RIP BIFFO AND DIGITISER


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RUSH
7 months ago

Seems like Octavius will be “”performing”” again at Barcadia in a few days.

“Tickets not necessary” neither is skill or talent apparently.

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abone
7 months ago
Reply to  RUSH

Can they exceed the huge crowd of seven this time, or will the four regulars take this notice as a warning?

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Stevieboy74
7 months ago
Reply to  RUSH

Ticketmaster’s servers went into meltdown the other day when this gig was announced. They said on their X/Twitter page that the amount of traffic was akin to that of a DDOS attack.

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Lucian
Lucian
7 months ago
Reply to  RUSH

Relatable songs you say?

That said the blurb seems to suggest a fringe gig has been secured.. Good fucking luck with that.

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Frisky Dingo
7 months ago
Reply to  Lucian

Absolutely no way she’s got a Fringe gig. What could she have possibly pulled out of her arse since the last abortion of a gig, that would earn her a place any more prestigious than a portaloo after a visit by the Dysentery Association?

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Frisky Dingo
7 months ago
Reply to  RUSH

Still going with that dreary pic from her nude set?

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Bert
7 months ago
Reply to  Frisky Dingo

That is a bit odd isn’t it? A mans name with a scantily clad woman on the poster. As “all over the place” as her mind it seems.

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Ace Grace
Ace Grace
7 months ago
Reply to  Bert

Calm and calculated is what I would call it. Identifying as a male but still dresses like a female.

Also, imagine someone with such massive social anxiety standing on a stage at Edinburgh.

Turns it on and off to suit her needs

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Frisky Dingo
7 months ago
Reply to  Ace Grace

You’re right, despite the efforts of the down voters who have recently arrived to spam the thumb down button.

She was recently dancing at a gig, photo on Instagram, despite being apparently too crippled with neuroses to go out in public, with a caption that basically said “it’s okay I’ll go back to being mentally incapable after the gig”

She’s such a bare faced liar, it’s unbelievable that any one still believes a word that comes out of her face.

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Bert
7 months ago
Reply to  Ace Grace

It reminds me of that interview of Michael Jackson when he was with Lisa Marie Presley and was asked about his skin colour or plastic surgery (can’t remember exactly) she said something like “he’s an artist, he can be whatever he wants to be”.

Same thing these days, people just choosing to be cats etc instead of growing up and living in the real world. But as we know, in Octavius land you have to marry someone 80+ to own a house.

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megadrive95
7 months ago
Reply to  RUSH

Saturday the 20th April 2024? FFS Peter that is when Norwich Football Club next play their next home game. You would’ve had tons of Yellows, stag dos and clueless yuppies piling into your bar to drink! Yet the client repellant poster of a witch then her moping over an untuned guitar to 4 people during prime time?

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megadrive95
7 months ago
Reply to  megadrive95

Oh and barcadia is now open a mere 2 days per week now. Friday 5pm until 1am. And Saturday 2pm until 1am.Just check google and I walked past noticing it was shut today at 5.30pm when it is usually open. Could the death knell soon ring?

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Frisky Dingo
7 months ago
Reply to  megadrive95

Hope so.

B3tan_Tyronne
7 months ago
Reply to  RUSH

The only entertainment this will create is when George makes another video about it 🙂

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Collieuk
Collieuk
7 months ago

Actually Mr. Biffo did once attempt a Digitiser revival subscription based site in 2003, Digiworld TV. Well, it was mostly Jonathan Nash, Stuart Campbell and Kieron Gillen who provided the content, and I think Mr. Biffo left after the first day or so. Creative differences perhaps. It was basically a website that looked and behaved like a Teletext service where each day they’d be a bunch of new articles, letters, reviews etc. It ran for 4 weeks I think before they realised there wasn’t enough paid subscribers to make it worthwhile. It was bloody good writing though and very unique. The site was available for download until a few years back. I have an offline copy I occasionally look at as it’s a style of games journalism lost forever to time.

I don’t really know much about Mr. Biffo nor care for him or his projects. I remember back in the day him ranting on a forum about Teletext not letting him continue Digitiser. He seems like he is trapped in a nostalgic bubble where he still has a bit of a cult status that he can’t move on from. Maybe he’s a top bloke other than that, maybe not. At least the output he produces isn’t just some wikipedia article he’s ripped off like the newer generation of retro Youtubers etc.

