Description

Ab Fab creators Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders star in this highlights program of the best skits and spoofs from their fourth season. Includes send-ups of Alien, Misery, Silence of the Lambs, stuffy costume dramas, and of course the royals. ... Read more

Description

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders take on American television, pretentious foreign films and Madonna and that's just in the first fifteen minutes of this hilarious collection from their fifth series. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

A French & Saunders MUST HAVE
All of the 4 available French & Saunders DVDs released in the U.S. so far are good, entertaining examples of fine British parodies, but "Living in a Material World" is beyond fabulous. It includes as a BONUS FEATURE the Easter Special that ran on Comedy Central as "The French & the Saunders" . . . which puts a hysterical spin on Peter Jackson's "LOTR" movies that even Ian McKellen reportedly suggested Jackson include on the bumper disc for the trilogy. Especially at amazon.com's low price, you can't afford not to own this DVD if you love F&S or LOTR!

It's to "AbFab" as "Fawlty Towers" is to "Monty Python."
Dawn French & Jennifer Saunders emerged on the British comedy scene as one of the new crop of performers who began at the "Comic Strip" club. This clan produced great TV comedy throughout the '80s & '90s, much to America's indifference: "The Young Ones (the most successful of the bunch stateside)," "The Comic Strip Presents...," "Bottom," "Filthy, Rich, & Catflap," and "French & Saunders." Then, Jennifer Saunders wrote and starred in a program based on a sketch from a "French & Saunders" show called "Absolutely Fabulous." Of course, it became an worldwide hit and put Saunders on the map. "AbFab" is unquestionably brilliant and Edina Monsoon a fantastic creation but the fact that Yanks love "AbFab" while remaining ignorant of "French & Saunders" is like having people love John Cleese's "Fawlty Towers" while never having seen his work in "Monty Python's Flying Circus." "French & Saunders," being a sketch show, covers a wider range of subjects and humor than "AbFab" and reveals Dawn French as a formidable talent on her own and a perfect compliment to Saunders. Many of the shows parody popular films and musical acts and, while some pieces may be very dry, others are rather vulgar and savage. Personally, I think these shows are greater than "AbFab" in that there is so much more in them - including the full breadth of Saunders talent (both women have an endless stream of diverse characters inside them). Grab this disc and discover what they already know overseas: that French & Saunders are the greatest comedy team of the past 20 years!

Genius parody
This may be French's and Saunders's finest work of all. Those familiar with them largely through ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS or their broader humor from the earlier French and Saunders series will be surprised at how subtle they are capable of being here. Jennifer Saunders' awesomely controlled imitation of Jane Seymour (in perhaps their most hilarious of all parodies, DR. QUIMN, MAD WOMAN) is a case in point. Who even dreamed that Jane Seymour *could* be parodied at all? (Saunders does it by looking incredibly sincerely at whomever she's speaking to and murmuring vaguely audible comforting things; when at one point she speaks, in a moment of crisis, at a normal human level, she has to turn back to murmur, "I'm sorry I raised my voice at you just now...") Dawn French makes a memorable Pamela Anderson in their BAYWATCH parody (she not only gets the hair and lipstick down perfectly but also the spaced-out look of concern), and then the production staff serves them brilliantly with a Fellini parody that is so exact--even down to the film stock used---that it must be seen to be believed.

"In Bed with French&Saunders" : Absolutely Fabulous!
Before Jennifer Saunders' mega hit, "Absolutely Fabulous", there was "French and Saunders" starring Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders.

These two women play with, and master, parody. For instance, the world owes them the hilarious "In Bed with French and Saunders" which is shown in this video. In their 1998's series they get their hands on "Braveheart" and "Baywatch", in which the not-so-thin Dawn French is playing Pamela Anderson, and I never get tired of it.

But French and Saunders are also a couple who doesn't need movies and songs to be funny. I invite you to join them in one of their living room talks or in their typically British sketches.

Along with comedy sketches, songs, and a bit of dancing,Madonna French and Madonna Jen are waiting for your visit. I do recommend as well the LIVE VIDEO which is simply irresitible.

What else could I say? Nothing! Just buy it!

