Topic: The Young Ones

[sgt ladylove]

Is there anyone out there familiar with the 80's British TV show, "The Young Ones"?  I was recently introduced to this series by a British soldier I was stationed with in Texas.  What immediately made me fall in love with the series was not only the brilliant comedians who starred in the show, but their wonderfully liberal use of traditional slapstick humor.  For its time, it was so outrageous that the BBC did not want to fund it.  Up until that point, English sitcoms were "a bunch of really nice people doing things really nice to each other."  The Young Ones changed that.

Rik Mayall ("Rick") and Ade Edmonson ("Vyvyan") had been university friends and later stage comedians together (performing a stage act called "20th Century Coyote").  They teamed up with Nigel Planer ("Neil the Hippie") and Christopher Ryan ("Mike the Cool Person") and brought their very different comedy talents to television.

If you haven't seen an episode of the Young Ones, I really think you should treat yourself to a wonderfully funny TV show that uses classic slapstick as its centerpiece.

I did a search on YouTube to try to find a sample of their humor (I found a few, but I'm not wild about any of the music accompanying the montage).  Here's a "music video" that gives a fair sample of some of the physical comedy that the show features:

[youtube=425,350]6PodW6aNESs[/youtube]

And a comedy bit from when they move into their new college house:

[youtube=425,350]O-3gSyB6Jcs[/youtube]

As an interesting bit of trivia, the actor who plays Vyvyan (the orange haired punk rocker, played by Ade Edmonson) would later marry Jennifer Saunders from "Absolutely Fabulous" (Edwina, mother of Saffy).  They've been married for 20 years and have three kids.   

[FineBari3]

Oh GOD yes, the Young Ones!  I first saw them on MTV in the mid-80's, and I still have the tapes I made!

My brother was in Britain when the show originally aired (early 80's). I even had a friend that dressed up as Vyvyan for Halloween in 1987!  He took Girl Scout pins that had stars on them (if you were, you remember!), and filed the pin part off, and glued them to his head!

I was a metalhead back then (still am) and I loved seeing the Metal bands they would have on. If you don't know the show, it was a sit-com, but they would say 'Hey, let's listen to Motorhead!', and they would be there and perform one song.

My fav show is the one when they go on 'University Challenge'....BTW, the person who plays Lord Snot was in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers' as Sellers' psychic.

[sgt ladylove]

Hooray!  Another fan of modern slapstick!  That was an enormous part of the appeal, since generally you don't expect random acts of uncontrollable violence in a British sit-com.  (LOVED the idea of your friend dressing up as Vyv with the Girl Scout pins...I know exactly what you're talking about!  **lol**)

Some of the qualities of the Young Ones are the same ones that endeared me to the Stooges.  The lead characters aren't very bright, are always looking for the easy way out of a situation (with disasterous results), and a bit out-of-place in the real world.  They also go to ludicrous extremes when faced with a crisis.

My favorite example is when the boys, woefully befuddled on the ways of sex and anatomy, believe that their buddy Vyvyan is pregnant.  (He cries, "You can't trust women, can you!")  It is decided amongst the gang that Neil should go out and get a job to support his friend's future child.  After being thrown out of the Army recruiting office for being a pacifist (he is, after all, a hippie), he decides to become a police officer.  (Oh, and the police chief is Benito Mussolini who does stand-up comedy.)  He almost doesn't get the job, since at first he doesn't know how to make the "ccchhhh!" sounds before speaking into a walkie talkie.  Violence and hilarity ensues, especially when Neil makes his first bust...on his friends.

[youtube=425,350]8EqhPuJ-Qyo[/youtube]

I respect this show because of its homage to slapstick.  It has a very simple, yet over-the-top formula that is both endearing and timeless.  I believe it holds its own with classics of its type from fifty years previously.