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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Rock With Laughter

Bobby Davro

BBC One · 1993 · 30 min

A televised BBC variety show built around early-nineties celebrity impressions.

Bobby Davro trades a traditional microphone for a carousel of wigs and costumes in a variety format built around his staple impressions and musical parodies. Broadcast on BBC1, the series serves as a time capsule of early-nineties British light entertainment.

After spending the 1980s anchoring ITV’s Saturday night schedules with solo vehicles, Davro jumped to the BBC for this six-part run. Airing as half-hour episodes in a Monday night summer slot, the broadcast still managed a regular audience of six million viewers. It operates as one of the final pure sketch platforms of his television career, arriving shortly before he moved on to co-host the children’s game show Run the Risk.

The set list

2 bits

  1. Saturday Night theme announcement

    Announced the show's Saturday Night theme while standing in a 12-foot circle emblazoned with his name.

  2. Musical spot

    Included occasional musical numbers featuring Bobby Davro singing, with Shakin' Stevens' 'Rocking The Night Away' serving as the closing theme.

How it plays

On stage
Characterized by an address of 'laygennlemen' and performing from a 12-foot circular floor marking with his name emblazoned across it.
About
Saturday Night, topical sketches

What the critics said

Extremely critical; Victor Lewis-Smith of the Evening Standard condemned it as taking viewers 'deep into previously uncharted regions of imbecility.'

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: comedy.co.uk, imdb.com, flixi.com, clarkechroniclerstv.blogspot.com, en.wikipedia.org, archive.org.

Backstory

Broadcast on BBC1 on Tuesday early evenings, reportedly aired approximately six months after recording, which left many of the show's topical sketches out of date.

Details

Released
Runtime
30 min
Where
BBC One
Director
Tudor Davies
Topics

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