Review of Armando Iannucci: The Armando Iannucci Show

Introduction

Armando Iannucci has been around for years and years. You may remember his name from the end credits of the original radio series of The Mary Whitehouse Experience (around 15 years ago now). Or from many other radio shows like his own madcap show on Radio 1, or Radio 4`s On the Hour, The 99p Challenge or the more recent Armando Iannucci`s Charm Offensive.

Or maybe his TV work like The Day Today, Saturday Night Armistice, I`m Alan Partridge and Time Trumpet.

This is his 2001 show, which slipped largely un-noticed under most people`s radar, possibly related to the fact that it popped up on screens in September 2001, and many people had other things on their minds at the time. It`s a loosely sketch based show, with recurring characters and monologues from Iannucci himself.

Video

A little known release, but it still gets acceptable treatment, presented on this DVD in 1.78:1 anamorphic. The transfer is fine, and it looks like it did when first broadcast, if you were one of the few viewers who caught it back then.

Audio

A simple DD2.0 stereo soundtrack. Everything is clean and crisp, and I can`t add much more than that.

Features

Given the very low profile, you might expect very little. Happily, you are wrong.

Amazingly we get commentary tracks for all of the episodes. Armando is joined by the producer, and long time writing partners Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley for half of the episodes. For the second half, we get another long time collaborator, David Schneider (from all the way back on those early radio series). They have plenty to say about everything to do with the show, including the timing of its release on TV.

As well as this, there are deleted scenes from various episodes.

Conclusion

Another simple choice. If you`re a fan of Iannucci`s brand of humour, you`ll enjoy this more sketch based offering with so much of his trade mark lunacy on show. You might be reminded of some of his ramblings on The 99p Challenge, or even further back from some of the bizarre sketches from the old Radio 1 show. As usual, there are longer jokes, and some great one liners.

It`s certainly not "The Thick of It", but it`s still funny and worth a go.

A very worthwhile DVD, as so many obscure shows get shoddy DVD treatment. A full set of commentaries and deleted scenes make this a must have for the Iannucci fan, and worth picking up for the more casual buyer.