Carlton Kirby

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  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,435
    /\ he doesn't do the scenery/tourist stuff though, he just chats nonsense for 6 hours
  • argyllflyer
    argyllflyer Posts: 893
    When it comes to tech talk, Stephens and Backstedt are good for it (or bad for it, depending on your POV). The most likely combo for gibberish is Kirby & Stephens as they feed off each other. I find Matt the most listenable of all of them, but it's all down to personal taste.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    bobmcstuff wrote:
    /\ he doesn't do the scenery/tourist stuff though, he just chats nonsense for 6 hours

    Which was fine when they had him locked up in the bowels of Eurosport's Paris HQ.
    Especially on the long, flat stages, when Harmon would use his stories occasionally to lighten the drudgery.
    Then 2013 blew in and everything changed..........
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    Oh Gawd, I just found this. Pure comedy gold. :lol:

    https://twitter.com/eurosport_uk/status ... 25?lang=en
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • slim_boy_fat
    slim_boy_fat Posts: 1,810
    Blazing Saddles wrote:
    bobmcstuff wrote:
    /\ he doesn't do the scenery/tourist stuff though, he just chats nonsense for 6 hours

    Which was fine when they had him locked up in the bowels of Eurosport's Paris HQ.
    Especially on the long, flat stages, when Harmon would use his stories occasionally to lighten the drudgery.
    Then 2013 blew in and everything changed..........
    I actually liked his little snippets back in those days. However, now I think he's the worst commentator of any sport I watch, which is an awful lot.
  • daniel_b
    daniel_b Posts: 11,974
    Slim Boy Fat wrote:
    Blazing Saddles wrote:
    bobmcstuff wrote:
    /\ he doesn't do the scenery/tourist stuff though, he just chats nonsense for 6 hours

    Which was fine when they had him locked up in the bowels of Eurosport's Paris HQ.
    Especially on the long, flat stages, when Harmon would use his stories occasionally to lighten the drudgery.
    Then 2013 blew in and everything changed..........
    I actually liked his little snippets back in those days. However, now I think he's the worst commentator of any sport I watch, which is an awful lot.

    I adore how the compliment turned into anything but :lol:
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  • joelsim
    joelsim Posts: 7,552
    Just a bit of casual racism/nationalism a few times per stage.
  • jimmythecuckoo
    jimmythecuckoo Posts: 4,718
    I'll probably buy the book.

    At least you can put it down when it gets too much. :)
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  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,148
    Yesterday on the final climb, he managed to identify Lopez (on his own) as Soler (meaning that Soler had dropped Muhlberger), then when the camera went back to Soler, was amazed that Muhlberger had worked his way back so quickly.
  • awavey
    awavey Posts: 2,368
    CarbonClem wrote:
    Is there a 'wider' audience on Eurosport that needs considering? I'd have thought anyone who watching cycle races on there is a pretty niche and informed audience. Being hosted by a light entertainment court jester type just isn't required. CK stands out like a sore thumb i the team they have, he's the only one there as a wider career option and it shoes, badly. The only comparable cycling presenter on that score is Ned Boulting, who does seem to have made significant progress in his niche. And Road Book promotion aside, is ok. People need to get over the Millar doping thing though.

    there never used to be, I always used to cite the Eurosport approach of dumping you straight into whatever sport they had, no pundits, no chat, just commentary by knowledgeable experts in that sport,as why on earth the Beeb or ITV spent so much money on studios and ex-pros whenever they picked the same sports to show often half as well. It was the channel for sport niche fans. You watch some sports on Sky these days especially and they spend half the commentary treating you like a brand new viewer, Eurosport doesnt, on the whole, didnt do that. I dont know if the Discovery takeover has changed their focus. I enjoyed the Brugge de panne 2019 womens race with Declan Quigley and Lucy Martin almost because I know how OTT Kirby would have taken it, whilst they just described and commentated on the action
  • poweredbyidris
    poweredbyidris Posts: 848
    For all the love fot Hatch, his increasingly frequent habit of repeating statements is really starting to grate.

    “...and Sagan is dropped

    And. Sagan. Is. Dropped” etc
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    He has a book out FYI.
    _
  • Alejandrosdog
    Alejandrosdog Posts: 1,975
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    He has a book out FYI.
    His book has dropped! His Book Has Dropped!
  • 6wheels
    6wheels Posts: 411
    Alejandrosdog wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    He has a book out FYI.
    His book has dropped! His Book Has Dropped!

    Don't forget the shouting, bring back CK, or DQ.
  • slim_boy_fat
    slim_boy_fat Posts: 1,810
    He's currently tearing it up at Le Mans. He's just claimed that they will be taking the second chicane on the Mulsanne flat out. He hasn't started shouting yet.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Slim Boy Fat wrote:
    He's currently tearing it up at Le Mans. He's just claimed that they will be taking the second chicane on the Mulsanne flat out. He hasn't started shouting yet.

    It’s not even Friday yet, let alone 3am on Sunday morning.
    _
  • slim_boy_fat
    slim_boy_fat Posts: 1,810
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Slim Boy Fat wrote:
    He's currently tearing it up at Le Mans. He's just claimed that they will be taking the second chicane on the Mulsanne flat out. He hasn't started shouting yet.

    It’s not even Friday yet, let alone 3am on Sunday morning.
    He usually gets a little bit teary come the early hours of Sunday morning when the sleep dep starts to kick in.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Slim Boy Fat wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Slim Boy Fat wrote:
    He's currently tearing it up at Le Mans. He's just claimed that they will be taking the second chicane on the Mulsanne flat out. He hasn't started shouting yet.

