Uneven, but generally worth it
I consider Steven Fry & Hugh Laurie to be old buddies of mine, since I grew up watching "Blackadder" and "Jeeves & Wooster." Naturally, I thought I'd give "A Bit of Fry & Laurie" a try when it came out on U.S. DVD. So far, I've seen the first two seasons.The show sees the boys operating at their most cerebral and bizarre; many, many of the sketches are unashamedly intellectual and/or surreal. While there are many hilarious moments, I find perhaps half of the sketches to be either flat or alienating in their grotesqueness. The show is a weird mishmash of great stuff and complete clunkers. Generally, I find Laurie funnier than Fry.
The first season is good on the whole, but the second season sees Fry and Laurie recycling too many of their characters for repeat skits. I really didn't need to watch the endless adventures of John the businessman or the soft-spoken secret agents, for instance. I wanted more new stuff.
But when the sketches are great, they're great. I can't get the nursing home skit with the cocoa out of my head. But something about the bad sketches really annoys me. Sometimes being a little too smart and too smarmy kills the joke, you know what I mean? Pitch your material lower boys, pitch lower! You're dealing with an American here!
Maybe I'll buy season three when I have some dough handy -- I'm just not sure.
score 7/10
dr_foreman 3 November 2007
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1757731/14764
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