'The Stanley Baxter Picture Show' had gone down well with viewers. Rather than make a second season, he decided instead to do a one-off special. This set the pattern for the rest of the decade. Stanley would not do another weekly series until 1982. This edition features some of his lavish and best remembered sketches, such as the Broadway musical 'Love's A Tonic' which dazzles even now. Of course it goes without saying that if you have never seen a classic Hollywood musical, you are not going to appreciate just what a clever piece of work it is. The same can be said of 'The Pundits' which is only funny if you have seen the Granada series 'The Comedians'. Ditto 'Nationwide. Baxter's targets included George Formby and Pete Smith, both of whom mean nothing to modern audiences, but back in 1973, their work was still regularly being shown on television, so it was right for him to parody them. Robbie Coltrane ripped off the Edgar Lustgarten sketch for his short-lived 'Laugh? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee!' series a decade later. 'The Duchess Of Brendagh' is not quite so funny in the post 'Spitting Image' age, but back in the day, it was hysterical. I would respectfully suggest that young people give Baxter's LWT shows a miss. They were made for 1970's audiences, not those of the 21st century.
2 Reviews
''It's the pundits!''
Rabical-9127 January 2021
Warning: Spoilers
The first in a series of LWT specials.
Baxter appears here in an array of elaborate ( and not particularly funny ) sketches and spoofs ( written by Ken Hoare ) such as 'The Annals Of Scotland Yard' which had Baxter as Edgar Lastgasper, an obvious parody of real life criminologist Edgar Lustgarten. Robbie Coltrane later did a much funnier parody of the famous criminologist in the BBC's underrated 'Laugh? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee', with Coltrane's version being Edgar Bloodlusten. To say Coltrane ripped off the idea from Baxter is complete nonsense. The two versions could not have been more different. Coltrane's version was much darker in tone. Many of Baxter's jokes or parodies were hardly original, were they? Does that mean 'The Two Ronnies' ripped of the 'Mastermind' idea just because Baxter spoofed it before they did? Of course not!
There is also a lame send up of Liza Minelli ( with the comic renaming her Liza Mimemi ) and an irritating send up of George Formby ( which would become a regular item over the years ).
We also see for the first time Baxter's parody here of the Queen, though she was named here 'The Duchess Of Brendagh'! This initially caused a huge uproar in the media but this soon settled when it realised that the send ups were not malicious. The Queen herself allegedly saw the funny side! I will give Baxter credit for this impersonation. How he managed to verbally and physically pull off The Queen was admittedly impressive
Too much song and dance ( literally! ) and not enough comedy for my liking. The format of 'Picture Show' returned the following year with the marginally better 'The Stanley Baxter Moving Picture Show'.
Baxter appears here in an array of elaborate ( and not particularly funny ) sketches and spoofs ( written by Ken Hoare ) such as 'The Annals Of Scotland Yard' which had Baxter as Edgar Lastgasper, an obvious parody of real life criminologist Edgar Lustgarten. Robbie Coltrane later did a much funnier parody of the famous criminologist in the BBC's underrated 'Laugh? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee', with Coltrane's version being Edgar Bloodlusten. To say Coltrane ripped off the idea from Baxter is complete nonsense. The two versions could not have been more different. Coltrane's version was much darker in tone. Many of Baxter's jokes or parodies were hardly original, were they? Does that mean 'The Two Ronnies' ripped of the 'Mastermind' idea just because Baxter spoofed it before they did? Of course not!
There is also a lame send up of Liza Minelli ( with the comic renaming her Liza Mimemi ) and an irritating send up of George Formby ( which would become a regular item over the years ).
We also see for the first time Baxter's parody here of the Queen, though she was named here 'The Duchess Of Brendagh'! This initially caused a huge uproar in the media but this soon settled when it realised that the send ups were not malicious. The Queen herself allegedly saw the funny side! I will give Baxter credit for this impersonation. How he managed to verbally and physically pull off The Queen was admittedly impressive
Too much song and dance ( literally! ) and not enough comedy for my liking. The format of 'Picture Show' returned the following year with the marginally better 'The Stanley Baxter Moving Picture Show'.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
