Tuesday, May 26, 2009

A Bit of Fry and Laurie

What's all this then? Delightful British humour with young versions K's homies Stephen and Hugh. A Bit of Fry and Laurie was a BBC sketch comedy show that aired for four seasons between 1989 and 1995. Some of the comedy is Monty Python-esque in its approach, there's a lot of dead pan humour, random misunderstanding-based jokes thrown into the broader story lines of the short sketches (for cheap laughs), sparkling wordplay and dry British wit. The sketches are interspersed with parody "vox pops" and the sketches often "break the fourth wall" by making asides, interacting with the audience, or breaking character (sometimes to discuss the sketch itself). There is also some hilarious musical parodies by Hugh. Embedding is disabled on the BBC YouTUBE channel but here's a link to the "light metal sketch" - it's like heavy metal but without the weight. And here's Hugh's Bob Dylan impersonation - all we gotta do is mnghffmnnn.

Learn the lingo (I learned 2 things!):
"Breaking the fourth wall" - in which actors (in a movie, play, etc.) cross the imaginary boundary between the audience/reality and the fictional setting of the story. Makes reference to the invisible wall that separates the audience from the action and through which the audience watches.
"Vox pops" - refers to "man on the street" interviews, usually featuring unrehearsed opinions and answers to questions in a public format. From the latin vox populi meaning "voice of the people" (also a song by Sepultura form the 2001 CD "Nation").

2 comments:

H. said...

Super funny! Check out "Your Name Sir" too!

Adam said...

I am pretty sure I have seen that Bob Dylan sketch before but I cannot remember when

 
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