It was announced today (02 April 2013) that acclaimed comedian DAVE GORMAN will bring a new 6×60 minute series to entertainment channel Dave, Dave Gorman: Modern Life Is Goodish.
Dave Gorman thinks modern life is good. . .ish. However, tired of endlessly being sold stuff he doesn’t need, feeling manipulated by the media and harassed by technology, he’s become slightly obsessive about the ‘ish’. But instead of letting it drive him mad he’s decided to fight back. A bit. Sort of. Ish. So he’ll be sharing his observations and venting his frustrations in six mischievous comedy performances. Presented using his own unique blend of stand up, visual storytelling and real-world experimentation, expect a whole new take on the things we normally take for granted.
RICHARD WATSHAM, Senior Commissioning Editor for Dave, said: “Continuing our drive for distinctive content, this is a wonderfully innovative comedy format that takes the best of Dave Gorman’s brilliant stand up and adds additional layers that will really bring it to life for TV. I’m very excited that more people will get to see just how good Dave is.”
JAMIE ISAACS, Executive Producer for Liberty Bell, added: “We are delighted to be working with Dave Gorman on this show – he is a unique voice in comedy and his intellectual curiosity and sense of fun make him a perfect guide to the countless questionable things we’re all exposed to and just seem to accept as ok”
STEVE NORTH, General Manager for Dave, commented: “We’re proud to have our own specially commissioned Dave Gorman series exclusive to Dave. He’s a great addition to a growing list of top names to work with us which this year alone includes the likes of Dara O Briain, Alexander Armstrong and Ross Noble. We want to be the place for the very best comedy talent to come and do their most exciting work. ”
A Liberty Bell production, Dave Gorman: Modern Life Is Goodish was commissioned by RICHARD WATSHAM for Dave. The series will be series produced by NICK MARTIN (Have I Got News For You), produced by JAMES FIDLER (Frank Skinner’s Opinionated) and directed by PAUL WHEELER (Live At The Apollo), while the Executive Producers are JAMIE ISAACS and IAIN COYLE for Dave.
The new series is loosely based on DAVE GORMAN’s internationally critically acclaimed live show, Powerpoint Presentation which went on a three-time-extended nationwide tour of the UK including multiple London dates at the Hammersmith Apollo and Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre.
The series will record this spring and is set to transmit in autumn 2013.
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For more information please contact:
Dan Lloyd at Avalon on: 020 7598 7222 or email: DanL@avalonuk.com
Notes to editors
Some things the press said about Dave Gorman’s Powerpoint Presentation
“. . .Dave Gorman’s latest offering is a much-needed reminder of how a truly gifted performer can delve beyond clever punchlines and make us look afresh at the world. The nearest thing we have to that late, great American raconteur Spalding Gray, he turns monomania into the most compelling and uplifting of confessionals.” ★★★★ The Times
“Dave Gorman has returned to the fringe after a few years away with a triumph of a show of the kind he pioneered and still does better than anyone. In a show that is effectively a double-act with his technology, Gorman has turned using PowerPoint into an art form, repeatedly wrongfooting the audience’s expectations and finding joy or bewildered outrage in the minutiae of the media that increasingly shape the way we see the world.” Observer
“. . .has transformed the seemingly mundane into hours of unabashed hysteria“. ★★★★ Metro
“It is Gorman’s playful niceness that made the show a winning show. . . This was superbly structured, packed with precision-tooled punchlines, twists and visual gags. Extremely clever. The man behind me was not laughing, he was positively ululating. And probably still is.”
