Oh my. Thanks to a recommendation from Edgar Wright (have you read our interview with him yet? you should. here it is.) and a couple of fine British lads who post here regularly I recently went on a little quest for a BBC comedy show called Little Britain. Turns out the first season doesn’t come out on DVD until October, but thanks to the wonders of the inter-web I managed to secure myself a good viewing copy. Oh my. Absolutely demented genius.
Little Britain is the brain child of two comic performers – Matt Lucas and David Walliams – who have set out to create a sort of absurdist educational film about the diversity of Britain and its residents. The duo plays upwards of fifteen characters between them rapidly jumping from character to character, region to region throughout the UK, gradually telling more and more of the stories of these utterly bizarre people. The approach reminded me somewhat of the League of Gentlemen, though without all the nods to classic horror films and not tied into one specific location as the League is, which is not surprising considering the League’s Mark Gatiss is involved behind the scenes.
So what’ve we got? A motivational weight loss group gone wrong, the world’s least convincing transvestite, a mental hospital, child-acting obsessed parents, a washed out actor reliving his glory years, a man caring for his supposedly crippled friend … the characters just go on and on and they’re all amazing. Upping the ante even further are a hilarious recurrent part for Anthony Stewart Head (Giles from Buffy) as the British Prime Minister dealing with a smitten aide and a wildly unhinged narration provided by the Dr. Who of my youth, Tom Baker. He’s the one with the long scarf. I have no idea what Baker’s current profile in the UK is like but his performance here is ten times as surreal as any of William Shatner’s pieces of self parody. Check this show out if you’re at all able … the DVD releases October 11th in the UK.