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Roger Gooch
7 months ago

I was one of the people who backed the second Digitiser: The Show project. I have no memory of the original Digitiser – the early days were too early for me to be using Teletext, and by the time I would have been old enough I was online instead.

There’s not much I can disagree with in your video, but only because it largely consists of you expressing your opinion on comedy. There’s no drama-based substance like previous videos. All I can say is that I paid to help ensure the project went ahead, and that the results so far have exceeded my expectations.

Ultimately, I pay my money for the content I want to see. Some people pay their money to Netflix, or Amazon, or Disney+, or any number of large media companies. Others pay money to a more open platform like YouTube. I paid more directly towards a particular project I like.

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Eartoot
Eartoot
7 months ago
Reply to  Roger Gooch

There’s no …. substance

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DadGamerUK
7 months ago

Not really semantics. The episode aired January 28th. So 2 months and 2 weeks.

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megadrive95
7 months ago

Didn’t BT’s burst pipe Broadband advert with Jarvis Cocker hanging from a lamp-post end the idea of Teletext in 2002-2003. It also finally sold the idea of home internet to the general uk public? Well that’s like saying the Apples IPOD in 2001 permanently ended any idea of a vinyl or any physical media resurgence 23 years later. Not a good idea to make a blog or business saying how tired you are of repetitive games. I recall PSX Pro (Magazine) not even making 10 issues as the journalists said SONY only cared about 3D Fighting games, Driving Games and doom clones. This was in 1996 and total career ending and advertisement repellant. True you could make arty games walking around empty 3d spaces, but you’d be bored within 5-15 minutes.

Bert
7 months ago
Reply to  megadrive95

Digital TV started to become popular around 2002-2003 as they scrapped the payment required for it and it became Freeview. So Teletext on analogue TV wasn’t going to be around for long.

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frot_hat_gaming
7 months ago

I skip over his column in retro gamer magazine as it’s just him moaning about some new trend or game. They’re all so depressingly self centred I found it took a lot of energy to read through them.

The Found Footage kick starter was a good concept in my view. It’s a shame that when it released the only part that made me laugh out loud was the hair eating skit. The rest was meh.

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T. Rollin
7 months ago

Not a fan of Biffo, then?

Frisky Dingo
7 months ago

Oh dear. Looks like a couple of the people who gave Biffo their money have turned up.

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DadGamerUK
7 months ago

Love you George, but IMHO this is harsh. I like Biffo but the whole Digitiser thing has had it’s day. It’s not informative and it’s not particularly funny. Partly because some of the “guests” are a complete disaster. I feel like he thinks he’s obligated to continue Digi to placate a certain “militant fringe” section of his fanbase. He should move on and do different things. But he’s definitely not in the same bracket of complete cuntery as the Ferret and not deserving of this.

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Eartoot
Eartoot
7 months ago
Reply to  DadGamerUK

Must be exceptionally militant if they are holding a gun to his head and forcing him to make his puerile content. He’s responsible for choosing his guests but he decided to go for retro gaming parasites that made season one unwatchable.

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Frisky Dingo
7 months ago
Reply to  Eartoot

He always trots out the same cabal of c*nts. Many of whom have earned the attention of George. (Ashens, Octav1us, PeePee, Top Hat, Kim Justice to name but a handful) Biffo must have quite a lot of overlap with the rogues gallery, so why should he be treated like a darling? Because clearly some members of this chat have paid for Digitiser? Perhaps forked out to go to that dingy arts centre where they do the live show and drink in the car park in their “brand” t-shirts hoping to get noticed?

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Geezer
Admin
7 months ago
Reply to  DadGamerUK

@DadGameUK – So basically what Chinny said, after he said it…. I’m sure someone told me that you two are besties. I bet I’m right.

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DadGamerUK
7 months ago
Reply to  Geezer

So? Not exactly a Poirot moment is it?

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Geezer
Admin
7 months ago
Reply to  DadGamerUK

So? So why not just reply to Chinny and say, “Chinny I agree with you, can I lick your balls please (again)?”

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DadGamerUK
7 months ago
Reply to  Geezer

Peak Sunderland discourse.. hahahaha

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Geezer
Admin
7 months ago
Reply to  DadGamerUK

What’s Sunderland got to do with this?

