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Love Connection

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog & Lassie

While without question Lassie is the most loyal and intelligent dog you’re ever likely to find, we imagine it can’t be much fun always having to fix everyone’s problems.

So we thought we’d team her up with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog — the cigar-chomping, sarcastic hand puppet who has been hounding his interviewees for the last 12 years.

You’ve heard how good girls go for bad boys? We’re interested to see whether the same law of attraction works in the animal kingdom…

Celeb Trivia

Despite proving the most popular programme on TV channel Comedy Central in the States, satirical cartoon series South Park almost never made it into production.

In test screenings, the audiences gave the show poor reviews — especially women, offended by the crude humour and language. This pilot, in which the boys are visited by aliens, took creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker three painstaking months to put together using construction paper.

After the dire reviews, the channel turned the programme down. Eventually, after Parker and Stone acquired the money to make a separate movie and created a new South Park pilot, combined with the enduring popularity of the duo’s preceding short film The Spirit of Christmas, Comedy Central hesitantly commissioned a six-episode series.

A year after its debut in 1997, South Park boasted eight of the 10 most watched programme figures on American cable television. In 1999, the feature film brought in almost four times its budget at the box office, as well as scooping an Oscar nomination for the song Blame Canada and an entry into the Guinness Book of Records for most swear words in an animated film.

To this day, with almost 200 episodes under its belt, the programme continues to be a commercial smash, as well as gaining plaudits for its close to the bone humour.

“Trey and I have not tested anything we’ve ever done since,” said Stone in a later interview about the pilot’s frosty reception. “We don’t test any of our television shows, and we don’t test our movies.”

Movie Mania

Waterworld (1995)

Starring: Kevin Costner, Dennis Hopper, Jeanne Tripplehorn

Though widely derided on its initial release, this fantasy seafaring tale is actually a lot more fun than many give it credit for.

The film is set in the future, where the polar ice caps have melted thanks to global warming, leaving the world submerged in water. Costner plays The Mariner, a curmudgeonly loner who sails his boat around ports trading the precious commodity of dirt.

The Mariner, who it turns out can breathe underwater thanks to gills behind his ears, winds up with a young mother and daughter fleeing onto his vessel.

Vexed by their presence, he nonetheless eventually agrees to protect them from the evil Smokers — led by Dennis Hopper in full-on baddie mode.

Cue a whole load of silly shenanigans and impressive set pieces, as it turns out the young girl has a map to dry land tattooed on her back.

It seems as though, over time, cynics have eventually warmed up to Waterworld, as the film has exceeded its phenomenal budget of $175 million at the box office.

YouTube Giggles

Flight of the Conchords – If You’re Into It

We bring you a clip from the hilarious American muso-comedy Flight of the Conchords, which depicts a two-man band of the same name trying to hit the big time in New York.

Guitarist Bret is on a date with his new girlfriend Coco. Sitting with her in a picturesque park, he begins to play her a ditty on his acoustic guitar about the things he’d do for her affection.

However, it soon turns out that bassist Jemaine has accompanied the lovers, as he joins in the song in a creepy comical deep voice.

Coco sits there gamely listening to the song which she inspired, although clearly somewhat perturbed by third wheel Jemaine and his assortment of tiny pianos, xylophones and shakers.

Admittedly it’s a catchy song, although perhaps a little risqué for some tastes.

To see the clip, visit www.youtube.com and type ‘Flight of the Conchords – If You’re Into It’ into the search box.