It's because Ralph Feinnes actually looks and sounds like Leonard Rossiter, apart from the accent.
The Peter Serafinowicz Show Page 15
Quote: Leevil @ October 26, 2007, 2:23 PMBut still, if there is an option not to have one and then the option to add one, why would you do that? Why would you want to make yourself concious of an audience, drowning out the words?
Erm, because some of us are not conscious of audience laughter? In any case, it just creates a better atmosphere, which works far better than silence for many shows. Take the audience out of HIGNFY, for example, and it would die on its f**king arse.
(I'd turn it on.)
Quote: Martin Holmes @ October 26, 2007, 2:13 PMWell it wasn't totally just off one script, I think Serafinowicz past works counts for something, he did make the amazing Look Around You and also co-wrote a few episodes of 15 Storey's High.
The Marple stuff was bad last night. But the Cheese For Liars, Bond Stand-Up etc was good. Probably the weakest episode so far though.
No doubt Serafinowicz is a talent, but the fact it's getting worse as it goes on shows what a paper-thin idea it was in the first place.
I'm liking it. It's hit and miss, but it's still fun and I loved his Ralph/Leonard sketch.
I'm generally warming to this show... well, at least the first half of each.
The quality reall dives in the second fifteen minutes, and this smacks of the team thinking they'll fill three hours with sketches written by a small pool of writers.
The James Bond sketch was dire and began an abrupt decline of the laughs. The first half of tonight's show was the strongest 15 minutes of the series.
Peter is obviously a massively talented comic performer and is trying to bring something genuinely funny to impressionist sketches (I do not count 'Dead Ringers', Alistair McGowan or Rory Bremner shows as comedy... well, only in the sense that they have a juggler's/clown's sense of comedy.)
The Robert de Niro sketch was good, but, like too many of the sketches run over-long and rely on finding an impersonation good and funny enough to carry a long sketch.
I hate knocking this show at all because I believe they are talented people trying to do the right thing. And I will continue to watch and laugh.
So I hate myself for writing this.
(P.S. I'm sure I'm not the first person to point out that the 'Butterfield' character must be inspired by the similar-looking/voiced legal damages claims guy who appeared on those daytime t.v. ads? The guy is so odd you would never use him to advertise your services. I presume that bloke also owned his own business and thought he would obviously be the best person to advertise it. Nothing wrong with drawing from real-life characters, but that bloke is blackly-comic enough.)
Some of the sketches in tonight's show were very funny but, as previously said, the quality really did slip. The De Niro sketch was initially amusing but there is a limit to the amount of times that one can laugh at someone saying 'why would you do that?'
Up and down, as ever. This show really needs to be condensed to a two-or-three episode series.
Good show tonight, Sexual Classics..very childish but still funny. The Bond sketch was good too, "Are you Mr Bond?".."Yes".."Mr James Bond?". 
Some of the De Niro bits worked better than others, I liked when he named loads of his movies and then she said Scarface was her favourite film. The Satanic face cream was funny too.
Didn't really like the Laurel & Hardy bit though or Columbo.
The problem with the Robert De Niro sketch (and, yes, I am a huge fan of his) is that other than being over-long (it shouldn't have been revisited in the episode, a sign of filling time), it doesn't make fun of a true point about De Niro. He's a shy, generally modest man. Of course he's got an ego, but all actors have. It's too predictable to have an acting masterclass in which the actor is egotistical, and it doesn't have legs.
The Ralph Fiennes/Leonard Rossiter masterclass was funnier, not because the impersonation was better (it wasn't) but because the idea was funnier.
I'll say it again... it's all in the writing.
I had never seen the guy before and so watched 20 minutes - I found him and his show boring and ordinary - "safe" telly consumption for anaesthetising the masses!!!
If you have a mass that needs anaesthetic, enjoy! 
I really enjoyed this series (is it over now or is it next week?). One of the better sketch shows of recent years. It can't stand up to Michelle and Webb, but it's certainly good in it's own right. Some of it didn't work too well, but some of it was inspired. 
I think it's better than Mitchell & Webb (although that was decent too, but like this was also hit and miss), I just think the overall performances outbalance that of M&W.
There's another episode on next week by the way.
Quote: Martin Holmes @ November 2, 2007, 7:44 PMThere's another episode on next week by the way.
Really? It's not coming up on my Sky + planner. I better check that then. One point I meant to make about the Peter S show was how under used Matt Berry was. I don't think he turned up until the third episode. Unless he wasn't available much, maybe due to IT Crowd (Which has just got a third series, Woo!), but if he was, he certainly should have been used as often as possible.
I may have seen a poor twenty minutes but to be fair to all those wonderful acts that AREN'T on TV, if you're on National TV and you are "hit and miss" then that JUST ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH!!!
IMHO!!!
Frankie xxx
Pretty good episode, loved the dead or undead one 'Im being eaten!', and the one with the robot hunting bloke.