The word on DVDs

Two and Half Men is not the sort of show I would normally watch, and with it being on pretty much every half an hour it’s actually quite an accomplishment to live in a Charlie Harper/Sheen-free world. But I’m in the minority; the show is staggeringly successful, unequivocally a ratings juggernaut. It rarely troubles any critics ‘Best Of’ lists, but I doubt that bothers the team behind the show – Chuck Lorre (producer, creator) is a multimillionaire who knocked out The Big Bang Theory in his spare time and Charlie Sheen racks up around a million per episode, and a few other things if his numerous stabs at rehab are any guide. This past weekend I’ve been trying to account for its success and here are the facts. It’s vulgar, coarse, juvenile, far from family-friendly and played so obviously for cheap sexual innuendo that it should come with a free tube of hand cleanser and a box of tissues. It revolves almost entirely around Charlie chasing skirt, getting in trouble for chasing skirt from some other piece of skirt then skulking around his house thinking about the next piece of skirt to be chased. Interspersed are jokes about anal sex, alcoholism, fingers in holes and well… I think you get the point.

Sheen mugs his way through with barely audible mumbles and Jon Cryer as his hapless brother is Straight Man 101 doing enough to pull off an Emmy last year (insert Charlie-style joke here). Yet despite all this, halfway through I found it difficult to stop watching, caught like a rabbit in the headlights of Charlie Sheen’s slow-jawed smirk. I still don’t understand the mechanics of its success but somehow Chuck Lorre and Charlie Sheen have made the offensive, anachronistic and boorish antics of a man-child an inoffensive and treacly addictive treat. Sheen 1, society 0.

Noel Fielding and Julian Barrett’s freakish lovechild The Mighty Boosh has risen from cult fervour to worldwide success over the past ten years. Their comedic lexicon is understood by an increasing number (walk into any pub and yell “I’m Old Gregg!” and you can be certain at least one, if not a chorus line, of folk will yell back “I’ve got a mangina!”), and their jaunts into myriad media forms epitomises the term ‘prolific’. Of all their output – and there is a lot; the stand up show that started it all, the radio series that followed, three TV series with an apparent fourth on the way, a book, and plans for a movie – the stage show is undoubtedly the weakest. First live DVD The Mighty Boosh Live was a drawn out, forced, and largely painful affair from such comic wits; characters like Bob Fossil and Bollo work brilliantly as bit parts in the series, but fall flat when given their own seven minute segments to fill. Overall, the casual offhanded wackiness of the show is lost in the live setting (which should be their natural home), replaced with a gaudy pantomime presentation that simply doesn’t suit.

Fortunately, Future Sailors is a vast improvement on the first live show, but is still bottom rung when compared to their other material. The first half an hour is very strong; Fielding and Barratt play up to their characters with enough nuance to provide fresh laughs, and the side characters are used sparingly well. Although it takes a turn for the worse when Fielding’s most annoying creation to date is allowed front and centre. And the songs, which weave their way effortlessly into the series despite their bizarreness, simply break the flow in the live format.

Despite what you may think, not all us critics are talentless, slavering parasites jealously leeching off the success of others. Just most of us. And I don’t feel particularly good about giving this three stars.

Y’see, I love Bill Bailey and his childlike-yet-adult, kooky-yet-intelligent brand of comedy; he was the reason I found myself traversing the backwaters of London to be in the audience of the Black Books pilot many years back. The man can play just about every instrument constructed by humans (and some that aren’t), and here he’s organised a large scale orchestra, led by conductor Anne Dudley, to revisit favourite material and deliver some new set pieces, including a pastiche symphonic homage to wasps, locusts and jelly fish, the Match of the Day theme tune recast as a Jewish folk-song, and the introduction to current affairs flagship Panorama played backwards.

But the introduction of an orchestra, whilst undoubtedly impressive, doesn’t necessarily make things funnier. As the title suggests this is often a guide, and the comedy gets bogged down as a result, making it not as consistently hilarious as Bailey’s previous output. Taking advantage of this new format to revisit old jokes also makes the experience all too familiar for long term fans. But the innovation, effort and talent should be applauded. This has enough laughs for the diehards, and would serve as an excellent introduction to those unfamiliar with the weird and wonderful world of Bailey. The talented git.