User reviews

After years of seeing the commercials for these DVDs on The Young Ones DVDs, I finally decided to give it a try and waiting so long was a very dumb thing to do.The show is an insane, bizarre mix of comedy and complexity.There are so many characters and story lines that it's really hard to even explain what the show is about.It's basically about a very strange town named Royston Vasey.All the citizens are very odd and extremely funny.There are multiple story lines which seem to have no connection to each other but they eventually all come together and like the title of my review says, it's just amazing.The only thing I didn't like was the laugh track(which I have heard was not in the original broadcast version).Otherwise it's an awesome show.See it.

My only regret is how late I was introduced to such a brilliantly unique show, and splendidly vast array of character creations. Having been spoilt by Shearsmith and Pemberton with the equally superb Psychoville and Inside No 9, I was curious to discover the full League's work. What else can I say that hasn't already been said? If you love your humour as dark as David Sowerbutts' stool, then...well, I'm sure you can guess the rest!

The League of Gentlemen are Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith. The latter 3 act and write while Dyson writes. In 1999 the quartet unleashed their eponymous TV series on us.

Every town has "odd" people – the suicidal army reservist, the toad fancier or the butcher who seems to take his job too seriously. And then there is that couple who keep themselves to themselves. And turn out to be brother and sister!

Roston Vasey is the real name of blue comic Roy "Chubby" Brown (who appears as the mayor in series 2). It is a mystery why the League chose his name as the fictional town in this series. But in Royston Vasey, being odd is the norm. With most of these characters played by the 3 acting Leaguers.

Series 1 is essentially a series of sketches set in "Vasey". Most of the characters do not interact other than in opening sequences although several are transported in the taxi of local transvestite Barbara. A very hairy man who is waiting for "the operation" and regales her customers with details of what is to come. This series is mostly offbeat comedy with a few blacker moments thrown in.

While there is a tenuous story holding series 2 together it carries on in a similar vein. Some sketches abandon the humour to explore a darker side. And the BBC makeup department are kept busy providing facial disfigurements for a number of characters. "Vasey" really needs a good dentist.

Series 3 is more of a "comedy drama". Each episode dealing with an individual character and a theme running through the end of each episode.

At first I was disappointed with series 3 as I wanted more of the same. The "best" characters are killed off and series 3 concentrates on minor players. On reflection though, each story stands up in its own right. A brave move which works.

Sick humour? Fantastic humour with good stories? The L of G pushed comedy in a new direction.

My roommate's English girlfriend gave him a DVD of the League of Gentlemen. Being a huge fan of Monty Python (own the entire series on DVD), Black Adder (likewise), Fawlty Towers (likewise), and The Young Ones (likewise), I was greatly intrigued by the stories I had heard of this series. Then I watched it. Oh my goodness. When I first saw Monty Python, I thought it was bizarre. Then the Young Ones came along and upped the ante. But the denizens of Royston Vasey set the bar so high that I doubt it will ever be topped. Half the time you're watching LOG you're laughing because it's genuinely funny, the other half of the time you're laughing because you can't believe what you've just seen. This series is Stephen King meets the Twilight Zone meets Stanley Kubrick meets Monty Python. It's easy to be funny, and it's easy to be bizarre and sinister, but to combine them and be all of that at once is truly a feat of genius. So, providing you've got a taste for the dark and strange, settle down on the couch with a nice glass of "aqua vitae" and watch this series. Oh, and don't take your pet turtle to the vet.

This series premiered on the cable TV station "Comedy Central" in the United States. It was chopped to death, and shown out of sequence. This was sad for the audience it should have attracted, it didn't and fell by the wayside. Luckily, at the same time my cable company went digital and I got the BBC. Thank goodness because I got to see "The League of Gentlemen" in order, complete and uncut.

"The League of Gentlemen" troupe is right up there with England's "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and Canada's "The Kids in the Hall". But..a warning.

"The League of Gentlemen" though are one step beyond. It's not only about dressing in drag and lampooning the cultural ills, it goes deeper and much, much, darker. I can tell many of you now -- it will offend certain groups of people, it will enrage others. But remember, its only comedy..dark, dark comedy. If that is not your thing, don't watch. If you think you KNOW dark comedy, watch this -- if you get angry and upset, then you don't quite know DARK COMEDY.