Funny Ladies
If you're a fan of AbFab or British comedy in general, check out F&S. In this particular installment, they parody Dr. Quinn, Madonna, Batman, and even Braveheart. These original creators of AbFab are hilarious in their sketches, a lot of times going out of their characters to talk in their normal voices and poke fun of the segment they're in. I highly recommend them and plan on collecting all of the videos. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Is this compilation of sketches from groundbreaking British comedy duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders' 1987 BBC series absolutely brilliant or, to quote one especially inspired performance artists sketch, "mindless, pornographic, pretentious, and total crap"? Though hit and miss as any compilation tends to be, it is mostly brilliant as our fair ladies engage in Pythonesque absurdity (an extended conversation that begins when a couch-bound Jennifer refuses to answer the door because she has no leg bones), silliness (the girls pay homage to popular dances), and savagery (two matrons who prefer their blood-splattered furs freshly killed). Some of this is inevitably dated, and there are references that will soar over the heads of non-Anglophiles, but fans who discovered these two titanically talented women from their breakthrough series, The Vicar of Dibley and Absolutely Fabulous, respectively, will enjoy seeing the roots of their comedy. --Donald Liebenson ... Read more

Amazon.com

The comedy duo of Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders return in fullsplendor! Each has gained greater fame individually (in The Vicar ofDibley and Absolutely Fabulous, respectively), but delightfullyridiculous things happen when they combine their powers--crazed andsurreal humor they could never fit into any other forum. In one sketchthey play Renaissance stylists, sullenly assisting Boticelli with thecostume and hair design for his classic painting of Venus; in another,they're a pair of retired Englishwomen in Florida, ecstatic to the pointof madness over the abundance of American food. Rather than simply mockingCold Mountain, they mock the movie and Nicole Kidman's vapidaudio commentary on the DVD. Weaving in and out of the comic routines is ameta-sketch about the creation of the entire special, in which the pairdepict themselves as lazy, fatuous, arrogant narcissists whose onlyredeeming feature is that their producer is even more ignorant andincompetent than they are. French and Saunders skewer female excess likeno one else--in a holiday special included as a bonus, French does adevastating version of Catherine Zeta-Jones giddily reveling in hersuccess, giving a Christmas speech as the Queen of Wales. The loopiness ofthe best bits defies description; their rapport and timing are simplyexquisite. It's a pleasure to be in their company again. --BretFetzer ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Are You Ready To Laugh?
First of all, only purchase this DVD if you're prepared to laugh until it hurts! This duo compliment one another so well and each scene is acted with such ease. This fun, fake behind-the-scenes look at the making of their show will is a new style for the pair. There are also numerous other skits along with this. Of those I've picked the top 3 (drum roll please!):
1. The Cold Turky skit (a play on 'Cold Mountain')
2. The Two Retirees In Florida skit
3. The Visit To The Doctor's Office
Like I said, this is an excellent DVD, worthy of every penny!!!

One of Their Best
F&S seem to appeal to a specific audience. There's some British comedy that just doesn't translate well for Americans. A lot of this has to do with the fact that we in America just aren't aware of many of the things they're parodying. That French & Saunders manage to make these things funny anyway is rather amazing.

I must disagree that this series isn't as good as the previous ones. Frankly, I thought their earlier series were absolutely unfunny and I couldn't fathom how one could find them so. This and On the Rocks are hilarious and I would recommend them over all their other series. Especially worth watching would be the Titanic parody (Saunders's AbFab co-star Joanna Lumley guests on that) in On the Rocks, and the Cold Mountain "DVD commentary" in Back With a Vengeance. Oh, and Dawn French's Catherine Zeta-Jones impression is wickedly funny.

French and Saunders are some of the funniest women in Britain! Watch their shows!

Well, they USED to be funny
These two used to be funny.What happened?

I picked up On the Rocks, and Back With a Vengeance, and watched them back to back.Now, I wish I hadn't.The girls simply aren't funny anymore.It was painful watching them try to relive their glory years.Sorry, they've passed.

There is only one funny moment on the whole dvd, and that doesn't happen until the "bonus features" (naturally, the bonus is longer than the feature), and it's not worth the retail price of this.

Even hard-core F&S addicts (raising hand) will regret these lame dvds.

Stick with the Vic or AbFab dvds instead.

great comeback!
i've been a long-time french and saunders fan and think that at they're best they're amazing. i'd heard that their latest series for the BBC, 6 episodes which ran last year i believe, got tepid to bad reviews, so i wasn't sure what to expect for this. fortunately, i found this release to be as enjoyable as any of their other released DVDs. the duo, noticeably older than their appearances on previous compilations, still have tons of energy and an uncanny knack for comedy that isn't ever mean-spirited and is oftentimes surrealistically funny. the movie parodies are actually the least funny parts (mostly just including parodies of cold mountain and troy and nods to kill bill and the matrix). the highlights include french and saunders on their way to work at the BBC; the familiar but always wacky conversations in jennifer's all-white living room; two incredibly funny scenes where coldplay's lead singer's mother calls him; and a parody of a british tv show called rosemary and thyme and reworked as "sausages and mash" which, like their house of idiot parody, is extremely funny even if you're not familiar w/ the source. great stuff. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Still Funny But Topical
I have to say I enjoy the earlier DVDs better. It's not that F&S aren't funny anymore, they still are VERY funny and clever. It's just that I'm not up on current films and videos, so some of this went past me, I didn't quite know what they were mocking. The Titanic parody was great, but what I really loved was the Cher And Her Wigs spoof. I hope to see more from these two. I sure miss Ab Fab...

