Various - The Armando Iannucci Shows (2001)

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It seems as though this series passed under the radar of just about everyone in the country when it was released five years ago. I loved this at the time - it was fantastically inventive and full of wonderfully surreal notions. I particularly liked the "Dead of Scotland" sketch where the Scottish dead have their own area of Heaven. The East End thug threatening the washing machine is great. But I just watched the DVD last night, which is the first time I've seen it in five years, and it doesn't seem quite as good anymore. Too many sketches seemed flat. "We're good at telly" and the drivel-talking barber quickly become annoying. Having said that, I am very picky when it comes to comedy and Armando Iannucci is one of the few people who can consistently raise the bar - the terrific "In the thick of it" is proof of this. Give this one a go. It's patchy, but it's streets ahead of most other stuff.

Armando Iannucci will not be a familiar household name. However, the man behind The Day Today and On The Hour (which launched Chris Morris's and Steve Coogans careers), shows us all that he can in fact do comedy as a frontman just as well as he can as a writer, producer and director.

The shows take place as a set of superb surreal sketches, well timed and filmed, with Iannucci talking us through his observations. There are a few recurring characters, but most of the time, the material is fresh and new.

This probably will be overlooked in years to come, but take it from me, it's a superb foray into what we think of comedy. Not as a hard hitting as Brass Eye, not as innovative as the Day Today, but damn good stuff all the same.

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Thursday, May 20, 2010

Various - The Armando Iannucci Shows (2001)

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