These guys got it right, and right on the button. They are brilliant, they are excellent and I enjoyed each and every character creation. There's a COMPLETE story that is told here from episode one to the end. You cannot watch this one episode at a time, willy nilly, that is one of the charms of this series. Watch it in order. See how creative and stylish and deeply disturbed these guys are. No one and nothing is out of bounds. That, my dears, is "dark humor". Bravo!

I must admit to being slightly obsessed with the series since the original run in 1999, my Christmas was made when I heard a new 3 part series had been commissioned, what can you say, it's like they've never been away, the strange, but wonderful black comedy has gotten even better. It has always been, dark, bonkers and wonderfully off the wall, the more grotesque the character, the funnier they are. You can't chose between Papa Lazarou, Pauline, Tubbs and Edward, each is magical and zany in their own right. It's so wonderful to see each of them go on and have successful careers, but it's also been a real treat for them to reunite. If any of you are reading, more please, you guys are legends.

Will heaven be like Swansea? that is the question.

A banging 10/10

Another review likened this troupe to a cross between Monty Python and Twin Peaks, also aptly. Yet another review expounded on the differences between the comedy we enjoy non-critically and black comedy, also well worth consideration.

Watch the whole thing, all three series. At the end, all the characters are tied up and the puzzle pieces fall into place just as well as a Douglas Adams novel. The detail and intricacies are staggering. Thoroughly post-modern. Wickedly funny, and startlingly tragic. Not for kids. Not for those with thin skins or who lack objectivity. Thought-provoking. At once literal, figurative, and surreal in disturbing ways. The blackest comedy I can recall.

And very possibly the most wonderful thing I will ever see.

Read above, nothing like it before or after. Pure British dark humour and you'd be hard pressed to make it these days.

You love it or you hate it. It's unpolitically correct, it's full of black humour and dark British humour. The actors are outstanding and all deserve Oscars for their performances. It's new and refreshing but also touches on and takes the complete pi*" out of much loved BBC shows. These men are geniuses.

I really love this show.

There's a human side to these monsters, and yes, they're grotesque, tragic, or both, but they are very attractive in a way.

The sheer thought of being trapped in the Local Shop causes my spine to shiver and my mind to laugh...

The League of Gentlemen is, as the title of this review says, something that has been forgotten by the comedy-freaks nowadays... At least it seems so to me and the network I associate with. It's a brilliant mixture of stereotypical satire, horror, perversions and (obviously) comedy.

Now, being Swedish, I had never heard of this series before I visited some friends in Rome, Italy and I can never thank them enough! We get to see many varying characters in different environments in the small town of Royston Vasey and as the series go, their stories become darker and more morbid by each episode. It's basically a trip from a dark kind of almost-innocence into an inferno of pure perversion and evil. It's brilliant.

The downsides of this series, is that the comedy is decreasing in the later episodes and they might lose track of you. It's still funny if you are into dark humor, but I can imagine that the series lost some of it's fans along the way.

The minds behind this series are very good at demonstrating their excellent acting-skills, portraying everything from inbred shop-owners to transvestites and failing stand-up comedians, among others. I would not recommend it to sensitive people. But for the ones that can separate reality from comedy, it would definitely be worth your while.

About a year ago I finally gave up on American television. I thought of giving up television completely until a friend who had lived in England showed me some programs that included The Office, Extras, Blackadder, and The League of Gentlemen. It was then that I decided to switch to British television. Among all the shows listed above, The League of Gentlemen is easily the most dark and twisted of them all, providing guilty laughs and material not found in any other comedy I've seen yet. Characters included are the most unhappily married couple, a butcher that puts ingredients in the meat that go unsaid (probably for the best), a deranged couple that look over a local shop that only caters to local people, and the worst veterinarian ever. This program is one of the best I've seen.

