THE PLOT THUS FAR
A series of self contained TV films starring performers from London’s “Comic Strip” comedy club and their friends. Noted for a high sense of parody of previous films, literature, and generally everyone in sight.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
“The Comic Strip presents . . .” introduced a new crowd of “‘varsity comics” to British commercial television, and a fresh approach to the half-hour comedy format. Led by Peter Richardson, the Channel 4 series broke away from the crazy-sketch format which had dominated the years since the debut of Monty Python, instead focusing each episode on a playful exploration of a particular film or TV genre. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that there’s many a hint of boob in the older episodes.
A lot of the characters are sleazy but too far removed from reality to be anything more than cartoonish, but in ‘Mr. Jolly’ their frightening alcohol consumption and heroically antisocial behaviour make for brilliant entertainment. Granted, they may not appeal to everyone. You could say it’s a one-joke show but it works for me. For the people that might have a hard time keeping up with Python, you can experience and enjoy this scattershot approach. Plus, Hagrid turns out to be funny.
The DVD comes with featurettes and a short film from Julien Temple. The A/V Quality is sharp enough for a British show of its age. The collection stretches from the early 80s to the year 2000 and you get a wide array of sound mixes and transfers. But, for the most part…it holds up very well. I just wish we had some commentaries from the comedians featured. Oh well, it’s worth a purchase.
RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!
