One year after 'The Young Ones' and 'The Comic Strip Presents' launched a new wave of British comedians on an unsuspecting world, Granada T.V. brought out 'Alfresco'. Despite starring Ben Elton, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Robbie Coltrane, Emma Thompson and Siobhan Redmond, it doesn't seemed to have burned itself into the national consciousness the way those other shows did, possibly because it felt more like a Channel 4 show than an I.T.V. one, and the obvious canned laughter killed many of the sketches stone dead.
Beginning each week with a cheeky saxophone arrangement of 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles', 'Alfresco' wandered widely between the borders of the inspired and the inane. Among the former was a spoof U.S. variety show, hosted by the giggly, vacuous singer 'Sherri' ( Thompson ) who announces a tribute to The Beatles and manages to forget the drummer's name ( Ringo ), Fry's pompous doctor unable to grasp why his Sikh patient is wearing a turban ( he thinks its bandages ), and Thompson's fussy librarian revealing to bookworm Laurie the twist endings of the mysteries he intends to read.
'The Pretend Pub' was a spoof soap peopled by oddballs with names like Ezzer, Bezzer, Lord Stezzer, Shizzer and so on. The off the wall humour Fry and Laurie later used in their own show was first in evidence here. Emma Thompson made the most impact on yours truly, mainly because she was stunningly beautiful. I can remember not finding Elton very funny though, sketch comedy was not really his forte, and he was overshadowed by the others. He would later find his niche with 'Saturday Live' and 'The Man From Auntie'.
Critics at the time gave the show a pasting, one even renamed it 'Al-fiasco'. It also came under fire from alternative comic Alexei Sayle. "Posh people can have anything they want.", he said, "Even their own satirical show on Granada Television.". Well, compared to the vile mess that was 'O.T.T.' in which Sayle was a regular, 'Alfresco' was 'Monty Python' standard. Given that many of its cast went onto become major stars ( and Oscar winners in Thompson's case ), its surprising how 'Alfresco' has so far eluded a D.V.D. release.
Beginning each week with a cheeky saxophone arrangement of 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles', 'Alfresco' wandered widely between the borders of the inspired and the inane. Among the former was a spoof U.S. variety show, hosted by the giggly, vacuous singer 'Sherri' ( Thompson ) who announces a tribute to The Beatles and manages to forget the drummer's name ( Ringo ), Fry's pompous doctor unable to grasp why his Sikh patient is wearing a turban ( he thinks its bandages ), and Thompson's fussy librarian revealing to bookworm Laurie the twist endings of the mysteries he intends to read.
'The Pretend Pub' was a spoof soap peopled by oddballs with names like Ezzer, Bezzer, Lord Stezzer, Shizzer and so on. The off the wall humour Fry and Laurie later used in their own show was first in evidence here. Emma Thompson made the most impact on yours truly, mainly because she was stunningly beautiful. I can remember not finding Elton very funny though, sketch comedy was not really his forte, and he was overshadowed by the others. He would later find his niche with 'Saturday Live' and 'The Man From Auntie'.
Critics at the time gave the show a pasting, one even renamed it 'Al-fiasco'. It also came under fire from alternative comic Alexei Sayle. "Posh people can have anything they want.", he said, "Even their own satirical show on Granada Television.". Well, compared to the vile mess that was 'O.T.T.' in which Sayle was a regular, 'Alfresco' was 'Monty Python' standard. Given that many of its cast went onto become major stars ( and Oscar winners in Thompson's case ), its surprising how 'Alfresco' has so far eluded a D.V.D. release.