The Comic Strip Presents...

unique, hilarious parodies of cliche-ridden entertainment by a semiregular group of brits. I particularly remember their spoofs of spaghetti westerns ('a fistful of travelers checks') and post-apocalyptic flicks ('the slags'), as well as shots at kids shows, Rebecca, back-to-the-wilderness retreats, and a pre-Spinal Tap metal band's misfortunes. the Slags featured a young Anthony Stewart Head (Giles on Buffy tVS) as the leader of a gang called the Hawaiians ('that's not...nice!'). my personal favorite is the 'Travelers Checks' episode; the music and scenery and camera work would have made a perfectly good movie of the genre (especially the guitar-and-whistle music); and who could forget 'Billy Balfour, the Man with No Name'?! some of the regulars (Ade Edmondson, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer) played in the bizzare 'Young Ones' series.

I love the cast but the episodes are more miss than hit. There are a few gems but only for fans of goofy loud comedy.

Many episodes of 'The Comic Strip Presents' were parodies of specific films or TV shows, or parodies of film/TV genres. The episode transmitted 3 November 1984 was titled 'The Bullsh**ters', and it's an hilarious parody of the ITV action series 'The Professionals' in particular and thick-ear matey action shows in general.

The crime-fighting partners in 'The Professionals' were named Bodie and Doyle, so here in 'The Bullsh**ters' we have Keith Allen and Peter Richardson (both of whom also wrote the script) as Bonehead and Foyle, taking orders from their commanding officer, hilariously played by Robbie Coltrane. Bodie and Doyle, of course, had an expensive car with all sorts of gizmos ... but Bonehead and Foyle have to make do with bus passes as they rush from headquarters to their deadly missions.

Coltrane has one very funny set-piece routine, in which he shows Bonehead and Foyle the proper way for a TV action hero to get into a car. Elvis Costello is also funny in a brief turn as a deaf man. Alana Pellay and Jimmy Fagg (don't ask) play themselves.

"The comic strip presents" team is made up of numerous hero's of British comedy, Rik Mayall, Ade Edmundson, French + Saunders, Peter Richardson and Nigel Planer to name just a few. Starting in The "Comic strip night club" in the early 80's they turned many a famous head. Getting their break with channel 4 was in my opinion, the best choice the channel has ever made. Ranging from famous five re-makes to posing as heavy metal super-stars, the comic strip team have excelled in over 30 TV films and a number of feature movies. Building a base for Mayall and Edmondson to leap foward, they have gone on to become household names appearing in such favourites as "Bottom" and "The young ones" (also with Nigel Planer.) All in all the comic strip team have achieved comic greatness at the very highest level. A shining example to young and old comedians.

"The Comic Strip presents . . ." introduced a new crowd of "'varsity comics" (Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Ade Edondson, Rick Mayall, Robbie Coltrane) to British commercial television, and a fresh approach to the half-hour comedy format. Led (as performer, writer, and director) by Peter Richardson, the Channel 4 series broke away from the crazy-sketch format which had dominated the years since the debut of Monty Python, instead focusing each episode on a playful exploration of a particular film or TV genre, some quintessentially British ("Five Go Mad in Dorset," with its deadpan tweaking of Enid Blyton's wartime children's adventure books) to presciently contemporary ("Bad News Tour," which beat "Spinal Tap" to the screen by almost two years). Richardson's penchant for genre critique above all sometimes led to stylishly inert outings like "Beat Generation," but also to wildly idiosyncratic and memorable excursions like "Summer School," "Bullsh*tters," and "A Fistful of Traveler's Cheques." Unfortunately only available on DVD as a nine-count'em nine disc set in PAL format, The Comic Strip deserves a two or three disc compilation of its most marvelous episodes: After 25 years, many play better than most contemporary comedy today.