House Of Fools

Radio Times review

Vic, Bob and Beef are entering a danceathon in Julie's bistro. They've got their killer moves worked out. There's the one where Vic pretends to be Richard III extracting sardines from a pantry, and the one where Bob throws wrens towards Saturn. But then Vic and Beef set about breaking each other's legs...

The plot doesn't matter, of course. Slightly more structured as Fools now is - Bob goes to the bistro "to move the story on" - we're here to be sprayed with a thousand stupid ideas. Fine bits of comic business include Vic's impossible crotch-grabbing arm, and Julie (Morgana Robinson) claiming to have done the choreography for Ross Kemp's Gangs of Namibia.

With Julie's Bistro seeking an injection of PR adrenaline, Vic and Bosh are recruited to produce a video. Only one problem: Vic has written the script for his marketing masterpiece on the back of a wanderlustful moth with a penchant for undergarments. Could a resolution be found in the fact that Erik, Bob's Scandinavian sulksmith of a son, seems to bear a physical (though not behavioural) resemblance to teen pop heartthrob Mags Flagonnoman? BBC Breakfast's Steph McGovern guest stars.

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Radio Times review

The hit-and-miss lunacy is all hit in this episode. What makes Vic and Bob's Young Ones-style madhouse so great is that we can never be sure what's coming next. Most comedies are more or less predictable: not this one.

Lothario Beef (Matt Berry) has to hide from an angry husband? Naturally he takes cover in the washing machine, and emerges a tiny shrunken version of himself. What is Vic drawing on Bosh's back with the tattoo gear they stole? Why, a picture of Jeremy Clarkson of course, which then forms the basis of a madly ingenious visual gag involving a lampshade and some bongo drums.

It's all violently daft and childish, and that's entirely the point.

Vic and Bob return, with Bob's Nordic son Erik gearing up for a blind date. He's not keen but, after some cajoling from Vic, agrees. Meanwhile, Beef (Matt Berry) joins Vic and Bob in a band that will celebrate the opening week of Julie's bistro, brandishing a keytar. Sadly, considering the hoo-hah over whether it might or might not get a second series, things in the house don't seem anywhere near as sharp as series one - except for Morgana Robinson's bonkers Julie, of course, who is all swivel-eyed brilliance.

Radio Times review

Once again Vic Reeves, Bob Mortimer and friends do their best to erase that troublesome line between a TV show where very funny people muck about and a sitcom. Either can be hugely enjoyable, but there are times when you wish House of Fools would put a bit more sit into its com.

You always get the sense that any given scene could have been more or less improvised, or maybe rustled up in rehearsals an hour before the recording. It's all so good in its slightly shambolic state, you wish they'd taken the trouble to sharpen it up.

Even so, for Vic 'n' Bob enthusiasts there's delirious pleasure here as Norwegian nerd Erik goes on a date and mad neighbour Julie opens a bistro.

TV preview: House of Fools, Series 2, BBC2

Thank goodness that it is back, because Vic and Bob seem to have well and truly cracked it this time.

House of Fools: Vic and Bob reveal their finest pranks

The surreal double-act reminiscence about playing dead in front of children and pigs...

TV review: House of Fools, series two, episode one

Rumours of its demise were greatly exaggerated; House of Fools returned for a second series tonight, serving up more of the impenitent tomfoolery and silliness we've come to expect from British Comedy's premier purveyors of idiocy.

House Of Fools - Series 2 preview

So all in all, House Of Fools is by far one of the funniest comedies on the BBC and a real treat for Vic & Bob fans.