people's lines on that is ridiculous..

    IAC is the most scripted one out of the lot of them. Show has more writers than any of their others. They ARE just spouting other peoples lines, there is an element of them naturally bouncing off each other, yes. As above - they should be applauded for the delivery if anything.
  • lexi22lexi22 Posts: 16,394
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    But the public (and i guess this is to their credit) mostly get the impression they are just naturally talking to each other on TV but i've rarely ever seen them do anything off-script. I guess thats where the M&W stuff comes in, a lot of people think they are presenting in a comedy style like the M&W show was.

    Do they? Or is that just your perception of what you think accounts for their popularity? I've never thought that for a minute since successful and enduring presenting takes an awful lot of skill and hard work. Engaging an audience is the only real remit of a presenter. A brilliant script is only as good as those delivering it. A&D deliver.

    Why so reluctant to credit them with a skill they've very successfully honed? It seems like you almost resent them being seen as funny? :confused:
  • Cyril_SneerCyril_Sneer Posts: 2,314
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    lexi22 wrote: »
    Do they? Or is that just your perception of what you think accounts for their popularity? I've never thought that for a minute since successful and enduring presenting takes an awful lot of skill and hard work. Engaging an audience is the only real remit of a presenter. A brilliant script is only as good as those delivering it. A&D deliver.

    There has been a lot of TV where they have been compared to M&W as a great double act. They ARE a great double act - i get the feeling a lot of what they do has had some M&W influence, but they aren't comedians. A lot of the writing (especially IAC) is treading on line of them being a comedy double act.
    lexi22 wrote: »
    Why so reluctant to credit them with a skill they've very successfully honed? It seems like you almost resent them being seen as funny? :confused:

    I certainly don't resent them, i like their act very much. I'm just making the distinction they are presenters with, as you say, funny delivery. Totally credit their skill and talent there. But if you take away that most of the lines are given to them i'm just not so sure they would have had the same level of success. Lets see i acknowledge some very talented people behind the scenes who have helped make them what they are too.
  • Tweacle Tart IITweacle Tart II Posts: 5,079
    Forum Member
    Dec losing his temper at the kids ringing in to Wonkey Donkey was always my favourite bit: "IT'S GOTTA RHYME!!" :D

    One I saw on Saturday involved him screaming "DON'T ANSWER ME BACK!!" and pretending to slap the camera. That made me proper LOL! :D

    I really liked the game show they did for BBC called Friends Like These. I think it was one of the first things they did after Byker Grove. But then ITV poached them and slapped those golden handcuffs on 'em. BBC must be gutted.
  • lexi22lexi22 Posts: 16,394
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    There has been a lot of TV where they have been compared to M&W as a great double act. They ARE a great double act - i get the feeling a lot of what they do has had some M&W influence, but they aren't comedians. A lot of the writing (especially IAC) is treading on line of them being a comedy double act.

    Absolutely agree. But I don't and have never thought of them as comedians and am genuinely surprised that other people see them as that. They are presenters, very engaging ones, but comedians? Never. But when have they ever claimed to be comedians? It seems to me maybe your beef is to do with how some people perceive them, which has nothing whatsoever to do with them. Why blame them for how some people perceive them? If they were going around saying we're a comedy double act, then fair enough, but they're not.

    And you're still avoiding the fact that it's A&D that bring the laughs and the warmth. Not the scriptwriters who, of course, deserve credit, but can't take credit for what A&D bring to their scripts.

    Are you one of the scriptwriters per chance? Cos you sound like you have a personal investment here...
  • Sorcha_27Sorcha_27 Posts: 138,453
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭✭
    Love ant and dec

    Thought the skit with 1d was funny too Esp Ant and Niall Horan :D

    They performed lets get ready to rhumble brilliantly aswell
  • Cyril_SneerCyril_Sneer Posts: 2,314
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    lexi22 wrote: »
    Absolutely agree. But I don't and have never thought of them as comedians and am genuinely surprised that other people see them as that. They are presenters, very engaging ones, but comedians? Never. But when have they ever claimed to be comedians? It seems to me maybe your beef is to do with how some people perceive them, which has nothing whatsoever to do with them. Why blame them for how some people perceive them? If they were going around saying we're a comedy double act, then fair enough, but they're not.

