Do Not Adjust Your Set

'Do Not Adjust Your Set' (subtitled 'The Fairly Pointless Show') is a vitally important series in the evolution of British comedy. Very funny in its own right, 'DNAYS' directly led to the teaming of the writer/performers who would go on to create 'Monty Python'. There were 28 half-hour editions of 'Do Not Adjust Your Set', plus a 50-minute special airing on Christmas Day 1968, titled 'Do Not Adjust Your Stocking'.

Produced by Humphrey Barclay and Ian Davidson for Rediffusion TV, 'DNAYS' teamed future Pythons Palin, Idle and Jones ... plus Idle's musical discovery the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, who performed bizarre comedy songs and surrealistic cover versions of old standards.

The running feature on 'DNAYS' was a mock adventure serial starring David Jason as Captain Fantastic, in pursuit of his archnemesis the evil Mrs Black (played by the attractive Denise Coffey). These segments were splendidly directed by Daphne Shadwell, in a separate production unit from the rest of the series. The weekly Captain Fantastic segment became so popular, it was eventually spun off into a regular segment on the Thames TV series 'Magpie'. Although David Jason is unknown in the USA, he has starred in several long-running and extremely popular comedy series in England. More than any of the Pythons-to-be, David Jason was the most popular cast member in 'DNAYS'.

The last four programmes in this series featured the distinctive cut-out animation of Terry Gilliam. Five months after 'DNAYS' aired its last episode, "Monty Python's Flying Circus" premiered ... and the rest is history.

Another sketch comedy from the same production studio as At Last the 1948 Show (and produced the same year), and featuring the "other half" of Monty Python 2 years before they would go on to form the troupe for Flying Circus, we see various mostly lighthearted sketched aimed at family viewing. As a show primarily with kids in mind many of the sketches are quite silly, however perhaps as a glimpse into the comedians later days there are a number of particularly dark, almost surreal sketches, even if just for a moment. Starring Denise Coffey, Eric Idle, Jerry Jones, Michael Palin, and David Jason, the format is fairly standard sketches back to back with laughter backing from a live audience. Also featuring the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band each episode, we get some music too, with the groups hit "Death Cab for Cutie" (another morbid bit, being a song about a car accident), which would of course go on to inspire the later band of the same name. Sadly like other series of this era, many of the episodes from its two season run are now considered lost, however those that have been persevered are still available in a decent format. As for the jokes, most have aged fine, again being a show primarily for kids its mostly tame goofy humour, however I'd be amiss not to content warning mention one quite racist minstrel sketch / song in the middle, so I would not recommend the show for a modern kid audience. However if you're a fan of Monty Python and want to check out their early stuff, its around and available preserved on YouTube and the like.

Just gotta shout it: This show is AWESOME! I've just watched my DVD of "Do Not Adjust Your Set" and it's really, really good! I read about it in a book about Monty Python, and at that time, no copies were know to exist. I thought it was dead forever. Then one day I found out that some had been found and it was on DVD. I was expecting it to be pretty good, but no-- it's REALLY good! So much fun. This show is much more "Pythonic" and slightly less dated than John Cleese and Graham Chapman's show "At Last the 1948 Show." Since it was supposedly a kid's show (but not really), it gets wonderfully silly. The way Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin appear in this series, they sound just like they do in Flying Circus. Yet D.N.A.Y.S. is its own scene, and it's groovy, man! And it's got the Bonzo Dog Dooh Dah Band from The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour playing weird, cool songs each episode. As if things couldn't get any better. And then they do-- Eric Idle occasionally plays and sings with them. Lovely! Whoever thought is was a good idea to erase this series deserves to be tarred and feathered. But he's probably dead by now anyway.

There are very few comedy troupes that have had as long lasting success as Monty Python. But all great shows come from humble beginnings and this is one of them.

DNAYS was originally a children's program but it starred future Python members of Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam as both performers and writers. And just like "At Last the 1948 Show" you can see a lot of the bits and bobs that would eventually make their way into Python including Terry Gilliam's animations. Joining them was the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band who would perform songs of a somewhat comic nature.

Like the 1948 Show there aren't a lot of these episodes that have survived to this day but a DVD is out there showing what is available.

I just finished watching the first season of "Do Not Adjust Your Set". I was interested in this show because it was a pre-"Monty Python" show starring and written by several people who were to become part of Monty Python. Seen in that context, the show can be interesting. In many of the sketches you can see the budding of what was to become just a short time later.

Though the show is interesting in showing what was to become, as entertainment, it has not aged very well. Oh, the show is not without its bright spots. The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah band contribute some amusing and tuneful songs. And every so often there's something that will make you smile a little or chuckle a little. But for the most part, the humor comes across as very lame. You'll be able to figure out the punchlines for many of the sketches, for one thing. Much of the attempted humor is also not as aggressive or biting as on Monty Python. The worst part of the show has to be the Captain Fantastic sketches. They go on forever, and you'll be in agony waiting for them to end.

I will entertain the possibility that when the show was first aired, it was fresh and funny, with nothing like it before. But in the decades that have passed, with more jabbing comedy teams and shows that have come up, today the show seems like feeble stuff. If you have fond memories of the show when it first aired, I would suggest let them remain memories and not revisit the show.