TV Offal

Victor Lewis Smith seems to have given birth to a few British comedy icons in the late 1990s , Chris Morris owes more than a nod to him as does the brilliant Ali G , but it should be remembered Smith did this type of comedy first . TV OFFAL features a prank telephone call to a " celeb " in every episode . Smith phoned up director Michael Winner with a premise about a Siamese twin committing a murder and being sentenced to death

Winner: Well it depends on how the screenplay is developed ?

Smith : yeah last thing I want is a two bit hack like you to f*** it up

Winner : I`m hanging up now

The best phone call was to Mary Whitehouse the infamous campaigner for television standards . Smith phoned her up with a soundtrack to a hardcore porn film in the background

Smith : I`m just phoning to let you know you`ve won a twenty thousand pound prize

Whitehouse ( Surprised ) Well I never

Smith : So you can keep it or give it to charity ( The soundtrack becomes more and more prominent as the actress involved moans and screeches for her co star to .... well you get the idea ) Keep it down Rhona . Sorry about that . That`s my wiife Rhona in the next room with her fitness instructor . Winston he`s called

Whitehouse : That`s nice

TV OFFAL also features " Home made " spoofs of shows . For those not in the know what happens - usually at Christmas - TV producers in the industry decide to have a bit of fun and make a risque edition of their show . These spin offs are just shown at the office party and are hardly ever seen by the public but TV OFFAL broadcast a spin off of childrens` classic RAINBOW with George , Bungle , Geoffery and Zippy wanting to play with Jane`s marracass` ( ! ) and we saw a spin off of gameshow BULLSEYE with presenter Jim Bowen as a gay leather boy ( !! ). Oh and there`s a weekly feature on the lives of a couple of gay Daleks ( !!!!!! ) . That`s the funny stuff but a lot of the show is rather objectionable and sick and just seems to be included to shock.

As a footnote I used to know a guy called Rob who edited a DOCTOR WHO fanzine and Victor Lewis Smith`s type of humour planted the seed of Rob phoning up the BBC to tell them he`d won the lottery and wanted to donate several million pounds to make some more DOCTOR WHO .....

Rob: But there`s conditions involved

BBC Girl : Yes

Rob : First of all I want an on screen executive producer credit

BBC Girl : yes

Rob : Secondly the monster involved must be a blizzard octopus

BBC Girl : What`s a blizzard octopus ?

Rob : They live in snow drifts but you don`t know they exist until they jump out and bite your face off

BBC Girl : Is this a joke or something ?

Rob ( Hanging up ) Yes

Mr Victor Lewis Smith , oh what genies you have released from your bottle

The TV critic and comic performer Victor Lewis-Smith casts his unique eye over TV with clips from old programmes,plus his no holds barred opinions on those he considers unworthy of appearing on the box.That is understating it mildly;VLS,a brilliantly clever,witty and intelligent writer/performer (though we rarely see his actual physical form),has arguably been a major influence on many satirical/comic performers since he began to emerge in the late 1980's;such performers as Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker surely owe a debt to the master of such a ferociously mordant style of humour.Though initially praiseworthy,he has been particularly critical of the somewhat mysterious Morris,apparently describing him as a 'thieving b*****d' amongst other things.

TV OFFAL is a perfect vehicle for VLS' particular quirky talent;it sometimes regrettably lapses into bad taste,but this has always been a slightly questionable drawback of Victor Lewis-Smith.On the other hand,this trait is perhaps needed as VLS' style would lack the gloriously vicious edge he virtually invented.

TV OFFAL is certainly not for the easily offended,but it's sheer quirkiness and oddness always manages to produce some really outstanding comic gems for those that can stay the course.

RATING:7 and a half out of 10.

This was one of the funniest things on TV. It had everything: "TV Offal's crappy logo, of the week!", "The Pilots that crashed", "Kamikaze Karaoke", Prank phone calls etc etc. If Channel 4 decides that they aren't going to repeat this then I'm just going to have to kill my self. Pop.

A truly splendid collection of all that is splendid in VLS's humour. Comic and real TV clips from around the world, the gay Daleks are wonderful although the constant references to a well known heterosexual UK politician bemused me somewhat. VSL does not so much cross the line of decency but sets up camp on the other side, the result is gut achingly hilarious. Often the language used does stray into the embarrassingly childish but on the whole wonderful stuff like this does not come along that often. Just leave preconceptions to one side and enjoy it. An ex girlfriend used my best single malt for a Christmas cake and recorded over my only taped copy to this day I can't decide which was the worst crime. Please Victor any chance of a copy to replace it?