Bottom-Live: The Stage Show (1993)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	1993
Running Time	105:12 (Case: 101)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (55:52)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Marcus Mortimer
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Rik Mayall Adrian Edmondson
Case	?
RPI	$29.95	Music	None Given

    The first of four live stage shows based upon the TV series Bottom starring Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson is definitely one for fans and lovers of vulgar comedy with a smattering of pseudo violence. Although not as profane as later stage shows, this was written and performed during a hiatus in the TV series (there were originally two series in 1991 and 1992, followed by a third series in 1995) and contains enough profanity to keep the kids well away from it, plus the overall content of the humour never rises about the groin - just the way you like it if you are a fan of the series. As with the other discs in this series, the quality of the production is outstanding considering the age and the source of the material.

    The show is in two acts as normal. The first, with a running time of around 55 minutes, has the boys waking at home after being locked in the lavatory of the local pub for over a day. They decide to have breakfast, consisting of seven year out-of-date Special-K and beer and then they get a mail delivery. Richie receives a package containing some special sex aids he's been waiting for and Eddie discovers a letter from lawyers that makes it appear as if Richie is due £15,000 from his dead Great Uncle. Meanwhile, Richie seeks ways to get Eddie out of the house so he can have his way with Monika, the inflatable doll.

    Act 2 is by far the funnier of the two acts, especially when they begin stuffing up their lines and playing to the audience. Richie is still trying to get off with his inflatable girlfriend but finds himself stuck to the task when Eddie, who has returned home with a plan to off Richie for the £15,000 informs him that he replaced the hand cream with glue. With some cajoling, Eddie agrees to help Richie extricate himself and sets his plan in motion, but first he must become a relative of Richie in order to inherit the money when he's knocked him off. The only trouble is that the document he cons Richie into signing isn't an adoption paper, but a marriage certificate.

    The great attraction to shows like this is familiarity with the participants and their interaction both with each other and the audience. Mayall and Edmondson have an excellent rapport and the ability to make a joke out of the most inconsequential thing. The series itself was a cult classic and the stage shows reinforce the belief that both these guys have definite one track minds! I must admit to being a huge fan of both comedians so I am naturally biased. I have completed all four of the stage shows now (although the review of the second disc will be delayed due to a technical hitch) and I can honestly say whenever I need a lift I'll be rewatching all four over and over again. If you like your humour smutty, gratuitous and complete b******, then you are in for a treat. If not, then as Richie says, "sod off".

Video

    I have no doubt that this was originally made for videotape release but with a bitrate of over 6.5mb/s throughout and an almost total lack of transfer problems, this has a definite feel of quality about it.

    Originally shown in 1.33:1 and not 16x9 enhanced, we are presented with the same for this disc

    The only minor problem with the entire transfer is the use of slight edge enhancement on the outlines of the characters (3:29 around Rik Mayall) which diminishes the sharpness just slightly. Shadow detail, what little there is, is decent but the brightness of the set precludes many dark places. Fine detail is again quite exceptional and apart from some minor grain there is very little to diminish the quality of the picture. No low level noise was seen.

    The brightness level on the set made facial colours slightly pallid when compared to the surrounding set, but this was a minor issue. The audience were seen with a reddish hue, presumably reflecting the lighting used when the cameras cut to them. The set colours were fairly bland due to the nature of the set but no colour bleed or chroma noise was in evidence.

    Every now and then there is the vaguest shimmering that catches the eye but it never breaks up into anything more substantial. No MPEG artefacts, film-to-video or film artefacts were noted either.

    There were no subtitles on this disc.

    The layer change was at 55:52 and is one of the silliest layer changes I can remember seeing. 15 seconds earlier was intermission, a black screen with only music overlaid. The layer change isn't that bad, coming as the lights go up and you see the set with no action happening but there is a definite second or so delay - why couldn't they have moved it into the intermission and disguised it totally?

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is only one soundtrack on this disc, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 track at a reasonable bitrate of 224 kilobits per second. The first thing to note is that the sound from the centre speaker is a little hollow at the beginning of the disc but evens itself out a lot as you progress. For the most part, the centre channel is where your attention will be directed as the vast majority of the show is straight dialogue, but there was a fair smattering of crowd interaction, applause and laughter from both the left and right front speakers adding up to a fairly decent soundstage.

    The dialogue and audio sync were spot-on with no discernable problems noted.

    The only music on this disc is the opening and closing music taken directly from the Bottom TV series.

    A surprising amount of audience laughter and applause can be heard throughout the show from the surrounds. Although not specifically noted as surround-sound encoded, there was some excellent redirection from my system which added a nice envelope to proceedings.

    There was no subwoofer activity noted on this disc.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Audio & Animation

    At this time there doesn't appear to be a Region 1 version of this disc available so we have the definitive version of this disc.

    The first of a series of stage shows with all the charm and wit of a kick in the b******, but an absolute crack-up for fans. Bottom and its lavatorial style humour may not appeal to all, but both Mayall and Edmondson carry off this 100-odd minute play with great aplomb, if your like two middle-aged men pretending to w*** constantly and never thinking with anything but their d***s. But then, humour is where you find it.

    Great visuals again on this disc with a superior transfer. The only pity is that it wasn't in widescreen.

    A very suitable audio track is offered up to complement the video. This time, there is some nice work from the surrounds to add some ambience to proceedings.

    The only thing this collection has lacked is extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall