This Weeks' Star Profile of the Day - Martin Freeman

Once a trainee lift-operator for a local chip shop, in acting terms Martin Freeman has gone from strength to strength and back again.  Perhaps his best-known role last year was as a Branston Pickle Manufacturer in 'The Chutney Incident' alongside his father, Morgan.  Perhaps it wasn't. However, when not involved in actingular pursuits, Martin's many hobbies include recreation.

   

Video: Five Things You Didn't Know About Twitter from double act King Dredge...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgd4mUDJCqg

my silly podcast series continues....

http://www.comedy.co.uk/podcasts/john_dredge_show/series2_2/

Protester warming up for 'Bring Back The Old Style 1970s Smurfs' march tomorrow.

The John Dredge Nothing To Do With Anything Show, Series One Programme Four

On this week's show, you'll not only hear a combine harvester but also a specially built giant catapult.  Guests include accaimed actors Greg Haiste and Anna Worthington, along with the less acclaimed Crazy Eric and Leonard Aircraft.  There's extensive information about shoe shops, and a feature on old bits on bark.  Plus: will the gasman read the meter in time?

Listen:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/funny404/DREDGEanything4podcast.mp3

The John Dredge Nothing To Do With Anything Show - Series One, Programme Three

In today’s edition of the show, why not join in with our agricultural singalong using the lyric sheet pictured above?

There's also the sound of a tree falling over, and spaceships for all the family.

This week's show is presented by John Dredge, who not only presents the show this week, but every week in fact.

So put your feet up, sit back and deactivatatronalize for another load of audio fun and plinths.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/funny404/DREDGEanything3podcast.mp3

The John Dredge Nothing To Do With Anything Show -Series One, Programme Two

This week's long-range programme comes to you from a burgon dispensing plant in Frinton, and includes fabulous adventures concerning artichokes (pictured above) and a special mention of New Malden for fans of New Malden.

There's an unedited interview with a slightly odd person, an unusual quiz about sideboards, and one of Britain’s oldest actors makes a special appearance inside a fish tank.

Come, listen hither to our green inflatable audio extravaganza presented by John 'Radios' Dredge, fifth in line to the throne at Woolworths.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/funny404/DREDGEanything2podcast.mp3

The John Dredge Nothing To Do With Anything Show - Series One, Episode One

In tonight's holdall-packed episode, Frinton TV's Twig Harper will be presenting the first of a 200 part series about something or other.  There's also the first ever appearance on radio of an alarm clock with a tuba nailed to the side, and a Dalek will be appearing as himself.  Plus find out what to do if a bowler hat is fired at you from a cannon.  All this and a genuine policeman tonight on tonight's collection of audio accoutrements, tonight.

Listen:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/funny404/DREDGEanything1podcast.mp3

Dredge's Dictionary - A for Astronaut

Astronauts are members of NASA (National Association of Some Astronauts) and can clearly be identified by the fact that they are in space. Once up there, they tend to just sit around (see picture). The first man on the moon brought back a large quantity of astroturf, which was later used at sports events and other tedious endeavours.  In order to qualify for a NASA mission, trainees must be able to sit through every episode of Star Trek without major brain malfunction.          

Dredge's Dictionary - A for Acrocanthosaurus

     
The Acrocanthosaurus was the most difficult to spell of all the dinosaurs.  It had a very big head, often speaking about itself in glowing terms, which put a lot of other dinosaurs off, along with the fact that it treid to eat them.  Experts believe it weighed 6 tons although as it broke all weighing machines at the time this is hard to prove.  Slightly smaller than the Reallyhugeosaurus,  in terms of sheer size it was still enormous, according to leading Enormousologists.  It lived on a varied diet of animals, trees, buildings, and everything else, and was partial to prehistoric ketchup, now found in Harvester restaurants.

Deserts

Deserts are rather dry and thus the ideal climate for death, as it states in many a holiday brochure.  They cover one fifth of the earth so you may be in one at the moment. If so, have a drink on me. There is limited animal life in the desert, which includes the Limited Lion and the Partial Puma.  Most desert animals are very small, such as the Patagonian Mini-Giraffe.  In fact he is so small he does not exist.  There’s smallness for you.  There is little in the way of music in most deserts - ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head’ was not a hit in the Sahara, for example. When exploring the desert, do not take a duffle coat or wellington boots.  I say this from experience.

And this is me...

Canoes

A canoe often has people in it,such as Leonard Jones or Malcolm Stanton.  Canoes are quite small and a magnifying glass is often needed to spot them.  They are happiest when in water, as dry land fills them with contempt. Canoes are made of bark or foam, and are used when boats are no longer viable.  Until 1800 canoes were as popular as the tube is today, with hundreds of early British commuters crammed into each one.  The first man to cross Niagra falls in a canoe was Herman Munes.  He drowned.  It was never attempted again (by him).  Canoes can be obtained from your local Canoe Shop on the high street, price 9d.       

