Rating: Summary: Twin Peaks meets Monty Python Review: Just when you thought British comedy couldn't get more bizarre along comes this trio of very talented comedic actors. The three take on the personas of a whole town (Royston vasey)of bizarre characters. The developing stories they create will have you alternatley cringing and laughing out loud. This is the type of thing that is disturbing to watch, yet you can't stop yourself - not ulike a car wreck.This DVD holds the entire first series of six episodes. I personally can't wait for the second series, already released in the UK. This is not for everyone - my wife couldn't get into it, but my friends all loved it.
Rating: Summary: Hilarious "local" comedy! Review: I was first introduced to TLoG during its short stint on Comedy Central. Friends of mine knew there was something to this show when it kept me at home instead of at the bar watching Monday Night Football! The talented trio of actors portray over 60 of the weird and often disturbing denizens of the village of Royston-Vasey in Northern England. Mixing often-dark humor with drama and some downright disturbing visuals (especially from the proprietor of the Local Shop and his wife!), this show really grabbed hold of me. Although sometimes the scenes can drag and start to make the viewer uncomfortable for a small joke at the end, this really is one of the best sketch comedies to come across the pond. Even with the occasional long scene, the rest of the scenes more than make up for it. This DVD also has its share of extras with running commentary from the actors, deleted scenes and some good background info and interviews. I couldn't recommend it more. The only problem is, Amazon UK is already selling Season 2 (which is the episodes I first saw) but in their infinite, greedy wisdom the studio execs have made it a Region 2 DVD. So get with it! Release Season 2 in the US! I have hordes of TLoG converts waiting to see it through to completion!
Rating: Summary: One of the Best British Comedy Trios Around! Review: Comedy certainly took a new turn when Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith came on to the scene. These three actors plus Jeremy Dyson (the Producer) create The League of Gentlemen. This is the first series from the BBC and it is a real good treat! Join the three as they perform hilarious sketches as different characters in the local town of Royston Vasey. Everything that you don't expect to happen in a small villiage town, happens here. It is a brilliant comedy mixing humour with horror and is well worth watching. I think it only appeals to some people and not to others. When I first watched it I thought it wasn't that funny, but after watching it again and again, I thought it hilarious! I own series one and two over here in England and hope they make a third! Hope you like it!
Rating: Summary: you'll never leave Review: I saw all the league of gentlemen on tv here in england and i can honestly say it's the funniest show you'll ever see involving cannabilism and failed prog rock. It's influenced more by old british horror movies than anything else, things like the wicker man. To be fair, it's fu~~ing repulsive, but in a good way. I lve near where they film it, and i can tell you, they make the north look nicer than it really is. A warning though, if you ain't got a sense of humour (jim carrey fans!), don't bother.
Rating: Summary: Better than a three-toed speckled Great Northern toad Review: What a phenomenal show. Funnier than just about everything I've seen for the past year (possibly excepting Mr. Show, which I also wish would appear on DVD). I just want to know when the second disc is coming, because I need my Papa Lazarus...
Rating: Summary: Hilarious Review: One of the funniest and darkest comedy shows ever - in the league of Monty Python. Not stop, side-splitting comedy from start to finish. Fantastic characters played exceptionally well by a small cast. Can't recommend it enough!
Rating: Summary: In a League of its own... Review: To paraphrase Henry V, feel glad you're alive at the birth of a comedic revolution. The League of Gentlemen is breathtaking in its originality, a cerebral feast for everyone sick of prefabricated US humour(sorry cousins)with its nauseating PC tendencies, tokenism and bland predictability. I'm staggered and not a little heartened that so many American viewers "get" the anarchic brand of humour on offer in this outstanding series. The US, after all, is the nation that gave us Mr Ed and I Love Lucy (and The Simpsons, too, to be fair). The funniest LoG sketch I've seen so far (regrettably not on this DVD) was the one with Freddie Jones explaining to the horrified young vet how he came to be cursed among men, complete with a Chinese lantern show detailing the outrage performed upon the elephant...I almost ended up in intensive care with a strangulated hernia laughing so much. I haven't been the same since, ask my missus. The League recently took to the road for a UK tour and it is my profoundest regret that I was abroad with the British Army at the time and missed them. Undergraduate, yes, lavatorial perhaps, and unashamedly adolescent in many ways, this show is also emblematic of Britain at the start of the new millennium - run down, self-doubting and cynical but with that one saving grace we've always had to the bewilderment of foreigners and the consternation of our foes: the ability to laugh at ourselves.
Rating: Summary: Who says widescreen? Review: The other reviews say it all to the great quality of this show. I agree in total. But while ..advertises this show widescreen, my copy certainly is not, which distresses me a great deal given that this is a very tightly shot show based a great deal on sight gags. Its better than the horribly hacked versions shown on Comedy Central but it still suffers greatly being reduced to U.S. television format. I expect this nonsense from A@E (The Avengers, The Prisoner, expurgated Monty Python) but I had hopes the BBC might come of age on DVD after the damage they did to their shows on VHS. Still, I have to love the DVD just for the option of choosing whether you, the viewer, are local.
Rating: Summary: Not sure whether you are local, then buy LoG.?... Review: ... the new miracle cure all from the BBC. Okay .. onto the review:- Once I got past my horror at discovering a laughter soundtrack (very annoying but faded away into the background of my perception with repeated listening) and no dvd option to play the thing without this track, I began simply to enjoy. It's not pure comedy. It has pathos, drama and visceral horror. This is not comedy as U.S. network tv knows it. It's almost not comedy as British broadcast tv knows it. I rarely guffawed and slapped my thighs with the hilarity of it all. A little bit more than my comedic neurons were engaged. The acting ability of the players is at a Sopranos level or better, and it's "just" a comedy, and they each play, god, maybe five different fully developed characters each. I'm frankly a wee bit intimidated by the talent of these blokes. Even if you hate it, you won't soon forget it. No matter how extensive your DVD collection you will have *nothing* like The League of Gentlemen in it. Buy, beg, borrow or steal this disc. (Especially if you thought, like me, that you had comedic talent yourself. After watching this you'll probably go, "oh s**t", and go back to your day job.) Footnote: The DVD extra's of deleted scenes was a nice compensation for the awful laughter track - some of these scenes are "unaccompanied". At least two of these scenes are as good as the best stuff from the series.
Rating: Summary: I covet the precious things Review: Bizarre. Twisted. Deranged. Subversive. Horrifying. And probably the funniest thing I've seen on TV since the Parrot Sketch. This show crosses far too many red lines, I'm sure it will get banned eventually. Packed full of those wonderful moments in which you can't decide whether to throw up or burst out laughing. Don't watch this while you're drinking - there are far too many surprises. I want to give people fair warning -although it's very, very funny, the subject matter is pretty extreme. Waters, Lynch and Cronenberg together couldn't write anything as disgusting as some of the scenes in this series. It starts with torture, murder, and implied cannibalism, and goes straight downhill from there. All of these themes are treated with the right touch of campiness and really cheesy props, but they're still horrifying. I can't wait for the next series. Is that special stuff kosher?
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