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DadGamerUK
7 months ago
Reply to  George

Mr 60k lives there. He must be the Earl of Sunderland!!

Geezer
Admin
7 months ago
Reply to  DadGamerUK

No idea who Mr. 60k is?
Do you have a problem with people from Sunderland?

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DadGamerUK
7 months ago
Reply to  George

I’ve given clarification on the Discord. But as the Lance Corporal used to say “They don’t like it up ’em!”

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DadGamerUK
7 months ago
Reply to  George

That song was in the second episode of Digi 2 which was aired a couple of months ago. C’mon George. You did watch the videos right?

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ChinnyVision
ChinnyVision
7 months ago

Having checked in here as I do to see the latest retro scandal (a guilty pleasure, like reading The News Of The World at your Nans about vicars knocking off strippers) I must admit I was surprised to see Mr Biffo mentioned. I can’t really let it pass as I’ll happily comment if it’s a post about Norwich’s vegan answer to Stringfellows…. (actually that’s unfair, the Norwich venue only has one tit on display).

Biffo seems a strange target. He’s delivered his show. I backed it. I’m not mad keen on it or some of the people on it. But I skim through and get a few laughs much like the 1st series. Happy to have chucked a few quid at it though.

I like to see someone creating video content free of constraints. Is it always for me? No. Do I watch all of his output? No. Do I sometimes think he’s a bit of a twat who’s doing something stupid? Yes. Does he make me laugh sometimes? Yes. Am I glad he exists? Yes.

That sounds a bit like my opinion of someone else in fact!

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u4ria
Admin
7 months ago
Reply to  ChinnyVision

Fuck off Chinny. You Cunt..

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ChinnyVision
ChinnyVision
7 months ago
Reply to  u4ria

I offered what I thought was a reasonable counterpoint. But alas counterpoints aren’t welcome and rather than discourse I get shouted at.

What value is this site if there is no discussion? Oh, an echo chamber.

Now if you’ll excuse me me I’m off for some self-flagellation for daring not to tow the party line.

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u4ria
Admin
7 months ago
Reply to  ChinnyVision

You read a lot into that Chinny. When someone talks utter shite and avoids mentioning the real issues im not going to engage with them plus i just like telling people to fuck off… You seem to talk a lot about self-flagellation and its not the first time you have uttered those words. Are you feeling guilty or something?

And Echo chamber would be a place where people are muted or worse kicked and blocked. Places like Rat stompers, PeePee, Dazz socials. But you already knew that didn’t you. I would get checked out for Denialism you seem to show all the symptoms.

You’re quiet welcome here and no need to fear being kicked and blocked(Within reason) but if your going to talk utter shite expect to be called rude words that might upset you.

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ChinnyVision
ChinnyVision
7 months ago
Reply to  u4ria

Love you to

x x

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u4ria
Admin
7 months ago
Reply to  ChinnyVision

Don’t get me wrong m8 we’re still good. I’d still buy you pint and talk shite.

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ChinnyVision
ChinnyVision
7 months ago
Reply to  u4ria

Same here. No animosity. You’ve known me long enough to know I come on here and speak as I find. I’m certainly not doing it for likes. I have a point of view, other people have a point of view. It’s gonna be an awfully dull comments section if everyone agrees.

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ChinnyVision
ChinnyVision
7 months ago
Reply to  George

([edit] has this dropped into the right place? )

My hoards? I think one person came over of their own devices. And you don’t need to get other people to look in. There’s no big secret. You can have an invite. You can have screenshots. You can have full transcripts of the days posts if you wish. All you’ll see is me being broadly supportive of your work over the years and saying that today I feel you got it wrong. Other opinions were offered, that’s fine.

My way? Well it is my Discord. Rules are no not safe for work posts (because people including me are at work) and don’t be a prick (or at least not a big a prick as me). Half the time I’m not even there or just half read stuff and hope nobody posted that picture of that bloke with his knob in a Land Rover exhaust pipe.

The danger with any text based posts is they can look like a personal attack. And that is not my intention at all. There’s no black or white with this stuff, it’s a spectrum. Often I go ‘yes George is right’ and I’m happy to publicly say that. But in order for me to go ‘George has done great work here’ and be sincere about it, days like today I also want to be sincere and go ‘I think this is a bum call’ (see what I did there). There is no offence intended and certainly no intent to raise an army of (10 at most) Discord people.

