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The Spiritual Successor to Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Man to Man with Dean Learner is a spoof Talk Show aired on 2006, starring Darkplace's 'producer', and "club owner, celebrity manager, restaurateur, entrepreneur and publisher of high-class gentlemen's magazines", Dean Learner (Richard Ayoade) as the host, interviewing various celebrity friends (all played by Matthew Holness).
Similar to Knowing Me Knowing You With Alan Partridge but played more like a late-night 'culture' show than a prime-time showbiz extravaganza.
Tropes used include:[]
- Acting for Two: All of the show's guests are played by Matthew Holness.
- Better Than Sex: In Dean's interview with Steve Pising, former Formula Five motor racer, Steve refers to the speed of a Formula Five car as being better than sex... or, at least, better than any sex that he's ever had.
- Brainless Beauty: Satu Suominen
- Cluster F-Bomb: Or at least Cluster A-hole Bomb, courtesy of Amir Chanan at the end of his episode.
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Amir Chanan: "You, Satu and this whole show are assholes! You're an asshole, you're an asshole and this is an asshole. And in fact, you are an asshole, too. All of you at home, you are all assholes. Everyone in this country, you are all assholes. You are all assholes. Okay, you are, you're an asshole." |
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- The Danza: Satu Suominen
- Doorstopper: Garth Marenghi's new anthology.
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Garth Marenghi: "If you only buy one Garth Marenghi book, buy this one, which is all of them." |
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- Man On Fire: Glynn Nimron.
- Metaphorgotten:
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Dean Learner: "It's like that philosophical question: If a tree falls in the forest, and I'm not there, and it makes a sound, but I don't hear it, but someone records it and plays it back to me at a dinner party, does that mean I'm still in the forest? And if I am, then why can't I just take a piss in the garden rather than queuing for the toilet? And that's if the toilet even exists; I've been trying to use it all fucking night. I'm starting to doubt the existence of the toilet quite frankly at this stage of the proceedings. Get a portaloo is what I'm saying. If you're going to have a party of that size, get a portaloo. 'Cause I don't want to spend my entire fucking evening in the corridor. And if philosophy can solve those questions, then it's worth it. But thus far it can't. So I'm fucking busting, and what's Plato doing about it? Nothing." |
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- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Most of the guests. The psychic is a "fork-bender" (Uri Geller), Glynn Nimron is Elvis Presley meets Leonard Nimoy, and "Formula Five" racing driver Steve Pising is Nigel Mansell, with a bit of old-school Jeremy Clarkson thrown in.
- Spiritual Successor: Effectively a spin-off of Darkplace, and Garth Marenghi is the first guest.
- Stealth Parody: Broadcast in a late night slot, it looked much like a real chatshow. Especially if people hadn't seem Darkplace.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Dean Learner, especially in the last episode, where it's revealed he might have led Randolph Caer to suicide by "borrowing" Randolph's likeness for a controversial campaign.