Sarah Millican: Chatterbox Live

Sarah Millican: Chatterbox Live

Sarah Millican is on her way to becoming one of the biggest comedians in this country, the South Shields lass increasing her appearances on TV screens with each passing year.  Sarah has also been nominated this year for two British Comedy Awards and completed a nationwide tour, of which this is the captured result.

I have to admit that I've been a fan of hers since first seeing her on TV, and it also has to be said that I'm not a huge comedy fan. Not in the way that I don't find comedy funny, but that it's not the way I tend to spend most of my time. That could change though as Sarah Millican is definitely one of the funniest comedians I've ever seen.

Sarah's routine revolves around everyday life, sex and chocolate (or biscuits) and is more than willing to take the mickey out of herself in the process. Her style is quite gentle compared to say Jimmy Carr or some of her other peers, but that ust makes you warm to her that little bit more. I don't really want to give too much away with this DVD but suffice to say this would be a welcome addition in anyone's Christmas stocking. It really is superb and I didn't stop laughing once during the entire 100 odd minutes it was running.

The extras I got to see are OK as well, an extra quarter of an hour or so. The first is Sarah's top 5 tips on divorce, which is pretty short but also feels a little personal. The more substantial extra is an interview with comedian Joe Lycett. Also apparently on the retail DVD version should be a Royal Variety performance and the BBC Radio 4 play Hair of the Dead, but I didn't get to see these.

I didn't actually get a disc at all for this one, I was requested to register on a new (to me) service called Ready To Air, whereby you request access to streaming content and have to be approved by the content providers, in this case Channel 4 DVD.  I'm guessing that streaming titles may well be the way some PR agencies or distributors will go. This is all very well for those working or reviewing from offices with 50mb to the desk, but not so great for those of us reviewing voluntarily and unpaid from our own homes.

The layout is fine and the access to what you're looking for is also good but the streaming itself is not without problems. Firstly there's the obvious buffering problem, although that only really occurred once or twice on this occasion - but it was Saturday morning rather that peak time during the week. More annoying though was when the service decided after five or ten minutes that the programme had finished and I not only had to start again but then find where I'd got up to, this meant I spent as much time watching the time counter as watching the content and also meant I didn't dare watch fullscreen. And this happened at least half a dozen times. This is not so annoying for a comedy DVD as it would be for a film, although I wouldn't review any film that made me watch it on my PC in the same way I don't really like DVD-R's - give us the physical disc, we promise not to copy it…

Anyway, I've digressed slightly. Sarah Millican is ace and extremely funny, albeit much ruder and explicit than you've seen her on TV.

This rare from me for a comedy DVD, but: Recommended.