A Bit of Fry & Laurie
A Bit of Fry & Laurie is a British comedy show of the comedy duo Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. It was originally aired for four seasons between 1989 and 1995 by the British BBC television.
The 26 episodes consist of six to eleven sketches respectively. They often represent absurd situations and are based on puns. Many scenes dissolve abruptly and without Pointe, a concept that was announced by Monty Python's Flying Circus. Typical is a frequent breaking of the fourth wall by, for example, the performer suddenly fall out of their roles and begin to discuss how the skit was to end the most sense, or seem to see by mistake the end of the scene image or members of the camera crew are.
Some ideas are their predecessor in the TV show Saturday Live, in which both Fry and Laurie were a frequent occurrence, and in the written by Stephen Fry radio series Saturday Night Fry.
Actor
Most roles are played by Fry and Laurie himself. Occasionally, other actors in supporting roles, including Deborah Norton, Maria Aitken, Geoffrey McGivern, Liz Smith, Andy Linden, Paul Eddington, Camille Coduri, Tony Hawks, Nigel Havers and Rowan Atkinson. In season two guests are invited in every episode, which is also larger roles take in some skits, including Kevin R. McNally, Phyllida Law and Stephen Moore.
Recurring formats
Some characters appear on multiple episodes of distributed repeatedly. Most common are the sketches of the two business partners Peter and John - that behave as if they were leading a large international company, while they actually different micro-enterprises run like a public toilet in a small town - and the intelligence agents Control and Tony. The latter are characterized by naive dialogues and intentionally weak acting. In some consequences of Fry and Laurie slip into the role of critics and analyze the previous sketch, where they also caricaturing both the critics themselves.
Through all the seasons pass between the skits are short excerpts from road surveys of various men and women - all of them played by Fry and Laurie - shown on London streets. Your out of context sentences are seemingly answers to questions, but not the audience learns. This type of transitions between sketches also goes back to Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Topics
Particularly common are the police, the military, intelligence agencies, the Catholic and the Anglican Church and politicians - particularly the Conservative Party - parodies. The governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major and conservative politics in general have always been a target of Fry and Laurie's satires. Seek out media-related issues such as the transmission program of the BBC, sponsorship and product placement as well as censorship and the prohibition to use certain words on television. Many skits address the English language and literature.
Music
Laurie, who mastered numerous instruments, submits familiar songs and songs of own composition in some episodes. From the third season he plays the guy melody on the piano.
The theme music of the first season was written by Harry Stoneham, the second by Philip Hope, the third and fourth of Philip Hope and Simon Brint. For the credits of the finale was used from the Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint- Saëns in the second season.
Publications
All four seasons individually as well as a collection box with all seasons appeared in 2006 as a DVD.
The manuscripts including some unpublished sketches published as a book under the titles A Bit of Fry & Laurie (1990, ISBN 0-7493-0705-6 ), A Bit More Fry & Laurie (1991, ISBN 0-7493-1076-6 ) 3 bits of Fry & Laurie (1992, ISBN 0-7493-1701-9 ) and Fry & Laurie bit No.. 4 (1995, ISBN 0-7493-1967-4 ).