Talk:A Bit of Fry & Laurie

BBC Mid‑importance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject BBC, an attempt to better organise information in articles related to the BBC. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page where you can join us as a member. You can also visit the BBC Portal.BBCWikipedia:WikiProject BBCTemplate:WikiProject BBCBBC articles

Mid

This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Tasks for WikiProject BBC:

Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

Article requests : Improve BBC, BBC News (TV channel) and BBC News to Good Article status following previous reviews, create BBC Computer Literacy Project (in light of forthcoming 30th anniversary)
Cleanup : Chucklevision - references and general clean-up, Pebble Mill Studios - over-detailed and long, BBC World Service Television - unreferenced and confusing
Copyedit : BBC News, Broadcasting House
Expand : Top 20 start-class BBC articles with most importance: BBC Japan, BBC World Service Television, BBC Lifestyle, BBC Two Northern Ireland
NPOV : Criticism of the BBC (See comments)
Stubs : Stub-Class BBC articles
Other : *Restructure the category
- Add infoboxes to the BBC articles without infoboxes
- Add free-use images to biographical articles where possible
- Add references to Goa Mix (see assessment) and Coat of arms of the BBC
- Return Dad's Army to a Good article. (See comments)
- Reassess BBC following improvements to article.

Comedy Mid‑importance

	Comedy portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Comedy, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of comedy on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ComedyWikipedia:WikiProject ComedyTemplate:WikiProject ComedyComedy articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Television: British

	Television portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Television, a collaborative effort to develop and improve Wikipedia articles about television programs. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page where you can join the discussion. To improve this article, please refer to the style guidelines for the type of work.TelevisionWikipedia:WikiProject TelevisionTemplate:WikiProject Televisiontelevision articles
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by the British television task force.

Misc

Don't forget "Mr. Dalliard". —Ashley Y 21:49, 1 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Aye. I'll whip up a section in a short while. Thanks for the reminder. Palaeologus 10:19, 4 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

According to Amazon.com and some other sources I have seen, the DVD of Series 2 is scheduled to appear June 19. Is this sufficient to add the information? Additionally, how about a more detailed episode guide, listing the sketches in each episode? I could get started on it tonight or tomorrow, unless anyone thinks it unnecessary/pointless/unfavourable. Gengulfus 12:19, 4 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I would suggest putting the list on its own page, with a link on the main article. If you are going to make such a list, I also suggest that you use the official titles for each sketch. The titles can be found in the script books that Fry and Laurie put out a few years back. Digresser 13:48, 4 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds like a good idea - the scripts site linked to on the main article would be useful in such a project. Palaeologus 00:59, 5 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I've created the page, complete with format (as I saw fit - anyone is, of course, welcome to change it to something better/clearer/more stylish), and added information about the first two episodes of series 1. I've used the script archive where possible, taking care to use official titles and linking each one to the corresponding script (is this a bit too much? I thought it might be a nice touch). Where I couldn't find a script, I've come up with a concise title of my own. I hope it's all in order, and please go over and help out with the list! Gengulfus 19:55, 8 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Looks good to me, so long as the person whose site you're linking to doesn't mind. -Digresser 19:58, 8 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

DVD Title

Can someone with the new Season One DVD please take a screencap of the title screen of one of the episodes for the article? The image there at the moment is from one of my VHS recordings and a bit miserable.

Cheers. - Palaeologus 02:10, 13 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Pilot

I would like to see the source for the comment that the "date of the pilot is often listed incorrectly as 26/12/86" but was in fact broadcast in 1987. Both the idmb and the BBC Guide to Comedy list the pilot as first airing in 1986, and I should very much think the latter is an authorative source. --Kronecker 06:07, 8 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I can offer you this much. The BBC's page (from where I believe IMDb got its info) lists this for the pilot: Special (35 mins) 26 Dec 1986 BBC1 Sat 11.55pm. Now, this information is clearly wrong as the 26th of December 1986 was a Friday, not a Saturday. However, the 26th of December 1987 was a Saturday. Given the choice between the two dates, it seems far more likely that the 1987 date is accurate, as the first series would then have been scripted and filmed the following year, to be aired beginning in January of 1989. I seem to recall either Stephen Fry or Hugh Laurie mentioning in an interview the year it took them to write and film, but I can't remember the source. Perhaps someone else has a more definitive answer? -Digresser 04:28, 10 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Are you thinking of the Comedy Connections special? I think I remember one of them saying it in that. I don't have any way to find out for sure at the moment, though. --Bertieismyho 18:58, 3 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It appears that it was definitely 1987. I have found a TV review article in The Times from Monday 28 December 1987, which begins "A Bit Of Fry and Laurie (BBC 1, Saturday), was an amiable half hour with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie...". Clearly this was describing a brand-new series, so the first transmission date was Saturday 26 December 1987. 143.252.80.100 15:11, 7 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not 100% sure, but I'm 99% sure that the Roman Numerals at the end of the pilot say 1987, not 1986--GurTheFred 01:58, 2 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In fact, it must have been 1987, due to the song Hugh Laurie sings, "Mystery". One verse goes: "Dead since 1973, you been dead now, let me see... fifteen years next January, as a human being, you are history". 15 years since 1973 would be 1988, thus the sketch/song must have been performed in 1987. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by GurTheFred (talk • contribs) 05:01, 3 January 2007 (UTC).[reply]