    I dont blame them. I think if you look at what they are doing now (its kind of the one says a line, the other does the comedy payoff, usually dec) there are comedy undertones, but no they don't claim to be comedians. I dont have a beef with them, i was just telling it as it is. They aren't straight presenting, thats obvious, especially on IAC. But its great what they do, it comes across well, all credit. In fact thats part of what makes them what they are - they arent just doing what Dermot or Ferne does.
    lexi22 wrote: »
    And you're still avoiding the fact that it's A&D that bring the laughs and the warmth. Not the scriptwriters who, of course, deserve credit, but can't take credit for what A&D bring to their scripts.

    It's a joint effort. I certainly do give them credit - it wouldnt work as well if say you put Sam & Mark up there. A thought that has crossed TV executives minds a few times before. :o
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 11,275
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    I love them. I don't watch their current show but I do like I'm A Celeb and Got Talent. They're more than presenters, they're all rounders and can do comedy and they started as actors of course.

    They have no arrogance and seem genuine but what I like most is their obvious friendship. Britain's best. It's a sad reflection that posters on here delight in slagging them off.
  • monalisa62003monalisa62003 Posts: 56,844
    Forum Member
    Dont a&d have an input in the producing?
  • One UnitedOne United Posts: 1,363
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    I think they're great. I'll watch any show that they're involved in as I find them really entertaining. One of the few good things going on going today and tv is rather dull for me during the periods that they're not on tv. It's a shame that there are only a few episodes of SNT left, hopefully they're bring it back again before I'm A Celeb starts. I find their little skits on I'm A Celeb soooo funny, the best thing about the show for me.
  • konebyvaxkonebyvax Posts: 9,120
    Forum Member
    I agree a lot of it is in the delivery, and it does take skill to do that and not taking anything away from them - thats their talent. But what i'm saying is they aren't that funny without the script. Have you actually seen them off air? The interaction is there between them but not the clever lines - though a lot of the looks to each other are rehearsed to get the timing right. But the public (and i guess this is to their credit) mostly get the impression they are just naturally talking to each other on TV but i've rarely ever seen them do anything off-script. I guess thats where the M&W stuff comes in, a lot of people think they are presenting in a comedy style like the M&W show was.



    IAC is the most scripted one out of the lot of them. Show has more writers than any of their others. They ARE just spouting other peoples lines, there is an element of them naturally bouncing off each other, yes. As above - they should be applauded for the delivery if anything.



    it's almost like you are claiming M&W weren't scripted to the nth degree. Google them, please. They were fantastic but please don't run away with the idea that almost all of their funny interraction wasn't scripted to within an inch of its life.
  • Cyril_SneerCyril_Sneer Posts: 2,314
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    konebyvax wrote: »
    it's almost like you are claiming M&W weren't scripted to the nth degree. Google them, please. They were fantastic but please don't run away with the idea that almost all of their funny interraction wasn't scripted to within an inch of its life.

    People like Braben and Cryer? Yes, but they were collaborating with M&W. Ant & Dec don't collaborate on that side, although they may have done in the early days.

    It's not about slagging them off - they are talented and there is more to it than autocue. Whoever has been writing for them over the last few years has definitely studied the great double acts though and they may well have done some of that themselves too. It's a carefully crafted act and they carry it off brilliantly. Someone was obviously working with them around the time of Pop Idol or possibly a bit after teaching them comedy timing and expressions because they didn't seem to have it down as well before.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,777
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    I have loved Ant & Dec since I was a kid watching them on SMTV Live, I used to absolutely love that programme!

    They always make me smile, even if the jokes are scripted, it's the delivery that makes it funny, and the fact that they are enjoying themselves makes me enjoy myself.

    I love their genuine friendship, it seems that most celebs nowadays are feuding with someone and making catty comments on Twitter - these two are just genuine best mates.
    I'd love to go for a drink with them, they seem like a laugh :)
Sign In or Register to comment.