Series
A British comedy television series with turns of phrase and elaborate wordplay, written by and starring former Cambridge Footlights members Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.
Episodes
Fry as a put upon headmaster and Laurie as a Puritanical parent who wants to exchange his 'soiled' son kicks off the premiere episode. Useful tips for making poetry convenient is followed by a bookshop in which all the books have been edited for greater British glory. Laurie turns in a great performance as a fraudulent psychic, and the duo round out the episode with description of a censored sketch and its boorish replacement.
Fry is an information stand attendant who knows too much. A man whose last name is the sound of a cigarette lighter dropping on a desk tries to file a police report. A cad of a talk show host gets his desserts. We meet the very pleasant and expositional commander of the M.I.5 and his assistant. The episode ends with an aerobic workout for hands, and a very dramatic corporate takeover.
Fry steals Laurie's brain as a practical joke, but Laurie never notices. A pleasant Greek lunch is spoiled by Laurie's insecurity and lack of self-esteem. A tobacconist posing as a doctor prescribes cigarettes. The commander of the M.I.5 and his assistant are back for a chat. Two unwavering detectives demand to know the whereabouts of an unmarried woman's husband.
An episode rife with controversy: several of the sketches are canceled after an audience member demands they are his stolen intellectual property. A teen poet helps his headmaster to accept the head's own repressed longing to express himself in metaphor. The polite M.I.5 boys return, and a young entrepreneur is denied a bank loan for his drug operation. Fry names his nipples, and, with Laurie's help, tells us how a floppy hat can save you from being killed by a bus.
As a service to the public, Fry and Laurie provide two TV critics to deride the show. A lesbian-obsessed lawyer, a miserable English teacher, and a young couple who baptize their infant for business reasons provide plenty of fodder for the critics' self-absorbed rambling. As an added bonus, Laurie walks us through his very favorite sketch, and, with Fry's help, celebrates Swiss week.
A waiter keeps interrupting the punchline of a joke and a care worker in a retirement home brings an objectionable resident his cocoa.
Cast
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