Or I could, like one YouTuber I no longer speak to, go around saying whatever that audience wants to hear but make sure I only ever do it in private. Stirring the pot. I’ll say the same publicly as what I’d say to anyone anywhere and I hope I can continue to do that as you raise issues here.

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Geezer
Admin
7 months ago
Reply to  ChinnyVision

I didn’t realise there was a template for who can be a target. Yes, you can have your opinion, I don’t particularly value it because the shit they churn out is simply not funny. I think I wrote earlier on one of their videos that I’d rather get gout in my bell end than watch one of their videos all the way through.
Biffo/Gannon/Digitiser and all the rest of them producing mundane boring shit are all fair game targets for me.

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Frisky Dingo
7 months ago

It will be interesting to see the turn out at Digi Live this year. No doubt the usual crowd, desperate for some tenuous connection to fame, will be there. Doubtful that there will be any new interest.

As for Biffo (Paul Rose) himself, let’s not forget his two biggest achievements, as memorialise in wikipedia:

In May 2007, Rose published the book Confessions of a Chatroom Freak through Friday Books, which has since gone into liquidation. In it, Rose posed as a beautiful young woman called LoopyLisa21f who chatted to men online, mostly about sexual acts they wanted to do to Lisa, and then published the transcripts.

In 2014, Rose was the screenwriter of Pudsey: The Movie, a film starring the Britain’s Got Talent winner Pudsey the Dog.

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The Bear
7 months ago
Reply to  Frisky Dingo

“If you paid to see this, you would feel duty-bound to demand your money back; I saw it for free and still wanted a refund.”

July 20, 2014 | Rating: 1/5 | Full Review…
Critic profile : Mark Kermode – Observer (UK)
TOP CRITIC

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pudsey_the_dog_the_movie

Frisky Dingo
7 months ago
Reply to  The Bear

Amazing. Could easily be a review for Digi Live too.

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Lucian
Lucian
7 months ago

To be honest I like the non-digitiser videos he puts out and I personally think his ‘found footage’ series was brilliant. He has previously said a few times he doesn’t have an interest in old (or new) video games so I can only guess this series was to please the digitiser-of-old fans (who were the ones I assume paid for it). I did start to watch an episode but really didn’t like it (knowing that most of the people in it aren’t interested in games may have been part of it; if the video maker has a genuine passion for then that often comes across and makes it more interesting), so I’ll just wait until he starts making the stuff he did outside ‘retro games’.
That said I also think willy and poo jokes are funny, so make of that what you will.

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Stevieboy74
7 months ago

So I know nothing about this guy, his channel and content has literally passed me by and I knew nothing of his existence, but I grew curious after watching your video, George. I found the Digitiser channel on Youtube, scrolled all the way back and found the first episode of Digitiser, watched for 2 minutes and then noticed that I’d started to bleed profusely from my eye sockets and earlobes, so quickly turned it off.

Fuck me, how in the name of Greek Buggery has that “show” lasted as long as it appears to have? It was cringe with lashings of cream cringe poured all over, topped off with some cringe sprinkles. The second I saw Octavius and the self righteous Larry Bundy I realised, to quote Eddie Hitler from Bottom, that “I would rather cut off my penis with a rusty bread knife” than watch another millisecond of that trash. It just oozed circle jerk and lets see how much cash we can squeeze out of this before people realise it’s shite. To say I’m relieved that I knew nothing of this Biffo or his channel before today is an understatement!

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Toaster05
Toaster05
7 months ago

I have no truck with him at all really other than his content is fucking purile old shite aimed directly at sad cunts who would prefer that he served up a freshly filmed turd every time rather than make something interesting and thought provoking.

Which is really sad in many ways, as he’s more than capable of it (and probably wishes secretly that he could move it to more interesting factual output)

Don’t get me wrong, I love a bit of toilet humour. To me Viz is the very zenith of comedy at times, but Biffo and entourage ain’t that, it’s like drama club students trying to relive the glory days.

Fucking awful, give it up.

