House Of Fools
- TV sitcom
- BBC Two
- 2014 - 2015
- 13 episodes (2 series)
Studio audience sitcom created by and starring Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. Also features Daniel Simonsen, Morgana Robinson, Matt Berry, Dan Skinner and Ellie White
Press clippings Page 8
Welcome back, Vic and Bob. It's a return to prime Reeves and Mortimer form as the bonkers pair take a retro sitcom format and turn it on its head in this six-part caper. Complete with genius half-baked props and an Edward Lear-like delight in linguistic gymnastics, the loose story arc bounces around Mortimer preparing for an at-home afternoon date. A word of warning to male members of the audience: the Hindenburg Stretch may be a wince too far to bear...
Carol Carter and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, Metro, 14th January 2014House of Fools: Reeves and Mortimer's big night in
Vic and Bob are back in BBC Two's House of Fools. The duo explain why writing a sitcom was their biggest test yet.
James Rampton, The Independent, 14th January 2014Radio Times review
Imagine a 1970s domestic sitcom left so long in the cupboard it's gone fizzy, then been taken out, dipped in sprinkles and thoroughly baked by the surreal imaginations of Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. That's the drift here. The notional setting is Bob's house, where Vic is a troublesome lodger who fills the place with junk - a painting of a pygmy, tins of pineapple, and so on. In the opening scene Vic sings a song about a knight's gauntlet he has just acquired, then Bob berates him for getting toilet rolls and curtains mixed up. Matt Berry arrives as their friend Beef, an expansive lothario of the kind Berry does better than anyone, and there's a man-eating neighbour called Julie.
The farcical sort-of-plot they get wrapped up in barely matters (Vic gets wedged in a hole cut between the two houses) and it's as obsessed with body parts and weird about the opposite sex as a 12-year-old boy. But if you like Vic and Bob's ludicrous humour, it's very funny.
David Butcher, Radio Times, 14th January 2014House Of Fools episode 1 review: The Conan Affair
Not all of the laughs take off as the pair were probably intending, but that's par for the course with Vic and Bob's humour. But even when the gags misfire, House Of Fools is swept along by their innate likeability.
Ryan Lambie, Den Of Geek, 14th January 2014Video: Vic Reeves on laughing when he shouldn't
Vic Reeves is interviewed on BBC Breakfast.
BBC Breakfast, 13th January 2014Vic & Bob interview
Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer promise 'heavy nudity' and 'acting the giddy aunt' in their new sitcom.
Hull Daily Mail, 12th January 2014Bob Mortimer interview
'I suppose it is formally our first 28 minute studio sitcom but it reminds me of the longer bits we used to do in our sketch shows.'
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 10th January 2014House Of Fools preview
Despite being a brand new sitcom there's something quite nostalgic about seeing Vic & Bob working together again and the sitcom itself works well in 2014, but would not have been out of place in the nineties alongside other sitcoms like the aforementioned Bottom.
Elliot Gonzalez, I Talk Telly, 10th January 2014Bob Mortimer questions Oxbridge bias in comedy
Comedian Bob Mortimer has criticised the amount of prominent Oxbridge alumni in the broadcasting and entertainment industries.
Alice Vincent, The Telegraph, 3rd January 2014TV preview: House of Fools, BBC Two
I have to say a really enjoyed House of Fools. What it feels like to me is Vic and Bob hitching their trailer to the broad comedy bandwagon of Miranda and Count Arthur Strong. But of course they actually got in first - they've been being childish clots for years with their cartoon knockabout slapstick on their sketch shows and Shooting Stars. There is no frying pan based violence in House of Fools, but Vic does get walloped repeatedly by a large wrench.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 3rd January 2014