My first reaction to this show was 'wow' this is amazing. Dark but amazing. Tubbs and Edward, repulsive but loveable , Mr Chinnery, had my sides splitting, just to name a few. Papa Lazarou is a brilliant character, contrary to the controversy. However, series 3 was even darker and in my opinion unfunny. In a way I feel that the reason it had a 15 year hiatus was because of the shift in theme. But series 4 was an astonishing resurrection of its classic form. Perfect.

Show might be okay but the laughtrack makes it impossible to really enjoy. Really love these guys' work on Psychoville and Inside No. 9 but this one is unwatchable.

British TV Comedy has a great tradition. We have the gentle sit-coms like Are You Being Served, The Good Life, Butterflies which seem to have gained a cult following in the US. Then we have the slightly more adventurous sit-coms like Porridge, Only Fools And Horses and One Foot In The Grave with their observations on real living that we can all associate with. We also have the sketch-type comedy such as Harry Enfield and The Fast Show which take characters we meet everyday and make them ten-times worse and funnier.

But every so often we British do what we do best and come up with something that simply removes all of the boundaries and is unique. The Goons, Monty Pythons Flying Circus, The Goodies, Not The Nine O'Clock News, The Young Ones....the list goes on. These programs often start off as small projects shoved onto BBC2 or Channel 4, but eventually they become part of our comedy heritage. However, its been a long time since we have seen something as unique and ground-breaking as this one - its simply the best and most original comedy series for over a decade.

If you are not British and your vision of British comedy is Are You Being Served and Benny Hill, prepare yourself for a shock because gentle slap-stick this is not. The League of Gentlemen is very, very dark - there's very little feel-good about this comedy - and it is extremely surreal, but it is also immensely funny. The series follows the exploits of the inhabitants of a small Northern village called Royston Vasey (the real name of Roy Chubby Brown, a particularly x-rated British comedian). The show gives Royston Vasey an almost mystical air, as if seperated from the rest of the real world, a place where anything can happen and the unexpected always does. The characters are cleverly worked so that despite their grotesqueness, you can still associate with them and in some cases sympathise with them. All of the main characters (even the women, in true Monty Python style) are played by three of the four writers (Gatiss, Pemberton and Shearsmith), and every character is an absolute gem. To tell you about the characters would spoil the fun of finding out for yourself. What I will say is don't expect any happy endings or moralistic enlightenment in this show, because there aren't any...but do expect shocks, things that will make you whince and some genuinely funny moments. Also concentrate through the opening credits as the camera takes you around the town, because there are some excellent visual gags in there.

This is a truly wonderful and original slice of British humour. It won't be to everyone's taste, but to those that appreciate this style of humour, you cannot get any better than this. I can see this being viewed as a classic in years to come - lets hope it awakens some new and innovative comedy writing in the near future... we've waited long enough.

Late review yes, typical me, I discovered Shearsmith and Pemberton in reverse order, discovering them first late in the run of Inside No 9 which I would give 12 stars if I could. Upon devouring that entire series I then moved on to Psychoville, That piggy is sniffing around Tealeaf and finally I arrived at LoG. Having gotten used to the unique craziness of the characters played by these two geniuses and now with the wonderful addition of Gatiss it is pure and utter madness. I have just completed series 2 and about to start series 3, had to pop on here to give it a quick 10 stars and hope and pray the two lads produce something new on any platform soon. If you like your fare conventional, you will hate this, if however you're a bit mad, like I am and can appreciate British humour at it's most unique, then this series will be right up your street, full of magical things but a warning, only for local people....

I first flicked onto the LoG accidentally one night while waching television: since then, I have never missed an episode.

It's humour is very weird, like a cross between Brass Eye's social commentary, the Fast Show's excellent one-liners, and an amazing plot that seems to develop each week without ever going anywhere. The best example of this was Hillary Briss's special stuff - what was that all about?

The humour will not appeal to all. Some will say it's just too sick, and it's easy to see where they're coming from. Nonetheless, give it a try. If you don't like it, don't watch it, but if you do like it you'll be very glad you took my advice.

So, this may sound a bit over the top, still I am enjoying this one thoroughly, therefore I won't be mean on the comments and I can't hide my enthusiasm after finding this little gem from ten years back.

