Hugely influential, surreal and anarchic parody of the variety show format. Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer introduce a selection of eccentric characters. The show often appears to be completely... Read allHugely influential, surreal and anarchic parody of the variety show format. Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer introduce a selection of eccentric characters. The show often appears to be completely random, ramshackle and nonsensical.Hugely influential, surreal and anarchic parody of the variety show format. Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer introduce a selection of eccentric characters. The show often appears to be completely random, ramshackle and nonsensical.
Browse episodes
Dudley Freeman
• 1990–1991
Mark Swan
• 1990–1991
Charles Rayford
• 1990
Mark Wingett
• 1990
Michael Starke
• 1990
Featured reviews
Big night out is probably the worst show ever on English television - but that is what makes it so great. Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer guides us through a world of their own including Les - a man who fear chives and people being sentenced to being part of the cast of Jesus Christ Superstar for a year.
Anyone with a taste for the bizarre should see this show.
Anyone with a taste for the bizarre should see this show.
Just been gifted the DVD set for my birthday
I'm having trouble writing this as my sides hurt from laughing so much
Genius is often banned about these days but in this case Genius is the only word fitting
VIC REEVES WILL SAVE US ALL!
Full of memorable quotes like "you wouldn't let it lie!!" and complete and utter randomness, I love this. I don't remember it first time round, but recently bought it on DVD and I think it's hilarious. It's not as refined as some of their later stuff, but I like the rawness about it. Worth a watch, if only to decide if you love it or hate it. Marmitey methinks. It's good to see where Reeves and Mortimer started out, plus there are others who appear who went onto fame, such as Charlie Higson. One of my favourites is the character Graham Lister, played by Bob, who was Vic's nemesis, appearing on Novelty Island (a kind of talent contest) each week with another hilarious failure of an act, and addressing Vic with complete scorn as "Reeves". Another regular, the Man with the Stick ("What's on the end of the stick, Vic?") is amusing, as we learn what he's learnt that week by what's drawn on his paper helmet. Definitely worth a viewing.
10stu531
To me, this is/was the best television programme ever - simple as.
There's something about BNO that has stuck with me since I first saw it in the early nineties. It was cheaply made, a minimal cast, yet for that it was honest and ridiculously hilarious. It has a natural funniness that I've just not seen on anything since - it just didn't try too hard, it was just that funny.
But as a couple of reviewers have said here, either you get it or you don't - there is absolutely no middle ground. You won't 'half' like it. It is truly silly - but intelligent at the same time. Part of its humour is the way lots of different comedy concepts are seamlessly included - verbosity, falling over, sarcasm - it works on many levels. But there you go - I'm over-analysing.
Just watch it; if you don't find it funny, you've lost nothing. But if you do, you might have just discovered what you'll see as the funniest thing ever.
There's something about BNO that has stuck with me since I first saw it in the early nineties. It was cheaply made, a minimal cast, yet for that it was honest and ridiculously hilarious. It has a natural funniness that I've just not seen on anything since - it just didn't try too hard, it was just that funny.
But as a couple of reviewers have said here, either you get it or you don't - there is absolutely no middle ground. You won't 'half' like it. It is truly silly - but intelligent at the same time. Part of its humour is the way lots of different comedy concepts are seamlessly included - verbosity, falling over, sarcasm - it works on many levels. But there you go - I'm over-analysing.
Just watch it; if you don't find it funny, you've lost nothing. But if you do, you might have just discovered what you'll see as the funniest thing ever.
I consider Vic Reeves Big Night to be one of the finest comedy shows ever to have adorned British television. It was brilliantly funny, incredibly inventive and superbly performed. It is comedy in the true sense, in that the objects or names that Vic mentions (eg when he's looking at what the man with the stick has written on his helmet) are funny in themselves. Reeves and Mortimer had an unerring ability to know exactly what was funny. So one type of vegetable is funny, another is not. The mere mention of one celebrity's name is funny, another is not. This is observational comedy in its purest form, and a sign of witty, perceptive minds. Get the DVD of this and keep it close. They don't make many like this.
Did you know
- TriviaVic Reeves' Big Night Out began life as a solo comedy show by James Moir in the Goldsmith's Tavern in London in the mid-1980s. Moir met Bob Mortimer during a performance of one of his shows, and they began working together as a double-act. The show, now with Mortimer on board, moved to a bigger venue in Albany Theatre in Deptford in 1989. It began to attract the attention of several comedians, including Charlie Higson, Paul Whitehouse and Jonathan Ross. Ross' company Channel X, brought the show to Channel 4, which aired as a six-part series in 1990. After attaining a cult following, a second eight-part series was aired in 1991.
- Quotes
[repeated line]
Vic Reeves: You wouldn't let it lie!
- ConnectionsFeatured in It'll Be Alright on the Night 7 (1993)
Details
- Runtime
- 25m
- Color
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