Bach

This is Bach, whose music used a series of notes such as quavers (later a form of crisp) and minims (later maxims). Bach was born and died in Germany, although much of his life took place inbetween.  It is thought that his father gave him music lessons as a child, but then again I don’t know do I.  His brother had little interest in music, being a Radio One listener.  Bach himself had an unconventional private life, marrying his second wife first.  His musical works included ‘Symphony For Listening To’ and ‘The Varied Variations.’  Sadly, Bach’s death in 1850 marked the end of his life.      

John's Dictionary - A

The alphabet has been with us for over ten years or more.  It involves letters such as K, H and C, although not in that order.  It can be very handy when attempting to use words such as 'bromide' or 'Chepstow.'  The alphabet first became prevalent in olden times, which included 4.53pm(copyright cleared).  Without such things as this, Alphabet Soup would almost certainly have never have come about.  The pictured alphabet is a later edition as it is in colour.     

The Grondigulizertron

This is a Grondigulizertron.  It can be used whether you are in Egypt or Somerset, but nowhere else.  Once activated, it provides the noise of a donkey landing a helicopter.  Should the need for such a noise arise, use the Grondigulizertron, as opposed to other less high-quality brands such as ‘Tesco’s Own.’  Available in both ‘gigantic’ and ‘quite big’ sizes, as well as ‘miniscule’ and ‘almost non-existent,’ along with a free map of how to get to Egypt or Somerset, and where to find a policeman should you get lost. 

The Internet, A Warning from History - comedy video thing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycwsF77NP_A

I did the main voiceover for this comedy piece and it seems to have had 150,000 views. In fact the writer/performer Sarah Campbell is going to be talking about the internet and that sort of thing on an ITN webcast tonight I believe...

Written/performed by Sarah Campbell

Directed by Tom Levinge

With Mark Davison

Voiceover – me.

Dainesby Klaxonton

This is Dainesby Klaxonton.  He earns fourpence a week thanks to his remarkable rotating elbows routine, which people pay to see if they are specifically threatened.  A blackbelt in Origami, Dainesby sings in harmony with himself thanks to schizophrenia.  A supporter of lampposts and bring-and-buy sales alike, Dainseby has never once attached a pumpkin to a Raleigh Grifter, though this is one of his life goals.  Overconscientious in his use of paper clips?  Sure, but a recent study using a mileometer shows that he will go far. 

Glinge

This is Glinge, ace dog reporter for the Shropshire Canine News.  Last year he attended The World Dog Championships which he covered using a mattress.  He belongs to Nigel Cloads of Worthing who is involved in the bricabrac business.  Glinge enjoys shouting 'Woof, and in that order!' at passers by-and-large.  A noted cat worrier, Glinge can be found in the Dog Phone Book on Kennel 4359.  Sometimes he dances in 5/4 time.  Sometimes there is trouble.    

The Next Big Thing

I was recently contacted by my old friend the writer and producer Danny Greenstone who introduced me to the idea of a ‘Blog Hop’. This one is called ‘THE NEXT BIG THING’  in which writers are invited to answer ten questions on their work in progress and to tag other writers to get them to do the same.

This blog gets us all connected and known to each other and, hopefully, may even drive new readers to view our stuff which is a jolly good idea, like.

1) What is the title of your new book?

It’s called “The Silly Adventures of Twighead Larson” – it’s a daft book for kids of all ages, from 7 to 775.2.

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?

I’ve always had a mad and childlike imagination and, inspired by some of the silly books for children that are around at the moment, I saw that what I could write might well fit into the current climate of nutty books and that.

3) What genre does your book fall under?

The children’s funny books genre.

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

It would be a cartoon.  Twighead’s voice would be Harry Hill, I would play Professor Leeeeeee(e) Jacobs and the hideous monster would be played by Brian Sewell.

5) What is a one sentence synopsis of your book?

Follow the adventures of Twighead Larson, the silliest person in the whole of Bingleton-on-Sea as he attempts to catch The Horrible Monster of Upminster (known to his friends as Charles).

6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

At the moment I’m blogging the whole book in short snippets and it’s had over a thousand views in a month which I'm pleased about.  I read an abridged version on Resonance FM and I’ve also put it online as a free audiobook:

http://soundcloud.com/john-dredge-1/the-silly-adventures-of

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

Four weeks.  After a while the thing wrote itself.

8) What other books would you compare yours to?

Well I like authors such as Andy Stanton(Mr Gum), Spike Milligan, John Hegley, Jeremy Strong...mad people, basically.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?.

