The final episode of the sadly forgotten sketch show 'Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee'.
The first sketch sees the same group of friends from episode four ( one of them looking remarkably well having apparently choked to death on a cream cake previously ) sitting in a bar enjoying a refreshment after attending a theatre performance. Whilst most of them enjoy soft drinks, one of them selfishly buys himself a treble whisky, causing an argument between the four which blows out of all proportion.
A group of four people consisting of Edgar Bloodlusten, Jack Beesley, a hysterical woman and a vicar end up trapped inside a broken down lift. Edgar Bloodlusten starts to deliver a gory account on what may happen if the lift shaft were to suddenly malfunction ( much to Jack Beesley's delight ). This causes the woman to go into a state of panic, culminating in the vicar slapping her to snap her out of it, which in turn culminates in him getting kneed in the groin.
The final 'Master Of Dundriech' sketch sees Tom manage to successfully escape from his sadistic uncle and return back to Edinburgh. However his joy is short lived when his uncle tracks him down and he finally meets his ( unseen ) fate.
Bob the fascist appears with his friend Alec ( who speaks for the first and only time here ) having a meal in an Indian restaraunt where Bob delivers a vitriolic rant about the dining habits of the Indian population.
'Glasgow', a spoof of 'Dallas', sees Big Jim McNulty appear in court facial trial for a drunk and disorderly charge. As usual he delivers a drunken, incoherent rant when he is asked if he has anything to say before sentence is passed. Shortly after Robbie Coltrane's death last month, Elaine C. Smith told the 'Daily Record' that Coltrane's character laid the groundwork for 'Rab C. Nesbitt'.
The final sketch sees Edgar Bloodlusten lying in a bloodied heap on a bar floor after being brutally beaten up by drunken rugby fans delivering a gruesome account on his own predicament which he prefaces with: ''So here I lay...''. Eventually, he succumbs to his injuries and as the spirit leaves his body, we hear Bloodlusten's ghostly voice saying ''As the soul leaves the body for the eternal fire of hell. The skin on the body begins to melt...'''.
And with that 'Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee' was finished. The show did not perform well with viewers and was not renewed for a second season, though a second series was probably never considered anyway due to Robbie Coltrane refusing to participate in sketch comedy again. Talk was rife of giving the Mason Boyne character his own sitcom but producer Colin Gilbert felt he was a one joke character ( which in all fairness he was ) and had limited scope for character development. Louise Gold and John Sessions found their niche later providing voices on Channel 4's puppet show 'Spitting Image' whilst Ron Bain later joined the cast of 'Naked Video'.
A fantastic end to the series and it felt good watching it again recently. Rather than having 'Harry Potter' forced down out throats in the wake of Robbie Coltrane's death, perhaps BBC Scotland could re-run 'Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee' or perhaps it could be released on DVD so new audiences can see what gave Coltrane a foot in the door.
Funniest sketch - Edgar Bloodlusten's final account on his own death. Even in death you can't shut him up!
The first sketch sees the same group of friends from episode four ( one of them looking remarkably well having apparently choked to death on a cream cake previously ) sitting in a bar enjoying a refreshment after attending a theatre performance. Whilst most of them enjoy soft drinks, one of them selfishly buys himself a treble whisky, causing an argument between the four which blows out of all proportion.
A group of four people consisting of Edgar Bloodlusten, Jack Beesley, a hysterical woman and a vicar end up trapped inside a broken down lift. Edgar Bloodlusten starts to deliver a gory account on what may happen if the lift shaft were to suddenly malfunction ( much to Jack Beesley's delight ). This causes the woman to go into a state of panic, culminating in the vicar slapping her to snap her out of it, which in turn culminates in him getting kneed in the groin.
The final 'Master Of Dundriech' sketch sees Tom manage to successfully escape from his sadistic uncle and return back to Edinburgh. However his joy is short lived when his uncle tracks him down and he finally meets his ( unseen ) fate.
Bob the fascist appears with his friend Alec ( who speaks for the first and only time here ) having a meal in an Indian restaraunt where Bob delivers a vitriolic rant about the dining habits of the Indian population.
'Glasgow', a spoof of 'Dallas', sees Big Jim McNulty appear in court facial trial for a drunk and disorderly charge. As usual he delivers a drunken, incoherent rant when he is asked if he has anything to say before sentence is passed. Shortly after Robbie Coltrane's death last month, Elaine C. Smith told the 'Daily Record' that Coltrane's character laid the groundwork for 'Rab C. Nesbitt'.
The final sketch sees Edgar Bloodlusten lying in a bloodied heap on a bar floor after being brutally beaten up by drunken rugby fans delivering a gruesome account on his own predicament which he prefaces with: ''So here I lay...''. Eventually, he succumbs to his injuries and as the spirit leaves his body, we hear Bloodlusten's ghostly voice saying ''As the soul leaves the body for the eternal fire of hell. The skin on the body begins to melt...'''.
And with that 'Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee' was finished. The show did not perform well with viewers and was not renewed for a second season, though a second series was probably never considered anyway due to Robbie Coltrane refusing to participate in sketch comedy again. Talk was rife of giving the Mason Boyne character his own sitcom but producer Colin Gilbert felt he was a one joke character ( which in all fairness he was ) and had limited scope for character development. Louise Gold and John Sessions found their niche later providing voices on Channel 4's puppet show 'Spitting Image' whilst Ron Bain later joined the cast of 'Naked Video'.
A fantastic end to the series and it felt good watching it again recently. Rather than having 'Harry Potter' forced down out throats in the wake of Robbie Coltrane's death, perhaps BBC Scotland could re-run 'Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee' or perhaps it could be released on DVD so new audiences can see what gave Coltrane a foot in the door.
Funniest sketch - Edgar Bloodlusten's final account on his own death. Even in death you can't shut him up!