Have You Seen Little Britain?

Yes, yes, I know... If you're British: Stupid question.

Little Britain came out in 2003, written by and starring Matt Lucas and David Williams, who don some of the funniest and convincingly outlandish-yet-plausible costumes, bodies and personae ever created for television. There are no real punch lines in the little 1-minute sketches they create... just the inherent humor of the characters and their appearance and behaviors. And, if that doesn't work, there is the occasional gasp-inducing shock humor.

Anyway, below are just a quick sampling of some of the characters these two guys have created, and the tenor of the program.

First up is Bubbles, morbidly-obese ex-olympic gymnast, and her antagonist, the equally hefty Desiree.


Next, the expatriates' personal favorite, Mr. Dudley and his Thai mail-order girlfriend Ting Tong, who is terrifically ugly but manges to repeatedly "coax" the hapless Dudley into not kicking her out.


Daffyd Thomas, the only gay man in his little Welsh village. He's well-tolerated by folks and encouraged by barmaid Mafanwe... but he always pushes everyone's limits hoping to be victimized.


Carol, who spends her secretarial jobs halfway between catatonic and sardonic. She's made "Computer says no" a widely-recognizable catch phrase.


Vickie Pollard, a teenage yob who rattles off on confusing, indignant, semi-unintelligible tangents:


Finally, there is Lou, who fakes his inability to walk so that his friend Andy will wait on him hand and foot. His famous line is "Ya'ano" ("Yeah, I know.")


You can watch entire episodes here. Little Britain can also be seen regularly on HBO Comedy and BBC America.