DVD: Spitting Image – The Complete First Series

Topical satire is a tough game. One week a joke can be funny and current, the next it can either be scrubbed from the set list or ditched for fear of offending someone. However, this can be used to your advantage if you are out to be as biting, sharp and as close to the edge as you possibly can.

With grotesque rubber caricatures and the vocal talents of some of the best known impersonators around today, Spitting Image was probably the closest TV programme that truly embraced the underground alternative comedy scene of the 80s.

With incredibly close to the mark jokes that these days would see the programme taken off air pretty much before it was even commissioned, the show was a late night comedy success for ITV – a show which actively went out to target the main players in politics, showbiz and the Monarchy with little of fear or remorse.

The first series, which was originally broadcast in 1984, featured faces from the 1980’s like Maggie Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Norman Tebbit, Charles and Diana and Colonel Gaddafi in a range of sketches and skits often placing them in unusual situations or expanding on their exaggerated characteristics to make the most normal of situations amusing.

If there is one problem with this series, it is that while the main characters are easy to recognise, a lot of the smaller bit characters haven’t stood the test of time in the public memory. This means that some of the jokes fall flatter than they probably should. That said, if your memories of the 80s is of the Royal weddings, the Soviet struggles and the Conservative party, and not just of you getting your nappy changed or watching Tommy Boyd on the Wide Awake Club, this might well raise a chuckle on a cold Sunday night.

Spitting Image – The Complete First Series is available to buy from here.

DVD: Marcus Brigstocke – Planet Corduroy

If you have listened to any comedy on BBC Radio Four within in the last five years, you will have probably heard Marcus Brigstocke. From the Now Show to the Museum of Everything, he has been involved in pretty much every show they have broadcast which has an element of satire or bitterness.

However, most people don’t realise that Marcus is also likes to dip his toes in the murky pool of stand-up from time to time… or, more correctly, frequently. Bringing together what he defines as the most complete collection of his stand-up work, Project Corduroy, his first live DVD, could well be one of the finest live comedy DVDs in recent years.

Discussing (well, ranting) everything from living in London to Daily Mail readers, opinions on immigration to the street magician David Blaine, Marcus’s brand of bitter satire with comedic venom manages to hold and entertain the crowd for an hour and a half of pure joy. Of course, with this being a live DVD rather than a chummy Radio 4 production, there is no reason for Marcus to hold back with his observations. This might cause blushes for some fans, but hey, these things are rated 18 for a reason.

If there is any criticism about the DVD, it’s that whoever edited the show together clearly didn’t watch it too carefully, as often the different angled shots of Marcus just don’t match up with the material. However, the DVD does boast the rather cool fact that, apart from the disc, the entire packaging is recyclable and biodegradable which – as far as we are aware – is something of a first. Add to that interviews and behind the scenes footage and you’ve pretty much got a perfect live DVD.

Planet Corduroy is available to purchase from here. For more Marcus rants, click here and find out where he is performing next.