The All New Alexei Sayle Show: Series 2, Episode 6 (1995)

 

I hate to be all, “Ding-dong, the sketch comedy show is dead,” but… let’s just say I’ll be glad to move on to a new project.  While not as unenjoyable to me as Rab C. Nesbitt or Unhitched, the best word I have for The All New Alexei Sayle Show is “unimpressive.”

 

Anyway, we’ve got one last “Drunk in Time” sketch.  For their final adventure, the under-the-table duo are sent back to biblical times.  Jim Carter plays Herod, and Salome is dancing for the head of John the Baptist.    If you’d like, you can watch it here.

 

Final tally for “drunk” synonyms:

 

• Sloshed
• Inebriated
• Alcohol-soaked
• Intoxicated
• In the bag
• Wasted
• Smashed
• Potted
• Under the table

For a total of nine!  (I make my own fun.)

 

And with that, let’s unceremoniously bring The All New Alexei Sayle Show to an end.

 

Accent Watch

 

RP for the Sherlock Holmes sketch in series 1, Scouse for Doug in series 2’s “Drunk in Time” sketches.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Naw.  Too meh.

 

PC-wise – I’d recommend the Sherlock Holmes sketch.  “Drunk in Time” just isn’t terribly funny and doesn’t give PC much to do, so you can easily give those sketches a pass.

 

Warnings

 

Nothing really beyond what I’ve previously stated.

The All New Alexei Sayle Show: Series 2, Episode 5 (1995)

 

Because nothing says Mongolian warrior like “Downton Abbey’s Mr. Carson,” today’s “Drunk in Time” sequence features Jim Carter as Genghis Khan.  It annoys me that, while black-face is obviously understood to be horrifically insensitive, the same isn’t universally accepted for other races.  Now, it doesn’t look like he was actually made up to appear Mongolian, but The All New Alexei Sayle Show was already on probation for me (since the very white Sayle played a Native American stereotype in a sketch yesterday,) and seeing Jim Carter playing Genghis Khan doesn’t help.

 

Not much to say about PC’s Doug or his potted pal.  Last episode of this show tomorrow, and I’ll be ready for it.

 

However, I have to admit that today’s episode features a running Waiting for Godot gag that I appreciate.  How awesome is Britain that even middling sketch-comedy shows can throw in a little Beckett now and again?

The All New Alexei Sayle Show: Series 2, Episode 4 (1995)

 

Another episode, another “Drunk in Time” adventure.  In this sketch, the smashed twosome – I’m seeing how many synonyms I can use for the word “drunk” over the course of these reviews – land in Britain during its Roman occupation.  They offer themselves as highly unreliable builders for the construction of Hadrian’s Wall.

 

It may be possible that I harp on Fry and Laurie’s comedic superiority, but it’s really true, and after my fourth “Drunk in Time” sketch (along with a number of other recurring gags throughout the series,) the difference couldn’t be more obvious.  Those two understood that, while recurring sketches can riff on the same idea multiple times, they have to do it in different ways, and first and foremost, they have to funny throughout.  Take the John and Peter sketches from A Bit of Fry and Laurie.  It’s easy to write them off as “intense businessmen saying ‘Damn!’ all the time,” but the sketches stretch over the course of the series.  John and Peter are put in increasingly outrageous situations, first running the health club and later branching out into the men’s lavatory and the archdiocese.  Beyond that, every single one is packed with jokes.  After having seen each of these sketches numerous times, it still makes me chuckle to think about “Damnit, Peter, he’ll be in Australia by now!” or “Yep – it’s from God, all right” (and I realize that these lines mean nothing to the uninitiated; I weep for you.)

 

The lesson, of course, is “no one does it like the masters,” but we already knew that.

 

Looking ahead to what is sure to be a far, far better time-traveler role, PC is officially filming series 8 of Who right now.  This means it’s only a matter of time before the BBC releases photos of the Twelfth Doctor in costume, to get the jump on the diligent Whovians trolling Cardiff with smart phones.

 

Accent Watch

 

PC has a couple of longer lines in this sketch, and I think he is doing a Scouse accent.  Seems like he’s going for that Scouse cadence, anyway.

The All New Alexei Sayle Show: Series 2, Episode 3 (1995)

 

It’d be nice if this show was using PC for something other than the “Drunk in Time” sketches.  The joke – that Doug and his buddy are so wasted, they don’t know where they are and stumble ignorantly through historical events – isn’t super sustainable.  Plus, all the sketches on this show are pretty short, and the “Drunk in Time” sketches have an opening theme that cuts into their minutes for every episode.  The Sherlock Holmes sketch from series 1 is a lot funnier than any of these, and it gives PC a lot more to do.

 

This time around, it’s Sarajevo on the eve of World War I, and we can all guess which archduke is misguidedly riding through a hostile crowd in an open car.  I think I can safely assume by now that Jim Carter will be in all of these – he’s the gunman in this one.  This installment can be found here.