I just felt I wanted to get what I could do down on paper before it was too late, and that my sense of humour was in tune with what’s going on in children’s books at the moment

10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?

Well here’s the first bit...

Chapter  1

Helo.

 Twighead Larson was the...

What do you mean I spelt the first word of the book wrong?  Well you try writing a book then! 

Hello.

Happy now?  OK, let’s begin.

Begin what?  Begin this incredible story of course!  Now please be quiet and let me get started.  Thank you.

By the way I ought to mention straightaway that this book has no mention of monkeys in it.  If you want to read about monkeys, you’d better go elsewhere.  Go and read ‘The Big Book of Monkeys’ by L.J. Chimpton or something. 

Read more of the book on my other blog here...

http://twigheadlarson.blogspot.co.uk/

Next week on THE NEXT BIG THING ...

Alex Barrett is an independent filmmaker, writer, and critic. His films have collectively been selected for over 50 international festivals and garnered eight awards, including 'Best Lo-Budget Film' at the London Short Film Festival and 'Stoli

Emerging Filmmaker Award' at the Babelgum Online Film Festival. His work has been described by the writer and broadcaster Sarfraz Manzoor as 'witty and profound', while Sight & Sound contributor Brad Stevens has called his first feature, LIFE JUST IS, 'one of the most promising debuts in contemporary cinema'. The feature was released in the UK in December 2012, having been nominated for the Michael Powell Award for Best British Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June 2012. http://nightonplanetearth.blogspot.co.uk/  

Billy Watson has put on a one man show at the Edinburgh Festival on four separate years. Sometimes, people even turned up. He currently lives in Antalya in Turkey and is known locally as 'Crazy Scottish Billy'.  His poetry isn't Shakespeare by any stretch of the imagination but you may get a chuckle at the reflections on his real life adventures and maybe resonate with one or two of the ideas in his more serious ones. He likes to blog and interview people for his website which can be found at www.billywatson.tv and you can purchase the ebook at Amazon. 

Joff Thompson is a stand-up comedian, comedy writer, performer and novelist. He is one third of the BBC Radio Oxford sketch show ‘Alien Fudge’ and has recently completed his first novel – Best Years Of Our Lives. Outside of comedy, Joff is also a DJ and teacher. He has met Jim Bowen and once had a piece of software put onto his computer by a relative of Joan Armatrading. http://joffthompson.blogspot.co.uk/

March

Quite a good month, March.  I got interviewed by the comedy website 'Comedy Chords,' and the piece was also on the Huffington Post site:
 http://www.comedychords.com/news/john-dredge-interview-make-sure-your-podcast-includes-deer/

I also started blogging my children's book online which has had 1000 views which is good for me:
http://twigheadlarson.blogspot.co.uk/

I also got in the final of an online comedy contest for a US website  called Yobi TV with my teenage vlogger character from some time ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRNFvzxuHsg

and made the front page of Chortle with a new character:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rWWqutjDGs

Thank you Marchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

my silly book for kids

http://twigheadlarson.blogspot.co.uk/

Am blogging my book for kids in very short bits over at the above link by the way...

Loonchance

This is Loonchance.  A strangely unconical fellow, he bides his time using a special Time Bider.  He is an elegant dancer when ensconced in 5/4 rhythms, though straight-ahead pop music leads him to ponder its meanings in stationery mode.  Offer him no biscuits, as he will take this badly and report it to terrible authority-like figures who live in darkness.  

Klurge

This is a klurge. A klurge. It was originally used in the year 14567 by motor mechanics to keep bats at bay.  It also had 4 other uses, but nobody can remember what they were.  The only person that might know is a Mrs Berringe.  Why not give her a call?

Lionel Tunerton

This is Lionel Tunerton.  He is involved in bicycle bell maintenance and tie repositioning.  Curiously repugnant of breath, he stands four foot two on days when stilts are unavailable.  A close friend of someone in Silesia, Lionel has always been a supporter of the colour green.Without him the colour would never have become so prominent.   

The Deactivatatronalizer

This is a Deactivatatronalizer, first built around the 2th century in the time of Old King Bess, the famous hybrid.  This device not only selects things at a range of 40 miles or more and then deactivatatronalises them at no extra cost, but it also acts as a kind of loom detector for working class loom operators who have lost their way.  Useful and methodical, this machine is not, and has never been, beige.  Send away now for something similar, or dissimilar perhaps.

Bill Trigggs

Here we see Bill Trigggs, a major attraction on The Bay of Biscay.  Noted for his strange liking for eighties canned drink 'Quatro,' he is currently touring the seabeds of Lincolnshire in search of undersea tractors.  Married to the woman who invented silage, Bill is steadfast in his refusal to wear khaki unless the occasion demands. Clutching a primitive fork, he seems out of place without his faithful butler, Erinshaw.