The above is the opening statement of the 1st comedy show “LittleBritain”.The title little Britain is the sacasttic antonym of theterms ‘Great Britain'. The show depicts the lives of British peoplefrom all walks of life in various situations and it openly andviciously mocks them.
British have always been noted for being a bit stiff and bland,so it comes to me as a surprise to see that they do have strongsense of humor by self-depreciating themselves in the show.
The show has become a mainstream in England as people couldrelate it to daily life. There are few series of Little Britain andalso one series of Little Britain USA.
David Walliams and Matt Lucas are the masterminds behind the little Britain, not only they screenscripted thewhole show; they also virtually played all major characters. Theirperformances are fabulous throughout all the series, with repeatedcharacters and their famous catchphrases.
There are many characters created by these twobrilliant comedians and it is expected that everyone has their mostfavorite characters, and mine are but not limited to thefollowing
Sebastian Love byDavid Walliams
Working at No11 Downing Street, alongside withEnglish Prime Minister, Sebastian has a badly-concealed homosexualcrush on his boss. Wildly jealous of anyone who takes the attentionof the PM, Sebastian does everything in his power to bring theattention back to himself. He often "accidentally" finds himself insexually suggestive positions with his boss, who is usually verytolerant of his advances. The famous catchphrase of Sebastian are“Whatever”, “yes, Prime Minister” “No, Prime Minister” “Bitch” (the latter he says to whomever he considers or imagines as apotential competitor for the love of the PM, such as PM’ssecretary, wife, US president)
By the time of Little Britain USA, Sebastian has been promoted tothe post of PM of England, and has transferred his affections tothe new US President and his jealousy to the first lady. Thisseries of Little Britain USA was made in 2007 and released in 2008,far before Barrack Obama was made the president of USA, yet itpresents an African-American President who must put up withSebasitian’s endless advances. What's a little creepy is the actorplaying the black President does have certain similarities withBarack Obama, particularly his voice.
Bubbles Devere byMatt Lucas
Being obese middle aged woman, Bubbles certainly has moreconfidences than any other characters on the screen. In the earlyseries, Bubbles lives in a spa resort, and not surprisely, hardlycould meet her bills and often being harassed by the spa managerplayed by Walliams. To avoid paying the bills, Bubbles doeseverything she could and go as far as overstayed in a sun bed,ended up burnt herself severely. She also goes full frontally totry to sexually seduce the manager in hope that he will waive herbills. Certainly she is not the prettiest woman on the earth, imagea middle aged women at least 200 kilos entirely naked, there isnothing pretty about it. Bubbles claims herself to be a Gymnast inher younger days and I think she still lives in her memory, whereher confidence coming from.
In later series, we see Bubbles put a lot effort trying to breakup her ex-husband Roman and his new wife Desiree, a black womaneven larger than Bubbles. Roman certainly has a fetish for fatwomen as the reason Roman divorced Bubbles is that Bubbles lost atiny amount weight. Roman also enjoys watching Bubbles and Desireecat fighting each other, in their cases, two enormous cats.
Bubbles goes on a very luxury cruise ship in Little Britain USA.She is broke quickly due to her ruthless gambling behaviors. Whenshe is cornered by Captain (played by Wallams) for her outstandingpayments, she advances sexually onto him unsuccessfully and is putoff the ship in Rio.
The famous catch phrases of Bubbles are “call me Bubbles,darling, everyone does”, “Champagne, Champagne for everyone”, “tapswater, tap water for everyone”.
We do see women resembling Bubbles in real life, if notphysically, at least in mentality, they are a good match.
Daffyd Thomas by MattLucas
Among all the funny characters created by MattLucas and David Walliams, I adore Daffyd the most and really thinkhe is cute . Daffyd is portraited as an overweight young man inblonte short hair who dresses in tight PVC and latex rubberclothing and proudly claims himself in a self pity way that he is“the only gay in the village”. Despite the fact that, there is abig gay community in his village, but he always refuses toassociate with them. He spends a lot time in the village pubtalking to the barmaid who also to be his best friend. She alsoencourages him to meet other gay men or groups, all of them Daffydrejects. He is very eager to be victimized for his self-proclaimedhomosexuality and often brands anyone who speaks to him ashomophobic. His homosexuality is called in question when he isdisgusted when he knows what real gays could do to eachother.
Daffyd goes to the University in Little Britain USA and continueshis claim that he is “the only gay on campus”. Daffyd tries toorganize a gay society but admits no one to prove his point that heis the only gay on campus. He then was challenged by a genuinelygay student (Walliams) and was in shock when he recruits morehomosexuals. Daffyd also discovers later that he is not the onlygay on campus when he confronts two lesbians who are living nextdoor for making too much noise. But he always says that “lesbiansdon’t count”
Daffyd’s most famous catch phrase is “ I am the only gay in thevillage” and with a self pity look on his face. It is reallyfunny.
Vicky Pollard by MattLucas
Vicky is the troubled teenage girl always in tacky pinky top, andmay be the most hilarious character ever rendered on film.
Vicky goes to school in the early series and she is always thetrouble maker. She is accused of shoplifting and later becomepregnant. When challenged about something, Vicky always comes upwith gossip that is irrelevant with whatever the situation she isin at the time. She also speaks unusually quickly which, togetherwith the gossip she comes up with, usually confuses or annoyspersons talking to her.
In later series, Vicky is caught smuggling drugs in Thailand andher mum comes to her rescue saying that Vicky got into wrong crowdsat the age of three. Vicky then was sentenced to 10 years and hermum got 20 years for annoying the judge.
The supermodel Kate Moss also made a guest appearance in oneepisode as Vicky’s twin sister, Katie Pollard. They were inidentical costumes and hair style, but of course, Kate Moss stillmanages to look her best, much attractive than her trashy sisterVicky. Kate Moss also claims that Vicky was the prettier one andshe was the easier one.
Vicky’s catch phrase is “No, but, yeah, but, no, but” and repeatsit few times in 10 seconds.
No matter where you go these days, there is always a similarVicky Pollard in one way or another, and you will laugh when yourecognize her.
George and Sandra by DavidWalliams and Matt Lucas
The Little Britain is not about showing glamour life of ordinarypeople, quite the opposite; most recurring characters are eitherover weight, bald, older, retarded or disabled with trouble souls.Yet, I found that the couple played by Walliams and Lucas give usthe most depressing and disturbing moments of the whole show.
George and Sandra are middle-aged English couple celebratingtheir Wedding Anniversary in the United States. It is apparenthowever that their love for each other has faded over the years. Inone scene, they were sitting in an awkward silence in a rental carin a very stormy weather which only enhances the sadness of theirlife. George tries to break in the best tone he can give, but hereceives zero response from his wife Sandra, who depresses me somuch that I would commit suicide to myself if I placed myself nextto her over three minutes. George even poured hot tea over Sandra’slap to provoke her but the latter just sitting there motionless andcompletely silent, as a piece of dead meat. Later George relatestheir relationship to a pair of primates in the Zoo and commentsthat “they are just waiting each other to die”.
In Little Britain, David Walliams and MattLucas, take it to the extreme to show audiences what comicis about and resulted in a lot of good laughs. One of the greatthings about it is that there is always a character for everyone tolike or dislike. I never liked the character Carol Beer ( by DavidWalliams) who is consistently rude and shows no sympathy to people,while others maybe up for her rude cough. On the other hand, somepeople are sickened at sight of Bubbles while I regard it as one ofmost hilarious characters.