By: Valerie Milano
Phoenix, AZ (The Hollywood Times) 6/25/2024 – British comedy is a decidedly different animal. Anyone who has watched programs from across the pond like “Fawlty Towers” or “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” are familiar with the genre and its reliance on satire, sarcasm, puns, insults, self-deprecation and, in some cases, taking aim at taboo subjects (think “The Benny Hill Show” for the taboo).
The rest of British television, on the whole, is largely a high-class, intellectually stimulating affair with shows like “Dr. Who” and “Antiques Road Show.” So, what if someone took the finest traditions of both genres and crafted them together, an electronic Frankenstein as it were?
Well, you would get “World Twistories” from the mind of Paul Longley and Brian Wallace, which will have its world premiere on Saturday, June 29th, at Dances With Films, Los Angeles’ longest-running independent film festival, which will wrap up its 27th run on Sunday.
World Twistories is an unusual new series that explores eccentric people and their offbeat ideas throughout history. Each topic explored is verifiably true, exhaustively researched, and presented by Longley, who doubles as the show’s host and a presenter of the research.
In the first episode, the microscope focuses on coffee shops. As Longley and fellow researcher Abigail Cornick discuss the origins of places to enjoy a steaming cup of bean juice, actors re-enact the scenes with droll voices and deadpan faces.
Thus, the marriage of humor and class, with this first episode delivering on both counts. Cast members Whit Spurgeon and Christopher Hatfield deliver the satirical vignettes introducing us to the man who came up with the idea for a specialized coffeeshop. Spurgeon plays Richard Hogarth, who in 1703 opened the first establishment dedicated to selling a hot cup of Joe in London where only Latin would be spoken by the patrons. Hatfield, who plays Hogarth’s best friend at the time, is seen alternately encouraging and playing Devil’s Advocate with this unique idea. Would this be the seeds of today’s Starbucks craze or to narrow a path to sip.
The series is presented by Oakmead Productions and Fancy Movies. Paul Longley and brother James co-produce the series for Oakmead, which has its headquarters in Surrey, just outside London in the UK. Brian Wallace and Matt Mitchell head the team for Fancy Movies, whose offices are on Santa Monica Blvd. in Los Angeles.
The four men took time out from spanning the Atlantic with this brilliant partnership to sit down with The Hollywood Times for an exclusive chat about “World Twistories.” The Longleys from London, Wallace and Mitchell from Los Angeles. As you might imagine, the interplay between the Brits and the Yanks was as entertaining as their show.
Click below for our exclusive interview:
They jumped right in on the matter of the show’s unique format, and how viewers could perceive the mix. Wallace said he thinks the approach helps level things between the serious nature of the scholarly inquiry and the light-hearted nature of comedy.
“The way I view it is that it’s an equal balance,” said Wallace, who also is one of the series directors with James Longley. “There are a lot of shows right now that are historically centered, but the host kind of lampoons the scholar. So, what we’re doing with the sketch, we’re putting a lot of the comedy into that bucket, so that the scholar, the historian, the academic can add context to it.”
He added that since all of the information that is being presented in the sketch is historically accurate and actually did happen, if the audience is laughing the entire time, things can get a little bit lopsided, so this approach promotes that balance. Paul Longley, who shares writing credit for this first episode with Wallace, agreed, saying the format “creates context.”
“If you’re talking about events that are much more well-known, historical events one knows inside out, you can play completely for laughs and you don’t need the historical element and the fact-finding behind it,” he said. “The beauty of ‘World Twistories’ is that it deals with parts of history that people won’t know about. The history itself is really funny and really interesting anyway, and what we’re doing is creating more fun with it.”
“In that vein, the presentation of the research takes on a lighter tone, making it more interesting in the process,” said James Longley.
“Abigail, who is our historian and museum curator, was fantastic, and we wanted to make the chat to be more lighthearted and more of a jovial conversation, rather than a full-on interview,” Longley said. “We didn’t want it to be overly formal, and light-hearted, and that why we tailored the questions to be that way.”
Mitchell pointed out that aside from the history itself, the physical environment of the sets and lighting are a key element in making “World Twistories” the unique show that it is.
“From our perspective with the sketch, we were trying to get the lampoon-ish part of it, obviously,” he said. “But trying to come up with ways to control the lighting, ways to control the set and make it look like it is that period. And everything just kind of came together.”
“World Twistories” will screen Saturday at 11 a.m. as part of Pilots Block 4 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatre, 6801 Hollywood Blvd., in Hollywood.
Website: Dances With Films.
