Matt Lucas, David Walliams/UK/2006; R4 (Ltd Ed)
Roadshow, $29.95 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

A COUPLE OF decades ago Monty Python embarked on a live tour and realised once you’ve made a popular TV skit show, it’s a lot easier to sell out a tour. Little Britain creators Matt Lucas and David Walliams started off their comedy performing skits live – their first performance was to approximately eight people (reports on numbers vary), and their show had to be delayed so half the audience could watch Eastenders first. But suddenly their TV show took off, and now they’re estimating nearly a million people will have seen them live on a mammoth two hundred show tour. Little Britain Live is a recording of their show at Blackpool performed in May 2006.

It’s a kind of concert show, featuring all their favourite characters from Vicki Pollard to Lou and Andy. However unlike the Monty Python shows, this isn’t really a best-of, greatest hits bonanza. A lot of the sketches are new, or at least twist some of the familiar moments a bit (such as Marjorie Dawes espousing the virtues of dust as a low fat food). Also, former characters such as Ray McCooney (the eccentric Scottish hotel manager) and new characters such as Ting Tong, the Thai bride, feature too.

The show is wonderfully kicked off by Lou and Andy – “I thought you hated Blackpool, you said it was pus filled carbuncle,” and maintains a pretty solid pace through to a show-stopping finale by Dafydd Thomas, the only gay from the village of Llandewi Breffi. There are also moments of audience interaction – the Des Kaye sketch (a paedophile who goes for older men) and Marjorie Dawes in particular - which are cringe-y, humiliating experiences for the audience members involved. Probably. But when Marjorie Dawes comes looking for a volunteer, it’s probably not a good idea to raise your hand (or let your sister raise her hand next to you). That volunteer did get a t-shirt though. They were really pushing the t-shirt sales.

It’s a show which clearly has the benefit of a bit more money than most live shows. Moveable sets, extensive projection, a bigger cast (Anthony Head and Ruth Jones from the show make guest appearances), and frequent costume changes are used throughout. It’s a polished production, and the audience certainly were impressed throughout, though the filmmakers could perhaps have shown the audience a little bit more. If there’s meant to be interaction between the audience and the performers such as there was in Little Britain Live, it would have been nice to have seen these effects every now and then. The show wasn’t as funny as the TV show, but then it’s hard to see how it could have been. The TV show gets a lot of its humour from the repetitive set-ups and storylines, and this show is therefore forced to rely upon these set-ups from the TV seasons to an extent. That’s not a bad thing but a newcomer may want to start with the TV show first.


THIS DVD is packed with some wonderful goodies. There’s a 40 page colour booklet featuring photos, interviews, character profiles, a Dafydd wordfind (featuring words like “chutneyferret” and “thegayoneoutofwestlife”), an “Ask Anne” section and Marjorie’s “High in Fat/Low in Fat” Game. There are enlightening behind-the-scenes and behind-the-DVD documentaries, which will probably be essential for a Little Britophile. The centerpiece of the extra features is an hour-long documentary covering David Walliams’ attempt to swim the English Channel. It’s impressive seeing a man who claims not to have any athletic ability dedicate himself to nine months of extensive training in order to fulfill a childhood dream (and raise nearly Ł500,000 for Ethiopian orphans). It’s fascinating stuff and makes for great drama. He’s also aiming to be the first Little Britain star/comedian/famous person to swim the channel. This documentary also features deleted scenes. Further extras include deleted scenes from the stage show (or at least variations on a couple), audio commentary by Walliams and Lucas on some of the extras, and a Lou and Andy sketch in Blackpool. All in all, the extras are a wonderful package for fans of the show, and are worth a good proportion of the DVD’s price.