Homina, Homina, Homina: Hugh Laurie

You can go off topic talking about pumpkin flavored sweets all you want, zumi--fall is my favorite time of year and I can't get enough of the pumpkin sweets (or coffees or beers or soups...) Thanks for the links to the special, I missed it last night.

Mmm...pumpkin pie. Can we see the Christmas special? Are they doing a Christmas special as well? Since Halloween is coming up, perhaps I will watch the Fry and Laurie Halloween sketch :lol:

According to io9 last night's special was the end of the road for MvA.

I think very few Americans would call pumpkins and various squashes "fruit" either. When I just read it, it felt like one of those facts I used to know but forgot. I managed to make it through one segment of the Biography biography. I expected the depression stuff, etc. but I really got pissed at all these guys (who have probably never met him) implying that the reason he wasn't a good student was because he's stupid. As an antidote, I rewatched the ITAS interview on my way home. I never noticed before, but when they were talking about Footlights and Lipton says that he didn't mention Emma, Hugh tugs both sides of his jacket simultaneously so the front and the lapels sort of snap. Then he says it was unforgivable of him to omit her. I have no idea what it means -- probably nothing as I have a tendency to over-analyze his every blink -- but I watched it several times in a row just to make sure.

For me, this Halloween special was more entertaining than the original film, with added nuances to the characters. Can we see the Christmas special? The Christmas special uses the cast of Madagascar. I liked "Mutant Pumpkins" and "B.O.B.'s Big Break" better than the film. Mostly because Susan wasn't a focus of MP and wasn't in BB at all ... Dr. C, Link, and B.O.B. make a fine team :) But also I think their adventures are better suited to 20 minute stories than an 80 minute film. I was happy to see they didn't seem to cut costs on the animation for the TV special. It *looked* great in HD.

but I really got pissed at all these guys (who have probably never met him) implying that the reason he wasn't a good student was because he's stupid. I didn't like that either. In Hugh's interviews, I always had the impression that he could do the work, he just didn't want to. That makes him like a lot of kids. You can just listen to him and see his intelligence. This was definitely not Biography with Peter Graves. There is no way that HL could have got into Cambridge at that time even with the backing of Eton and a father who'd been there if he was 'stupid'. Lazy maybe....I always assumed he did the absolute minimum to avoid being chucked out, hence his third, while making the most of all the other Uni experiences.

I watched Flight of the Phoenix last night, and as HL's character Ian got scruffier and scruffier he seemed to turn into House. Tonight I watched The Softer Side, in which House shaved, and turned into Ian. Later, watching The Social Contract, I kept seeing Ian beneath the outward look of House. Kind of freaky. Well my brain was kind of freaked anyway. :shock:

I know what you mean although I think he looked more like his character in Street Kings when he shaved. Re his intelligence, I saw some interview where he said he was smart enough to coast by with a minimum of work. He couldn't have been too disruptive in school. Somehow I doubt they appoint boys who will be bad influences to be house captains.

Actually I remember reading in an interview that he was almost expelled from Eton and his parents had to come up and they had a painful conversation by some stretch of highway. And to this day Hugh says he still cringes when he drives by that highway. I think he said he straightened out after that, hence being made House Captain in his senior year.

I think you might be mixing him up with Stephen, who tells a similiar story in Moab...

I think you might be mixing him up with Stephen, who tells a similiar story in Moab... Actually, movaka, piffle is right. In his "Desert Island Discs" interview he does mention that he went through a sticky patch at Eton and that his parents took him to a motorway services station off the M4 (the Slough one by my guess) and gave him a talking to and that he still felt embarrassed when he drove past it!

Thank you for clearing that up for me. That's really interesting! Sadly I never had a chance to hear that interview in it's entirety (and never saw a transcript), because for the most part it is removed from the place where you can look up that sort of things...

There is no way that HL could have got into Cambridge at that time even with the backing of Eton and a father who'd been there if he was 'stupid' Didn't you listen to the "experts" on the biography? He only got into Cambridge because he was an athlete. He was just a dumb jock, and Cambridge wanted rowers. :roll:

Right. Any dumb jock can write a best selling novel, co-author a hit comedy series, star successfully in tv series on both sides of the Atlantic playing completely opposite characters, be astute enough to become a wealthy man as an actor, play many musical instruments with professional proficiency and have a deep friendship over 30 years with Stephen Fry, who is not one to suffer fools gladly, I suspect. Oh and becoming an international championship level rower? Takes a smart jock. Getting a third at Cambridge without really trying? Not dumb, just lazy at academics, fully charged at Footlights and rowing and who knows what else. Oh, yes, good one, Biography. I wonder if those journos were people who couldn't get an interview with him, read his wikipedia article and smugly went on air. Any of us would have been more knowledgeable. Pfft!

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