A New Round of French & Saunders DVDs!
I have always been a fan of Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French; they are the funniest actresses in the world, bar none. And after four DVDs were released of some of their best sketches, I was sure that this was all that was going to be shown in America. But, I have been proven wrong, for here is the first of two new DVDs being released by BBC - DVD! Clearly, you can see that this DVD will include the hilarious special for "Titanic" but it will also include the spoof on "Making-of" documentaries that is hosted by Jennifer Saunders co-star Joanna Lumley from "Absolutely Fabulous"! At this moment there isn't much information on what else will be included, but in a recent BBC America cataloge it stated that this DVD will have 4 1/2 hours of F&S which is quite a lot more than the other DVDs, which usually run for not even two hours! So, it seems we might be getting closer to having nearly every moment from the long-running series avalible here in America! Mark your calender, because French and Saunders : On the Rocks and Back with a Vengance will be released on March 1st! Also, on a side note, if you want a copy of BBC's hit soap opera "EastEnders" (which will be released publicly on March 1st as well), you can find a copy on the BBC America Shop website for sale...right now! It has been on sale there for almost a month already, so if you want this copy you can get it on bbcamericashop.com before most! If only they would do it with these DVDs..... ... Read more

Description

The comic duo behind Ab Fab bring their unique sense of humor to movies, music, magazines, and mid-morning television in this collection of classic spoofs. Includes Rock Stars and Their Toilets, Opera Divas, Womanly World, and the original Ab Fab sketch. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Sweetie Dahling
I recently purchased this fabulous DVD of "Gentlemen Prefer French & Saunders." The reason I say "Sweetie Dahling" is because this one contains the original skit of "Absolutely Fabulous". Warning: don't expect big laughs from this skit on AbFab. You'll be disappointed. J. Saunders is dressed in some funky bohemian outfit as D. French is wearing a very dorky schoolgirl frock, in which the real Saffy wears. It's safe to say that the AbFab episodes have toned down their characters and aren't as haphazardly animated. They've refined it in the AbFab tapes if you can believe that.
Despite the disappointing AbFab skit, the rest of the skits are brilliant. I nearly died laughing when Jennifer and Dawn play two back-up singers for a cheesy recording of Kylie Minogue's "I should be so lucky". They join the real opera diva, Sarah Walker.
There is a hilarious spoof on "The Exorcist". Dawn French plays little Reagan, who sticks her lizard like tongue out at Jennifer during a medical examination.

The best part about this DVD is that it has newer F&S skits that you can't find anywhere else. Don't bother looking for them on their own seperate DVD or VHS. You can however find the skits shown on BBCAmerica from time to time.

Belly-Laughs Galore Parodies of Well-Known Hollywood Scenes!
Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders have no equal in their hilarious way of making fun of Hollywood. Watch them "impersonate" bombshells Marilyn Monroe & Jane Russel, playing "Two Little Girls From Little Rock", or see their version of "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane" (the infamous -lunch is served!- routine we rememebr so well), and many other great comedy skits.

During one particular scene, I actually had to leave to get a drink of water, or else I may have passed out from exhaustion, that's how hard I had to laugh! While Jennifer Saunders (in the role of an entertainment executive) rambled on about new ideas, Dawn French (who at first paced the office, listening to the babble) suddenly grabbing her throat saying in a whisper "...this is all so trivial, it doesn't seem to matter at all... our whole lives are nothing but rubbish!" Quickly Saunders interjects "No, no, no, darling, it does matter, everything we say an do is of utmost importance!" - Instantly French regains her composure, and the two continue the senseless babble about new ideas.--This scene could have ended in the ER for me!

These two British Comedy Wonders are the funniest thing to come across the ocean since Monty Python and Benny Hill! This particular DVD is on the very top of my list of favorites. You will never laugh harder than at French & Saunders' Comedy routines!

