Reeves & Mortimer / Nirvana (Tonight with Jonathan Ross) (Tonight with Jonathan Ross)
Comedy duo Vic & Bob, at the peak of their powers, join Jonathan Ross and grunge legends Nirvana for chat and noise.
Jonathon Ross’s second chat show for Channel 4 imported the trappings of American talk shows such as Letterman – high desk, studio band and slightly risqué humour. This 1991 edition features Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, riding high after a stellar year, including a hugely successful tour on the back of their groundbreaking Channel 4 series Vic Reeves’ Big Night Out, and Reeves' number one hit single ‘Dizzy’ with The Wonder Stuff. Among the banter, the three reminisce about Ross’s previous vehicle, the shortlived One Hour with Jonathon Ross, which helped launch Vic & Bob to comedy superstardom.
The other highlight is a blistering performance from Nirvana, introduced without too much overstatement as ‘the biggest band in the world’ after their massive international hit ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. In characteristically contrary style, the band choose to play not ‘Lithium’ as billed, but the much fiercer LP track ‘Territorial Pissings’, before exiting in true rock’n’roll style, kicking over their amps and leaving a trail of lingering feedback behind them.
Also on the bill are horseracing pundit and noted eccentric John McRirick, and Monsieur Mange-Tout, a Frenchman who will truly eat anything, from aeroplanes to bicycles (but draws the line at bananas), and who during the interview (conducted via a translator) munches his way through a rose and a pair of reading glasses. At the close of the show Vic & Bob repay their debt to Ross, inviting him to join them to perform their would-be rock'n'roll classic 'Meals on Wheels'.
Nirvana's performance concludes with their knocking over the amps etc.
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That Was the 1990s
The 1990s had a lot to live up to. At the tail end of the 1980s, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, thawing of Cold War tensions, and symbolic fall of the Berlin Wall gave the following decade the charge of a new era – or at least the end of an old one. Political scientist Francis Fukuyama went one further, declaring what he saw to be the definitive victory of liberal democracy to be 'the end of history' itself.
Rather than closing the book on history, though, the 1990s passed the baton between the centuries, seeding themes still relevant today across politics, technology, culture and society at large, from the blanket, up-to-the-minute coverage of the Gulf War, to a growing concern for the environment, to revolutions in science that transformed the food we eat.
In Westminster, almost two decades of Conservative rule gave way to the charismatic optimism of New Labour, which was buoyed by the pop cultural moment of “Cool Britannia” on screen, in galleries, and on the airwaves. Yet, even during this period of puffed-up national pride, the union itself was a topic of debate, with devolution processes underway in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – where the historic Good Friday agreement to put an end to the Troubles was signed.
Elsewhere, the perfect marriage of consumerism and technology continued, as our lives became increasingly digital and connected. The boxy desktop PCs, snail’s-pace dial-up modems and Y2K ‘Millennium bug’ hysteria may now seem quaint, but they pointed towards our current, always-online era. History, as ever, marched on.
46 videos in this collection
Digital World
National Minimum Wage: Journey
New Years Eve 2000 on London Underground
COI: Welsh Referendum - A Voice For Wales - COI/WOFF465/020
Scotland Today Scottish Parliamentary Special
Our Friends in the South
First Cabinet Meeting
Action 2000: Booklet As Hero
Y2K Fever!
Business of Tomorrow
Meat Crazy!
Tomorrow's Lunch
Birds in Crisis
Meridian Tonight (11.8.99)
Gamesmaster [07/01/92]
Go Wild! [19/12/91]
Reeves & Mortimer / Nirvana (Tonight with Jonathon Ross)
Moviewatch [17/01/93]
Girl Power
Future Rail
Opening of Waterloo International and Channel Tunnel Inauguration
How They Built the Channel Tunnel
Tony Blair's Handwritten Pledges
Toying with the Future
An English Estate
The Trouble with Art
The Gulf between Us
Enter the Dragon
Coverage of the Gulf War
Review of the Year
This Is 5!
Schoolgirl's Peace Letter to Tony Blair
Platform Referendum Special
Relatives of Gulf Servicemen
News 25.1.91 8.00 P.M. ITV (Gulf War Report)
Channel 5 Test Transmission [12/03/97]
COI: Modern Apprenticeships - Chicken & Egg - Revised - COI/DFEE418/040
Princess Diana
Princess Diana Memorial Coin
The Mending of Manchester
A Day in Our Lives
Sundial