How do you do it? With thousands dead, the country slowly going stir crazy and thinking toilet rolls are worth more than gold. How do you pull it off?
Get great, funny as hell actors, a brilliant director and write a very clever script, that's how. Surprise cameo's by some proper A-Listers adds to the fun.
Dave and Mike just bounce off each other, the chemistry from Good Omens is still there, they're obviously friends that love some banter. A lot of it seems add libbed but with a definite comedic goal in mind.
The Director, Simon, is happy to portray himself as a bit of a knob, double kudos as he concieved and co wrote this with Phin Glynn (that name alone has comedy value).
The premise is simple, use zoom to rehearse a play so that when lockdown ends they can grab a West End theatre and hit the ground running. As I said, simple.
What we're served up is a comedy of errors, actors being over sensitive about the small stuff (there's an inspired joke about the credits, so study the actors names carefully for a couple of ep's). A director that has probably contemplated suicide, the pitfalls of Zoom and a bad internet connection or just not knowing who can hear you. Plus some language that is probably the reason Michael Sheen's hair is so curly.
And it's all served up in 15 minute bite sized chunks. Perfect. My only minus is David Tennant's kitchen/diner, when something is that trendy it's quickly out of style, just saying, Dave. (Yes, obviously I'm jealous).
I can pretty much guarantee that if you watch this you'll be happier because of it. If not then all I can say is you're probably cachu hwch.
Series 2 Update;
I thought this show couldn't be bettered, yet it was. Dave and Mike get side lined and do their best to sabotage the US version to get their leading roles back. Simon, even more of a dick than in series 1, gets screwed by Hollywood. A ton of A listers jump into the fray, some brilliantly. We get to witness Dave's self absorbed breakdown and Mike being a two faced dick who's happy to throw his mate under the bus. The joke about Phoebe Waller-Bridge hating Dave is hilarious when it transpires why.
The way things are going and knowing how badly this whole crisis is being handled I'm certain there's going to be a third series. I hope so, this is one of the few things making lockdown bearable, again.
