Frea ks like u 5
Two of the biggest TV comedy hits of recent years have been transformed into massive stage hits. Our Comedy and TV expert asks whether it’s League of Gentlemen or Little Britain that has truly changed the landscape of comedy.
hen Ronnie Barker. that grand doyen of cosy
comedy passed away last month. he took
more than a sketch or two about raspberry blowers and comic mishearing away with him. He appeared to drag off a whole era of comedy into the afterlife. a netherworld already buzzing with the stirring chuckles of the lads Cooper. Morecambe and Rossiter.
These days. our heroes of comedy are not so much gentle giants as fantastical freaks; nightmarish concoctions who are more likely to eject streams of vomit from their mouths at fundraising garden parties than fill our ears with witty bon mots and tricksy wordplay. But what does it say about us. the audience. that we lap up the fat-suited women of Little Britain or the no-tailcd. llare-nostriled serial killers and inbred pig— fondlers of the I x'ague (ifUt’lIl/Ulilt’il‘.)
While we have all been able to relate in some way to the simmering frustrations of Basil liawlty and recognise (in others. ideally) the social catastrophe that is David Brent. how on earth can too many of us connect to Royston Vasey"s growling. blacked-up circus-master. or the lascivious butcher whose meat products make people‘s noses trickle bleed'.’ And surely there won’t be anyone who has ever muttered 'it‘s funny because it’s true' at the sight of Little Britain's crisp-munching simpleton who is smart enough to fake his own wheelchair—bound status. or the hairy. pipe- smoking men who mince around pretending to be Victorian ladies all over the nation?
While the far-too cuddly likes of Peter ‘Corrie’ Kay and Ricky 'l'll Do Almost Anything to Be Caught in the Act Talking to Jonathan Ross on Preferably TV or liven Radio‘ (‘rervais (he gets all gooey at the sight of a newborn cat. for heaven's sake) may be the genuine barometer of box-office glory in the sphere of contemlmraiy British comedy. the mainstream is steadily being infiltrated by the gory and gruesome. Alongside the League and the Little. we have Nig/rty Night (in which Mark (iatiss twitched furiously as the hapless (ilenn) and Vic ‘n‘ Bob‘s classic ('atteriek (in which Reece Shearsmith displayed a horrifyineg realistic red- eyed menace and Matt Lucas shat down his own trouser leg). Also stomping similarly bleak terrain are the forthcoming BBC3 sketch show projects ’Iittvhanglmng and Man Stroke Woman.
And the freaks are out in full force this fortnight with.
almost unbelievably. Little Britain and the League of
Gentlemen bringing their gallery of grotesques to a wax museum. sorry. plush auditorium. near you quite soon. Mark (ialiss (he‘s the one who plays the empty—headed Mickey and the tragic rock'n’roller Les) has the rather privileged position of being a core member of the league side who acted as script editor of Little Britain series one.
10 THE LIST Ii ~l i' NOV 2005)
‘THE MOMENT YOU GET YOUR OWN EFFIGY IN MADAME TUSSAUD'S, I'D BE WORRIED'
in which he also appeared. Gatiss has a genuine fondness for Lucas and Walliams having rubbed shoulders with them in the Pleasance Courtyard during the League's Perrier-whining glory of ()7. but now offers a sombre waming for the pair. ‘1 think it’s a great show and their amazing success is a credit to how long they‘ve worked for it. But that level of exposure brings its own dangers and the moment you get your own effigy in Madame Tussaud‘s. I‘d be worried about when it gets melted down.‘ OK. so there may be ringtones of Papa Lazarou out there. but that‘s a different. possibly litigious matter.
While the League of Gentlemen may have less of a distance to fall these days. they probably sleep more soundly knowing that they have a core fanbase which will stick with them. no matter what. liven a largely disaprminting lW‘) Christmas special and this summer's intriguing but flawed movie may stay in the memory longer than their catchphrase-happy peers. who have. sadly. received the Richard and Judy seal of approval (their Lou and Andy ‘sketeh‘ earlier this year was up there on the showbusiness cringeorneter with Madeley's Ali G error).
Gentlemen simply snow all over Little Britain. A bunch of warped mainstream stereotypes (other than Matt Lucas‘ ()rville which has to be seen to be believed) will never hold one of Ronnie Barker‘s four candles to the beautifully/horrilically drawn characters of Royston Vasey. As Gatiss puts it: ‘If we lay claim to something. it was pioneering a darker kind of comedy that is now the centre ground. Little Britain is now on BBC] occupying a place that would have been unthinkable six years ago. I don‘t begrudge them their success. but in a way the pioneering work is never as popular with cab drivers as what comes after it.‘
I The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse is out on DVD now; Little Britain series three starts on 8801 on Thu 17 Nov, 9pm. See Comedy for live dates.
Cards on the table: the League of
PLUCKING FRUITS FROM THE CULTURAL BUSH
I Get your Christmas wishlist cracking with news that Girls Aloud are set to launch a range of limited edition dolls. costing around $8 each. Hardly sensational that the makers of Barbie are involved . . . The nomination list for the role of The Joker in the next Batman movie is getting serious. Michael Keaton is reported to be in the running to play his fOrmer nemesis while Mark Hamill. Sean Penn and Paul Bettany are also tipped to be in the frame . . . Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria and Two and a Half Men legend Charlie Sheen are voicing the lead characters in Foodfightl. an animated beanleast about a supermarket that comes to life when the last happy cashier has gone home . . . Those of you who are never sure whether a ‘celebrity comic' joining Coronation Street means that their career is in freefall or on an upswing can perhaps make up their minds now with news that former ad-libber extraordinaire Tony Slattery is set to move into Weathertield. Hot on the heels of Craig Charles. Bradley Walsh. Roy Budd and Peter Kay comes the ex-Cambridge Footlights guy to play a love-sick bookie . . . Nick Cave is playing a pair of dates in Scotland at the beginning of February. But. curiously. without his Bad Seeds . . . Motorcycle Diaries star Gael Garcia Bernal is surfing the wave of popularity being enjoyed by Mexican cinema. wrth a dOCLimentary festival. ‘Ambulante'. that tours 16 cities next year. Expect to see Mex docs here soon . . . And if anyone actually still cares. the Yeah Yeah Yeahs will unleash a new album in the first half of 2006.