Arnold
CibbuanoThe League of Gentlemen
December 12th 2006 05:58
I'd always wanted to see this show because I'm a huge Doctor Who nerd and one of the guys who writes and acts in 'The League of Gentlemen' had previously been a Doctor Who novelist. Never mind the fact that positively scores of people had been reccomending this show to me. Doctor Who is all!
So, anyway, the other day I eventually succumbed to the curiosity factor and plunged headfirst into series 1.
Oh my.
Hahahaha, I don't know how else to put across my reaction to this show. I loved it. At first I thought it's comedy seemed a bit too broad and cartoonish, but as I laughed and winced my way through the first episode I found myself completely pulled in and swallowed by it. After watching things like 'Extras' and 'The Office' I had become too sensitive to non-realistic comedy. I had forgotten the joys of the bizarre and surreal. 'The League of Gentlemen' has bizarre and surrel in spades. Sometimes it becomes so surreal that it leaves the realm of comedy and becomes something else... at times it's just downright disturbing!
'The League of Gentlemen' is the brainchild of Mark Gatiss, Steven Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith and Jeremy Dyson. Unlike the others, Jeremy Dyson doesn't appear in the actual show as any of the major characters. The other three portray the majority of the dozens of characters who inhabit Royston Vasey, the hell-like village the series is based in. It's pretty much a sketch comedy, but is loosely linked by various subplots which encourage the viewer to cultivate a more vested interest in what's going on then they would with other sketch shows. Think 'Little Britain', but more twisted and less catch-phrase driven.
The characters range from the grotesque - the deranged and serial killer-esque Tubbs and Edward (the couple pictured far above) and toad-obsessed Harvey Dent - to the sad and pathetic - insensitive job centre tyrant Pauline and would-be spree-killer Mike. The various storylines weave in and out with one another in an almost soap-opera like fashion, and the extremes the characters take things to often verge on the terrifying.
Anyway, it's a terrific and unique comedy and is easily worth your time if you're idea of humour extends beyond 'Hey Dad' and Steve Martin films.
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