This Page is where I get to Pay Homage to those Comedy Programmes which have had the Most Influence on me from the 80's This was a time of breaking the molds and having a dig at the Establishment (definitely a 'me' thing in those days, well actually it's still a me thing, if I'm to be completely honest ;-)

Anarchy, Sarcasm and Character Assassination was the 'hallmark' from the era which produced 3 of Best All-Time Classics of Modern Comedy which had these qualities (?) in abundance. These Series broke the mould of 'acceptable' humour by taking it to the extreme's and turning them in to mainstream hits of Cult Status.

They seem quite tame, compared to some of the stuff out today, and some of the material is well out-of-date. I'd be hard put to tell any one who they were referring to or what the situation was that led to the reference. Yet, even after all this time, I can still remember them as though it was last year. In fact I have a difficult enough time trying to remember any other Comedy Programmes from the same era. Such was their appeal!

So that's enough of the praise, I will move on the the Shows themselves.

As with a lot of things it was right for the era. It certainly played its part in breaking the mould. One of these Events where the Popularity & Influence went far beyond that expected, with the usual Complaints about Standards & Morality. Watch it now & you'll probably wonder what the Fuss was about.

Ade Edmondson

Has done a lot of stuff with Rik Mayall (see below), this includes The Dangerous Brothers, Filthy, Rich & Catflap & Bottom. Brilliant in The Comic Strip Presents... Bad News (similar idea to the Spinal Tap Film)

Rik Mayall

Did the excellent Kevin Turvey Investigates, The New Statesman, the Rik Mayall Presents... Series and my Favourite 'Comic Strip' A Fistful of Travellers' Cheques, remember John, Paul, George & Gringo! 

Nigel Planer

Now doing The Magic Roundabout (weird!) & has my Special Award for the least convincing, Martial Arts using, Detective ever to appear on the Small Screen, I'll try & find out what is was called!

Christopher Ryan

Hasn't been as obvious as the others, main things of note are Occasional Character Roles in Absolutely Fabulous & Bottom.

I didn't get into Filthy, Rich & Catflap or, to a lesser extent, Bottom , although they were all on a similar theme, this may have been the problem though, once I'd seen The Young Ones & The Dangerous Brothers nothing else was all that new or different.

The Young Ones (& the Comic Strip) introduced the World to a Whole New Batch of, dare I say, Alternative Comedians; namely Dawn French (Murder Most Horrid & Vicar of Dibley, Partner to Lenny Henry) & Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous, Partner to Ade Edmondson) & Alexei Sayle (has done several Series of his own along with 2 excellent Songs, Hello John, Got a New Motor & Dr Martin's Boots).

The Young Ones & Filthy, Rich & Catflap also had Ben Elton as a Writer.

Blackadder is Rowan Atkinson at his absolute Best. Coming after his huge success in Not The Nine O'Clock News it established Rowan as one of the Best Comedians of the Twentieth Century.

With his sidekick Baldric, played superbly by Tony Robinson (of Time Team & Maid Marion's Merry Men fame) they were the Laurel & Hardy of the modern era. Nothing I've seen before or since has matched the level and originality of Sarcasm and one-liners - pure undiluted genius. If you have never encountered any of these Series, and I find that hard to believe, then get out there now & catch up.

The delightful twist was that each Series was set in a different 'time-era' followed the (failed) exploits of Edmund Blackadder (scheming opportunist and exploiter of the weak), Baldric, (the slow-witted servant and one of the exploited 'weak' referred to previously) and their Descendants who, funnily enough, all bore the same name & looked identical.

It was a foregone conclusion that the Plans of Edmund were bound to fail and yet he never learned is lesson as each generation of Blackadders Schemes got bolder & more Desperate (so much for the Evolution Theory ;-)

I think my personal favourite was Blackadder II - all were good, it's just that this just seemed to have that little extra something. Miranda Richardson was excellent as the infantile Queen Elizabeth (the First one that is, not the current one).

Ben Elton was one of the Writers of the Blackadder Series you can read a bit more about him HERE

Series 7, onwards, had a few things against. It's probably not her Fault, it's just that Chloe Arnett as Kristine Kochanski did not work for me or Others that I have Asked about it. I can see the need to vary the Format to keep things Fresh - this just didn't seem to do it. Not to say that there weren't some funny moments there, it's just that there were Big Gaps between Laughs, especially whilst Rimmer (Chris Barrie -Voice on many a Character on Spitting Image (see below) & achieving even more Fame as Gordon Brittas) was not there.

So that's the whinge out of the way, now on to what made Red Dwarf the Cult Classic it is Today...

The First Series Introduced the World to Dave Lister (Craig Charles), Space Bum, Frozen in Suspended Animation for over 3 Million Years. Who awakens to find that All the Humans have gone & the only Life on the Ship is an Evolved Cat - Humanoid, played by Danny John-Jules.

The Ship itself, Red Dwarf, is run by Holly (Norman Lovett - Series 1 & 2, then 7 & 8, Hattie Hayridge (Hilly & Holly) - Last Episode of Series 2 & Series 3 to 6 - it's a Long Story) who IQ has suffered over the Years. In an attempt to keep Lister Sane Holly Creates a Hologram of the Person who Lister had spent the most Time with, namely Arnold J Rimmer, BSc (Bronze Swimming Certificate). Unfortunately Rimmer is also the Person that Lister Hates the Most.

So the Dynamics are;

Lister, Curry, Beer & Disgusting Personal Habits

Cat, Self Absorbed Fashion Conscious Narcissist

Rimmer, Self - Important & Self Deluded

Holly, Bangs his/her head on the Screen to aid counting!

They are Joined briefly, for an Episode in the Second Series, by the Mechanoid Kryten (David Ross - also the Voice of Talkie the Talking Toaster - see below), who returns as a Regular Character at the Beginning of the Third Series, then Played by Robert Llewellyn. Kryten is trying to break its Programming to become Human - He has generally only managed to master Guilt & is having a lot of Difficulty with Lying - the Most Human of Qualities. Although this is a fairly Standard Formula with a lot of Star Trek Characters it is done with a such Humour that the Comparison ends there.

My Favourite Episode is White Hole, Series 4. This has Talkie the Talking Toaster (the Obsessive Toasting Device, 'So you're a Waffle Man,' rebuilt after an Incident of Toaster-cide), Holly gets an IQ Boost & Time goes astray. It is just not possible for so many Funny Situations to occur in such a small amount of Time. The effect of the White Hole, the opposite to that of a Black Hole, must have something to do it. At the End there is a chance to see the Biggest Pool Game Ever, involving a couple of Suns & 4 Planets, it was a Fluke Shot no matter what Lister says ;-)

The major highlight of the latter Series has got to be the Munchkin Song, in Honour of Rimmer's own exalted view of himself. An example of Lyrics contained within this Gem of a ditty are;

...He's Arnold, Arnold, Arnold Rimmer, more reliable than a garden strimmer. He's never been mistaken for Yul Brynner, he's not bald & his head doesn't glimmer.