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Little Britain meet Littler
Britain Pt2 |
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"Littler Britain - The Meeting
Pt2 Getting to
Bournemouth proved problematic, we left
at 4:45 but the journey, due to rush hour
takes two and a half bloody hours, but
the thought of the show keeps us bouyed
and we have Tom Tom to help re-route us
if necessary. We get the car parked and
enter the building, it's a bloody massive
building, and it will play host to 4500
eager, enthusiastic fans, all waiting to
see their fave characters from Little
Britain, we can't
wait.

Rare as Rocking
Horse Manure.
The show opens with the
familiar, rousing strains of David
Arnold's "feem toon", which I think
should become the National Anthony you
know. We get the "Who is they? What are
them", from good old Uncle Tom but being
a fan you'll know exactly what you are
about to get. The backdrops are computer
generated and projected onto a huge white
screen, and the opening "Little Britain
Live" accompanies the title music. And
the crowd goes wild, applause, cheers,
whistles, for those that are about to be
funny we truly salute you.
Let Battle
Commence.
Matt and David's first
characters to make an appearance, to a huge,
cheer that conveys fondness and an anticipation
of things to come, are Lou who has only lost
Andy. He addresses the audience to no avail.
Moments later Andy, in his own inimitable way
makes a spectacular entrance. And the crowd
start shouting "he's behind you". Matt and
David as Andy and Lou
make some jibes at the expense
of Bournemouth, then themselves.
Andy then gets Lou to do his impression, which,
speaking as an authority on impressions
and as a professional mimic is the single
direst, "crap", impression ever,
(intentionally!) but side splitting and
leads to a great set up for a catchphrase
punchline.
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Gav Can't
Wait...
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At this point, dear reader, I am
torn whether or not to give you a blow by
blow account (from my near photographic
memory, which has kept up with the times
and is now a 512 Mb job) and thus
potentially put huw-ge spoilers in it,
which may err, spoil things. Or leave
stuff out and just do what I did for
series three, give an outline of what to
expect. But then there are some big fans
who'll not get to see it. Argghhh, the
agony. OK, I am going to make a cuppa,
think about it, and I'll be back.
Tea, black, one sugar...
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...25 mins later.
OK, I am going to skim the
surface, picking out the highlights and
dipping in when I think it appropriate,
if you need to see it first hand, go to
eBay buy a ticket.
You may have to re-mortgage first.
Right, there. As my Nan used to say " ,
(the photographic memory runs in the family)
you can't please all of the people all of the
time, but you can make a cuppa and think about
it."
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...Neither can
Stu
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Emily Howard
and her err, lady friend
Florence then enter dans le bicyclette
pour deux and have a marvellous time at
the Anchor & Gonhorrea public house
where they meet a lovely sailor ably
played by Paul Putner who appears in the
series as a Fat Fighter (oh you know, the
bloke in the black t-shirt and leather
jacket, who's going to have a baby in the
third series, way to go
Paul!!!)
If ye were to ask us on a
Friday
The Ray MacCooney
sketch whizzes by and we, as an
audience are starting to settle in, it's
like climbing into a hot bath, at first
you are aware of the heat and it's a bit
insistent, and your not sure you're going
to like it but then it all settles down
and you forget about everything else and
just relax into the soothing water's
avuncular hug. Well that was what the
show was like; initially you are just
staring because you cannot believe the
characters are right there, doing it
live, in front of your very eyes. And the
scene changes are slick, slick, slick as
for the costume changes, well, a Tony
should be awarded to the costume team,
good work chaps and chapesses. As an
aside - was one of the follow spot
controllers an ex WW2 searchlight
operator? I think he was a graduate from
the Helen Keller Academy for Lighting
Operators and a subscriber to the Shaft
of Darkness Appreciation Society. Anyway,
whinge over (sorry if you were that
soldier, we all have bad nights, ask the
Sound/Mic Op!!!), the rest of the night
was technical excellence, slick scene
changes, great visuals and props and
costumes that added to the humour. There
is a moment where a prop goes astray in
this sketch but David covers it with
comedic alacrity, panache and consummate
professionalism. The audience knows they
are in safe hands and the performers
never miss a beat.
