Comedy

Ricky Gervais – Fame
(DVD £21.99)
In an attempt to keep our little work experience lad happy I gave him this DVD to have a look at. This meant the entire office was disturbed by him chuckling and snorting in a Beavis and Butt-head manner for several hours. His take on it? ‘My favourite part is when he talks about Dawn French. He really humiliates her throughout. Definitely the best live show I’ve ever seen. I would really recommend you watch it.’ It’s not the best live show I’ve ever seen but it is genuinely dark, charming and hilarious in places. Probably Gervais’ best so far.

Modern Toss – Series 1
(DVD £19.99)
This DVD contains the whole first series of this disgusting little cartoon sketch show, which is indecent, bizarre and filthy. Based on the books by Jon Link and Mick Bunnage, all your favourite characters are brought to life, from Mr Tourette the obscene master sign-writer to Alan the scribble who tears bland family gatherings apart with carefully orchestrated destruction. One of my personal favourites is the Drive-by Abuser who ruins the peace and quiet of people’s days by driving past on his moped hurling abuse. ‘You wanna get a life, don’t cha? I bet it looks like a stack of old shit. See ya!’ he shouts at a watercolourist. The animation is inspired in its simplicity, the humour dark and rich like a turd. Brilliant.
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The Ultimate Fast Show Collection
(7xDVD £39.99)
So how does the programme that defined TV comedy in the 1990s and rescued the sketch show from oblivion look in the cold light of the twenty-first century? It still looks great! Familiar characters – the Suits You Tailors, Swiss Toni, Ron Manager, Ted & Ralph, Competitive Dad, Insecure Woman, Rowley Birkin QC – leap from the screen as if they were created yesterday. Splendid value, with every sketch and episode from all three series, and extras including brand new audio commentaries and accounts of how the show evolved. Irresistible.

Ross Noble: Fuzzy Logic
(2xDVD £17.99)
‘Just relax – it’s all in the mind,’ Noble tells his audience, urging them to suspend disbelief as he journeys into alternative worlds lying more or less adjacent to our own. He’s as exciting as ever on this pair of DVDs which roll together to offer six hours of stand-up along with a bunch of extras. Surprising highlights: Noble’s merciless rubbishing of religious nuts (Christians and Muslims get treated with equal scorn) and his uncannily life-like impression of an emu. Super comedy from a performer with ready access to every nook and cranny of his imagination.

‘I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue’; ‘Just a Minute’; ‘The News Quiz’
(all 2xCD £12.99)
Three timeless BBC Radio 4 panel games. Four episodes in each case, culled from the recent past. ‘Just a Minute’, the most nakedly competitive of the trio, brings the best out of most contestants. The exceptions shall be nameless; nobody can match Paul Merton. ‘I’m Sorry…’ is consistently the funniest. It’s also the rudest (mainly thanks to chairman Humphrey Lyttelton). There could be a connection here. Though (heresy, oh heresy!) the Mornington Crescent game is overrated. ‘The News Quiz’ works best when the panellists go in for silliness and exaggeration. Best value for die-hard fans: ‘Just a Classic Minute 40th Anniversary Collection’ (8xCD at £45 with episodes going back to 1967).

Alan Carr – Tooth Fairy
(DVD £19.99)
‘I mean, people do drink too much. My next-door neighbour, scally Karen, she’s always pissed. She passed out in the park the other day. She only came to when she was being rimmed by an Alsatian.’ Now there’s a lovely image for all the family on Christmas Day. Carr is like the bastard child of Frankie Howerd and Kenneth Williams. This is a stunning debut live DVD. His jokes are terrific, his timing and delivery perfect.

Al Murray, the Pub Landlord: Live at the Palladium
(DVD £19.99)
On the surface it’s a classic case of WYSIWYG: a celebration of all that’s English, a chauvinistic civility towards ‘the ladies’, mindless bulldog-like maulings of Frenchies and foreigners. But there’s a subtext too. In this lively recording of ‘…And Another Thing’ (director Peter Orton can work an audience almost as well as the Pub Landlord himself), Murray portrays a country with no sense of shame, where children dress like hookers and hookers dress like schoolchildren and standards of behaviour have sunk to an all-time low. All hail to the King of Beers.

Dumb Britain
(Pressdram for Private Eye £4.99)
‘Question: Which country did the Panama hat originate from? Answer: Luton.’ Just one of several hundred dumb responses provided by British quiz show contestants and subsequently printed in Private Eye. Is it right to mock the gormless, the poorly educated or the intellectually challenged? Of course it is. ‘Q: On which mode of transport would you find a crow’s nest? A: A plane.’

Russell Brand – Doing Life
(DVD £19.99)
I had a random text from a friend recently, which simply read ‘Russell Brand prick or just a twat?’ Based on this straw poll of one it appears that not everyone is a Brand fan. I’m not sure he really gives a toss though because his followers are legion. From the audience at the recording it would appear they are mainly young horny women who find his tight trousers and devilish pirate-style good looks utterly mesmerising. This show is a little messy and rambling but he does have some fine comedy licks and shows that he is much more than the filthy-mouthed juvenile on ‘Big Brother’s Ball Bag’ or whatever it was called. Sexy, intelligent and funny: of course he’s a prick.

WC Fields – The Movie Collection
(10xDVD £69.99)
Throughout the ’30s and ’40s WC Fields was widely considered to be the greatest comic actor working in Hollywood. Larger than life and twice as ugly, you can judge for yourself how well you think his humour stands the test of time. So far I’ve watched nine of the 17 films in this gorgeous ten-DVD set and have found myself transfixed by the sheer wit and charisma of this amazing performer. Famous for his drinking, it is difficult not to love someone who can so immaculately deliver a line like, ‘During one of my treks through Afghanistan, we lost our corkscrew. We were compelled to live on food and water for several days.’