I watched “Run, Fat Boy, Run.” Simon Pegg wasn’t funny. Watched “Paul.” Crappy movie, but the addition of Nick Frost seemed to transform it. Kid’s not an actor, but he and Pegg seem to meld so well that they become a great (in a geek fashion) comedy team. Whyzat?
I thought Pegg was a pretty funny Scotty in Star Trek and I don’t believe there was any Frost there.
He was funny in Mission Impossible 4 also.
I like Simon Pegg on his own plenty. But Pegg & Frost and Thomson and Thompson in Tintin were awesome. They work well together.
Haven’t seen them, as the first is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord and the second stars Tom Cruise.
I liked Run, Fat Boy Run.
Why is Nick Frost not an actor? He’s acted in around 12 movies and the same number of TV shows. Isn’t that enough?
No offense to the actors, but if York, Jeffers or Vine were played by Pegg Hyperdrivewould have been on par with Red Dwarf.
Oh, and if any Dopers haven’t caught it yet, check out Spaced. You’re welcome. 
Whyzat?
Because in real life, they are best friends and that bleeds through into their performances together, imo.
True story, I was shopping at HMV on Oxford Street about 3 or 4 years ago and saw Simon Pegg browsing through the cds, when who should walk up but Nick Frost. I, for the first time in my life, worked up the guts to say something to a famous person. They were very nice and I didn’t pester them for long - but when I said that I didn’t realise that they hung around together away from work, they made a joke of it “we’re contractually obliged to appear together in public at all times” if memory serves. Good blokes.
I don’t agree that Pegg isn’t funny by himself (you’ve probably just seen a really crap film in fairness, I thought Run, Fatboy, Run was terrible) but do agree that Pegg and Frost together are funnier than Pegg on his own.
They are good together, but they’re always exactly the same characters together, regardless of context - they’re the same people in Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz as they are in Spaced. And in real life, by the looks - which means (I think) they might be great performers, but not great actors.
I disagree. The dynamic between Pegg and Frost is such that York would be the only role he could play, and Kevin Eldon’s York as-is is perfect. Pegg playing him would not, IMO, be an improvement. Pegg would do well, but not better.
I think it was my fourth viewing of Hot Fuzz before I noticed Eldon was the sergeant with the sideburns…
Incidently, Pegg and Eldon were great together in the (IMO) underrated Big Train
Pegg in Doctor Who was also a good solo outing.
Frost was hilarious in Attack the Block as Ron, the titular keeper of Ron’s Weed Room*
*“Ron’s Weed Room - what’s that?!”
“It’s a big room. It’s full of weed. And it’s Ron’s.”
“Okay, then.”
Pegg generally requires someone to play off of.
With that, he’s awesome as only a British comedian can be.
Without it he’s bland, as only a British comedian can be.
Heh, less disagreement than at first glance. I listed the three because I couldn’t decide which could be replaced. There was so much greatness in that show I can’t figure out why overall it wasn’t synergistically fantastic. I’m going to have to rewatch Hot Fuzz to catch Eldon.
Agreed, quite funny.
WRT his role in Star Trek, it makes me wonder if the little alien sidekick he had was entirely his doing - just someone for him to play off of, bicker and argue with. I remember in the commentary to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Tracey Morgan wanted his own “Silent Bob”, so they added a character for him to interact with.
I went into watching Run Fat Boy Run with the mindset of a RomCom so I wasn’t disappointed when it wasn’t that funny.
I sat here for a good five minutes trying to remember, “when the hell was Tracy Morgan was in JaSSB” and then it just hit me; **“Give me the map Scott!!” **and I laughed. I’ve never watched the commentary before but I think I will have to this weekend.
EDIT: Also because it’s funny and you reached out and touched a brothers heart here’s the clip.
Any excuse for a JaSBSB clip. Thank you, good sir or madam.
BTW, post back if I’m wrong about the commentary. I’ve also seen like 30 hours of Kevin Smith commentary/speechifyin’, so I might be confused about where I heard that.
I liked Paul. It wasn’t Hot Fuzz or Shaun, but it made me laugh.
I liked Paul too but Seth Rogan doing the voice made it hard for me to really get into the movie.
I don’t really know who Rogan is, so maybe that made it a bit easier: for the movie to work you had to believe that Paul was a real, likeable character and not just an expensive bit of CGI, and Rogan’s voice really sold him to me.