That Peter Kay Thing

The "docu-comedy"* style of comedy is one that has generally been done to death, but it has also produced some hilarious series that are very hard to forget. "That Peter Kay Thing" was one of the docu-comedy successes of the last decade, and launched the career of one of Britain's most successful comedians. And it deservedly did so. There was one great episode - "The Ice Cream Man Cometh" - that was absolute comedy gold. It was very silly (who would want a war over ice cream?) and hilarious, was made like a documentary but in a silly style, and the ending when Softy went nuts was absolute pant-wetting genius. This episode was like "Handyman for all Seasons" in Coogan's Run in the fact it was the best of the pack by far. But unfortunately, none of the other episodes managed to recapture The Ice Cream Man Cometh's hilarious heights. The first one was a bit boring, "Eyes Down" was OK and "Leonard" was great in parts, but no classic like The Ice Cream Man Cometh. I've not seen the two others, but I think I can guess how they went as well.

On the whole, this is not as good as "Phoenix Nights" - but not far off it either. This is a good start to Peter Kay's career - let's just hope he can continue to produce more great comedy. 7/10

*Pardon me - the proper term is "mockumentary".