Introducing Wu-How: The Ninja How To Guide
If you've always wanted to know how to make flip flops out of a carpet tile or how to get the smell out of your jeans without washing them, then we've got the show for you! Starting tomorrow night on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Three we present Wu- How: The Ninja How To Guide. It's a brilliant collection of 'how to' guides to help you complete day-to-day tasks. Sharing their sacred Ninja knowledge in the first show will be: Black Ninja (who'll show you lifeskills), Grey Ninja (the tech expert), Pink Ninja (the domestic goddess), Red Ninja (skilled in the ways of arts and craft) and Brown Ninja (the DIY expert).
Here's a little preview from the first episode featuring Pink Ninja, so "grab your pollocks" and press play.
If you're loving the look of that as much as I am, you'll want to know more. Luckily for you I caught up with Wu-How creator and producer Andy Mosse a few days ago. So Andy, tell us more about what people can expect from the show.
Essentially it's a funny 'how to' guide for life so there are lots of different things that you can get out of it, but instead of Blue Peter presenters showing you how to do it, it's got ninjas and people with ninja knowledge. We want people to learn stuff too hopefully and we're poking fun a little bit at the 'how to' genre. The thing is when you're doing pure comedy if people don't find it funny they hate it and it's failed, but at least we can say that you've learnt something when you watch this!
I'm assuming you're a kung fu fan and that you're into ninja films? Is that where you got your inspiration from originally?
Yes I am a bit of a ninja fan, but it's not kung fu. I have to make a clear distinction here between ninja movies and kung fu movies. Ninja movies are the bad ones in the eighties called things like . There's a whole bunch of eighties ninja movies that are hilarious and they are like a whole genre. They never have the skill of the kung fu movie nor the action of the great eighties blockbusters. They're just kind of a poor half-way house between the two and I love them, they're hilarious. They're all on so you've got to go and watch them. There's a kind of myth around the ninja that ninjas are mysterious and yet good at stuff. So we've used that to show you how ninjas can teach you how to make your life better.
Is there a particular scene from Wu-How that is your favourite?
There are some that are just kind of silly and don't actually teach you anything and there are others that teach you lots of neat tips how to do something. There's one called How to Kiss Like a Ninja and it really is nonsense. But it featured my daughter because we wanted to play on the idea that the breeding techniques of ninjas have been a great mystery for a long time. We see a clip of a mini-ninja which is my little daughter, who was only one and a half years old at the time, rolling around on green screen. She took a while to dress up in the white ninja outfit but we got there in the end. She is officially called the Micro-Ninja. (You can watch How to Kiss Like a Ninja in the second episode.)
What has been the highlight for you in making the Wu-How series?
Dressing up as a ninja for your job is probably the highlight! And we managed to persuade everyone in the production team to dress up as a ninja at one point. Which was great.
(Photo: Wu-How production team dress up as ninjas)
Andy Mosse is creator and producer of Wu-How: The Ninja How To Guide
The first part of Wu-How: The Ninja How To Guide is on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Three on Friday at 8.30pm.
Here's a little preview from the first episode featuring Pink Ninja, so "grab your pollocks" and press play.
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit ´óÏó´«Ã½ Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
If you're loving the look of that as much as I am, you'll want to know more. Luckily for you I caught up with Wu-How creator and producer Andy Mosse a few days ago. So Andy, tell us more about what people can expect from the show.
Essentially it's a funny 'how to' guide for life so there are lots of different things that you can get out of it, but instead of Blue Peter presenters showing you how to do it, it's got ninjas and people with ninja knowledge. We want people to learn stuff too hopefully and we're poking fun a little bit at the 'how to' genre. The thing is when you're doing pure comedy if people don't find it funny they hate it and it's failed, but at least we can say that you've learnt something when you watch this!
I'm assuming you're a kung fu fan and that you're into ninja films? Is that where you got your inspiration from originally?
Yes I am a bit of a ninja fan, but it's not kung fu. I have to make a clear distinction here between ninja movies and kung fu movies. Ninja movies are the bad ones in the eighties called things like . There's a whole bunch of eighties ninja movies that are hilarious and they are like a whole genre. They never have the skill of the kung fu movie nor the action of the great eighties blockbusters. They're just kind of a poor half-way house between the two and I love them, they're hilarious. They're all on so you've got to go and watch them. There's a kind of myth around the ninja that ninjas are mysterious and yet good at stuff. So we've used that to show you how ninjas can teach you how to make your life better.
Is there a particular scene from Wu-How that is your favourite?
There are some that are just kind of silly and don't actually teach you anything and there are others that teach you lots of neat tips how to do something. There's one called How to Kiss Like a Ninja and it really is nonsense. But it featured my daughter because we wanted to play on the idea that the breeding techniques of ninjas have been a great mystery for a long time. We see a clip of a mini-ninja which is my little daughter, who was only one and a half years old at the time, rolling around on green screen. She took a while to dress up in the white ninja outfit but we got there in the end. She is officially called the Micro-Ninja. (You can watch How to Kiss Like a Ninja in the second episode.)
What has been the highlight for you in making the Wu-How series?
Dressing up as a ninja for your job is probably the highlight! And we managed to persuade everyone in the production team to dress up as a ninja at one point. Which was great.
