Customer Reviews

Rowan Atkinson Live [VHS]

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Some may be wondering, I know I was. This edition contains the US version, which ends with the drum skit which is not in the UK version, But the DVD also contains as Bonus Features the skits that were in the UK version but not on the US. So it's the best of both worlds!

I'd seen the US version long ago on television, then managed to aquire a copy of the UK version, not knowing they were different, and I've thought I've been dreaming the drum skit all this time. It's nice to finally have everyting in a nice DVD presentation. This is one of my favorite comedy DVDs.

Though a concert video, this is much more than a stand-up routine.

It's a series of discrete sketches much more akin to Gilda Radner's 1980 GILDA concert than, say, an evening with Bill Cosby or Chris Rock. Unlike GILDA, however, which largely recycled familiar characters from another medium, the material here is entirely original. Indeed, it's so unexpectedly novel that you'll be glad you bought this video, whether you're a rabid Atkinson fan or you've never heard of him.

Perhaps more than any other single work of his, this concert video showcases all of Rowan Atkinson's nuanced talents. From the sublime "Welcome to Hell" sketch in which Atkinson has the duty of being a sort of genteel maitre d'-cum-camp-counselor for recently-arrived souls, to the encore sketch in which he wordlessly and near-proplessly makes you believe he's playing an elaborate drum set plagued by a rambunctious cat, Atkinson's range is put fully on display here.

A concern for non-Britons is whether they'll really understand the humor. On this score, Atkinson triumphs again, because he's deliberately chosen universal events to build his sketches around. Of the bits on offer, only two might wade in unfamiliar waters. One centers around the nature of being a headmaster at a British public (private) school, and the other deals with the difficulty of staying awake during a church service and may not be fully funny to non-Christians.

These possible difficulties aside, Atkinson is far easier to add to your video collection than most comedians, because he deliberately avoids topical humor. Instead, he crafts timeless sketches that will be just as funny 50 years from now as they are today.

My family owned the VHS version of 'Rowan Atkinson Live' several years ago, and it is singularly the best comic act I have ever seen.

This is genuinely one of those tapes you can watch over and over and over, and never ever get sick of. I remember how I'd almost memorized a few of the sketches having watched them so many times! (Yeah, it sounds lame, but if you watch this work of art, you'll see just what I'm talking about.)

My personal favorite acts are 'Pink Tights and Plenty of Props', 'A Warm Welcome', the Indian restaurant one (I forget the name) and the priest/bestman/father-in-law one (again, I can't remember the name). But really, not one of these acts won't make you fall off your seat laughing; they're all absolute and pure genius. If you still have a VHS tape player in these days of high-end digital media, make it a point to buy this right now.

Incidentally, the reason I don't remember the names of so many acts is that I haven't seen this tape in years! Literally about five or six years, since it got lost and VHS became relatively obsolete.

People of Amazon, please please PLEASE bring this title out on DVD, for the sake of the general community at large. The reviews for this product are phenomenal, as they should be, and I have no doubt that the DVDs will sell like hotcakes. I for one am in love with Atkinson's genius acts that I haven't seen in years, and will lap it up straightaway.

Buy this product.

Rowan Atkinson is a marvel of physical, scatological, and intellectual humor, a combination virtually unknown in the world today. This stage show is not generally a rehashing of things seen before (although "It Started With A Sneeze" is taken directly from an episode of "Mr. Bean") but is a unique and original group of works designed to highlight all of Atkinson's amazing comedic talents.

My favorite of the skits is "A Warm Welcome" in which Atkinson plays the Devil ("...but you can call me 'Toby'...") welcoming new arrivals. The best line (and the one that got the most laughs) in the show is when he summons "the French" out for special treatment. I am also fond of the amazing physical dexterity involved in "Invisible Man" and "A Final Bash". He is always great as a sadistic straight man, and his portrayal in "Fatal Beatings" is delightful. He returns as another evil headmaster in "No One Called Jones" which also shows his ability to handle more scatological humor with dexterity. For all around amusement, his portrayal as a hammy amateur actor in "Pink Tights And Lots Of Props" is delightful, and went over hugely well in front of a college audience, as you might expect.

Five stars without question, although there are a few off color and offensive excesses I could have done without. Noteworthy also is the performance by Angus Deayton, the straight man in the two man sketches. This is a comic tour-de-force, and is not to be missed.

There used to be a 'Live'Rowan Atkinson album, which I think was recorded in Belfast in the 80s. This was a great, and I bought this video thinking it'd be much of the same material, but only about a third of it made it onto the vid.

