Some might say André van Duin has been repeating himself for years, but never has this been as evident as in the latest incarnation of his legendary Radio program (back on television) 'De Dik Voormekaar Show'. Van Duin and broadcaster in crime Ferry de Groot began the program on Radio Noordzee in 1973, but were soon fired for making fun of the wrong influential person. They moved to a proper Radio broadcaster, the NCRV in 1974, where the show filled with silly characters, gags and parodies became an instant hit.
The NCRV sanctioned a television series in 1977, in which characters such as co-presenters Dik Voormekaar and Meneer De Groot as well as the grouchy Ome Joop and the clumsy cameraman Harrie Nak were brought to life as hand puppets. For the second series in 1979, retitled "Van Hot Naar Haar Met Dik Voormekaar" the Muppet's were replaced by full sized costumes so that Dik, De Groot and the rest could take to the high road (something which they also did in the form of roadshows). Meanwhile, the radio show came to stop in 1985, only to be resurrected in 2000 by the TROS. This incarnation was a bit rowdier than before and only lasted 3 seasons.
When André decided to go back into theaters with a brand new stage show in 2007, he brought along Ferry de Groot to do a live version of their radio show on stage. For the first time in history, a living breathing audience was able to see Dré and Fer perform their various characters, complete with sound effects at the touch of a button. This theater sketch was then expanded into a brand new Television version of the Dik Voormekaar show (it's third incarnation) which debuted on TROS television in February 2009. In the premiere episode, De Groot, voicing 'Meneer De Groot' made a big deal out of revealing his face for the first time to the Dutch viewing audience. This was of course a bit of an exaggeration, as Ferry had often been seen on television before, albeit as himself or in other guises such as Arie Boksbeugel in the satirical Eighties television shows Pisa and Verona.
Each episode of the new DVM Show started off with André and Ferry, in character as Dik and De Groot welcoming the 'listeners' to yet another installment of the show. Then the other regular characters 'enter' (sound effect) one by one: Ome Joop (voiced by André), the two ladies Bep (André) & Toos (Ferry) and lastly and certainly not every time Harrie Nak (André) who always drops a tray full of coffee (sound effect). Just like it was on the radio, as a host Dik keeps getting more and more frustrated by all the interruptions from the other characters.
The remainder of the show was filled with a variety of recurring items mostly made up of old favorites form former Van Duin show's. Most notably was the unheralded return to television after more than 20 years of André's old female foil Corry van Gorp, still playing the same part as Mevrouw De Bok (to his Meneer De Bok). While in the eighties they used to portray a middle aged couple that always got themselves into situations where they weren't wanted, now they play an elderly duo who go on the road to visit famous people at their line of work. This is reminiscent of the Meneer Wijdbeens character that André used to perform on his own in the nineties and indeed, in a couple of Shows where Van Gorp proved to be unavailable, their segment was taken over by Wijdbeens.
Van Duin also debuted two new characters: inventor Piet Konijn who was visited and filmed at home by De Groot each week for his segment 'On The Road Met Meneer De Groot' and the Super-Dave inspired Twan De Stuntman who's stunts always ended with a dummy of Twan being crushed, beheaded or blown up. For this part of the show, Frits Bom, an another television mainstay of the Eighties and Nineties was brought out of retirement to do the interviews. 'Teletheater' was supposed to be an attempt to bring back the 'old fashioned feeling of Thursday night plays of the week on television' but in reality was just an excuse for Van Duin to put on a sketch in every episode. In the first couple of episodes, these 'mini-plays' were actually performed on the stage behind the 'radio' set, but as the series progressed the skits became shorter and were often filmed on location. Here Van Duin was joined by friends from his stage show such as Simone Kleinsma, Marjolein Touw and Ron Bransteder.
Each show also featured a parody song performed by Van Duin in which he impersonated a Dutch celeb (therefore called the 'VIP Parade') and also played the backing vocals thanks to some chroma key split screen technique (a format in which he's been making video clips since the early Eighties). Just like on the radio, the show would end with Dik Voormekaar's least favorite part: the 30 seconds devoted to Meneer De Groot, in which De Groot would read jokes send in by viewers. The program drew an impressive amount of viewers on it's debut, but since each of the 12 shows was essentially the same as the last, ratings steadily dropped over the next few weeks. It seems André and Ferry should have spend more time on coming up with new material instead of recycling the same old stuff they've been perfecting over the last 30 years.
7 out of 10 for old times sake
