Litopia After Dark: Of Sachsgate and Farting Dogs
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On LITOPIA AFTER DARK’s panel tonight are regulars Donna Ballman and Dave Bartram, more than ably assisted by Isle of mMan writer John Quirk and British publisher-turned US-uber-agent Sarah Davies.
The biggest news this week isn’t that Walter the Farting Dog is headed to the big screen – significant though that is. Since being published in 2001, this modern epic and its four sequels have sold millions of copies worldwide (the movie of the flatulent pooch will be produced by the Farrelly brothers and will be scripted by Joel Cohen, whose previous work includes “No Country For Old Men,” and “Fargo“).
No, the really big news – from the UK – is Sachsgate. During BBC Radio 2’s Russell Brand Show, both Russell Brand and Jonathan “I’m paid more than 1000 BBC news journalists” Ross made a series of obscene prank phone calls to much-loved actor Andrew Sachs, leaving messages on his answerphone stating that Russell Brand had had sex with Andrew’s granddaughter, 23-year old Georgina Baillie.
The BBC said it was “not aware of receiving a complaint from Mr Sachs”. However, after British prime Minsiter Gordon Brown intervened, the number of complaints topped 40,000. The Director General of the BBC returned home early from his holiday in Italy, the television watchdog, Ofcom, launched an enquiry, Brand resigned, the much-respected Controller of Radio 2 resigned and Ross was suspended without pay for 3 months.
And now, it appears that sales of Jonathan Ross’s presciently titled memoir Why Do I Say These Things? have plunged in the week after the “Sachsgate” affair. Apparently, the British public has gone off both Jonathan and Russell in a big, big way.
After setting the BBC bang to rights, our noble panelists turn their attention to George W. Bush’s memoirs (why haven’t they sold?), the Google digitization settlement (have authors just been fleeced?), the deaths of Michael Crichton and Studs Terkel, and the ten most irritating phrases in the English language. All this, plus our regular mayhem of games and other mental gyrations – next week, why not join us live in the chatroom and take part!
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Tags: andrew sachs, Ballman, Bang To Rights, bbc radio 2, British Publisher, farrelly brothers, Farting Dogs, Google, Holiday In Italy, joel cohen, john quirk, jonathan ross, michael crichton, Modern Epic, prank phone, prime minsiter, russell brand, studs terkel, television watchdog, walter the farting dog