This has been recorded in front of a US audience, so a lot of the language has been toned down/replaced, so it doesn't have the punch it did in the UK. It does have the school roll sketch, welcome to hell, and the wedding speeches, but they're not as good as the album was.

Excellent stuff...the comedy of Rowan Atkinson beyond Mr.Bean! Atkinson displays his comedic talents in a series of on-stage live skits. As a devout fan of Mr. Bean, I recommend this video to anyone who enjoys physical comedy mixed with witty British humor. Much funnier than any video in the Bean series...a must see!

Rowan Atkinson Live
I first saw this on cable several years ago. Anyone who enjoys Rowan Atkinson's comedic talents is in for a good time with this program. Recorded during a performance in Boston in 1991, it includes some classic irreverent jabs at British schools, religion, and social conventions. Atkinson appears supported by Angus Deayton as his straight man and narrator. Some routines are better than others, but humor is about as subjective as anything can get, so the bits that I didn't like as much might be the best things on the disk to someone else.

My favorite moments include "A Warm Welcome", in which Rowan plays the Devil as a polite, somewhat smarmy host in a smoking jacket welcoming the Damned - which ends up being just about everyone - to Hell. Some of the groups who are damned wholesale are startling and hilarious. "With Friends Like These..." involves Deayton narrating the horrors of his wedding day, with Atkinson portraying, in rapid succession, the lecherous priest who did the honors, his sillyass best man giving an incoherent and incriminating speech at the reception, and his new and utterly drunken father-in-law giving a heartfelt toast to the man he thinks his daughter should have married and an irreversible rejection of the groom's family. I spurn you as I would spurn a rabid dog... "Pink Tights and Plenty of Props" features Deayton as a professor of theatre giving a lecture on classic performance while Atkinson acts out the instructions on stage. It defies description without giving its best moments away, so I'll simply say it left me gasping. Other routines highlight Atkinson's considerable talent as a visual comedian - "It Started with a Sneeze" showed up in a Mr. Bean program later. In "Invisible Man" he mimes the reaction of a tube rider as the titular character messes with him mercilessly, and in "A Final Bash" he plays a janitor who accidentally discovers an invisible drum kit and, after groping around trying to figure out what's what, ends up playing them flawlessly in pantomime.

The three deleted skits that are included with the DVD are of the same high quality. "Elementary Courting for Men" is my favorite of these, with Deayton again delivering the lecture and Rowan acting out the do's and don't's of a perfect date. When Deayton advises "Not to look like a complete idiot when she opens the door", a door swings open on the stage to reveal Atkinson looking more idiotic than ever before or since. "Guys after the Game" has Atkinson alone on stage as an exquisitely polite maitre de at an Indian restaurant that has been besieged by drunken football hooligans. "Tom, Dick, and Harry" features Atkinson, for the third time in the program, as a clergyman delivering the eulogy for Tom - blind and deaf - Dick - deaf and dumb - and Harry - blind and dumb - who have died together in a freak accident. The punchline is his prediction of Tom's contribution to the Angels' Choir when the three of them reach Heaven and I suggest that you swallow whatever you're drinking before he speaks it.

This is a mandatory program for Rowan Atkinson fans and would be a great introduction to his work for the uninitiated.

Rowan Atkinson is a comedic talent to be reckoned with. His display of verbal talents such as on the Blackadder series to his visual ability with the Mr. Bean series are absolutely amazing. If you are a fan of either of these styles, then this video is a treat. If you are a fan of both of them, then this video is an absolute must. From "It All Started With A Sneeze" to "Pink Tights and Lots of Props" to the incredible "With Friends Like These", this concert never fails to please. I know that this video was shown on Comedy Central a while ago, but it was severely edited. Here is the full show. And if this isn't enough Rowan Atkinson for you, and I'm sure it isn't, then check out the Amnesty International concerts he appears in as well. I'd mention Blackadder, Mr. Bean, and The Thin Blue Line, but I am sure you have them already. Sit back and enjoy this full hour of a great talent doing fantastic comedy. Highest possible rating.

In my opinion, this is funnier than Mr Bean, Blackadder, Thin Blue Line, or Monty Python (though I accept that Monty Python is more significant historically). It's difficult to understand why there's still no DVD.

So funny! Just an hour, but an hour well-spent. About 15 minutes of extras. Sketches include:

It All Started with a Sneeze
A Warm Welcome (RA as Satan, aka Toby)
Fatal Beatings
Amazing Jesus
Invisible Man
The Good Loser
With Friends Like These...
Pink Tights and Plenty of Props
No One Called Jones (Smut)
A Final Bash (Invisible Drum Set)

Extras:
Elementary Dating
Guys After the Game
Tom, Dick, & Harry
Rowan Atkinson biography (text only)