Customer Reviews

A Bit of Fry and Laurie: The Complete Collection... Every Bit!

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

OK, this is based off the UK release, so I can't give you any details on features, etc. Instead, I'll focus on the series.

First, if you don't already know, A Bit of Fry and Laurie is a collection of sketches divided by mock interviews with the "British public" (always Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie). At times these sketches are of characters, whilst other times they are of the stars as themselves.

Vox pops abound in every series of A Bit of Fry and Laurie, but there is a lack of regular, recurring characters (unless you count Fry and Laurie), unlike in Little Britain. In series one and two, there are Tony and Control of MI6, and the promotors of Uttoxeter, and the like, but if you've seen those two series, you'll understand why they were dropped from three and four. (I won't go into too much detail on one and two; I'll assume you've already seen them.)

Series three introduces Mr Music (Hugh Laurie) who plays out the credits as Stephen Fry mixes up a strange, often disturbing, concoction. This bit, thankfully survives in the final series. Series three also marks a spike in music sketches (even Fry contributes his bit, as frightening as it seems in "You, You, You", etc.), including the popular "There Ain't But One Way", in which Laurie plays a Johnnie Cash-like singer with his brother Oren. I don't think you'll ever see Stephen Fry in a more unsophisticated role. By and large, this is my absolute favourite series, and my friends agree. Three hours just flew by.

Series four is... a tad awkward. Apparently, the programme was moved from BBC2 to the more restrained BBC1 (I may be wrong on the channels), where creative control was hampered by the station. They introduced (often) unnecessary guest stars who did not do much -- most of the funny sketches were done without them. Thankfully, Mr Music and Fry's disturbing concoctions are back, and even more disturbing than before. And for you fans of Hugh Laurie, he does a music sketch every episode, including "Little Girl" and the "Be Nice" rap.

All in all, this is a must for fans of Fry and Laurie, and an excellent introduction for new fans who are just discovering their comedy.

In retrospect this DVD collection is the purchase I wish I had made. Having shelled out for all 4 series of 'A Bit of Fry & Laurie' individually, each one more hilarious than the last, I recommend that comedy fans simply invest in this 4 in 1 pack.

Throughout these fantastic series, Stephen Fry's wit and Hugh Laurie's whimsy never fail to hit the spot. The pairing like to mock everything that the eighties held dear including ruthless black hearted capitalism, vulgar fashion sense and the incumbent Tory government. Allied to the ruthless satire is the pair's amusing habit of toying with and manipulating the English language in a hilarious manner. Far from trying to escape their upper class, Oxbridge backgrounds, they instead choose to embrace them as fully as possible.

Many American viewers will have come to Hugh Laurie through his part in the series 'House' and possibly could have come to Stephen Fry through the part he played in the American series 'Bones'. To these Americans I say that it is an absolute must for you to look through all the past works of these two comic masters. As well as this series check out 'Jeeves & Wooster', 'Blackadder' and the many books that Stephen Fry has published. As far as this series goes, don't hesitate, make this all in one box set your one 'A Bit of Fry and Laurie' purchase.

A BIT OF FRY AND LAURIE was a sketch comedy programme that ran on the BBC between 1989-95 for four series (seasons in American terminology) marked by eccentric humour. It's a tiring trope to hear any British comedy programme compared to Monty Python, but I think in this case that can give you some idea of what to expect. But Fry and Laurie throw in quite a bit of highbrow or outright intellectual humour, with sketches referencing everything from De Saussure's distinction of "langue" and "parole" in linguistics to Plato's notion of forms and the commonplaces of the Tolkien-style fantasy genre. Sometimes we find metacomedy, where a sketch is interrupted halfway through, and the comedians address the camera, or we even cut to another sketch where Fry and Laurie play critics analysing the last. The comedic dynamic is based on the opposition of these two comedians, with Laurie the often scatterbrained funny guy and Fry the prim straight man. Both Fry and Laurie are quite talented in imitating other English accents, from Australian to Scottish, although only Laurie successfully manages American and working class UK accents. With many of the sketches are perennial, others are very much if its time, capturing the political polemics, celebrity scandals, "Yuppie" phenomenon and popular music of the time. Far from making it unpleasantly dated, in my experience these facets only add to the humour.

I think the first season is the strongest, and then the quality progressively declines. From the second season everything seems too glossy and contrived, with the beginning episodes had a sort of amateur charm to them. We get too many of Hugh Laurie's musical sketches, some of which aren't even comedic anymore. In the final series, guests appear on each episode, which pushes Fry and Laurie out of their own programme. Therein lies a conundrum, for I cannot recommand the complete DVD set to just anyone, because they may not enjoy all or even most of it. However, I cannot recommend just getting the set of the first series because then, if you like it and want to see more, it'll cost so much more to get the complete set. However, this programme is floating around out there, and I think if you previewed it first you'd have a better idea of whether the complete set or even just the release of the first series is worth it.