    It’s not even Friday yet, let alone 3am on Sunday morning.
    He usually gets a little bit teary come the early hours of Sunday morning when the sleep dep starts to kick in.

    In fairness so do I
    _
  • slim_boy_fat
    slim_boy_fat Posts: 1,810
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Slim Boy Fat wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Slim Boy Fat wrote:
    He's currently tearing it up at Le Mans. He's just claimed that they will be taking the second chicane on the Mulsanne flat out. He hasn't started shouting yet.

    It’s not even Friday yet, let alone 3am on Sunday morning.
    He usually gets a little bit teary come the early hours of Sunday morning when the sleep dep starts to kick in.

    In fairness so do I
    :lol:
    I don't last much past three, stay up until then to see the quick laps when it starts to get a bit cooler and then a few hours kip before the beautiful early morning shots.
  • shipley
    shipley Posts: 549
    I love Le Mans, if you haven’t been...GO !!!

    Kirby is great commentating on this, as with the cycling his inane gabbling can fill hours of uneventful laps with a sprinkling of humour and I for one wouldn’t be without him in either sport.
  • Lanterne_Rogue
    Lanterne_Rogue Posts: 4,332
    Have just been watching Le Mans - there's something about the night sessions with everything lit up like a video game that draws me in (incidentally, a floodlit, late night city centre crit with mandated front/rear lights, led lights on the wheels etc would look epic - why is nobody pushing this?). Kirby is more bearable in motorsport for some reason, although rarely better informed. There was a certain amount of snark about him constantly and irrationally tipping the Ferraris in GTE, which sounds pretty much on brand.
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  • awavey
    awavey Posts: 2,368
    Shipley wrote:
    I love Le Mans, if you haven’t been...GO !!!

    Kirby is great commentating on this, as with the cycling his inane gabbling can fill hours of uneventful laps with a sprinkling of humour and I for one wouldn’t be without him in either sport.

    I agree normally his early hours commentating used to be a highlight wittering on when nothing much was happening other than just knocking off laps and time...he filled the gaps whilst the other commentators who knew what they were talking about took a deserved rest

    as lead commentator, it seems, hes just as incoherent as he is during bike races.

    watch the pictures on Eurosport, go listen to Radio Le Mans http://www.radiolemans.co/ and listen to how its done properly.
  • slim_boy_fat
    slim_boy_fat Posts: 1,810
    awavey wrote:
    as lead commentator, it seems, hes just as incoherent as he is during bike races.
    Nail on the head there. I used to like him when Harmon used to commentate and he'd pop in from the Paris dungeon with the odd bit of trivia, history or funny story. He was well suited to that but as a lead commentator he's atrocious.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,435
    Anyone complementing his sense of humour needs their head looking at IMO.

    Although it's kind of hard to say because he tends to spend the next five minutes giggling to himself about his own funny joke, maybe they would be funnier if he improved his delivery by being less of a tit.

    One problem with bike races is if Simon Clarke or Luke Durbridge are riding you watch with tension because you are waiting for him to inevitably start going TURBO DURBO TURBO TURBO TURBO DURBO over and over again or calling Clarke as an outside chance for the win because they're apparently the only two riders he knows.
  • alanparsons
    alanparsons Posts: 529
    Listening to the F*in idiot on the Le Mans practice now, "dialed back" seems to be his go to motor racing phrase, think "re/engage". It can be applied to almost any scenario, he is being ignored by his co-commentators so does his usual, talk over the top of them.
  • towser44
    towser44 Posts: 21
    I'm struggling to watch any Eurosport race where Brian Smith is commentating now. He does a huge, audible intake of breath/suck through teeth noise every other sentence and I can't unhear now!
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    alanparsons wrote:
    Listening to the F*in idiot on the Le Mans practice now, "dialed back" seems to be his go to motor racing phrase, think "re/engage". It can be applied to almost any scenario, he is being ignored by his co-commentators so does his usual, talk over the top of them.
    To be fair to him I think he's quite good at commentating on long events where nothing much is happening, which is a commentator's nightmare. It's when something happens that he struggles.
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  • alanparsons
    alanparsons Posts: 529
    RichN95 wrote:
    alanparsons wrote:
    Listening to the F*in idiot on the Le Mans practice now, "dialed back" seems to be his go to motor racing phrase, think "re/engage". It can be applied to almost any scenario, he is being ignored by his co-commentators so does his usual, talk over the top of them.
    To be fair to him I think he's quite good at commentating on long events where nothing much is happening, which is a commentator's nightmare. It's when something happens that he struggles.

    I am not denying he has a difficult job, I am just pointing out that he is sh*t at it.
  • awavey
    awavey Posts: 2,368
    alanparsons wrote:
    I am not denying he has a difficult job, I am just pointing out that he is sh*t at it.

    classic example at the end of the race today, Kirby goes full sprint finish style excitement because the lead had changed during a pit stop and was doing his usual hyperbole about how theyd thrown the chance of a win away etc etc

    swap over to Radio Le Mans, who are calmy explaining whilst the lead had changed on the track, the car now out front still needed to make its final pit stop too,and the positions would soon reverse...which they duly did.
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,435
    awavey wrote:
    alanparsons wrote:
    I am not denying he has a difficult job, I am just pointing out that he is sh*t at it.

    classic example at the end of the race today, Kirby goes full sprint finish style excitement because the lead had changed during a pit stop and was doing his usual hyperbole about how theyd thrown the chance of a win away etc etc

    swap over to Radio Le Mans, who are calmy explaining whilst the lead had changed on the track, the car now out front still needed to make its final pit stop too,and the positions would soon reverse...which they duly did.

    Its things like this where any half interested amateur can tell he is talking rubbish that are really annoying...

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