Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Monumental, 19 Sep 2005
I remember accidentally bumping into this on Channel 4 (I must have been fifteen or something), and thinking "What is this low budget pap?". I must have bumped into it a few more times and suddenly the penny dropped. This truly is some of the best comedy I've ever witnessed. It's pretty unique, and if you've not already had it, it may take a few episodes before you have your "Eureka" moment, but when you do, it really is fantastic. Like the other reviewers here, I'd suggest this is probably the cream of Vic and Bob's work so far, although perhaps the least accessible.I'm guessing that most people reading this probably already know that they love this series, so perhaps a little info about the DVDs themselves. It's stashed on two DVDs (not crammed onto one or anything), so the picture quality is everything it should be. There's only really one extra, and that's a nice little interview by Matt Lucas (seen as George Dawes on Shooting Stars, and star of Little Britain), which is dead interesting and reasonably long. The entire first and second series are present, but unfortunately the New Years Eve special (or maybe it was Christmas, I dunno) featuring Kim Wilde is missing. As you might guess, I'd totally recommend this - I regard it as an extraordinarily significant step in the history of British commedy (which unfortunately most people don't seem to have latched onto), and if I need to cheer myself up, this is likely to be the DVD I reach for. Either that, or the Mighty Boosh. Hey - why not buy 'em both? I did. They're well spanky.
|
|
|
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly Alternative Comedy, 14 Aug 2005
Vic Reeves, the stage name and persona of Art School graduate Jim Moir, reinvented and revamped British comedy in the late eighties and early nineties with this show. His 'Big Night Out' had been a dadaist comedy revue in a London pub on Thursday nights until Jonathan Ross and the then heads of Channel Four saw a comedy gem and offered them the contract that took the pub-based comedy show to Friday nights on Channel Four.
Their humour was non-political, random and truly surreal - not the knowing word-association Monty Python passed off as surrealism, but more the creation of stupid and irrational situations. If any Python influence was to be cited it was Eric Idle's 'Rutland Weekend Television'
'Big Night Out' had Vic Reeves as a desk-bound master of ceremonies for a parade of infantile (in a good way) characters and impractically weird events. Bob Mortimer was his partner in crime. Both played characters and contributed to the kinetic comedy with roles ranging from the pathos-inducing Man With The Stick (a paper-mask wearing, pole-carrying man in a suit who had surreal cartoons drawn over his mask and invited audiences to beg the question "What's on the end of the stick Vic?") to the vile pervert Graham Lister. This was Vic's arch enemy, a trouserless mac-wearer whose attempts to win each week's 'Novelty Island' were dampened by Vic.
Les was the only recurring character not played by Vic or Bob, but by Fred Aylward.
Vic and Bob have lost something of the brilliance they exhibited here, but this is the two at their most iconic.
|
|
|
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I couldn't let it lie..., 3 April 2007
I watched this show when it was first aired back in 1990; I was only a kid and had seen nothing like it before, even then I knew I was witnessing something special with Big Night Out. All I could remember from the show was: the Man with the stick, Les and his spirit level, bits of Novelty Island, and of course, the immortal line ''you wouldn't let it lie'' - which, like any other self respecting 10-year of the time, I had etched onto my pencil case to show I was a true fan. So as to why it took me so long to buy this series on DVD I don't know. Maybe part of me was apprehensive it wouldn't live up to it's glory, and all the magic of 'Big Night Out' was just conjured up in a blurry memory. Turns out I was wrong; this show is every bit as funny as it was 17 years ago - in fact funnier - and I'd urge any like-minded folk to rush out and buy it as soon as possible.
There's the joy of finding characters like Donald & David Stott in their earliest incarnation, the way Vic & Bob giggle their way unprofessionally through the interview makes you realise they ARE having as much fun as they appear to be having. Thankfully, you can't fake the kind of chemistry that these two share, and on these shows you can see it in bloom at a time when they were making comedy to make people (mostly themselves) laugh, as opposed to making comedy to make money - as is the inkling of their more mainstream shows like Shooting Stars.
The songs are as fabulously daft as anything performed on 'Smell of' or 'Bang Bang' (NB, if you do buy this & are wanting the songs on their own, try and get hold of 'I will cure you' by Vic Reeves, as most of the material on the CD is featured on this show), the suits are sharp, the props are as elaborate with acute attention to detail, the characters are as random and the laughs as chaotic and unpredictable as any other R&M product. You either can't find any humour in it, or you will be captivated by the imagination and energy.
I can't compare Reeves & Mortimer to anyone else; for me they'll be the kings of comedy until the end of time. They're like punk rock - they break all rules, they're fresh, exciting, shambolic, effortless at the same time as being hugely creative, original and inspirational. 'Big Night Out' has such an innovative, unrehearsed manner, without the taste of commercial success that was to follow. More to the point, the DVD is cheap, cheerful and full of charm. The second series especially, sees the genuine partnership fall into place and you appreciate the title should have been altered to 'Vic & Bob's Big Night Out'.
Love 'em or loathe 'em, there'll never be another double act like this pair, and sadly, they'll never recapture the dynamic youth and enthusiasm to put together a show like this again.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
![The Original Vic Reeves Big Night Out [DVD] [1990]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RF10TK9WL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Smell Of Reeves And Mortimer - Complete Collection [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41MTPYPGDWL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Reeves And Mortimer - Bang Bang - It's Reeves And Mortimer [DVD] [1999]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41XMKC5G0QL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Catterick - Series 1 [DVD] [2004]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51J5EPVYD6L._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
![Smell Of Reeves And Mortimer - Complete Collection [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41MTPYPGDWL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Vic Reeves
![Reeves And Mortimer - Bang Bang - It's Reeves And Mortimer [DVD] [1999]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41XMKC5G0QL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
![Catterick - Series 1 [DVD] [2004]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51J5EPVYD6L._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
DVD ~ Morwenna Banks
by Vic Reeves
![The Day Today : Complete BBC Series (2 Disc Set) [1994] [DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/419W688W5BL._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). 
Amazon Home