Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
One of the most joyfully weird britcoms ever made!, 1 Sep 2007
Sometimes, World of Pub has accurate satire; other times it's full of pure, surreal silliness, served not in a "look-at-us-we're-so-crazy" way, but in a natural "this-is-just-our-daily-boring-life" way, and that's what makes it work admirably. The actors' conviction in the delivery of such bonkers material is wonderful, and sometimes, in its exercises of apparently free association, the World of Pub dialogues manage to sound, almost, like some new, crazy form of comedic poetry. Peter Serafinowicz, Martin Freeman, Kevin Eldon, etc - this is a delightful who's who of genuine talent. It's just a bit bad that this edition is tainted with some awful, unnecessary and previously non-existent audience laughter. This is a sitcom that was clearly not designed to have that, so it sounds awful. However, the comedic material is so good that you'll quickly forget that annoying noise.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant, 8 Aug 2007
Some class acts here - phil cornwall peter serafinowitz etc but
i loved the 'dodgy' kevin eldon putting in another superb performance.
Best moment for me - Kevin eldon doing a piss take of the notting
hill 'passing seasons' bit with the aid of a hose pipe.
I am going to buy the dvd now
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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
What do you think, Indecisive Bob?, 20 Jun 2007
World of Pub is the TV version of the anarchic Radio 4 show of the same name. It stars Phil Cornwell (Barry) and Peter Serafinowicz (Garry) as landlords of a pub, and each week, they are assisted by Kevin Eldon (Dodgy Phil) in a scheme to get more punters in.
The loosely-structured episodes give the flexibility for a lot of Family Guy-style cut-away humour, and the programme is perhaps one of the most successful British attempts at the American animation style of comedy, despite being live action.
The cast is stuffed with big comedy names: Martin Freeman, Kim Wall, David Walliams, Geoff McGivern, Ronnie Ancona, Germiane Greer, and loads of others. There's even a welcome appearance by Michael Caine, straight out of Stella Street, in the episode Caine.
Generally, I would rate this show between 4 and 4.5, as Toby Roche's writing is often superb, and all of the performances are spot on. The show loses half a mark for occasionally being a little slow, with the British 28 minutes feeling longwinded against the American 22.
What really upsets me is that, despite my comments on the fansite I wrote years ago, Second Sight have chosen to issue this in the as-broadcast format. What's the matter with that? I hear you ask. Well, World of Pub was filmed on a set and did not have a live studio audience. However, a laughter track was recorded in the BBC Radio Theatre and then superimposed. On the early episodes, the laughter is overly prominent, and drowns out some of the dialogue. On later episodes, the laugh track is faded right down and gives the impression the show isn't that funny (which is wrong). Why could they not have made the effort to go back to the original masters and strip off the BBC's unnecessary laughter? After all, The Simpsons doesn't need a laugh track.
So, the rating is capped at three stars, and this hidden gem of British comedy has yet to receive a definitive release. But at least some people will get to see World of Pub, as it really is a fine programme that does not deserve to be forgotten.
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