The Mr. Mann sketch
from the third series is in
there, as the characters walk on the
audience who were boistrous but well
behaved started shouting "Marrgrettt,
Marrrgretttt!!!" Oh, and Maroonity is a
word that should be added to the public
lexicon.
Carol Beer
at the travel agency is great
fun and even mentions Guildford, yay!
There is a cracking moment as an old man
(Paul Putner) slooooowwwwlllllyyyy makes
his way to the chair in front of her
desk.
The politician's apology was a
recycled sketch from the TV series but
was like greeting an old friend, I am
sure David and Matt could have just done
a "best of" sketch compilation and the
audience would have loved it, they
are playing to a home crowd after all.
But there were many, many new sketches,
and the standard was as high as ever.
Wite Da Feem
Toon, Sing da Feem Toon
We get a brave attempt at the Denis Waterman,
Jeremy Rent sketch which has a great ad lib
when an unruly prop goes astray, and for me
what makes the sketches is their reference to
cultural white elephants, Rula Lenska, Linda
Bellingham, Byker Grove. Not conventionally
cool things but somehow cool enough for school,
err, if you see what I am driving at. Tom's
voice tells us we are in Cuntington, cue
laughter. He then interjects again and says
it's alright it's spelt with a K... Many of
these voice overs are genius and I would like
to know who writes them, their over written,
pomposity is writing brilliance, so who comes
up with them Matt? David? Answers on an
email...
We get to see Anne as a contestant on a well-known
ITV lookalike karaoke show. She is
introduced and struts her stuff and is
quite conversational, then goes off and
comes back as... Well in the tradition of
the programme all will be revealed if you
go see the show... Let's just say that it
is very funny and she then leaves the
stage and it just descends into chaos,
which is usually what happens when I am
doing her, I mean performing her... Leave
it.
Skip to the End Des
Kaye has a fun time with two members of the
audience and plays hide the sausage, which is
not exactly what you might think it is... Oh,
alright, it is exactly what you think it is and
highly amusing nonetheless.
Kenny Craig
goes to the jewellers with his
fiancée and ends up hypnotising the
audience and works in a gag about buying
the merchandise, good work
fella...
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Fat Fighters
Meeting
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Fat Fighters is introduced and
the crowd goes wild as Marjorie Dawes
comes on and runs through what
is high fat and low fat, as you would
expect it's not would you would expect,
if you catch my drift. She then goes into
the audience and pulls out a "fattie" who
she then weighs, as she is looking for a
victim she says "This will probably be
the single most humiliating experience
ever" and she is not wrong, it ends with
him winning a huge, white
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oversized t-shirt (think duvet
cover with sleeves) that she tells him
may be a bit snug.
Sebastian and the PM suffers for
not having Anthony Head, Matt Lucas
substitues, would have worked better as a
"Chancellor" but after what the lads will
put him through in the third series it's
no wonder he's not on the tour. But we
get a full frontal nude of David "being a
woman", which sends the crowd into
apoplexy.
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David Shows The
Tan Lines
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The W.I. ladies and the vomit
sketch passes, personally I thought the
ending was a tad weak, however that may
have been due to the mic problems and
being so far from the stage it was
difficult to hear what was being said and
the rest of the show more than makes up
for that one moment, hats off
for doing the vomit scenes
anyway.
Vicky Pollard
makes her own inimitable
entrance with "Five different babies from
six diffrent men" and the crowd almost
pass out with excitement, in fact every
character walks onto the stage to a warm
round of applause and cheering. It's
great, and the lads love it. It's an all
to familiar response, when we get to play
these characters we get such a buzz from
the reaction of an
audience that doing it to
venues 10X larger must be 10X the
buzz.
