| Alexei Sayle's Stuff | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sketch comedy |
| Written by | Andrew Marshall David Renwick Alexei Sayle |
| Directed by | Marcus Mortimer |
| Starring | Alexei Sayle Angus Deayton Tony Millan |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 18 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Marcus Mortimer |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC2 |
| Original run | 13 October 1988 – 7 November 1991 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | The All New Alexei Sayle Show |
Alexei Sayle's Stuff is a comedy sketch show which ran on BBC2 for a total of 18 episodes over 3 series from 1988 to 1991.
Contents |
Alexei Sayle's Stuff stars stand-up comedian Alexei Sayle, with a recurring cast including Angus Deayton, Mark Williams, Arabella Weir, Tony Millan, Jan Ravens, Owen Brenman, Harriet Thorpe, and Felicity Montagu.
Sketches are interspersed with Sayle's trademarked angry stand-up monologues delivered from increasingly odd locations about England> Sayle is seen traversing the country on a moped in a vague attempt to catalogue and comprehend all the "stuff" about him. The style of humour is often surreal, blunt and offensive to many. The bulk of the content was written by Sayle himself, with Andrew Marshall and David Renwick. Additional material was contributed by long time collaborator David Stafford and comedian and promoter Huw David Thomas. Although Sayle's humour in the programme covers many bases, politics is always a favorite target: "Recently I had to get married, 'cos I got my girlfriend into trouble - got her involved in the civil war in Angola." Various episodes also feature sketches based around BBC2 presentation, including satirical continuity announcers and faux-pas trailers; this humour is similar to Kenny Everett's jokes towards Thames Television and later, BBC1.
At the beginning of series 2 (in a sequence spoofing the creation of Disney's Mickey Mouse) it is revealed that Alexei Sayle is in fact a cartoon character. Viewers are shown a short extract from Sayle's very first animated appearance from 50 years previously, named 'Steamboat Fatty' (spoofing Steamboat Willie, the first Mickey Mouse cartoon), as well as Mouseketeer-esque children dancing around wearing bald wigs. An edited down version of this sketch becomes the title sequence for series 2. Series 1's titles feature a young fit hunk being turned by prosthetics into Mr Sayle, to the accompaniment of Dion's hit The Wanderer. Series 3's title sequence are a pastiche of Zorro meets Juke Box Jury - the theme song being sung mariachi style ("This fat renegade / Carves a 'B' with his blade / A 'B' that stands for 'Bastard'.")
One episode in series 2 begins with a lengthy spoof of Juliet Bravo featuring actress Anna Carteret. Viewers are fooled into believing that the first few minutes of the programme are a Juliet Bravo episode, the illusion being broken only when one of her male colleagues appears not to "know what a woman is". Similar blending and bending of the boundaries of TV formats continues throughout the series.
As one might expect from the "Marxist" comedian and "Godfather of alternative comedy," sketches involve many historical characters (particularly socialist ones) interspersed with biting comments on contemporary British politics. Large volumes of venom are projected in the direction of the "arch-nemesis of 1980s alternative comedy," Margaret Thatcher.
Alexei Sayle's Stuff was a critical success and a prelude to his 1994 series The All New Alexei Sayle Show, which was remarkably similar in content and was likewise followed by Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round in 1998.