★★★★ Evening Standard
“The PowerPoint presentation is becoming a bit of a comedy cliché, but nobody does it nearly as well as Dave Gorman, here dipping into the web and myriad sight gags to marvellous effect.” i & Independent
“This is a technically slick, varied and consistently funny” ★★★★ The Scotsman
“. . .this is not about the medium, but the material. And what an impressive hour of intelligent, playful, quirky, obsessive and original fun it turns out to be. . . He’s ruthlessly pedantic (and yes, can use the PowerPoint to stress a point), and sometimes brilliantly obsessed with the trivial. . . As anyone who’s seen any of his quest shows knows, Gorman is not one to leave an idea at first base, and takes things to extremes. Thankfully, for the sake of his sanity, here it’s just extremes of comic invention he goes to. . . He whizzes through this material, with the laughs coming frequently – and sometimes without the punchline needing to be said. He is so defined as a benign mischief-maker that he can leave ideas hanging – and we work out what’s coming for ourselves from the clues he scattered along the way.” Chortle
About Liberty Bell
Liberty Bell Productions, formed in autumn 2002, specialises in the production of television documentaries and features, factual entertainment, current affairs, drama-documentary and youth programming. Productions include: Al Murray’s German Adventure (BBC FOUR), Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory (BBC TWO) Portillo on Thatcher: The Lady’s Not For Spurning (BBC FOUR), The Alastair Campbell Diaries (BBC TWO), Frank Skinner on George Formby (BBC FOUR), Three Men In A Boat (BBC TWO), The Grumpy Guides to… (BBC TWO), Grumpy Old Men (BBC TWO), Grumpy Old Women (BBC TWO), Why We Went to War (More 4), Real Life: Beating Breast Cancer (ITV1), The Meaning of Life (BBC ONE) and The Widow’s Tale (BBC TWO).
What the press has said about previous Liberty Bell productions:
Portillo on Thatcher: The Lady’s Not For Spurning
“Gordon Brown and David Cameron should watch it. Tony Blair should get a hold of a tape and reflect on what might have been. Media bosses who only commission films if they portray politicians as corrupt and mad should take note also. . . I know people with only a passing interest in politics who were gripped.”
Steve Richards, The Independent
The Alastair Campbell Diaries
“Just as DVD extras allow you to see the human fallibility that lies behind the polished exterior of the finished film, Campbell’s diary fills in the engrossing trivia of off-stage politics… it is completely engrossing.”
Thomas Sutcliffe, The Independent
The Widow’s Tale
“This complex and moving film is one of the television highlights of the year so far.”
Andrew Male, The Sunday Times
Grumpy Old Men
“The whole programme put me into an uncharacteristically, seethingly good mood… Wonderful stuff”
A.A. Gill, The Sunday Times
Al Murray’s German Adventure
Murray makes a fine TV historian: interested, articulate and knowledgeable…A breathless hour around a stunning, wintery Germany that will probably leave most viewers wanting more on everything. . .Al Murray would be our man for the job.
Gabrial Tate, Times Out
About Dave
About Dave (www.joindave.co.uk / @joindave)
Satirical and edgy, Dave is the home of witty banter. Featuring the best in contemporary entertainment including Suits, QI, Red Dwarf X, Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You. Dave also showcases popular original series, such as Argumental, Dave’s One Night Stand, Dara O’Briain’s School of Hard Sums, Alexander Armstrong’s Big Ask and Jo Brand’s Big Splash, all laden with the biggest names in British comedy.
Where to find Dave: Sky channel 111, Virgin TV channel 128, Freeview 12.
About UKTV
The multi-award winning media company that reaches over 42 million viewers per month.
UKTV’s ten imaginative channel brands – Watch, Dave, Gold, Alibi, Eden, Yesterday, Blighty, Really, Home and Good Food – include the number one channel in the Factual genre, the number one channels in the Lifestyle genre (Pay and Free) and the most famous channel and programmes in the Entertainment genre.
UKTV has a truly innovative model, curating brand-defining commissions, high-profile acquisitions and the very best of BBC and Channel 4 content, and embracing technology to deliver inspired channels to audiences through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT Vision, TalkTalk on YouView, plus direct On Demand digital services. The network distributes its highly valued programmes to 200 territories around the world and supplies Sky with more hours of HD content than anyone else.
Now celebrating its 21st year at the forefront of digital television, UKTV – an independent commercial joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (SNI) – is proud to be the only British broadcaster to be recognised by Best Companies.
pressoffice.uktv.co.uk @UKTV_Press