Overall, this show is very enjoyable. Some sketches are really silly and so absured (Derek Nippl-e, anyone?!), that you laugh quite hard watching them. My favourite parts of the show were the musical numbers with Hugh Laurie, and the endings of the last two series with Stephen Fry mixing up cocktails and dancing hilariously as Laurie plays the piano.

As far as my ratings go: Even though I'm a huge fan of British comedy, and that's basically all I buy in way of DVD collections, I found this one a bit hard to understand being a Yank and all. This show was on air when I was about six years old as well, so I'm not sure if it's a cultural or time-lapse difference that makes certain sketches go over my head.

For a collection of four DVDs, the price is quite heafty as well. For about the same price, you can find the 8-disk Jeeves & Wooster series in Amazon's "new & used" section. What would have made the boxed set worth the price would have been a collection packed with extras (left-over sketches, bloopers, behind-the-scenes stuff, etc). Though, the one extra this set did have was the Cambridge University Footlights Review Special that aired on the BBC featuring early works by Fry & Laurie. This special is quite hilarious, and Stephen Fry shines, in my opinion, during a seven-minute monologue simply titled, "The Letter". Very witty stuff, indeed!

I cant see how a comedy fan, especially of cutting edge British humour can avoid these two clowns. At their best they are just supremely silly and possess a Python Silliness Reciprocal Coefficient Constant (PSRCC) of 0.987 which is the 3rd highest rating recorded in this part of the milky way since the early 17th century. For this achievement alone these two little rascals should be knighted and put in cold storage for further medical examination. We must as a species, find out what exactly this genetic abnormality is in a philosophical and sexual sense and how to harness its potential to combat the looming crisis of global warming. Its the only hope we have left to us now...............

A Bit of Fry and Laurie was, and still is, a sketch show like no other. Sketches were often abandoned with a fourth-wall break, because there was no other way out. Big laughs were often put off in lieu of a series of quick-witted verbal exchanges; the amount of word play is almost exhausting, and you really don't catch most of it until the third or fourth time through. It's the only sketch comedy show I know that gets better each time you watch it, making it fully worth buying in a set like this. My only complaint about the set is its presentation; realizing that A Bit of Fry and Laurie doesn't have a huge fan base in the United States, the package design is simply the four individual seasons put into a slip case. It works great, and I don't really have any complaints about that, but I would think it a better use of materials to have used slim cases or a fold-out case, like Lost or Heroes.
Otherwise? Brilliant material from two brilliant men.

I'm so glad to see this get a release in the USA so that our cousins across the pond who maybe only know Hugh Laurie from House get to see what a brilliant comedian he is.

For longtime UK fans of Fry and Laurie like myself, it's a little suprising that Hugh ended up the household name in the States rather than Stephen Fry, who was seen as the real genius in that pairing. But it's not the first time that's happened - exactly the same thing occured with the greatest comedy British double act of all time in Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Cook was a comedy genius - probably the greatest comedian the UK has ever produced -but it was Dudley who broke the USA bigtime and became a Hollywood star.

It's so great to see these hilariously inventive and funny sketches again - and I do hope Steve and Hugh get together again soon for some more inspired lunatic genius.

and it is likely more than any one fan really needs, for the diamonds and the dregs both are preserved on these discs. Laurie is now a big star on American TV as the lead actor in "House", one of my favorite shows, and Fry is an occasional supporting player in "Bones", another of my can't miss broadcast offerings. On the product under discussion, you can see pretty much where they got their television start, beginning about 20 years ago as a sketch comedy duo. For my taste, the earliest work was the most enjoyable, and the other three DVD's were a bit less worthwhile as a whole. Many of the sketches are of interest mainly to people living in England at the time they were created. Some of the others suffer from my not being at the top of my game in comprehending British accents or slang. The great moments are indeed, worthy of that word. I did have many, many laughs, but for repeated enjoyment of the talents of these two fools, I recommend the "Jeeves and Wooster" box instead. Or, you could rent the human-actor version of "101 Dalmatians" and see Hugh Laurie as a bumbling burglar who makes his brief appearance into a real gem. Also see J.C. Clark's review here, which makes some excellent points about the pros and cons of "complete box sets" like this.

We are now through the first 3 seasons and partway into the 4th season. There is some pure gold in this set - the entire family is enjoying it. On the other hand, there are a fair amount of clinkers too - the shows are hit or miss. If you are sensitive to off-color language this set is ABSOLUTELY NOT for you. Many of the best skits are available on YouTube, though the video quality is certainly substandard by comparison. All-in-all, this was a good addition to our home library, though if I had to choose between this collection and the Complete Jeeves & Wooster - Jeeves would win hands down!

I bought this for my husband for Christmas. We are big fans of Jeeves and Wooster. This is quite different but we have been enjoying these a lot. We were fortunate to have lived in UK and I think for that reason we enjoy the British humor more than some who have not been exposed to some of their unique takes on things. It is similar to Monty Python humor.