some bits of Stephen Fry and Hugh LaurieIf you know the brilliant Hugh Laurie only from House, which was the introduction the majority of American audiences had to the British actor, then you probably don’t know that before taking on the role of the cranky doctor, Laurie was celebrated primarily as a comic actor. Oh, it’s true that there are aspect of Gregory House that are funny, but his is a bitter, mean humor. The Laurie that I’d been a fan of for more than a decade prior to House has a bright, cheery, sprightly screen presence; he made magic out of humor, managed to be both intellectually droll and bouncy and goofy at the same time. I love House, and Laurie is amazing in the role, but when I watch the show I find myself constantly surprised that this vicious misanthrope is Hugh Laurie. All this has been prompted by the news that Season 3 of House is coming to DVD in August, and by this week’s DVD release of the final two seasons of A Bit of Fry & Laurie, the sketch comedy show Laurie created, wrote, and starred in with his longtime partner in comic crime, Stephen Fry. I haven’t seen the show again since it aired on PBS in the 90s, and I am looking forward to diving into the DVDs. (All four seasons, which aired on the BBC between 1989 and 1995, are now available in a complete set, as well.) Sort of a two-man Monty Python’s Flying Circus, this show was full of absurb observations on modern life, clever wordplay, hilarious non sequiturs, and funny musical numbers. (Laurie is an accomplished musician on several instruments, most notable the piano.)
Anticipating Fry & Laurie makes me want to devour all over again their other grand collaboration, Jeeves and Wooster, also available on DVD. Adapted from the stories of P.G. Wodehouse, this is 23 episodes of stylish silliness about rich buffoon Bertie Wooster and his valet, Jeeves. Set in the 1920s and 30s in England (with a few side trips to New York), this 1990-1993 series from Britain’s ITV is an impossible combination of Edwardian elegance and sharp, literate farce that pulls off every element absolutely perfectly. Laurie’s Bertie is ridiculously charming, an especial accomplishment because Bertie is such a twit, and Fry’s Jeeves, the perfect manservant, is a wonder of actorly economy: Fry stands still and does nothing, and you laugh yourself silly. This is one of the best adaptations from literature I’ve ever seen, and I can't imagine anyone doing Wodehouse better. You don’t need me to tell you to should be watching Black Adder if you’re a Fry and Laurie fan, do you? Hugh Laurie as mad, dim Prince George in Blackadder the Third -- the best incarnation of the show -- is by itself reason enough to check this out. As is Stephen Fry’s General Melchett in Blackadder Goes Forth. What are you waiting for? (Technorati tags: Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Bit of Fry & Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, Blackadder) support
Disqus commentsblog comments powered by Disqus |
posted:
Thu Jul 26 07, 2:17PM categories: dvd buzz permalink 4 pre-Disqus comments Disqus comments tip jarshare
relatedbloggyprevious post: will ‘Sicko’ prompt a revolution, or will all that anger go to waste? next post: 10 years of Flick Filosopher: a horse of a different color |
|
|
search
follow
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(in case of site outages or other emergencies, I'll update my status on Twitter and Facebook)
|
||
follow FlickFilosopher.com no matter where you are online
|
||
share and enjoy
shop to support
support FlickFilosopher.com when you click through here and buy almost anything at:
• Amazon U.S.
• Amazon Canada
• Amazon U.K.
• Amazon Germany
• Amazon France
• Amazon Spain
• Amazon Italy
• Chapters/Indigo (Canada)
• Amazon U.S.
• Amazon Canada
• Amazon U.K.
• Amazon Germany
• Amazon France
• Amazon Spain
• Amazon Italy
• Chapters/Indigo (Canada)
pre-Disqus comments
posted by Jenn Lombardie (Fri May 28 10, 11:45AM)
A bit of Fry and Laurie is one of my favorite older tv shows.. Back when content was actually decent instead of endless reality shows
posted by jim jones md, phd (Wed Jun 09 10, 9:44AM)
Blackadder is the pinnacle of humor in the English language. Most people only know Atkinson from Bean and Laurie from House.
Youtube Rowan Atkinson doing "The Devil does Triage in Hell", or the bit on Library books, "Fatal Beatings"..
Laurie was the Dad in Stewart Little, a part i'm sure he'd rather forget.
First time I ever saw him in a serious role was in the remake of the Flight of the Phoenix.
He's probably at his best in the 4th Blackadder, but then it's hard to beat him as Bertie Wooster.
Gives you a whole new slant on "House", which is, and I'm saying this as a physician, the poorest medical show on TV. (The most accurate, real medical show is oddly enough, Scrubs)
posted by bronxbee (Wed Jun 09 10, 11:11AM)
@jim jones md, phd: here i was, chuckling along with all your references to the great comedy i've seen of RA and HL (The Devil Does Triage is brilliant) and then comes this:
and you terrify me!
posted by innpchan (Wed Jun 09 10, 6:42PM)
One more short, delightful, bit of Fry and Laurie was in an episode of "The Young Ones" where our loser pals play a Brit version of the "College Bowl" quiz game against some Posh college. The Posh team consists of Fry, Laurie, Emma Thompson, and Ben Elton.
Ooh! Found it!
Ripping!
He's actually played Stuart's dad three times, so he can't be -that- forgetful. My little guy (big Stuart fan) saw the House DVDs in a store, and decided the unshaven, disheveled Dr. House must be Stuart's uncle Greg.