July 31, 2005
Website introduction
Hi I’m Adam Buxton. Welcome to my amazing new website.
WHO I AM
I’m probably best known for making the Adam & Joe Show with my school friend Joe Cornish. It used to be on Channel 4 here in the UK on Friday or Saturday nights between about 10:30pm and midnight depending on whether they had any minor sporting events to televise, and it ran for 4 series between 1997 and 2001. I used to describe it as Wayne’s World crossed with The Late Review, in that it was a kind of pop culture comedy review that was almost entirely home made. We shot it ourselves on mini DV cameras, built sets and props, did the lighting, sound and any writing that we needed. We also edited much of the show ourselves although that was one of the places we also had to concede to using a talented professional to help us.
For a while we were ‘cult’, ie. not that many people watched but the ones that did seemed to take it to their hearts and stay fairly loyal to it, which was exactly what we always hoped might happen. I guess it would have been nice if it had been a ratings smash and we were showered with BAFTAs and money and cake but we were amazed that we’d got on TV at all, let alone found anyone who enjoyed what we were doing. One of the most successful parts of the show were the spoof versions of films and TV shows we would perform using old stuffed toys and Star Wars figures. They were fantastic fun to make although because it was just Joe and myself doing all the work on them, they’d take ages and by the time we’d finished the ones we needed for a series, we’d only have about a month left to fill the rest of the 6 shows. That’s why sometimes our live action material could be a little ropey but on the whole the programmes were never less than interesting and every one had at least one great thing in it. That’s what I reckon anyway.
THE ADAM & JOE DVD
In 2004 we put together a DVD which featured most of our favourite bits from all 4 series of the Adam & Joe Show. We packed it with as many extras and weird bits and pieces as we could. VCI (the DVD company) even took off the trails they normally have at the front of a disc in order to give us more time! That’s how packed it is!! Obviously we were convinced our show deserved a deluxe 8 disc set but for some reason they only let us have the one which at least makes it reasonably cheap to buy. So why not buy it? I’m so confident you’ll enjoy it that if you don’t you can send it back to me via my agent (please include the receipt) and I’ll send you a refund. However if you do chose to send it back I will expect a decent letter explaining why you disliked it as well as a list of your favourite comedy DVD’s so I can make a lazy assessment about what kind of person you are. If it looks as if you’re just being a jerk I’ll find some way to get you.
WHAT DO I DO NOW?
Since the Adam & Joe Show I’ve been doing odds and sods on TV with Joe including a couple of stints covering Glastonbury for BBC3 (in 2000 and 2002), going to Japan to do a show about Japanese pop culture called Adam & Joe Go Tokyo again for BBC3, a show where in Joe and I talked loosely scripted shit over clips of soft core porn called Shock Video for E4 and various other bits of ludicrous balls, some good some not so good.
ADAM & JOE ON XFM
Joe and I also present a radio show on London’s Xfm (104.9 FM & internet) on Saturday afternoons between 1 & 3pm which is great fun. We’re taking a break right now but we’ll be back there in mid to late September this year. Give it a try if you haven’t heard it. It’s just me and Joe talking about a lot of movies and things we’ve seen on TV interspersed with a great deal of guitar based rock from young men who genuinely believe they are doing something new and exciting. Sometimes they even are!
SOLO STUFF
A couple of years ago I acted in and co wrote (along with Tony MacMurray, whose idea the show was) a sitcom for Cannel 4 called The Last Chancers about an 30 something loser (my character, Johnny) trying to hit big with his bad indie band in Brighton. As a first attempt at writing and acting I’m very proud of it although I think the lack of teen lesbian sex and a Desperate Housewives style voice over mystified Channel 4 somewhat and the show was not re-commissioned. I guess I could see where they were coming from but it’s still good fuel for my drunken ‘let me tell you where TV’s going wrong’ bitching sessions. In fact I may have a section on this website where I do that too. Or maybe not.
Apart from that I’ve been working on a show for the Edinburgh festival, which I’ll tell you about later… From now on I hope to use this site to keep you posted of anything else I ‘m up to that’s of interest.
MESSAGES
As you can see there isn’t a message board on my otherwise very high tech site. Personally I don’t feel a message board is the way I want to communicate with anyone and as far as providing a place for people to chat amongst themselves goes, I really don’t think the world needs another one. If you want to get in touch for any reason write me a card or a letter, and as long as you’re not clearly insane and unpleasant I’ll get back to you as soon as possible so please include a postal address, and if you want to guarantee a reply, include an SAE (which is an empty envelope with your address and a stamp on it, in case you’re 6).
The address is:
Adam Buxton C/o Jenny Rhodes PBJ Management 7 Soho Street London W1D 3DQ
EDINBURGH 2005
Here’s a recent picture of me with my giant beard. I think I look a little like either the actor Brian Blessed or a man with extreme religious beliefs or the man in the Guinness Book Of Records with the beard of bees. In fact I’m none of these of course. I’ve grown this beard partly to have a break from my stupid face and partly because I’m taking a one-man show to the Edinburgh festival.
The show is called ‘I, Pavel’ and in it I pretend to be an East European animator (called Pavel) who is giving a talk about his life and work. It’s the first time I’ve been to the festival either as a performer or as a spectator and I’m excited. Along with my director David Sant (who is also part of the Peepolykus theatre company) and Graham Linehan who’s helped me write a few bits, I’ve been working very hard on the show for the last few months and the handful of previews I’ve done recently have been going well so I feel pretty confident. Having said that I know there’s always the chance that people just won’t like it or not hear about it and I might also get shot in the face by the police whilst running for a bus, so I’m not getting cocky. Mainly I just want to see if I can do it without getting very ill/depressed/broke. The plan is to post updates on my progress as often as possible so come and visit and see if I win the Perrier Award! (although I’m not eligible apparently so I might just try to make friends with whoever wins it and borrow it for a photo.)
Love Adam 31st July 2005