After a month of absence, DLOTW returns. Not with something I found on twitter, but one of the most ridiculous sentences I’ve heard. Apparently uttered in some sort of celebrity-based incarcerating reality show.
Coolio: “[My mom's] fried chicken would literally put on tennis shoes and run the f*** into your mouth”
Terrible.
Last week I crossed off another one of those “things to do before I die” when I appeared in the Bournemouth’s Daily Echo. Indeed for a few hours I was “7th most read story” before being edged down into 8th by a story about a spray-painted dead duck. I hadn’t actually spoken to them but they picked up the story from the earlier appearance in the Bristol Evening Post.
The curious thing was the headline: “Jamie Redknapp’s misuse of word is literally doing my head in”. A quote which was attributed to me. A worrying quote, not just because I didn’t actually say it, but because it doesn’t mean anything. It’s a criminal overuse of the L-word. Adding nothing to the sentence, and only serving to devalue further the L-word. Outrageous.
I shall complain naturally. No one misquotes the Literally Tsar!
It seems the reason they picked it up, is that Jamie Redknapp is from Bournemouth, and apparently still lives there. But sadly it turns out (though they attribute it to me), they are misusers.
I’m doing 5 gigs of THE LITERALLY SHOW this week in Bristol at the University of Bristol’s Wickham Theatre, Cantock’s Close, Bristol, BS8 1UP - 0117 928 7834 (Google Map). It’s just off Park Row, near the Triangle, up a little alley opposite Mack Daddy’s hair salon (check the map).
Because I am feeling generous - Thursday’s gig is going to be £4 per ticket for everyone. So see you there at 7pm.
When:
All the Friday and Saturday gigs are £7 a head entry. £5 concessions.
Book tickets online here:
Frustrated by misuse of the word “literally”, Paul Parry is teaching everyone a lesson. He’s lost his marbles, gone to Hell and back, taught an old dog new tricks. Soon, he’ll be literally painting the town red.
THREE WEEKS – ★★★★★
“This is a show about the misuse of the word literally” says a deadpan but wonderfully affable Paul Parry… Parry has created a delightfully original show, He may literally be one of the best new comedians at this year’s Fringe.
THE LIST – ★★★★ His smart, dry humour and Viz-style subversive pedantry combine with his Gormanesque tales of an eccentric, unpredictable and far-flung journey just to prove a point.
THE SCOTSMAN ★★★★
All the gigs - http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Literally-Tsar/192443494117?v=app_2344061033
And here is a little article from this week’s Evening Post
I was looking forward to seeing this film. And then I saw this clip….
I’ve just read an old interview with Graham Linehan on the British Comedy Guide website. Linehan is the man who brought us Father Ted, Black Books, the I.T. Crowd. He is also the defender (via Twitter) of the NHS (see this). In short, he’s a bit good.
But he does have troubling feelings for the misusers:
“I don’t think I’ll ever have as pleasurable a writing experience as I did writing with Arthur. That was as good as it gets. Insane as it sounds, we would literally come to work and laugh for an entire day.”
What? Surely you’re not laughing for an entire day? Are you misusing, Linehan?
“Actually, that is a misuse of the word literally. We didn’t actually just come in and laugh. We would tell jokes to each other, rather than just sit there and laugh at nothing for an entire day.”
Good recovery. Phew.
“I love people who misuse literally… “My head literally fell off”. I tried to put a few of them into The IT Crowd. Jen, at one point, says “I’d literally rather sleep with a rat”.”
Oh dear Lord. He loves people who misuse the L-word? Perhaps Fearne Cotton is a close personal friend. Maybe it’s Joe Biden. I don’t know. But I haven’t actually spotted any in the IT Crowd, so I’ll have to watch more closely.
I’m literally gutted that one of my comedy heros likes loves misusers though… even if he isn’t one himself.
It is as follows:
