EVERYTHING YOU NEVER KNEW ABOUT MR BIFFO'S FOUND FOOTAGE: WHIMSY RODGERS

Well, that was all a bit intense wasn't it? The pieces are moving into place, but still... there are many, many questions which must be answered.

I won't be answering any of them in this article, but shall instead offer some behind-the-scenes trivia for your delight. 

If you wish to discuss the episodes, I suggest you head over to Facebook, where the Brannigan's Vortex group share their theories as to the greater conspiracy. Or post a comment below. I like hearing what you thought.

SPOILER WARNING: Do not read on unless you have watched Whimsy Rodgers!

CRISPY SWAN GOUJONS

The first proper appearance of Goujon John in the full series, outside of his Goujontation Zone. This was shot at Fish & Chips On Thames Avenue, Swindon, home of The Crazy 88 Burger - sponsors of Mr Biffo's Found Footage!

The crispy swan goujon is the same swan used for the Swan Paint ad back in the videos I did for last year's Digifest, albeit covered with expanding insulating foam. It has been sitting in our back garden for months, and - to the alarm of Emma and Dean, who had to hold the thing - was full of snails and spiders. 

Anyway, if you want to visit the set of Found Footage, you now know where to go. They do very lovely chips, and deep-fried Oreos. If you ask nicely, Dean might even show you the head of the BW puppet we used in Biffovision...

BVTV 

Hands up everyone who thought BVTV stood for "Biffovision TV"...

This ident is slightly inspired by those early days of satellite TV, where it somehow felt so different to terrestrial TV. It lacked the same level of polish, and - to me - was something alien and strange, whereas the channels I'd grown up with were almost part of the furniture.

DO YOU REMEMBER THIS?

Another classic earworm from Chris Jerden-Cooke - my musical partner-in-crime.

This was borne out of something I used to do in the pub with my mate Anthony, where we'd spend slightly too much time "remembering" stuff that had literally just happened. Which was in itself borne out of that modern, Peter Kaye, stand-up comedy technique where comedians basically just remember old stuff for an easy laugh.

So much of our pop culture revolves around nostalgia, and I have a love-hate relationship with it. I love remembering stuff I had as a kid... but also slightly hate myself - and those responsible - when I get sucked into a website where it's literally just a list of old things. I do a fair bit of that here on Digi, but I hope I at least manage make it entertaining, and offer something of myself. 

What does it say about our present that we all spend so much time looking back? I tried to do a more honest version of those nostalgia shows and sites, which showed that our formative years weren't as perfect and innocent as we sometimes remember them as.

After putting this together it reminded me of Look Around You. It's amazing what a British voiceover does to something.

DANCING MASTERS

Another appearance from Kenny and Yuri Masters, aka Iain Lee and Paul Gannon. Originally, the characters in this weren't the same characters as in last week's The Human Orchard, but I realised once we were in the studio that we could add something extra to the Xenoxxxverse by doing so.

The inspiration for this was the show Hitman & Her - another of those late Friday night shows, when you'd come in from the pub. Like satellite TV, it felt like something from another world. Not least, because nobody sober would ever watch a show wherein Pete Waterman introduces a succession of off-their-melon dancers.

IT'S FUNTRON 8!

Sort of a reaction to the fact there are no actual jokes in Found Footage, and - again - my response to the sort of stand-up comedy you get on mainstream TV.

It's all so slick and bland, usually with a team of writers behind it trying to perfect that setup-punchline-setup-punchline formula. Even the ad-libs on panel shows are usually written for the contestants. I get that it's popular and for the masses, but I find it so soul-destroying and fake. It rarely feels like it's saying something - like it's just a distraction.

Writing jokes isn't easy, but it's nevertheless so formulaic. The natural progression of that felt like having the jokes generated and presented by a literal machine.

It angers me that someone genuinely brilliant and inspirational like Stewart Lee, who doesn't fit into that mould, has his show shunted to late night and then cancelled. If you're a stand-up who isn't writing their own material - and a lot of the bigger ones aren't - then you've got nothing of value to offer. What is the point of you!?

A FAITHFUL FRIEND

For Whimsy Rodgers I tried to think of the most disgusting thing I've ever seen with my own eyes, and base him around that. The disgusting thing in question is a human placenta. Childbirth is meant to be this wonderful, natural, magical event, but it's actually profoundly horrible and quite harrowing for everyone involved. Especially the father (joke).

"Would you like to cut the cord, Mr Rose?"

"Can I?! Wow."

<CUE A MINUTE OF HACKING AT A RUBBERY, FLESHY, TUBE WITH A PAIR OF SCISSORS, FOLLOWED BY A MASSIVE SPRAY OF BLOOD ERUPTING OUT OF IT LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF A SAW MOVIE>

STANLEY KUBRICK PRESENTS

Most of you had seen this before, I know, but I was too happy with it to leave it out of the series. Plus, it was a ton of work.

I should really go back and watch 2001. I haven't seen it since I was a teenager, when I hated it, dismissing itself as a load of obtuse, pretentious, cobblers. Since then, I've realised it's probably something I'd appreciate more. But... for now... this was an attempt to make 2001 palatable to my 17 year-old self.

DIRTY CHAPS

This was shot in my parents' back garden, because the green screen wouldn't fit in the garage - with my dad watching the entire thing through the kitchen window. 

This here is Anthony. He's getting married on Saturday, and I'm best man. Let's wish him all the best.

​And that's the brilliant Gameplay Jenny doing the voice over.

IT'S ROBERT POPPER!

Robert gave me my big break in telly writing - I wouldn't have a career without him - so getting him in Found Footage felt right. Of course, you know him as the writer of Friday Night Dinner, Look Around You, and The Timewaster Letters.

OBEY, BEHAVE

I don't know how much I can talk about this song until the series is finished, but I'll try.

Really, it's me railing against the double-standards of society - the expectations kids are programmed with, so long as they conform.

"Success" is defined as getting a good job, making money - all of which just benefits the system we're born into - rather than stuff that would really benefit a person... like "love yourself", "make the most of your time", "do the things you enjoy", "be good to others". It feels to me as if there's a tension between what our society demands of us to keep it functioning, and what we should be valuing.  

The older I get, the more I feel like we're all victims of a massive scam, that the things we're told are there to benefit us are actually benefitting some massive engine of commerce. Buy! Buy! Buy! This new thing will make you happy!

No wonder we're all on anti-depressants.

OTTERLICK CAFE

This was a bit of a nightmare. First, the guy I booked sent me the video with a backdrop of him in a gym - even though I'd specifically requested that he film it against a plain green screen - and then got arsey about it when I asked him to change it.

Then, inexplicably, he kept saying "Otter Lick Cafe" instead of cave. Given that he'd already been arsey with me, I didn't want to ask him to change it - I'm English, for pity's sake - so I had to edit the audio, and replace all the instances of "cafe" with "cave".

Slightly inspired by the likes of Cheddar Gorge and Wookey Hole, and a restaurant I went to years ago which was in a cave, and - for reasons relating to alcohol - I licked the wall to see if it tasted of anything.

THANKS TO SWALLOWS NIGHTCLUB

A dark end to the episode. It's not all meant to be funny, you know. Oh, and you stuck around after the credits didn't you...?