Product Details

• Actors: Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Deborah Norton, Geoffrey McGivern, Ralph Michael
• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: August 18, 1993
• Run Time: 89 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302805457
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #372,937 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Fans of British comedy will have a great time with the two-man ensemble of Steven Fry and Hugh Laurie, who root up laughs in the unlikeliest of places during the two classic episodes on this video. It's inspired nonsense that isn't quite as round the bend as the legendary Monty Python but definitely charges down the same mad track. In dozens of short sketches and a few even shorter comedic bits, viewers meet an overeducated and over-chatty barber, a criminal suspect named for a falling object (which makes his name a bit difficult to spell), Elton John singing "America" over and over, a few aimlessly ambitious businessmen, an outraged father long overdue for a chat about the birds and the bees, and the strange staff of a subtly surreal jewelry shop. While not terribly risquéé and only marginally politically aware, it's definitely funny, with a charming air of improvisation about the whole thing. Some scenarios have the funnymen stepping out of character to challenge each other to find a sensible conclusion; other sketches threaten to burst as Fry and Laurie each struggle to suppress their own laughter while trying to send the other over the edge. But it's all done with razor-sharp timing and a keen sense of what makes people laugh. Enjoy this, folks--they're pros. --Grant Balfour

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best of British Comedy, March 27, 2001

By 

Ralph and Martha Wright "Sammy Walker Scholars" (Djibouti, Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bit of Fry & Laurie [VHS] (VHS Tape)

It's a shame there's not more of these guys on video. It's much more consistent than Python, and Fry & Laurie's improvised bits are amazing. Great fun for language buffs too, as Fry likes to tweak the English language in a dozen different ways. Great, great stuff.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Monty Python meets Jonathan Swift, December 9, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Bit of Fry & Laurie [VHS] (VHS Tape)

It's not often I have to stop a video tape so I can laugh it out before continuing, but this one did it to me several times. Even more than the manic and totally uninventable swerves in logic and direction ('ninety-two years old, and never had oral sex') and the blissful goofiness of the 'Sir' sketches, it's the stunning perception and pure acting ability of both Fry and Laurie that really stand out. The 'Flushed Grollings' sketch is both helplessly funny and socially brilliant.

Not all worthwhile satire is funny. The Blackadder series, under its loopiness, was very serious television, as anyone knows who's seen the ending of the very last episode. Fry is a formidable intellect and passionate adversary of many of our more damaging social shibboleths and conventions in real life, and much of the material on this tape showcases the same deadly underlying seriousness. It's too uncomfortably close to home about certain human traits and behaviours to bring belly-laughs, but this very quality is what elevates Fry and Laurie far above the sophomoric antics of the Monty Python team.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious, April 23, 2005

By 

G. Bailey (the other LA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bit of Fry & Laurie [VHS] (VHS Tape)

They are one of the best comic duos ever; I find the humour just as amusing now, as I did when the series first aired.

If you are having trouble finding it, as of this week 04/22/05 it is still available from BBC America (currently on sale).