h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Noel's House Party - A49422332
Author: Alex Tufty Ashman [!] - U566116


Here's my latest entry for 's Stretcher competition - this entry aims to defend the indefensible.

Alex

Just reading the title of this made me laugh! With this and Bea's Karaoke Entry, I can see that my interminable NICE Entry isn't going to get the public vote

I'll have a proper read of this (and all the other Stretcher Entries...) when I have a bit more time

Ms GB

Ah, Saturday night telly with Blobby! Halogen days.

Nice work, Alex, there's just one 'look' that should be 'took', near the beginning.

*beckons seductively to Danny*
Come, join us on the trashy side of the interweb

Sorted that typo

Other typos:

the 'live' version of the show was wrecked *by* the googly-eyed miscreant

the tasteless 'Blobby mania' *in* 1993

This is entertaining and informative - if you want information on such a rubbishy show .

It makes a good partner for Bea's article on surviving karaoke!

As a mere foreigner, I have not, of course, ever seen this show. (We only get British comedy on the 'educational channel'. This was apparently not as 'educational' as 'Keeping Up Appearances'.)

This thing sounds absolutely horrible - boring, dull, and mean at the same time.

Very vividly described, thank you.

*goes off to wash out mind*

Well done!

Didn't Edmonds go on to create a Mr Blobby theme park in the West Country?

Come to think of it, have you ever seem him and Skankyrich in the same room?

Icy

Beatrice was it halogen days because the type of lights you were using? Or was that a show reference. I thought the expression was halcyon days? Or I m being a dumb yank provincial here?

A deliberate misnomer on my part - yes of course it's halcyon days. Fans of Wake up to Wogan will be familiar with the ...well, it's not really a malapropism is it? Is there a name for that? Like self-depreciating humour?

Ah. I get it.

I call them 'Slip Mahoneyisms'.

Slip Mahoney was the character played by Leo Gorcey in the old black-and-white 'Bowery Boys' films on the 30s and 40s.

An Irish-American from New York, Mahoney believed in flouting Mark Twain's injunction to 'use the word for a thing, not its second cousin'.

Right, I've read it now, and it's nicely done but oh god it brings back some unpleasant memories..!

Just one small thing: near the end you say "it is difficult to justify its status as 'indefensible'", but there's no reason why you should want to, other than the Stretcher. I don't think this statement will make much sense when the competition is over and done with and this is just another EG Entry

I remember the gunge. Thanks for reminding me of the rest - like it wouldn't be better to forget the whole sorry business

Your entry is *ever*so*much* more entertaining than the programme it defends

Noticed a couple of typos:

"Having been embarrassed in front of millions of people, the victim would them have to perform some sort of ridiculous task. "

That "them" would look better as a "then"

"...leading to a great deal of surprise when the 'live' version of the show was wrecked the googly-eyed miscreant."

There's a "by" missing I think.

Thanks for picking up on the typos - I wrote this one in a rush after I'd finished my exams. The mention of the word 'indefensible' was originally partnered with one in the introduction, but the latter got removed while the former stayed in.

Now this really is a defence of the indefensible! I remember watching this as a relatively small person, and enjoying the gunge. Mr Blobby, though, was a terrible crime!

One thing, though - has Kris Akabusi ever *not* been incapacitated with laughter?

Yep - just the once. My university's union named a bar after him for no particular reason, and he wasn't at all chuffed.

The latest Stretcher is out now at A49807498. Apparently this entry reflects a tendency to stay within my comfort zone, but I rather think it had something to do with the exams I took while writing it...

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