You know how it is when you meet an old girlfriend in the street, and wonder what it was you saw in her in the first place? I felt that way after watching the first few episodes of this new series.
Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse have been brilliant together in so many shows, yet here they could barely raise a chuckle. As one sketch after another went down like a lead balloon, I became embarrassed for them. 'Revolver' was better, and that was dreadful. Why ridicule a decent man like Nelson Mandela? Where was the humour in the Polish coffee shop sketches? And the obese schoolboys were considerably less funny than the 'Billy Bunter' comic strips I used to read as a boy. Whoever came up with the idea for the 'Laurel & Hardy' spoof on 'Brokeback Mountain' deserves to be horsewhipped.
Enfield and Whitehouse should have made an effort to keep on board Ian Hislop, Nick Newman, and Charlie Higson, who wrote for them so successfully in the past. Their replacements are utterly hopeless. The absence of Kathy Burke is noticeable too.
Part of the problem for Enfield is that his earlier work is repeated endlessly on Sky, which means in effect he is in competition with himself. I do not see the point of watching an off-form Harry when a click of a button on my remote can conjure up the man at his peak.
The show may well improve ( I hope it does ), but the signs so far are it will shred what's left of Harry and Paul's reputations. Perhaps they should team up with Ben Elton ( another '80's comedy icon currently making a chump of himself in an effort to win a new audience ) and do a show called 'The Three Ninnies'!
Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse have been brilliant together in so many shows, yet here they could barely raise a chuckle. As one sketch after another went down like a lead balloon, I became embarrassed for them. 'Revolver' was better, and that was dreadful. Why ridicule a decent man like Nelson Mandela? Where was the humour in the Polish coffee shop sketches? And the obese schoolboys were considerably less funny than the 'Billy Bunter' comic strips I used to read as a boy. Whoever came up with the idea for the 'Laurel & Hardy' spoof on 'Brokeback Mountain' deserves to be horsewhipped.
Enfield and Whitehouse should have made an effort to keep on board Ian Hislop, Nick Newman, and Charlie Higson, who wrote for them so successfully in the past. Their replacements are utterly hopeless. The absence of Kathy Burke is noticeable too.
Part of the problem for Enfield is that his earlier work is repeated endlessly on Sky, which means in effect he is in competition with himself. I do not see the point of watching an off-form Harry when a click of a button on my remote can conjure up the man at his peak.
The show may well improve ( I hope it does ), but the signs so far are it will shred what's left of Harry and Paul's reputations. Perhaps they should team up with Ben Elton ( another '80's comedy icon currently making a chump of himself in an effort to win a new audience ) and do a show called 'The Three Ninnies'!