Bubbles De Vere reveals her
flabtastic glory, to all, and her
glory is quite hairy let me tell you....
But does offer to buy a round of
champagne for "EVERYONE!!!!". And the Uni
Secretary is belting with her un-PC
comments about the students.
Another two new characters are
introduced, Dudley and Ting Tong
Macadangdang, and if this is just a
taster for the 3rd series I can't wait
for main course and pudding, cheese board
and coffee and mints for
afters.
The End is Nigh
We are then almost at the end, but finish on
the best sketch of the night, if only the mics
had worked, but the ad libbing was spot on and
just helped fuel the fans devotion to all
things David and Matt..
Daffydd
Thomas wanders in and the crowd
erupts, like Krakatoa (I would have said
Vesuvius but in my opinion, although less
deadly Krakatoa is a funnier word due to
the plethora of K's which is a Komedik
Kornerstone. To whit: Funny animals.
Monkey, Donkey, Kangaroo. Not Funny,
Pigeon, Mouse, Pig. See.)
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The Daffydd sketch then hits top
gear and becomes an all out action dance
number, worthy of the Funky Fudgemeisters
themselves, the Pet Shop Boys. It could
have done with 200 gays mincing on and
performing the routine behind him, but
sadly he was the only gay, plus David (in
a fetching matching number) and Paul and
the dangerously sexy Sam
Power,
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Daffydd
Laments
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Daffydd Thomas
Dancers
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who featured as the female foil
throughout the evening and did a damn
fine job, although being as svelte and
gawguss she threatened to distract,
however she managed to reel in her
feminine wiles for the duration, and does
a good job indeedy. But all eyes are on
Daffydd and his proud to be gay song,
which is toe tappingly
terrific.
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And that my fans is it. The
performers bow, curtain closes, lights
up, we exit. End of the
evening...
Except it isn't, and as we sat
sipping champers with David and Matt
backstage in their executive Jacuzzi
suite we laughed at how the characters
take on a life of their own once in front
of an audience, swapping tales of gigs
past, oh, how fun.
Gav then prodded me as I was
daydreaming and holding the crowd
up.

It's us in our Corporate Sponsorship
Livery
So we make our way to the
backstage area, which as per large
municipal performance spaces the
stage door is not well defined in the
traditional sense, a door at the back
of the stage, sometimes it is a
skylight on the roof, pah architects.
So we hang about with a dozen or so
die hard fans and Nick Free
a dashed handsome young
paparazzi in the making and his long
suffering (but damn sexy) girlfriend,
hey, just telling it like it is.
Don't worry I have ... But not
like that... Or that... Or indeed
that…
The security guard keeps
telling us that Matt and David
will be leaving by limo and
not stopping to chat. We don't
believe him. After about 40 mins we
get told that the lads are signing
autographs just around the corner, we
are not sure whether to believe of
not, but think, what the hell, so
Gav, Nick, His G'friend and I belt
round the corner (not easy in a suit)
to find Matt signing away chatting to
about 20 or so people.
This was when I saw my
chance... After seeing Gav in action
I was not going to be outdone, and
besides, I now knew Gav's secret
Ninja body swerve. And we had an ally
in Nick the photographer.
Game On, We
Meet Matt (again)
"Matt, hi can we get a photo with the
Littler Britain guys?" (OK, it doesn't make
sense but I had just stood for 45 mins in
the coastal cold, in a suit and T-shirt,
then ran for 5 mins and suddenly had to be
polite whilst pushing through the throng
and still get to chat to our man Matt.
"We're not stalking you, honest" Gav chimes
in, he's at my elbow, ahh the old Ninja
body swerve.
"Can I just shake you by the hand?" I ask
and we do so "Fantastic, brilliant".
As handshakes go it is firm without being
to muscular but not clammy or overly
assertive, just friendly. Better than I
could have imagined, a hand shake with Matt
another to add to my collection of
handshakes.
