Vic Reeves Big Night Out

I have seen a couple of repeats of this in 2005 and it reminded me just how awful this show was. There is real talent out there and those like Reeves and Mortimer who are untalented. VR-BNO was one of those programs that people watched just to say that they watched it, and therefore were fashionable. Ask people now and they will admit what a pile of cr*p it was.

Nothing Reeves and Mortimer have done since has been of any great shakes. They now make money creating and selling game show ideas. Well, if it keeps them off the screen then it has to be a good thing! So there you have it.

Just been gifted the DVD set for my birthday I'm having trouble writing this as my sides hurt from laughing so much Genius is often banned about these days but in this case Genius is the only word fitting VIC REEVES WILL SAVE US ALL!

Full of memorable quotes like "you wouldn't let it lie!!" and complete and utter randomness, I love this. I don't remember it first time round, but recently bought it on DVD and I think it's hilarious. It's not as refined as some of their later stuff, but I like the rawness about it. Worth a watch, if only to decide if you love it or hate it. Marmitey methinks. It's good to see where Reeves and Mortimer started out, plus there are others who appear who went onto fame, such as Charlie Higson. One of my favourites is the character Graham Lister, played by Bob, who was Vic's nemesis, appearing on Novelty Island (a kind of talent contest) each week with another hilarious failure of an act, and addressing Vic with complete scorn as "Reeves". Another regular, the Man with the Stick ("What's on the end of the stick, Vic?") is amusing, as we learn what he's learnt that week by what's drawn on his paper helmet. Definitely worth a viewing.

Big night out is probably the worst show ever on English television - but that is what makes it so great. Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer guides us through a world of their own including Les - a man who fear chives and people being sentenced to being part of the cast of Jesus Christ Superstar for a year.

Anyone with a taste for the bizarre should see this show.

This show is hilarious. When it first came out it changed the way I saw the world. In the UK it was the last show that everyone watched and everyone talked about it every week.

Comedy snobs might criticise it for catchphrases and prop comedy, but only the ones who think Otto and George should be marked down for being a puppet act. Sure, a lot of hack comedy uses props, puppets or catchphrases but to use them and be strikingly original (And derivative) takes genius. The point of comedy is to be funny. Stick your rules where the sun don't shine.

It's regrettable that none of their subsequent work has lived up to this striking beginning* but, to paraphrase Josef Heller, whose has?

This show made the world a better place for me and millions of others and I'm forever grateful. Thank you Slim. Thank you, stocky feller.

*On TV anyway. Vic's drawings are brilliant and Bob's podcast Athletico Mince is superb.