DVD review by Steve Bennett

Andy Parsons spends a lot of time on this DVD complaining in his trademark nasal whine that every aspect of British life is ‘a bit shit’. Sad to say the message starts to sink in, and you might also think the same of this litany of negativity.

Too often, it seems, he’s happy to get recognition and laughs from simply stating exactly how rubbish something is, without trying to add much of a comic spin beyond that distinctively phrased delivery. As he acknowledges, Britain is a country that revels sadistically in being under-par, but this is quite repetitive.

He spends too long nattering to the audience, too. 25 minutes in and he’s still asking punters what they do for a living. Like the device of showing people footage of themselves taking their seats at London’s Lyric Theatre, it may create spontaneity and frisson from the fear of being targetted in the room, but it hardly seems a routine worth preserving forever on DVD.

Oh, how this release would benefit from the reverse of a directors’ cut; losing all the blether and the banter to get to the core of the show. For once he hits his stride, Parsons’s material gets less superficial and more funny, but you certainly need patience not to have hit Eject in frustration before then.

Routines about the Lockerbie bomber and faith schools teaching creationism prove that his command of current affairs as gleaned on Mock The Week hasn’t gone to waste. In such gags you start to believe he’s actually got an opinion – and rather a radical one at that – on some of the year’s big stories. And at other moments, he demonstrates a charming silliness, such as his prank calls to Mr A. Squirrel or his idea of the cheapskate planetarium at Leicester’s space museum, delivered in embarrassed detachment.

But these moments are often sunk behind a wearying catalogue of complaint, without the contributions of other panel show contributors to provide much-needed variation to his tone.

Running time: 84 mins
Extras: Live At The Apollo appearance (13mins); An ‘internal monologue’ to add commentary to the main feature (84 mins); How Not To Do A Joke (3 mins) outtakes of a gag he just couldn't get right on the night; The Unbearable Malt Chocolateness Of Extras – the most deliberately boring DVD extra of the year (12 mins)
Released by: Universal Pictures, November 16
Price: £19.99. Click here to buy from Amazon at £12.98

Published: 16 Dec 2009