Gav then Ninjas his way past me and gets a
pic of him and Matt side by side having
their pic taken. I crack up, the similarity
is striking, and has been all night coz Gav
is wearing a Burberry cap, which has the
effect of making him look sans hair, and
people keep doing a double take.

Matt Lucas on the Left on
the Right
"It's like looking in a mirror" Gav's
opener.
"Nice to see you again , you
alright?" Enquires Matt.
"Yeah thanks" Says Gav.
"Did you watch the show tonight you
two?"
"Yeah, great fantastic we enjoyed it."
Enthuses Gav.
"We were speculating on what type of
fridge you had?" referring to the
incident the previous night when Matt
told Gav that he had pic of him on his
fridge" "I said it was a pink Smeg"
(hence the mock up
HERE)
"He says it's a pink Smeg" Gav
adds.
"Err" Matt's confused
"The one with my photo on?"
"Err, it's not on my fridge it's on the
notice board in my kitchen."
"Ohhh" Gavs a little disappointed,
demoted from the fridge to the notice
board. Still nice to know Matt cares
enough to put up a pic of Gav
"He sent me a picture of him dressed as
Kenny" Explains Matt to the other
confused onlookers. "you gave it to my
Mum?"
"I gave it to Andy the warm up guy at
the series three recordings." I
offer.
"Oh, it got given to me by my Mum and
my cleaner saw it, thought it was me
and so pinned it up... and so there it
stands" So Matt didn't pin it up even,
but nice to know that someone who
spends a lot of time with Matt was
confused. So another feather in the
proverbial chav cap.
"See my Jason cap" Gav's referring to
his Burberry cap.
"Very good, very good, nice to see you
guys again"
"No thanks, thanks very much" I am made
up.
Sensing the moment is passing I thought
that I would be a bit cheeky, we often
get asked to do a spot for charity and
we try to accommodate where possible,
but we have often said that it would be
good to give some signed stuff away.
When we were at the series three
recordings we bought two signed DVDs
and have offered them as prizes at
charity auctions we have appeared at,
which has gone down really well. Vicky
and a signed DVD, excellent. So I
plough on...
"Is there anyway we can get some signed
stuff? Because we do stuff for charity,
and they have asked us if we can get
stuff?"
"Yeah, I can get some some..." He
trails off and starts looking round for
the appropriate person.
"Not now, but if we could get someone
to give us a call?" I don't want to put
him out.
"Let me give you our tour manager's
number" Again Matt is looking around
for someone to get us the details.
"We've got a website he can go to" Gav
dives in.
Matt seizes this "Why doesn't he go to
the website, littlerbritain.com is it?
I'll get him to go to the website and
contact you and we'll find a way of
doing it." Matt you are gawguss.
Matt is about to go but I have to
ask..."Am I as good looking as him
(David)?"
"What's that, oh, your better looking
than David" Matt, I could kiss you, but
in a manly way. Err... Moving swiftly
on.
I then see Paul Putner and approach
him, shake him by his hand, (warm,
muscular, with an undertone of menace,
this is a man who could crush your hand
but choose not to, I bet it sends the
ladies crazy…) and thank him too,
everyone has worked so hard on the show
and the Guys have been so generous to
us. Whilst I am there Gav's having his
Little Britain T-shirt defaced by Matt,
who signed it:
"No but, yeah but, I look like your
Dad. Matt Lucas"
superb.
So that mon amis is the end
of the night, apart from getting
mistaken for the pair at the service
station (no seriously) and finding a
tenner. Top night all round
really.
If you can get to see it,
then you are totally going to love
it. It doesn't break any new ground
or push any theatrical boundaries,
only those of taste and decency, but
hey, that's not what was needed and
the guys pull it off with aplomb. So
the Littler Britain review is four
thumbs up and a couple of big
smiles.
We'll
see you guys again before the tour is over,
but where and when, well, that's our
surprise… Keep it going guys and if you
need understudies, we have the car packed
and ready to go. Just call us… 07970
741813.
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LITTLE BRITAIN THEME
NIGHT |
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