A mockumentary that centers on the tenth-rate rock band; Bad News as they set out on their ill-fated tour of the U. K. Between mishaps that involve their run-down old van and a petty argument over the cost of sausage and chips at a motorway service station, they grow frustrated as they struggle to attract large audiences to attend their gigs. Their shared frustration is eventually directed at the documentary film crew who have been chronicling their exploits.
The first of six episodes penned by Adrian Edmondson who also frequently appeared throughout; The Comic Strip Presents...., it's safe to assume that; Bad News Tour might have served as the inspiration behind American director; Rob Reiner's eerily similar full-length 1985 mockumentary; This is Spinal Tap. Of course, one major distinction between them both is that while the latter benefited from a running time of over an hour and twenty minutes in length, the former had the restraint of only being half an hour long. It's to Edmondson's credit however that he's able to introduce and establish a range of moronic no-hopers, develop some effectively comedic situations and deliver what is essentially an amusing satirical look at a bunch of loser misfits whose ambitions far outreach their talents. Led by Alan who goes by the choice stage name of Vim Feugo; and goes to great pains to hammer home that it is under this moniker that he is to be known, he is joined by the rather dense Den (Nigel Planer), pretentious cardboard rocker; Colin (Rik Mayall) who can't even play an instrument and ex-junkie and dole scrounger; Spider (Peter Richardson).
With their collective ineptitude and their shared delusions of grandeur, there's all the recipe one needs here for some ignominious comedy as from the word go; the only direction for the ultimately quarrelsome quartet is a downward trajectory as they set out on what will assuredly be a disastrous tour. Cringe-worthy in their sad attempts to pick up "groupies", with their success doing nothing to elevate any sense of legitimacy to their status given that the young lady in question is a teenage schoolgirl played here by fellow Comic Strip regular; Dawn French. The sporadic additions of voice-over from Vim; who's delusional self-aggrandizing as he extols his virtues and emphasizes his and the overall misguided mindset of the band to dizzying effect. Their overall incompetence isn't helped either by their less congruous working relationship with the manager of their first and only venue that we bear witness to and the underhanded attempts at manipulation by the documentary film crew's director. A man whose hollow claims of not wishing to intervene and remaining neutral, artistic integrity soon evaporates and leads the film up to its inescapably cynical conclusion.
With the budgetary restraints that might have potentially cheapened other short films in the series like; The Yob or; Space Virgins from Planet Sex; the economical nature of documentary films works wonderfully in its favor and it, of course, adds to the realism. Only the comically exaggerated performances (which are to its benefit rather than detriment) only lifting the veil from its mock documentary technique as are some of the droll scenarios. The regular cast is in reliably solid form with the real-life professional director; Sandy Johnson making for a more modest and restrained foil to the comic strip team as the head of the film crew. With supplementary dry support from Jennifer Saunders as ostentatious "rock chick" journalist: Sally and Neville Smith convincingly sleazy and two-faced manager of the Roxy in Grantham, they round up the cast neatly.
Its limited length is its only glaringly apparent drawback with sufficient room for expansion on its satirical themes which would compel Edmondson to do so with the 1988 sequel; More bad News, the undoubted seminal quality of it is irrefutable. On its own, it does serve as a pointed although a flawed piece of satire. As something of an introductory prologue to its follow up which would serve as an ideal companion piece, it works even better.