(Photo: Wu-How production team dress up as ninjas)Andy Mosse is creator and producer of Wu-How: The Ninja How To Guide
The first part of Wu-How: The Ninja How To Guide is on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Three on Friday at 8.30pm.
Comment number 1.
At 13th Aug 2010, AJWeedie wrote:Is Green Screen bit with jean trouser legs still meant to be seen at 0:57? :)
Complain about this comment (Comment number 1)
Comment number 2.
At 13th Aug 2010, Michael Bower wrote:Love it Andy! Your Ninja mission complete.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 2)
Comment number 3.
At 13th Aug 2010, andy m wrote:wasn't planning on watching this but did and it was brill....more ninjas please.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 3)
Comment number 4.
At 13th Aug 2010, Mike wrote:I laughed a lot! Loving the retro ninja slapstick action
Complain about this comment (Comment number 4)
Comment number 5.
At 13th Aug 2010, rufushutch wrote:Yeah it was great - I love it!
Complain about this comment (Comment number 5)
Comment number 6.
At 13th Aug 2010, rematrix wrote:nice one! loving the ninja know how
Complain about this comment (Comment number 6)
Comment number 7.
At 13th Aug 2010, maccapacca wrote:@ajweedie I think that the idea is that you see the ninjas jeans (that segment is about jeans)
What a great concept. Monkey magic meets lifehacker!
Please, please, please can we have more!
Complain about this comment (Comment number 7)
Comment number 8.
At 14th Aug 2010, lorensson wrote:+1!!! more more more!
What a great use of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ archives footage... An absolute blast. When do we get more? Is this going to be on ´óÏó´«Ã½ 3 on the Telly?
Complain about this comment (Comment number 8)
Comment number 9.
At 14th Aug 2010, breakthespear wrote:Hilarious stuff with spoof ninja's, archive gold, and some surprisingly useful how-to's. Love it!
Complain about this comment (Comment number 9)
Comment number 10.
At 14th Aug 2010, Terminatrix wrote:I watched this because there was nothing else on but it is Awesome!!! I have already tried a couple of the things( The frozen jeans, the windmill and the make a top from a headscarf). Really useful and interesting show but also so funny and random! More please, I will definitely be watching.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 10)
Comment number 11.
At 14th Aug 2010, Ni_Kifi_Ne wrote:This is amazing, this must be one of the best things on telly aside from nature programmes (which I think are beautiful). Please Andy Mosse and ´óÏó´«Ã½ can we have more of these? It's telly that actually has something to do with the real world and it's hilarious!
Complain about this comment (Comment number 11)
Comment number 12.
At 15th Aug 2010, beardedmatt wrote:Love it. More charm than the rest of Three's output combined. And you say this guy taught his toddler to become a ninja? Crazy... I'm gonna get home and start work with my two kids...
Complain about this comment (Comment number 12)
Comment number 13.
At 16th Aug 2010, Jaine Sykes wrote:Thanks for all your lovely comments about Wu-How. You will be pleased to know that there is another episode on next Friday at 10.30pm. If you missed the first episode, you can watch it now on iPlayer.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 13)
Comment number 14.
At 18th Aug 2010, ginabenaberry wrote:Love Wu-how.... something really original and fun to watch on TV... and useful stuff too.... love it.... please can we have some more Ninja Wu-how.....looking forward to seeing the 2nd one. thanks ´óÏó´«Ã½ and Andy for making my Friday Night more entertaining
Complain about this comment (Comment number 14)
Comment number 15.
At 20th Aug 2010, loosecash wrote:My word! This might just be the birth of a whole new sub-genre of comedy: comedy that is actually hugely useful in daily life. I love it! It's revolutionary! More please.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 15)
Comment number 16.
At 21st Aug 2010, griffka wrote:music used-genius prog but music list pleeeeeeeeeease.
deserves to be on primetime, not tucked in arse end of beyond in schedule.
permanent fixture pre or post Eastenders plz.
Made by B3tans? has that vibe. Long live the b3tards!!
MUSIC list now!
Complain about this comment (Comment number 16)
Comment number 17.
At 22nd Aug 2010, PaulR wrote:Absolutely agree with #16. This is great fun, and actually quite informative; well deserves proper billing. You're on to a winner here, Andy. More of this please, ´óÏó´«Ã½!
Complain about this comment (Comment number 17)
Comment number 18.
At 22nd Aug 2010, little_sir_hugh wrote:Started watching by accident, but couldn't stop! The first time I actually used the "pause live TV" feature because I didn't want to miss a second.
Fantastic programme!
Complain about this comment (Comment number 18)
Comment number 19.
At 24th Aug 2010, James wrote:Watched it over the weekend - very funny AND very instructive! Now I need to get hold of a sewing machine and I'm sorted.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 19)
Comment number 20.
At 23rd Jan 2011, Christopher wrote:Been on the trawl looking for more Wu-How episodes and slightly dismayed to find only 2 were ever aired :( and I missed the second one. Such a dolt.
If this was a pilot run, let there be more eps! Great show, would be a great regular scheduled programme for Three because a lot of its output leaves much to be desired.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 20)