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Frisky Dingo
7 months ago
Reply to  George

He took direct aim at Octavius, Quang, and Nostalgia Nerd in that sing, as well as anyone else who apes their particular style of business, be it patreon grifting, stream simps, or crowd funded fuckery

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u4ria
Admin
7 months ago

If ever there was a face and sense of humour for teletext its this cunt Mr Biffter an unfunny manchild.

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rich_a
rich_a
7 months ago

I’m a massive fan of the original Teletext page, I followed his website, Digitiser2000.com, probably a year or so after it started. It was fun, he started to grow a community there and the humour was pretty good. But he’d have times where he fell out of love with gaming, then he’d bounce back, then “the show” came and it was a bit shit, tbh. It was a nice idea, but it just wasn’t my taste at all. Now he’s making weird videos, some of them are funny but drawn out far too long, some of them are interesting but go on too long, and the rest are rotters. He needs a good editor.

As for part 2… I just gave up watching it. The opening bits with him and Paul Gannon are just cringey, most of the humour is flat. It just feels like someone who was great at something trying to recapture former glories.

Kinda feel sorry for Biffo. He’s definitely talented, but he needs someone to reign him in to get the best work out of him. The size limits and editorial limits of original Digi likely made his work shine. When he is unfiltered we get the contents of his YouTube channel which is 1% decent, 99% filler.

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ToploaderVhs
ToploaderVhs
7 months ago

Agreed with every word.

I’ve never understood what they were trying to achieve with Digitizer. I was genuinely quite interested and watched the first episode. I was expecting some sort of gaming show. What I got was a bunch of youtubers sat around a panel desk, all looking scared sh**less, no really, none of them seemed to have any sort of screen presence and it was like a local office putting on a play. Also laughing nervously at each others jokes which made no sense but seemingly they seemed to think we would all understand?

Suffice to say, I didnt watch anymore.

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The Bear
7 months ago

just about to tuck in to watch! this fuckers going right up the charts in the circlejerk, and the sheer fact hes prepared to shit on everyone so salvage his own career confirms a lot of the chat ive heard when talking to media peeps about him.

Digitiser was always a joint effort and never Biffo’s only, something he’s never learned as the episodes went on, retaining that control freak aspect, under the guise of toilet humour!

He knows he could’ve had a better media career if he’d gotten his head out of his arse and accepted help from others and took onboard their suggestions and opinions, rather than always making it out to be ‘his way was the right way’.

Now look at the channel, its about as popular as a turd in a Happy Meal, and watched as much as Biffovision was on BBC3….
#Bellend #Bumtitswilly #mrbiffo

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The Bear
7 months ago
Reply to  George

What I don’t get is his fascination with Paul Gannon? originally it looked like a healthy partnership of fun and hijinx. But as Series 1 and Series 2 slowly hinted, their releationship seems to be devolving into a carbon copy of Reeves and Mortimer from 90s BBC2 era, where bum and willy jokes seem to make them chuckle far more than any normal member of society should.
Every guest brought on board, seems to have been the butt of most jokes, rather than a highlighted expert/fan given their moment to shine in a 5min segment (see Nostaliga “PeePee” Nerd), whilst ‘guests’ has remained to be the classic youtubers from the bowls of grifting empire, all turning up for e-fame rather than considering the impact of their future career, or in the case of Jon Robertson, just being grateful to be able to perform infront of a TV camera again, instead of being forced to live off ‘the dark room’ for the next 10 years, while also given him the excuse to travel around, putting the open in ‘open relationship’.

And as for Voilet Berlin? if ever there was a case for payment to appear in something she’s openly admitted in the past was a lucky break into a genre she never gave two shits about until someone sent her a NES and 10+ odd games, then this was it. She knows the good times have long gone, and she’s now only remembered for the punk hair, tights and gaming knowledge of the 90s, while also being in Micro Machines. And she clearly knows that at this point wether its shite of not, cash is king.

Only one person came out of this series looking like they could keep a career, by not dropping their standards, and that’s Larry Bundy Jr. Watching his episode (which he strangly isn’t mentioned on in the blurb) he holds authority, while countering Biffo’s usual arse jokes.

Makes you wonder if this series should have been a passing of a torch, rather than Biffo trying to pull his out of his trousers to wangle around with Gannons, all while Kim pukes up another bucket of Piccalilly onto the set.

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