A Bit of Fry and Laurie - The Complete Collection... Every Bit!

by BBC Warner

$79.98
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Average Rating: * * * * -
Sales Rank:7875 (lower is better)
Price Used:$59.66
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Availability:Usually ships in 24 hours
Release Date:2007-07-24
Label:BBC Warner
UPC:794051403322
Binding:DVD
Published By:BBC Warner
ASIN:B000P0J0G0
Category:DVD

Actors and Actresses

Editorial Reviews and Product Descriptions

Product Description

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 07/24/2007
Amazon.com

If terms like "pimhole" and "lesbotic tendencies" reduce you to a fit of giggles, you've already discovered the daffy pleasures of Fry and Laurie. Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie have gone on to other successes in film and television (not only did they gain acclaim and adoration as the title characters of Jeeves & Wooster, Laurie has become a household name in the U.S. as the star of House), but their comedy collaborations from the 1980s and '90s have earned them a place in the pantheon of British humor, somewhere between Monty Python and Ricky Gervais. They specialize in "linguistic elasticity," amazing flights of verbal lunacy ranging from overwrought poetry criticism to inventing their own swearwords to protest censorship. A Bit of Fry & Laurie: The Complete Collection... Every Bit! includes all four Fry & Laurie seasons, broadcast between 1987 and 1995. Conservatism is a regular target--an early sketch about a father protesting his son being taught biology is startlingly current--but politics generally takes a back seat to ridiculousness. Fry impersonates Michael Jackson; a doctor prescribes cigarettes; an exceedingly gracious jewelry salesman woos a customer with candied sweets; Fry and Laurie, with righteous indignation, castigate their audience for laughing at serious matters like alcoholism and genital fungus. The fourth series isn't as inspired, overall, but it does feature sparkling moments, such as a version of It's a Wonderful Life starring Rupert Murdoch. Armed with a startling array of false facial hair (and, as the seasons progress, an increasing amount of drag), Fry and Laurie introduce notions like screaming lettuce, a synchronized losing team, and the Omar Sharif Comedy Hour. It's divine silliness; any fan of British comedy will delight in "Every Bit" of Fry and Laurie. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

A Bit of Fry and Laurie - Reviewed on 2009-01-09
* * * *

I bought this for my husband for Christmas. We are big fans of Jeeves and Wooster. This is quite different but we have been enjoying these a lot. We were fortunate to have lived in UK and I think for that reason we enjoy the British humor more than some who have not been exposed to some of their unique takes on things. It is similar to Monty Python humor.
More Than A Bit Funny - Reviewed on 2008-06-09
* * *

If you like British humor, this pair does a wonderful job of keeping you laughing. I still find it hard to believe that Hugh Laurie can be the harse Dr. House on American TV when he came from such comical beginnings. Enjoy.
A Bit of Fry and Laurie - Reviewed on 2008-04-27
* * *

Gets better as it goes along, but many of the jokes and skits are, I think, parodies of British TV shows that we don't get--so, though I think they're both wonderful, Jeeves & Wooster was SO much better.
Fry and Laurie - Absolutely Perfect - Reviewed on 2008-04-21
* * * * *
1 customer found this review helpful.

I purchased this DVD box set after reading the scripts for this series. It does not disappoint. If you are a fan of British Comedy and/or a fan of Messrs. Fry and Laurie, you will thoroughly enjoy this box set.
Great show, but a bit pricey - Reviewed on 2008-03-03
* * * *
3 customers found this review helpful.

Overall, this show is very enjoyable. Some sketches are really silly and so absured (Derek Nippl-e, anyone?!), that you laugh quite hard watching them. My favourite parts of the show were the musical numbers with Hugh Laurie, and the endings of the last two series with Stephen Fry mixing up cocktails and dancing hilariously as Laurie plays the piano.

As far as my ratings go: Even though I'm a huge fan of British comedy, and that's basically all I buy in way of DVD collections, I found this one a bit hard to understand being a Yank and all. This show was on air when I was about six years old as well, so I'm not sure if it's a cultural or time-lapse difference that makes certain sketches go over my head.

For a collection of four DVDs, the price is quite heafty as well. For about the same price, you can find the 8-disk Jeeves & Wooster series in Amazon's "new & used" section. What would have made the boxed set worth the price would have been a collection packed with extras (left-over sketches, bloopers, behind-the-scenes stuff, etc). Though, the one extra this set did have was the Cambridge University Footlights Review Special that aired on the BBC featuring early works by Fry & Laurie. This special is quite hilarious, and Stephen Fry shines, in my opinion, during a seven-minute monologue simply titled, "The Letter". Very witty stuff, indeed!

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