I'm not going to alter the article, but all of this is original research, which is forbidden under Wikipedia's arcane rules. If the source is wrong, we still have to cite it in lieu of a correct source. -Ashley Pomeroy 20:54, 10 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Question about the Amazon release

The Amazon.co.uk release of all four series contains 4 DVDs, while the box set for the 4th series has two DVDs on it. Can anyone confirm that the Amazon release contains all the material in the series, as presented in the separate packages?

I own the Amazon.co.uk box set. It contains five discs, not four, with the fourth series spread over two discs as in the stand-alone release.--GurTheFred 08:19, 19 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Songs

Songs section is far, far too detailed and subjective. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Newshound (talk • contribs) 03:41, 5 June 2007.

(Talk at the bottom, please; that's what the "+" button is for.) It could indeed stand to be condensed; but I'm glad the YouTube links are there. —Tamfang 19:51, 5 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Street interviews

I am surprised that there is no mention of the street interviews that are interspersed between the studio sketches. I really enjoy them especially Fry as a lady who keep remembering that she 'left the iron on.' Grandma Roses 10:59, 5 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

They're mentioned in the third paragraph of the lead. --McGeddon 11:03, 5 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry! I was not familiar with the phrase 'vox-pop.' Now that I have looked it up, I realise that my comment was erroneous.Grandma Roses 11:17, 5 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Is "vox-pop" more common in the UK than North America? I've never heard the phrase before in my life, but I'm North American so that may be why? Here they're called "man on the street interviews". If "vox-pop" is an uncommon term in the UK as well it might be good to change it so that the intro is more easily understood. --66.183.71.64 (talk) 03:21, 22 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Pilot Sketch

During the pilot episode there is a sketch of William Wegman spraying deodorant under his arm. Should this trivia be included? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.146.130.17 (talk) 21:16, 15 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

不要欺负我看不懂英语,你以为你是谁呀?把你的BBC关了,回家抱孩子去吧,祝你们生个孩子没屁眼!

Thank you, 61.153.10.72, but I think what the audience really want to know is whether there was a dog in it. —Tamfang (talk) 19:34, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Please, Mr Music ...

... in accordance with known principles ...

I've found that one cannot rely on DVD subtitles; the people making them don't have access to the script. Here I'd bet on "no principle" because it's funnier. —Tamfang (talk) 19:31, 27 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Moving the article

This page (the article and the discussion) have been moved a couple of times now, and as a result the history of the article is now on A Bit of Fry and Laurie (here), while the actual article (without history) is at A Bit of Fry and Laurie. Does anyone know how to fix this? It would probably involve completely deleting one of the pages or something. --Peti (me) 13:25, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

"And" versus "&"

A minor point, perhaps, but surely it's "A Bit of Fry & Laurie" as depicted in the titles, and on the wording that appeared in the set of the first series.

In fact, the ampersand in question is the subject of a sketch in series 3 and great attention is called to it. What say you? Am I being too picky?

Speednik (talk) 15:13, 21 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

DVD releases section

One other music change was in the "Countdown to Hell" sketch. On TV it used the real Countdown clock music, but on the DVD a bit of original incidental music was substituted. --88.109.7.78 (talk) 09:15, 27 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

vex pip

… a pensioner who says that he "wouldn't suck it", without specifying what 'it' is and then walking off laughing …

Am I alone in consistently hearing that as "sack it"? —Tamfang (talk) 00:27, 6 November 2017 (UTC)[reply]

A Bit of Fry & Laurie radio compilation series 1994

There was also a 1994 BBC radio series featuring selected sketches from the television series with an introduction by Hugh Laurie. Currently being repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra at time of writing (August 2021). The compilations are mentioned at the end of the Episode guide section of the A Bit of Fry & Laurie article but the Main article: List of A Bit of Fry & Laurie episodes doesn't mention it or give any details of the sketches featured.

Compilation 1 sketches:-

You Can't Make an Omelette without Breaking Eggs (1st Gordon & Stuart)
Mystery (song)
Embassy
The Day I Forgot My Legs
Firing
Vox pops: Daily Mail person - prefer it to a newspaper / Dreams versus reality - Stephen Hendry, Barbara Streisand, Anneka Rice
First Kiss
A Vision of Britain
Vox pops: Pneumatic drill outside / Love thy neighbour as thyself / European federalism? - Got any other questions?
Australian Soap Opera

Compilation 2 sketches:-

TBC

82.32.16.48 (talk) 12:57, 9 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]