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Re: Paul collection

Messages in this topic: 4 View All
MiriamJun 3, 2008
 

 
I can hardly wait- amazonuk emailed me that they have sent it and I
should have it by next week!-- Now if the Paul Merton In China dvd
will Ever get Released-I preordered it months ago!. Miriam

In just-a-minute@..., Dean Bedford <dbedford@...> wrote:

>
> This review of the new Paul Merton DVD makes it sound like a great

buy...

>
> The Paul Merton Collection DVD review
> A double disc set of some of the finest work of Mr Paul Merton.

What's

> not to like?
>
> Simon Brew
> With the feel of an evening of broadcasting dedicated to one person
> rather than a DVD set, The Paul Merton Collection is a double disc
> collection bringing together some highlights from one of Britain's

most

> popular, and off-the-wall, comedians.
>
> Things kick off with the best part of an hour of Have I Got News

For

> You. Some of it hasn't made a DVD collection before (although a lot

of

> it, inevitably, has), and there are some terrific moments contained
> within the compilation. Here, we see Merton's stint at hosting the

show,

> as well as the one occasion where he went on Ian Hislop's team,

before

> taking a series-long sabbatical from the programme. Other

highlights

> include the time he sat next to a television broadcasting a live

link of

> former spy David Shaylor (which he promptly turned off), the

infamous

> Tub Of Lard episode, and the occasion where he borrowed a mobile

phone

> mid-show to check out a fact with West Midlands police. You'll also

find

> clips of episodes with a pretend Elton John, the time when Peter
> Mandelson's sexuality wasn't allowed to be discussed on the BBC,

and the

> episode after Angus Deayton had found himself plastered on the

front of

> the News Of The World. You will laugh a lot.
>
> It's a whistle-stop tour through perhaps the show he's best known

for,

> and it's interspersed by occasional links from the man himself.

It's

> unsurprisingly, though, the most familiar-feeling material on the

DVD,

> although it's still very, very funny. And I could watch him telling

Anne

> Robinson to leave her name at the door on loop, personally.
>
> Next, there's 35 minutes from his stint on Whose Line Is It

Anyway?.

> Merton was a regular performer in the first few series of the show,

and

> while I'm a fan of the show, the material here feels more hit and

miss

> than usual. That said, there are still moments of comedy gold here,

but

> it's not where the gold on the disc is to be found. His deadpan

delivery

> does suit some of the improvisations particularly well though, of

course.

>
> More interesting is a trio of television interviews that Merton has

done

> that have been retrieved from the archives. There's a 90s natter on
> Clive Anderson Talks Back first up, although there's not much meat

in

> the conversation, once the sparring between host and interviewee is
> over. More interesting are the pair of appearances on Parkinson,
> especially the second, taken at the point after Angus Deayton had

been

> removed as host of Have I Got News For You ("we stabbed him in the
> front"). Parkinson, by this stage, was never going to ask

particularly

> contentious questions, but these are better interviews than you'd
> expect, and welcome inclusions on the disc.
>
> Switching over to disc two, the absolute highlight here – and of

the

> package as a whole – is the 105 minutes from the archives of Paul
> Merton: The Series. Broadcast in the early 90s on Channel Four,

this is

> a fairly surreal, and very funny sketch show, that had been

impossible

> to track down on DVD until now. There's plenty to enjoy here, the
> highlights of which are Merton's monologues from behind the counter

of a

> kiosk, although he also brings his deadpan, off-the-wall genius to
> plenty of other day-to-day scenarios. It makes the purchase of the

set

> worthwhile in its own right, and we can only hope that someone

decides

> to release the show in its entirety at some point in the future.
>
> But we're not finished. There's nearly an hour and half of Room 101
> material here, too, topped and tailed by his first episode hosting

the

> show (with previous host Nick Hancock in the guest's chair), and

his

> last, where Ian Hislop tries to consign Paul Merton himself down

the

> chute.
>
> In-between are some Room 101 classics, even though they're more

about

> the guests than the host himself. So we get Anne Robinson rallying
> against the Welsh, Stephen Fry trying to put late-night review

shows in

> and Johnny Vegas confessing to spending up to 20 hours at a time in
> Internet chat rooms. If we had to pick a favourite clip, then Ron
> Atkinson trying to consign Renee & Renato's Save Your Love to Room

101,

> only for Renee himself to put out of the chute, would be our pick.
>
> The set is then concluded with two versions of Merton's short film,

The

> Suicidal Dog, which he co-wrote and directed He talks about this in

the

> aforementioned Parkinson interviews, and it's interesting to watch.

Well

> directed, dry and witty (a small dog lying on the tracks in front

of a

> miniature train is extremely funny), it's a pity he's never got to

the

> point of producing a full screenplay, as he also hints at when

talking

> to Parky. Incidentally, if you're choosing which version to plump

for,

> the silent take on the film is our favourite (and, we suspect, Mr
> Merton's).
>
> The Paul Merton Collection is a strong and varied traipse through

some

> of the man's comedy highlights. The omission of at least one of his
> Galton & Simpson episodes is a real pity, and it would have been

more

> complete if some of his radio work could have been included too.
> Furthermore, there's no real extra material here, short of the

brief

> introductions and interludes that Merton inputs, dressed in

historical

> garb. That too is a shame. But for your £25, and it's not tricky to

get

> it discounted substantially, The Paul Merton Collection offers the

best

> part of six hours of the man's work, and on a laughs-per-pound

ratio,

> there are few releases this year that'll match it.
>

 
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