French and Saunders-Live (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation Scene Selection Anim & Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	105:48
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Ed Bye
Studio Distributor	Phil McIntyre Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Dawn French Jennifer Saunders
Case	?
RPI	$29.95	Music	Simon Brint Simon Wallace

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Those of you old enough to remember Jennifer Saunders prior to "Absolutely Fabulous" and Dawn French prior to "The Vicar of Dibley" may recall that the two had a comedy partnership that led to a TV sketch show and numerous one-off specials called "French and Saunders." Well, it's nice to know that the duo are still working together - this DVD contains (presumably) an edited version of a live performance given at the Bristol Hippodrome in 2000.

    French and Saunders met at the London Central School of Speech and Drama and became famous by joining the "alternative comedy" Comic Strip team (which included Adrian Edmondson, Rik Mayall, Peter Richardson and Nigel Planer). Prior to the "French and Saunders" show, the duo also wrote a TV sitcom called "Girls On Top" which included Ruby Wax and Tracey Ullman.

    Given that most of the best of the French and Saunders sketches - particularly their parodies - rely on props, costumes and supporting cast, I was wondering how they would fare all by themselves on a lonely and empty stage.

    What follows is a combination of stand up comedy, some slapstick, some audience interaction, and clever integration between video and live action. The videotape sequences were produced with the assistance of Saunders' husband Adrian Edmondson.

    Some of the sketches are clever - notably the send up of "Big Brother," and the right-on-the-spot put-down of American Big Corporation motivational sales conferences ("Dimco & Tech Inc.") - having worked for several American companies I can definitely attest to the razor accuracy of the satire. Some are only mildly amusing - the PMTV (how droll) segment, the French and Saunders Home Shopping Network, and the Gape Advert. Two extended sketches, one entitled "Female Angst" featuring Saunders as a stressed-out trophy wife and "American Sisters" (where French is the sister who seems to be always caught in compromising situations with Saunders' husband) are also bearable.

    Incidentally, neither French nor Saunders can produce a convincing American accent - maybe they can learn a thing or two from Tracey Ullman on accents?

    The remaining sketches generally fall between "dreary" to "embarrassingly unwatchable." "Chocolate Police," "Honey Twam," "Sports Day," and the "Downtown" song are very simple ideas stretched way too long. Some of these ideas may sound funny when uttered in passing at a dinner party perhaps, but do not work on stage. The set of "mad artist" sketches, featuring Dawn as a struggling grunge artist, also represent the "one idea taken too far" category but at least are mitigated by being spread throughout the programme.

Video

    Given that the production is quite recent (2000) and probably intended to be broadcast on UK Digital TV, we are treated to a widescreen 1.78:1 16x9 enhanced transfer.

    The 105:48 minute programme is squeezed to fit onto a single sided single layered disc, but fortunately I did not detect any major instances of compression artefacts apart from minor ringing and pixelization.

    The transfer is quite watchable and features strong colours as well as good black levels. Any unnatural hues are probably due to stage lighting.

    Detail levels are average given that the source of the transfer is probably a digital videotape.

    There are no subtitle tracks which is a pity because I would have liked to have caught some of the dialogue that has been spoken rapidly.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There is only one audio track on this disc: English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s).

    The audio track is mixed at a very high level (indicating that a fair amount of dynamic compression has been applied to the mix) and sounds quite pleasant and natural.

    Towards the end of the programme, I could detect audible clipping during the "Downtown" sketch where French and Saunders are shouting their lungs off. Unfortunately, this seems to be inherent in the mix.

    I did not detect any issues with audio synchronization.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    There are no extras on this disc. The menus are 16x9 enhanced and feature background audio and animation.

    This title has yet to be released in Region 1.

    French and Saunders - Live (2000) is a bare bones DVD featuring a live performance by the comedy duo at the Bristol Hippodrome. The sketches range from okay to embarrassingly unwatchable. The video and audio transfers are okay but are nothing spectacular.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall