Review of World of Lee Evans, The

Introduction

Forget the Edinburgh Fringe`s Perrier award. If Lee Evans deserves a water-themed recognition, surely it`s got to be as Britain`s official sweatiest person. Forget pop-flop Rik Waller and Pete "better off dead" Doherty`s publicist, no-one sheds the wet stuff like Lee Evans. A proponent of hi-octane physical comedy, the guy gets up on stage, bandies about like a lunatic and drenches several suits during a performance. What a guy, eh?

Starting off (like the rest) with rave reviews at the Fringe in the late 80s, his profile shot up when he won the coveted Perrier in 1993. After several successful comedy tours, Channel 4 gave him his own comedy TV show in 1995. In `The World of Lee Evans`, he would perform long sketches of everyday situations inflicted with that Lee Evans over-the-top humour.

Episode 1: The Late Shift/Meet the Folks

In `The Late Shift`, Lee`s new job on the night shift at a garage turns out a little strange when he`s forced to communicate with a customer physically. In `Meet the Folks`, Lee gets into bother when he goes round to meet his girlfriend`s parents.

Episode 2: Off The Rails

Lee goes on a train journey with his girlfriend

Episode 3: One Late Night

Lee picks up a hitchhiker who may or may not be an escaped murderer.

Episode 4: Mr Confidence/Special Delivery

In `Mr Confidence`, Shy Lee tries uses a self help record to help woo his next door neighbour. In `Special Delivery`, Lee plays the anxious father when his wife goes into labour.

Video

Soft, washed out colours, and an abundance of grain. It`s like watching a VHS copy with the convenience of DVD. And it doesn`t stop there; thanks to squashing 100 minutes onto a single-layer DVD, now and again the compression artefacts come out to play. In fact, in some darker scenes, the picture is awash with them.

It`s presented in what`s termed the "compromise" aspect ratio of 1.56:1 or 14:9 (think BBC analogue programming and the piddly little black bars, or hey, take a look to your left even)

Audio

A perfectly fine Dolby Digital 2.0 track with optional subtitles.

Features

Diddly squat.

Conclusion

Either Lee Evans` brand of physical comedy doesn`t translate well to scripted TV, or he just ain`t doing it right. `The World of Lee Evans` has got to be considered a real low point for the man, as watching these rather dull, alarmingly unfunny and overlong sketches should have been a case of watching a promising comedian`s career ebb away. But hey, he`s still around, still acting it up on stage and has credits in numerous movies under his belt. Good on him.

There are only four 24-minute episodes of the show on the disc. And in that there`s everything you could possibly want to know about its quality. From the look of things, Channel 4 swung the axe on this one very early, and it`s not hard to see why. There`s simply too much effort to paint Evans as a bumbling imbecile. During his stand-up routines, he likes to use observational humour played out with physicality, but here the moments of "yeah, that`s so true" or "I`ve been there" are non-existent, as his character falls into fish tanks, accidentally kisses train conductors or the back wall falls off his portaloo while he`s having a squat. Hardly everyday occurrences, and they`re played out with such cartoonish idiocy that Mr Bean probably cringed the first time he saw them. Proof then that silly and funny are not mutually inclusive.

There are no jokes in Lee Evans` world, at least according to this. Most of the skits are actually conducted in more or less silence, but the showmanship of Evans` physical performances just isn`t there to carry it. There are early roles for `Cold Feet``s John Thompson and Caroline Aherne (credited as Caroline Hook) and even a role for Prunella Scales as a mother he must impress. But even a few recognisable faces do nothing for a one-trick-pony in serious need of the vet. All in all, a very poor package of material. If Lee Evans getting smacked in the crotch while he mugs like a monkey eating his own feces sounds like a great night in, you`ll be rolling in the aisles. Sane people avoid like the aforementioned dirty simian.