Hale and Pace

Gareth Hale and Norman Pace rose to prominence through stage, radio and TV appearances in the 80s, mostly via their characterisation of The Two Rons; two east-end bouncers who took their jobs a bit too seriously and often referred to themselves as "the management". The Two Rons were extremely dimwitted, incredibly violent and screamingly funny characters who found great favour with the public. After C4 gave Hale and Pace a Christmas special in 86 and The Rons themselves a low key sitcom in 88, ITV saw fit to give Hale and Pace their own sketch show. The duo rewarded the channel's faith in them handsomely, winning the Golden Rose of Montreaux within a year and earning the channel solid ratings many a Sunday night for a decade.

Along with the Two Rons other characters the duo brought to life in their early years included the risqué children's presenters Billy and Johnny, bitchy fashion experts Jeffrey and Jeffrey, and burnt out hippies Jed and Dave, a cheerful and affectionately observed pair of characters whom Gareth Hale cited as his favourites. In later years Gareth and Norman adapted to a changing comedy climate shaped partly by Harry Enfield, Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson by adding a greater roster of recurring characters, the most enduring of which were brash but friendly cabbies Frank and Steve ("a large portion, yes!") and Curly and Nige, a pair of deliberately old fashioned comic characters redolent of comedy troupes like The Three Stooges, with a propensity for violence which gave Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson a run for their money.

Yet HALE & PACE is perhaps more notable for being possibly the last in a line of sketch shows modelled most closely after NOT THE NINE O'CLOCK NEWS, focusing less on repeated characters and more on one-off sketches and "quickies" based around whatever caught the actors and writers' fancies that week. Hale and Pace proved themselves willing to take on a variety of subjects, both as writers and performers. While they generally took the direct route to the funny-bone, Hale and Pace also occasionally proved themselves quite adept at pathos, with a parody of GOODBYE MR. CHIPS being particularly moving.

As another reviewer noted Hale and Pace also showed considerably musical talent in the series; whereas for many sketch shows the obligatory musical numbers often seemed a chore, on HALE & PACE they were often the highlight. Hale and Pace revealed themselves to be pretty good singers and songwriters, both in their parodies of artists like Chris Rea and R.E.M. and in their original compositions like "The Days of Black and White" (another fine example of their pathos).

Hale and Pace divided opinion from their first episode when they microwaved a cat, and frequently came in for criticism, particularly in their later series. Alexi Sayle and Victor Lewis Smith were among their most prominent critics. After their disastrous 1999 BBC game show, H&P@BBC, some people began to wonder if they had ever deserved their fame in the first place. Hale and Pace were far from perfect; a tendency towards laziness revealed itself fairly early on, and the in the last two series they did seem a little low on ideas. But while the criticism may have had merit, Hale and Pace were still two frequently hilarious, exceptionally talented performers, who had a natural chemistry which is perhaps unrivalled in recent UK comedy history. Indeed it is the sketches in which they played fictionalised versions of themselves sharing a London flat which perhaps stick out as the most enjoyable material.

Ultimately for many of us Hale and Pace often seemed to have a "direct line to our funny bone", and their sketches gave them a dedicated following not only in the UK, but all over the world, particularly in Czechoslovakia, Finland and Australia. Indeed, they proved more popular in the later country than their homeland, continuing to perform sell-out tours there. Best of all Australia released their complete TV series on DVD, well worth importing for all those enthusiastic enough. Overall, for all the bad sketches they may or may not have made, Hale and Pace made a unique contribution to British comedy that deserves to be treasured.

Amongst all the comical duos, trios and massive groups that British television gave birth to, i think Hale and Pace are the least known abroad. When i saw them as gravediggers in the horror episode from "The Young Ones", all i could say was "Their faces look familiar". In the same episode i recognized Terry Jones as the drunk vicar, so i just took for granted the gravediggers were two more star guests.

"Hale and Pace" has never been broadcast in my country, as far as i know; but there was a Spanish late show, "El Chou", directed by Alfonso Arús, which used to fill the gaps with sketches by H&P (uncredited, i'm afraid). I was 13 by then, i think. I didn't like them, for i found most of their skits tasteless (which is not necessarily a flaw) and very stupid (now that is a flaw). It fitted perfectly in Arús' show. Anyway, Norman's blue eyes and Gareth's mustache (or is it the other way around?! Somebody send pictures!) remain etched in my memory. And if there was a DVD, i'd give it a try.

These TV shows were shown on TV in Iceland probably around the same time as they were running in the UK. Sadly it was on a channel that I didn't have access to but I managed to record a few of their episodes. Now these recordings are the gems of my VHS collection and when my VCR tore one of them about two years ago, I decided it was time to somehow put them all in digital format. I was not going to lose another tape like that.

I don't agree with Steve that they only "had their moments". It's true that each season was slightly different. Their humour became slightly darker but they always mixed in enough of their old style jokes. And the way they built up a series of jokes that might span not just one episode but a few, I thought was brilliant.

About a year ago, I set out on a quest to try and find this material on the internet and was able to get a hold of a few tapes on the Amazon Market. But it was not without disappointments and not cheap! From one vendor (Nick March, Deleted UK Videos) I got two covers containing the same tape! I sent him an e-mail to which he never replied.

I even tried contacting the BBC but got the information that they didn't have any plans of releasing these shows. I asked if I could possibly get in touch with them personally but never got a reply.

Anyway, I truly hope these shows will be released, not just as a one "Best of" DVD but in it's entirety. I will be the first one to buy the whole thing!

Gareth Hale and Norman Pace are one of the most consistently entertaining comedy duos to emerge from the UK. They're irreverent brand of school-yard humour was always well scripted, staged and executed and the two appeared to have a genuine mutual rapport, and thus supported one another with the razor-sharp precision required for sketch comedy. In particular, Hale's expressive, walrus-like features make him an instant comedy attraction, the perfect vice to Pace's straight guy routine. Impressively, they could also reverse the roles and still produce genuine laughs.

Some of my personal highlights are Gareth Hale's jaunt to Spain, where he becomes totally inebriated, insults his host country and is forcibly removed from a Tapas bar ("and let's not forget, the generous Spanish hospitality"), Billy & Johnny and their adult-themed children's show ("one two drip on my shoe, three four not anymore") and one of the many music satires concerning the perils of wearing red hair ("oh yes it's utterly, utterly rotten to be ginger"). Really, there were so many highlights, every episode contained a memorable moment.

In later seasons, looking noticeably older and more portly, the pair relied on recurring characters (the cab driver's with the cockney dialect) that became more the subject than the vehicle to project the humour. Some of these worked (the well-hard boys for instance chanting "always drink from a broken glass and crack walnuts between the cheeks of me Arsenal, Arsenal, come on you gunners Arsenal"), although the formula seemed to be missing more often. But the best of Hale & Pace from seasons 2-4 and the ubiquitous 'Christmas Specials', offer hours of side-splitting humour that rank among the best of British comedy. If you're accustomed to that type of sketch comedy, then you should relish Hale & Pace.

This used to be on TV every year up until the late 90's. Some stuff had me in hysterics but the show grew gradually more stale with each season. Gareth Hale and Norman Pace are two names I remember well, and hopefully more people will get see their work (going from this being the first comment). A "Hale and Pace" best-of would make a great DVD, provided they included their edgier stuff.