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Josh Cluderay reviews
Jive/BMG
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 8228756
- Running time: 94 minutes
- Year: 2004
- Pressing: 2004
- Region(s): 2-6, PAL
- Chapters: 20 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English
- Widescreen: 16:9
- Disc Format: DVD 5
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: Augenblik – A Homage to Kraftwerk, Tea, Coffee and Trouser Press Census – Bills Tour Diary, Play Songs Only
Director:
- Nick Morris
Cast:
- Himself: Bill Bailey
Kraftwerk: Kevin Eldon, Martin Trenaman, John Moloney
Part Troll is the second DVD to be released by the multi-talented comedian/actor/musician Bill Bailey.
Recorded at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2004, it contains the same kind of elements that made his previous DVD, Bewilderness such a big hit, with musings on such profoundly important themes as Argos and Kit Kat Chunkies, and some devastatingly accurate musical parodies.
During the course of the show Bill wanders between the various musical instruments on stage, delivering one liners such as “theres more evil in the charts than in Al Qaedas suggestion box”, and talking about drugs, politics and woodland animals – in between playing hillbilly versions of Led Zeppelin and demonstrating a catastrophic technical failure at a U2 concert.
This show originated at the Edinburgh Festival in 2003 and since then Bill Bailey has taken it all round the UK and Ireland, and many other parts of the world. The show has gradually evolved since 2003, but a lot of it remains the same. Some fans might recognize the considerable chunk of the material that is taken from the American version of his show Bewilderness, which has had a limited release on CD.
Although this means that a lot of the material will seem very familiar to anyone who follows his work, it also means that he is now very much at ease with it and is able to wander away from the subject in hand to engage with the audience, or indulge one of his many flights of fancy, before returning comfortably to his set.
As a result, the show has a pleasantly rambling feel to it. Bill seamlessly blends clever improvisation with well crafted lines and routines, exuding the air of someone simply having a friendly chat with the audience. In the hands of another comedian this approach might become a little tiresome over a long period but Bill keeps it lively by punctuating it with musical numbers – a mixture of fresh takes on old songs (Zip-a-dee-doo-dah performed by Portishead) and his own original compositions.
These are the highlights of the show, having both musical and comedic value. His hilarious mock love ballad is as good as anything in the charts, and his song on American porn expenditure, I Will Not Look at Titties for a Year, is incredibly catchy.
Unfortunately there are perhaps not enough of these songs in this show. Although there are a large number of musical pieces, many of them are mere adaptations of other music and do not seem to reflect Bills musical talent as much as previous works like Unisex Chip Shop and Insect Nation.
However, apart from the familiarity of the material to some fans, this is the only drawback to an otherwise excellent show. There are as many endlessly quotable one-liners, and as much off-the-wall bizarreness as in Bewilderness, and he manages to cover a broader range of subjects moving effortlessly between drugs, Argos, and the war on Iraq.
Fans of Bill Bailey will no doubt already own this, but to people who only know him through Black Books and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and are as yet unfamiliar with his stand-up, this really is an essential buy.
Presented in a 16:9 aspect ratio, the picture quality is adequate for a stand-up DVD and the 5.1 Surround Sound really does justice to his music and is great if you want to feel like youre in the audience.
Like the Bewilderness DVD, the extras are sparse but fairly enjoyable. The main feature is a 25 minute tour diary called Tea, Coffee and Trouser Press Census which is mostly composed of Bills quest for the tea and coffee making facilities in every hotel room he stays in. Although the first few minutes seem pretty tedious, you eventually find yourself becoming hooked and the mundanity of Bills tour around motorways and travelodges becomes utterly compelling. “Where are the tea and coffee making facilities” is destined to become something of a catchphrase for him.
Augenblik A Homage to Kraftwerk is a slightly bizarre 5-minute clip of Bill and three other comedians preparing for his Kraftwerk tribute Das Hokey Kokey while talking about fruit in German. Its amusing in an odd sort of way but ends rather pointlessly with Das Hokey Kokey, which can be seen elsewhere in the main feature.
You can also choose to play just the musical parts of the show. Unfortunately, like Bewilderness, the DVD has no subtitles and there is a minor disappointment for fans in the lack of the famous BB logo at the beginning of the DVD.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.