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Reviews
Keeping Up Appearances (1990)
Average, snigger-inducing British suburban comedy.
As a very young child I could giggle at the slapstick moments of Hyacinth and her dear husband.
As an adult, I find the whole thing a bit disappointing. Now that I can appreciate the language used (mild, safe and inoffensive) and I can see that this is a "light" comedy... I cannot even force myself to produce more than a small smirk at Hyacinth's right wing snobbery and her strained endeavours to be recognised as an upstanding woman with effortless glamour and grace.
Yes I see that the humour is in that attitude to cover what is really a middle class run-of-the-mill lifestyle with a surname like "Bucket" and I see that the idea is that in Hyacinth's self-made bubble of class she is from a family of what I suppose nowadays would be called "chavs" with all the hallmarks of a life lived in a high rise flat owned by the council and the windows stained with nicotine.... I just can't seem to find it in me to laugh in a way that would particularly grip or entertain me notably.
Over a decade after giggling as a giddy child... I can't say this would get my vote in the running for best British comedy.
Billy Connolly: An Audience with Billy Connolly (1985)
excellent, obviously...
to the other person who has reviewed this: If you are entertained by the likes of Gregor Fisher in Rab C. Nesbitt then I presume you understand the Glaswegian dialect and can appreciate some uniquely Scottish -more specifically Glaswegian- humour.
Billy Connolly is a fine comedian who exploits hard-hitting themes crucial to living in Glasgow (I have not yet met a person, supporter or non-supporter, who has not laughed at Partick Thistle... despite how well they have done to have at least once upon a time managed to reach the premier league...). He takes these themes, like sectarianism, football violence, religion, race, social class, and he creates humour out of them.
It's not just limited to within Glasgow's perimeters either... sexual abuse happens all over the world, needless to mention.
This is an admirable ability I'd say, and in this performance he churns out the odd old joke of his but hey - not everyone has heard it before. For those who have? it's still funny to a point Even if there are viewers unacquainted with the Glasgow wit, people still laugh at his incredibly descriptive gesticulations and his overall amusing demeanour. It's not something a lot of people can do.
In this performance Connolly addresses a "star-studded" audience and makes them giggle nervously and laugh heartily, joining in. It's a performance that keeps you on your toes because he's just so unpredictable. He's a great guy and I wish he'd come up with more so we can enjoy him more.
Billy Connolly is a funny man and this is one of his best performances in my opinion.
Robbie Coltraine is an actor, an actor who went to art school in the seventies. A good actor nonetheless, he is not a comedian so the comparison of the other reviewer was a bit unfair in that. Jerry Sadowitz is very bad. Very very bad.