The South Bank Show: Paul Merton

The South Bank Show: Paul Merton
Channel Four
26 September 1999
Documentary
DVD
B

This isn't quite a biography but it does feature different points of a life, from a boyhood as Paul Martin to success as a comedian in the '90s.  If you want to know about Paul's (by then defunct) marriage to Caroline Quentin, you're out of luck, as there's just one sentence in passing.  However, we do see footage of him as a scruffy, bearded teen living on the dole, as well as a star in hit television programmes.  My favorite part was the taping of a Comedy Store Players session and the analysis by the team in a pub afterwards.  And Paul's honesty, including about his stay in a psychiatric hospital, is refreshing.  Note that Julian Clary appears not only in television clips but in an interview, where he indeed comes across as a good friend to Paul.

Paul Merton, The Series: Episode 2.6

Paul Merton, The Series: Episode 2.6
Channel Four
8 October 1993
Sketch Comedy
DVD
B-

The best thing here is the Christmas filled with holograms, which is absurd yet thought-provoking.  I wish they'd done more things like that.  Damian Hunt had also appeared on Josie, while John Barrard was Anatole on Jeeves and Wooster and is a Teacher here.  Thea Bennett, Amanda Dickinson, Peter Guinness, Robert Harley, David Jackson, and Ben Miller return.

Paul Merton in its second series averages out to a low B-, not a big drop from Series One.  It's not terribly different but just a shade less funny.  After awhile, it becomes easier to predict the jokes, like the lemon detergent for, yes, lemons.  Still, overall, it's a better packaging of Paul's talents than Josie was of Josie's.

Paul Merton, The Series: Episode 2.5

Merton and Quentin

Paul Merton, The Series: Episode 2.5
Channel Four
1 October 1993
Sketch Comedy
DVD
C+

The best sequence here comes last, with Quentin as a chanteuse as Merton floats by using special effects.  John Woodnutt, who had played Sir Watkyn Bassett on Jeeves and Wooster, is Lord Coatbridge here.  Robert Harley, Ben Miller, Kathryn Pogson, and Bill Thomas return.

Paul Merton, The Series: Episode 2.4

At one point, Paul
claims to be Cilla Black

Paul Merton, The Series: Episode 2.4
Channel Four
24 September 1993
Sketch Comedy
DVD
B-

This is a more absurd episode than lately, from a romance between lamps to a gang planning a bank robbery with elaborate props.  Amanda Dickinson, Robert Harley, Ben Miller, P.J. Nicholas, Kerry Shale, Jonathan Stratt, and Flip Webster all return.

Paul Merton, The Series: Episode 2.3

Paul Merton, The Series: Episode 2.3
Channel Four
17 September 1993
Sketch Comedy
DVD
B-

The best thing here is definitely Paul as Frankenstein, but I'll always have a soft spot for his "Golden Years of Hollywood" segments.  Robert Harley, Ben Miller, and Kathryn Pogson are back.  Nigel Whitmey, who was on one episode of Josie and was terrible on Jeeves and Wooster, makes an appearance here.  Peter Benson, who was Mr. Rowbotham on Jeeves, is also in this episode.  This is the first of two episodes for Peter Guinness.

Paul Merton, The Series: Episode 2.2

Paul Merton, The Series: Episode 2.2
Channel Four
10 September 1993
Sketch Comedy
DVD
C

Most of the humour in this episode didn't really work for me, although it was interesting to hear one of the jokes from Paul's stand-up, with a British figure (Lloyd something) rather than the more accessible Dan Quayle in the version from London Underground.  

Along with Daws and Mullarkey, Robert Harley, Ben Miller, P.J. Nicholas, and Flip Webster are back.  Amanda Dickinson appears for the first of three times, Thea Bennett and David Jackson for the first of two.

Paul Merton, The Series: Episode 2.1

The dolphin-head returns.

Paul Merton, The Series: Episode 2.1
Channel Four
3 September 1993
Sketch Comedy
DVD
B-

The highlight of this series-opener is Paul bending the laws, including of gravity, about a scene set on a submarine, with Robert Daws (Jeeves and Wooster's Tuppy) appearing as the Captain.  The "Abominator" ad is also quite good.

Robert Harley and Flip Webster return from the first series, while Gabrielle Blunt again plays an Elderly Lady, this time the one in the deck chair.  P.J. Nicholas and Kathryn Pogson make their first of three appearances each on the show, while Ben Miller does his first of six.  Ian Collier had recently played Seppings on Jeeves.  Liddy Oldroyd takes over as director.

Paul Merton, The Series: Episode 1.6

Victor Spinetti from the Beatles movies

Paul Merton, The Series: Episode 1.6
Channel Four
30 October 1991
Sketch Comedy
DVD
C+

The weakest sketch is the one about a murder in an ambulance, the strongest the one about an incompetent spy.  Another Comedy Store Player, Mullarkey, plays Mr. Bassett.  Felicity Montagu, who was on Josie twice, plays Various Characters here, while Neil McArthur makes his third and last appearance on this programme.

Paul Merton's first series is uneven, sometimes even within one episode.  It earns 2 C+s, 2 B-s, and 2 Bs, so it's easy to average.  I'm curious to see what if any changes were made when the programme came back in '93.  (It's been a long time since I've watched, and just once through.)

Josie: Episode 1.3

The Masterson Inheritance

Josie: Episode 1.3
Channel Four
15 May 1991
Variety
DVD
C+

Besides Lawrence and Vranch, this episode is notable for featuring two other Whose Line Is It Anyway? performers: Neil Mullarkey and Caroline Quentin.  The latter was then married to Paul Merton and would later work with Merton, Lawrence, and others on the sometimes hilarious radio programme The Masterson Inheritance.  (Her WLIIA appearances would be after Paul left.)  Mullarkey and Quentin appear in easily the best sequence on this episode: a '60s parody of Georgy Girl and that ilk, called Fab.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.8

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.8
Channel Four
5 January 1990
Improv Game Show
DVD
C+

Josie's fellow Comedy Store Player (and sometime boyfriend) Neil Mullarkey makes his only appearance on this episode where Ryan returns and meets Mike and Josie.  Nothing particularly great or bad here, but if I had to pick a favorite it would be Josie's Kurt Weill Song Styles about a cheese grater.