F&S - Better than S&M!
"Gentlemen Prefer French and Saunders" is truly the best of the 4 F&S DVD's. I bought the "Set", and what a bargain! I watched the first three DVD's today, and laughed for hours. If you are looking for some silly, yet witty entertainment I suggest these DVD's. I have begun to refer to F&S as "Monty-Pyfemme. A wonderful addition to my growing BBC DVD library! Make sure to watch the bonus sections - usually they are the best parts.

If You Are a Fan
You can't live without this DVD!! Hilarious!! If you need your humour wet, enough to soak you with a super soaker...or shall I say, if that kind of thing amuses, you won't like this....but if your sense of humour is dry as the desert and you can understand heavy BRIT...you'll love THIS!!! Run and buy it!!

These Two Women Are Chameleons
I rate these folks fairly highly because I understand British idiom and humo(u)r. If you are an American, trust that your mileage may vary on how well this tickles your funny bone. It is a good bit more sedate than "Monty Python", that's for sure.

No doubt about it - Saunders and French are chameleons. I suspect a big award goes to the wardrobe and makeup crew who work with them, but we have a somewhat convincing 250 pound Jane Russell (French) doing schtick with a middle-aged Marilyn Monroe (Saunders).

The DVD has sketches, not one running story. In this one, they lampoon opera divas, publishers of utterly worthless "stocking stuffer" books (I am resisting spoiling it and will not post the title of the dreadful book,but it is funny.), boring chat shows (one has the two women chatting earnestly about what the Queen had for "elevenses"), two rustic housewifes bragging about fleecing the yuppies ("She offered me 100 quid for the loo!"), and (my favorite) a couple of dour and indestructible old women in Wellies with two large dogs under the table.

The sketches I did not like were the "Gone With The Wind Sketch" ( Too many "Fiddle-dee-dees" for my taste) and the visit to the friend in jail sketch (I got bored, so sue me.).

Oh, yeah, this DVD also has the sketch that spawned the entire "Absolutely Fabulous". ... Read more

Reviews (23)

Wait for the complete series on DVD
Don't get me wrong, the footage is 5 stars - hilarious, being made up of skits from the BBC sitcom, "Mr. Bean", starring the brilliant Rowan Atkinson, but it is just a compilation. True fans will save their money for the complete series on DVD. Well, we have Blackadder, now where is Mr. Bean and "The Thin Blue Line" on DVD? Bean is completely opposite of Blackadder and Thin Blue Line in that as Bean, Rowan is all but mute and completely relies on physical comedy, where as in Blackadder (as Edmund) and Thin Blue line (as Inspector Fowler) Rowan talks his head off and the main source of comedy is in the dialogue, although physical comedy is not absent by any means. Those who only know Rowan for being Bean may be shocked when they see Blackadder or Blue line for the first time because of the drastic character change, but trust me he's just as funny with words as he is with physical action. "The Best Bits of Mr. Bean" is fine for a rental or for an extremely casual fan, but bigger fans of Rowan and Bean are still waiting for the complete series on DVD. I can highly recommend the Blackadder 5 disc DVD set, which contains all 4 series (24 episodes), a reunion special, and other goodies (read my review of that item for much more detail) but I recommend saving your money for the complete "Mr. Bean" series. The BBC series' "Mr. Bean" and "The Thin Blue Line" are essential comedy and I can't wait until they are represented as well as the brilliantly hilarious "Blackadder" series.

AMERICA NEEDS MORE MR. BEAN MOVIES!!!
My husband and I have always enjoyed Mr. Bean.

Well flash forward. Our grand daughter is now his number one fan. Two years old and she can't wait to visit us. She sits for hours watching this wonderful comedian and all his antics. We can't pry her away from the "telly". "Mr. Bean Grandma - Mr. Bean!"

Mr. Atkinson, if you're out there Alexis H. is deffinantly you're number one fan and oh, by the way, please could you do a few more new episodes? I've seen the Best Bits of Mr. Bean about 1000 times. Please just a few new ones for Alexis!

Bean is delightful and funny all his episodes will make you laugh.

Money well spent. Fun for the whole family.

sooooooooo funny. 16th april 2004.
The reason i loved this is because it shows you different parts off different tapes of mr bean. He makes me laugh he is great.

Great DVD
I'm an obsessed fan of Mr Bean and Although this is bits of Mr Bean - it still includes lots of funny footages. Because it's not enough for me, I am ordering the "complete" collection which they say is still slightly edited.

Very Funny
A lot of people are complaining about the length of the clips but if you look in the title it says the best "bits" which means they are only short clips. I think this video does a good job of selecting some of the Classic Mr.Bean moment. All of Mr. Bean is funny but if you want the most popular and most haliarous moment this is a good video to buy. ... Read more