Did anyone watch the late night channel 4 show The Word in the 90s? During the early 90s just before the internet took over those post-pub TV slots were big business and The Word ruled for the right or wrong reasons! Remember the section where people would send in videos of themselves doing disgusting and degrading acts just to get on TV. Ah the good old days.

I was in the audience for a christmas one where I saw Penn & Teller do a trick where Teller has a cage on his head full of rats biting his face. I was just metres away and I still have no idea how they did it unless it really was rats biting his face. Gabrielle was also on it that night and I patted her on the back after she sang and said great performance and she looked at me and said thanks. That's right - I touched Gabrielle and she looked at me and said thanks. I even got the wind shield of the popular lesbian Hufty's mic. The floor crew were ruthless and if you didn't keep an eye out for the big camera cables being dragged around you could end up becoming a soprano very painfully. There is footage of the episode on youtube but not the part where it shows me in a very questionable jacket. It was white and very 80s with the sleeves rolled up so I looked like I was audtioning for Miami Vice. When you arrived all the girls were given a bolt and all the boys were given a screw and you had to go up to people to see if your screw and their bolt fitted each other.

A few weeks later Faith No More played the legendary Everythings Ruined on the show.

Yes, I have a "best of" (questionable) DVD I made of tapes of the show with some of the "I'd do anything to get on TV".
Absolutely bloody disgusting things like lick the armpits of some fat sweaty person, put in your mouth the false teeth some old person in the studio there with you was wearing and some young lad hard snogging a very old lady. ..............excuse me, I can't take anymore......................

I did watch The Word!
But I didn't watch those gross bit Herc's on about. Much too disgusting.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 16th July 2017, 11:33 PM

...put in your mouth the false teeth some old person in the studio there with you was wearing

View original

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-ll1p6SPjr0

I also recall other late-night commercial fare of that era: Carnal Knowledge and Julian Clary's Sticky Moments.

The Penn and Teller rats trick is done by Teller wearing a phony arm/gloved hand, so his other paw is free to manipulate the rat cage prop.

Quote: Kenneth @ 17th July 2017, 1:10 PM

I also recall other late-night commercial fare of that era: Carnal Knowledge and Julian Clary's Sticky Moments.

The Penn and Teller rats trick is done by Teller wearing a phony arm/gloved hand, so his other paw is free to manipulate the rat cage prop.

View original

Yup, he did a similar on some show (The One Show?) I was watching about a month ago where he had his head in a "granite" rock that he was holding up with huge brown leather gauntlet gloves on.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 16th July 2017, 11:33 PM

Yes, I have a "best of" (questionable) DVD I made of tapes of the show with some of the "I'd do anything to get on TV".
Absolutely bloody disgusting things like lick the armpits of some fat sweaty person, put in your mouth the false teeth some old person in the studio there with you was wearing and some young lad hard snogging a very old lady. ..............excuse me, I can't take anymore......................

View original

Coo, I remember the armpit licking and OAP snogging which was very gross. Is your DVD available for sale or rent? Two guests which I remember watching is a very drunk Oliver Reed that was getting angry at Mark Lemarr and Terry Christian becoming infuriated with Shabba Ranks for making homophobic remarks. It was an entertaining show because it was live and anything could happen.

I've just found this clip which shows the Penn & Teller interview and trick and at 05:10 you can see me in the audience wearing that rubbish jacket. I had borrowed it from the costume cupboard at my college because I didn't have anything to wear. At 05:29 it also shows me doing some silly clapping.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1l6xji

Quote: Kenneth @ 17th July 2017, 1:10 PM

I also recall other late-night commercial fare of that era: Carnal Knowledge and Julian Clary's Sticky Moments.

The Penn and Teller rats trick is done by Teller wearing a phony arm/gloved hand, so his other paw is free to manipulate the rat cage prop.

View original

I see what you mean and that explains how he's able to squirt blood around around and put cuts on his face but those rodents are still crawing over him. They are probably tame, disease free rats though and not just captured from the nearest sewer. I dare them to do that

One of the best tricks Penn & Teller did back then was one that used a techniqe called Card Force which was a way of knowing the card that was going to be picked and then you could take advantage of that and hide a copy of the card in a coat pocket or inside a book. I used to amaze people in the canteen at college by going round doing that trick. Another good illusion was when they drove an articulated lorry over Teller and then showed how it was done.

Quote: Definitely Tarby @ 16th July 2017, 11:23 PM

When you arrived all the girls were given a bolt and all the boys were given a screw and you had to go up to people to see if your screw and their bolt fitted each other.

.

View original

What we want know though is did you find a bolt that fitted your screw?

Quote: Chappers @ 17th July 2017, 7:38 PM

What we want know though is did you find a bolt that fitted your screw?

View original

Bolts and screws will never fit together.

Quote: DaButt @ 17th July 2017, 7:53 PM

Bolts and screws will never fit together.

View original

Doh! Thanks Dabutt and that is a good point. I meant nut and I always get them confused because the inside of a nut makes me think of a screw and a screw makes me think of a bolt.

I also noticed several typos I've made which is flipping not on. I've not corrected them yet to shame me a bit longer.

Yeah leave the typos.
I made some spelling mistakes while writing a post complaining of bad spelling.
Re Penn and Teller and the lorry running over his body trick.
I saw that too and was amazed at their ingenuity - the tires went right over him.

OK, so it's Penn & Teller, but "tires" ?

Quote: Chappers @ 17th July 2017, 7:38 PM

What we want know though is did you find a bolt that fitted your screw?

View original

Nope not a sausage but I didn't approach many people as I was a bit of a wimp at doing stuff like that. You also had to be alert to know what was coming up so you didn't end up at the back of the crowd. I didn't feel very confident either wearing a jacket I had taken from a dusty costume cupboard. There was a folded up tenner in one of the pockets though which was a bonus. I suppose it technically belonged to the college and I should have handed it in but I spent it instead. It was a Florence Nightingale ten pound note which had just gone out of circulation but I got a pint of lager at the college bar to break it and I was only 16. Which was nice.

I feel bad that it belonged to a parched thesbian who had probably ear marked it for post performance ales and theatrical debate but I gave it a good home.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 18th July 2017, 3:05 PM

OK, so it's Penn & Teller, but "tires" ?

View original

Yes! That got me too! Unless he was exhausted.

Perhaps he got the tire from the trunk, not unless it was a rear engine car then it could have been under the hood.