A Bit of Fry and Laurie

Recently the clock turned back a whole ten years for me. This wasn't the result of plastic surgery, steroids, or a fluffy nyphette to spice up my life. No ('alas, no' for the last one), this was due to me rediscovering 'A Bit of Fry and Laurie' on Paramount. Of course, the two foppish comedians have rarely been off our screens since, but for me they have never topped the heady days of 1991. 'A Bit of F and L' (Not to be confused with a bit of S+M) combined one off sketches with serialised funnies which ran over the six week period. Memorable characters emerged such as the straight-laced spies ... more

This was quite typical of the Oxbridge stuff of the 80s and 90s. Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie were just two of a whole stream of such acts, others including Ben Elton. The difficulty for all of them in the early days was that though they wanted to go down the cult alternative comedy route, for a lot of them it meant that they were just not funny. A Bit Of Fry And Laurie was their first shot at trying to get their stuff into the puiblic domain and they suffered as much as anyone with missing the mark. It was only later with their supporting roles in Blackadder and then as a lead duo in the ... more

|UPDATED 25/02/01| A Bit of Fry and Laurie, even though it's quite old now, is still very funny. Their comedy genius and sometimes obscure wit really shines through. The show has the two guys talking in the studio, sometimes singing/playing comedy-style songs and they also perform sketches in a style similar to todays sketch shows. They use a variety of costumes, wigs, make-up, props, locations and temporary sex changes. Only four six-episode series of the show were ever created. The first series aired on the BBC in 1989, with the other series following in 1990, 1991, and 1995. Some of the ... more

There can be no argument with the supreme comedic talent of these two Oxbridge smartarses, and this compilation only tells half the story. There are more than a handful of sketches that rank up there with the best ever, perhaps most memorably the brilliant "bloopers" sketch which documents the hilarity that ensues when an Open University TV mathematician makes a mistake while explaining a complex algorithm. Like most sketch compilations it suffers from hit-and-miss syndrome with some bits barely registering on the comedic scale at all, but it is worth seeing and, I would argue, owning just for ... more