Review of Saturday Live: Best of Series 2

Introduction

Saturday, S-S-Saturday. Live.

Just a few seconds of Paul Hardcastle`s opening theme music plops you slap bang into the middle of the 1980s, when this second series hit our screens, followed by a couple more series, including a mutation into Friday Night Live.

The brainchild of Paul Jackson (Red, Dwarf, The Young Ones and more classic comedies) it was heavily based on the format of American show Saturday Night Live, which had been running for years at this point. The "alternative comedy" scene was at its height in the UK too, and Saturday Live was riding on the crest of this wave.

Saturday Live is probably most famous for launching the careers of Harry Enfield, whose Stavros, Loadsamoney and Buggerallmoney characters first arrived here, and Ben Elton (who had already found acclaim as a comedy writer). Loadsamoney is still seen as the epitome of Thatcher`s 1980s Britain, and Elton`s shiny suits and Mrs Thatch rants are also famous 1980s moments.

Featured on this disc are :-

Stephen Fry with Meatloaf (an odd combination for a sketch!)
Stavros
Fry and Laurie (including the classic hedge sketch)
Julian Clary appearing then as The Joan Collins Fan Club (along with Fanny the Wonder Dog)
Spitting Image team (Chris Barrie`s Ronald Reagan impressions)
Sir Henry (who later became Sir Harry Stocracy in Harry Enfield`s touring show). One of Harry Enfield`s least funny early characters, even with the odd cheap conjuring trick.
Morris Minor and the Majors with their famous Stutter Rap (only Tony Hawks has really survived this abomination)
Craig Charles (with his good old stand up and poetry routine)
Rowan Atkinson & Angus Deayton (with their American lounge singer act)
Chris Barrie (including the legendary James Bond audition sketch)
Paul Merton (early stand up routines)

Video

A standard full frame transfer of a typical piece of 1980s studio television. Sadly time has not dulled the shiny suits of Ben Elton or his giant comedy spectacles!

Audio

A DD2.0 stereo transfer, which is the original mono replayed over both channels. Nothing special, but nothing wrong with it.

Features

Sadly nothing, but I can`t really imagine what extras there would be apart from commissioning some interviews with some of the artists.

Conclusion

I absolutely loved Saturday Live. I can still remember watching it and memorising the Stavros routines. And it`s scary how much of them I can remember now whilst watching it again. It was the perfect antidote to some of the dreary 1980s comedies like Last of the Summer Wine. Seeing the early work of Harry Enfield, Fry & Laurie, Chris Barrie, Craig Charles and Paul Merton (to name but a few) is still great fun. Glad to see this second series out on DVD.

As with the first series, you should watch this and remember that Harry Enfield used to be funny. If you`ve only ever seen "Ruddy Hell It`s Harry & Paul" you`d never imagine that Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse can write comedy, but Stavros was a great character. Even their topical Oliver Reed parody was spot on in this series. Fry & Laurie went on to get several series of sketch shows at the BBC, and their early sketches here bear many of their hallmarks.

My only complaint (as with the first series) is that there isn`t enough Stavros on this best of compilation, but your mileage may vary. It may contain plenty of your favourite acts from the show. If you love 1980s comedy, you`ll love this. If you loved the show, you`ll love this. So go and buy it and hopefully we`ll get series 3 soon!