Snuff Box

Snuff Box is an unconventional sketch show from Matt Berry and Rich Fulcher. Aka Dixon Bainbridge and Bob Fossil from The Mighty Boosh. And not forgetting Berry as Dr Sanchez, in the superb Garth Marenghi's Darkplace.

The show is set in a Gentlemen's Club for Hangmen and features hanging, time travel, a variety of sports, fighting, shouting, rude words, pleasure, singing, dancing, intrigue and whisky.

Snuff Box won't appeal to everyone's tastes, but if it were ever repeated, I would encourage you to take a look and see what you think. It provides a refreshing change from the awful but ever popular reality TV and the depressing soap operas.

The music is done by Berry and my favourites must be The Empty Room (a homage to the Old Grey Whistle Test) and The Diary song set in the Gentlemen's Club.

All I can say is anyone who has an out of the ordinary sense of humour, needs to watch Snuff Box.

I love British comedy, everything from "Fawlty Towers" and "Are You Being Served?" to the Boosh, "the Office", and "League of Gentlemen". Snuff Box probably leans more towards LOG in terms of menacing atmosphere and milking hateful interactions for laughs. It definitely is not as episodic as Mighty Boosh or those other shows mentioned. Plot and defined story lines are more incidental than anything else, but there are a number of repeating jokes and/or obnoxious characters which become funnier as you come to anticipate what's going to happen. Berry is not as strong an actor as Fulcher (who has one setting; crass obnoxiousness), and sometimes his delivery is a little flat, but it almost becomes charming after a while. I laughed out loud a few times but mostly found myself smirking internally. I also like the music and catchy theme tune, and it's fun when all the characters start going into a song and dance routine. My favorite sketches are the ones with Berry smooth talking random ladies until he finds out they already have a boyfriend, at which point he performs some violent act of property destruction. I do find myself returning to this show over and over, mostly late at night. There's only 6 episodes anyway so you've not wasted much time in watching the whole series.

There is a darkness in this humor that is hard to shake off. If you are already familiar with and enjoy the work of Berry and Fulcher then jump right in. They are at their peak here.

I'm a big fan of Matt Berry from IT Crowd and Dark Place, but this one wasn't quite as on par with them. The music turned me on to Berry's albums which I think are all great, he truly is an enlightened musician with infectious tunes. There is a grace to it that I don't think filters into this show's comedy the same way. I see it like when H. Jon Benjamin had his own show, I'm all for dark humor but his and Berry's humor are better off seeing some balance, instead of leaning almost completely on dark / being a dick (or maybe I'm not into that level of dark humor). I think Berry totally accomplished this in the scenes where he acts like a gentleman with a girl, until she mentions she has a boyfriend and he lashes out. That shows a bit of vulnerability which makes it believable. I'm not saying to lighten up on the dark humor, but I'd like to have seen more depth with it to keep me tuned in.

Fulcher playing the American idiot had its moments, but it got old pretty fast for me born and raised in the US, assuming maybe it'd be more funny if I was a critical Brit. This might be why Mr. Show worked better for me too, an American take on dark humor.

Back to IT Crowd, I think one of the best things about it is there is more balance with the character, Jen (who is brilliant in that show). In addition to the testosterone and geeky computer humor, Moss and Roy have to share their office with a woman with her own problems, which adds tension and levels the playing field.

Overall I'm always excited to see Matt Berry in any production, with his hilarious, ironically fine-tuned manner of speaking (whiskaaayy!). Rich Fulcher, not really sure this is him at his best for me, but I'd be interested to see his other work.

From the shocking opening scene to the oddly moving final song at the end of the series, Snuffbox will make you laugh at the strangeness of its writing and then gasp as suddenly it takes a vicious dark turn.

Not every sketch is what it appears from the outset and the use of what would normally be clichéd jokes as deliberate points to then rip from the norm is not only clever, but original if occasionally disgusting.

This is not comedy for the every day, this is not comedy for those who enjoy the nice sort of story that has happy couples having the vicar around for tea. This is comedy for those with a dark heart who enjoy exploring the dangerous side of humour.

So if you can find a gory death funny, can laugh at obsessive behaviour and are not easily offended, then this is for you. Not only that, the music is worthy of a listen on its own and it has to be said that Berry has the most unusual yet tuneful voice.

This show is not as nihilistically brutal as say Chris Morris' Jam, but it is still at the black edge of British comedy and is worthy of your time.