 

By far, however, the most important thing to take away from this episode comes in part of its PC-less section.  In a pair of sketches following the exploits of “The League of Hirsute Gentlemen,” who should appear as the villain but Christoph Waltz?  Admittedly, I know very little about the wonderful Christoph Waltz’s pre-Inglourious Basterds career, but I’d had no idea he’d been working in English-language projects as far back as the mid-90s.  I was delighted to see him, but so surprised that, as much as it looked and sounded like him, I didn’t quite believe it until I saw his name in the end credits.

The All New Alexei Sayle Show: Series 2, Episode 2 (1995)

 

More “Drunk in Time.”  In this installment, the in-the-bag time travelers stumble upon the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  Not as funny as the Rasputin one, in my opinion.  I dunno; it’s just okay.  If you're so inclined, you can view it here.

 

Jim Carter shows up again, this time as George Washington.  It’s funny to see him playing an American icon, since I know him best as such a quintessentially English butler (second only to Jeeves?  Maybe – Carson isn’t one to be trifled with.)

 

A few other recurring sketches crop up, but for me, the most amusing bits were in the newer material.  There’s a Superman-in-Yorkshire idea that got a few laughs from me, and I cracked up at a very short, quick gag about a fish.  I’m also rather fond of “How many anticlimaxes does it take to change a light bulb?”

 

*         *         *

 

In other news, how annoyed am I right now with Sexual Assault Abbey?  Julian frickin’ Fellowes.  This kind of plot requires extremely sensitive handling and skillful writing, and we’re talking about the man who devised the three-episode paralysis (poor Dan Stevens – bet his jaw dropped when he read that in the script.)  In short, oh me of little faith. 

The All New Alexei Sayle Show: Series 2, Episode 1 (1995)

 

After my second helping of The All New Alexei Sayle Show, there’s still not much to get excited over.    As sketch comedy goes, it has a very middle-of-the-pack feel, and the stand-up bits are mostly padding with a few good lines in the middle.

 

Again, PC appears in one sketch, which can be found here.  This one has its own intro and title card, which might mean it’ll be recurring.  The sketch is touted as one of many “Drunk in Time” adventures, wherein two sloshed English blokes pop up throughout history after stumbling into some sort of time/space disturbance.

 

PC plays Doug Hatton, one of the two drunks.  He and his inebriated brother-in-arms find themselves at a dinner party where Rasputin is a guest and cyanide is on the menu.  (Rasputin, by the way, is played by Jim Carter, Mr. Carson on Downton Abbey.)

 

While I like it a lot less than the Sherlock Holmes sketch from the previous episode, this is, as before, one of the better sketches in the episode.  I’m tickled by the pair of scientists who are somehow monitoring the drunken historical meddling of the two men; their dialogue is a fun parody of time-travel tropes.

 

PC, for his part, does well enough in a meager role.  He’s not called on to do more than act drunk and dim, and he manages humorously.

 

Accent Watch

 

Northern this time around.  It might be Scouse, but I could just be thinking that because of Alexei Sayle’s Scouse accent.  If the sketch crops up again in the series, I’ll listen for it.

 

Warnings

 

Add in obvious references to copious alcohol use, along with an attempted poisoning.

The All New Alexei Sayle Show: Series 1, Episode 6 (1994)

 

Here’s a first for Capaldi Fall/Winter – sketch comedy.  This show, from the mind of British comedian Alexei Sayle, intersperses skits and recurring gags with snippets of stand-up.  PC appears in the last episode of series 1 and all six episodes of series 2.

 

So far, I’m a little meh on it.  There are clever bits here and there, and there’s a kookiness that sometimes surfaces, but if we’re talking British sketch comedy, I’ve been 100% completely spoiled by the tremendous A Bit of Fry & Laurie.  That show makes me howl, and this one seems just okay.

 

PC is featured in one sketch, playing Sherlock Holmes (wonder if Moffat’s ever seen it?)  Even putting aside my obvious bias, it’s my favorite sketch of the episode and the only one that actually gets me to laugh out loud.  PC’s Holmes is plagued by a particularly dim Watson who marvels at Holmes’s remarkable ability to, for example, look out the window and deduce that it’s getting dark.

 

Although PC doesn’t get to do too many Holmesian things, his performance tickles me.  He pulls some fantastic faces as the sketch escalates and his annoyance builds.

 

I should mention that enterprising Capaldians have posted PC’s individual sketches from this show on youtube, so if you’re interested in PC but don’t want to watch the actual show, you have that option open to you.

 

Accent Watch

 

A decently plummy RP.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Not so far.  Nothing to wow me.

 

PC-wise – Possibly.  If you just watch PC’s sketch, you’re only out a few minutes, and I laughed quite a bit.

 

Warnings

 

Some language, sexual references, and a bit of comedy violence (nothing of note, though, in PC’s sketch.)