First of all, the idea behind this is pretty much brilliant though some may consider it quite classic. A village full of quirky characters and their everyday life can be somewhat of a usual situation, but the combination of comedy and splatter, which I guess has influenced a series of films that have come out of Britain lately, is extremely well executed. Even if it is a situational comedy, there seems to be a script somewhere in the back lurking, maintaining the interest levels high and giving this show two different layers : one of the physical/situational comedy relief and another one of a more script-based approach, creating a perspective and a depth that can't be met in most comic efforts of the first genre.

On top of that, the dark, isolated environment of the town, the surreal activities taking place and the ever present feeling of the horrific fate the outsiders face upon entering this little town, in conjunction with some fantastic, light-hearted jokes, next to some that go from perverse to obscure, is sure to put a smile on every viewer's face. A sinister smile, a smile followed by some dark, perverse thoughts, yet I take my jokes with a bit of cynicism and a twist of dismembering on the side.

I am pretty sure that after 2 or 3 episodes watched, you are good to go for the whole ride. Enjoy and spread the word to the non-locals!

Created by the similarly named sketch comedy troupe of Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, and Jeremy Dyson, this series follows the former three as many characters in the fictional town of Royston Vasey, Northern England, where the bizarre is normal and outsiders are certainly not welcome. The three play most seen in the town with sketches following different characters throughout, much like the later Portlandia in its loose overarching narratives stitching together the sketches. The jokes are quite dark and very blue, with much of the bits not aging well and seeming quite insensitive (if not blatantly racist caricatures), however all the bits around those did leave a couple heavy laughs and I certainly exhaled heavily out my nose many times. Again a quite dark series I think the group perfected the form in their much later anthology series Inside No. 9 (currently making my way through before a full review), which so far I would highly recommended, however in this series I feel their still finding their grooves and spend too much time trying to cross lines and be edgy than it was morbidly funny. First season was certainly the best, with the second being the low point, and the rest a decent end. Either way, would recommended for those local people into sketch comedy, especially those that enjoy being offended, if you're looking for a smile there won't be any trouble here.

The sitcom "The league of Gentlemen" follows the lives of several bizarre inhabitants of the fictional village "Royston Vasey". The different scenes are linked together by their common setting.

In the first series, a sketch show, the main plot deals with a new road which is going to be built through Royston Vasey. Consequently, more foreigners visit the small town. But Edward and Tubbs, the owners of a "local" shop, which is actually far away from the town, do not like foreigners. Whenever a visitor enters their shop, they kill him. In my opinion some scenes are kind of tasteless and not funny at all, for example, when the couple absorb two engineers who want to build the new road. Edward drums, while Tubbs is dancing half naked around the victims.

Moreover Pauline lives in Royston Vasey. She works at the local Job Centre. Although Pauline hates the people she has to work with, the woman does not want to loose her job. So when an unemployed man gets an interview as fireman, she does not allow him to go because he is not ready for the job yet.

Then there is Barbara Dixton, a transsexual taxi driver who goes into great detail about "her" sexual conversion.

Furthermore the vet, Mr. Chinnery, always kills animals instead of curing them. In one case, he comes to a farm and is leaded into the sitting room, where a dog lays in his basket. The farmer goes outside. On the assumption that the dog is the sick animal, Mr. Chinnery euthanizes him. A second later, the farmer opens the door, holding the "real" sick animal, a sheep, in his hand.

Some more inhabitants are a husband and his wife who are visited by their nephew (his friend is killed by the shop owners, by the way). The couple is very tidy. They have, for example, towels in different colours. Each colour stands for one part of the body. Besides, they have thousands of keys, marked with different colours and precisely classified.

In my opinion, the actors play very well. By playing women, the scenes become comical. The costumes are suited to the actors, too. Tubbs is wearing a scarf and some crazy characters, for example Edward, have unappetizing black teeth. The show has a great deal of dark humour, typical British. The set design reflects the mood of the series. The village and all the houses look grey and are decayed. Around the local shop there is often fog which strengthens the threatening effect. Even the village sign is ominous: "Welcome to Royston Vasey. You will never leave."

Although I think that the actors do a great job, this type of series is not my taste.