Smack The Pony & Gladiatress

Warning
This guide and all of my reviews contain occasional bits of rude language,
and opinions some people might find offensive but for which I won’t apologise.
                    Don’t read any further unless you are open-minded.
Also, hard as I try not to give away too much, I can't guarantee there are no spoilers. 

---------------------
Smack the Pony - Sketch Show UK 3 Seasons 1999

Great fun if you're having guests over

British sketch comedy show that ran from 1999 until 2003 on Channel 4.

The main performers on the show were the extremely talented trio Fiona Allen, Doon Mackichan and Sally Phillips (who together gave us the movie Gladiatress - reviewed below). There were also regular appearances from Sarah Alexander, Darren Boyd and Cavan Clerkin.

The sketches had a range of different themes but one of the show’s odd – if unique – achievements is that it gained an enormous following without ever developing a catchphrase: Over the three seasons it ran the sketches and characters kept evolving which meant writers were happy to explore an idea but let it go before it was done to death.



An irritating set of decisions at the Beeb means we can only get “Best of” DVDs for Region 4, or Complete DVDs for the first two seasons via Germany but not season 3 and these are region 2 and more rubbish in that irritating vein. A lot of sketches are on YouTube, but none of them include my all-time favourites and some of the best from Season 3 are uploaded and taken down with infuriatingly random frequency. End of whinge.

While I think of it as women’s humour it’s not all blah blah blah about periods and stuff – it’s just about human foibles.

------------------------------------------------

Gladiatress - Movie UK 2004 89 Mins

Not everyone's cappuccino, nori is this main feature material. 

Anarchic humour of a type that always cracks me up.

In 55BC Caesar has laid waste to Gaul and is poised to invade Britain. When he captures a Princess of the Dubonni tribe and takes her to Rome, her sisters set out to rescue her.

First thing to note about Gladiatress is that it features three of the stars of Smack the Pony, successful and unique sketch show that ran on BBC 4 from 1999-2003; Fiona Allen as Smirgut the Fierce, Sally Phillips as Worthaboutapig, and Doon Mackichan as Dwyfuc.

The storyline of this movie is an excuse to join together a series of scenes which take on an array of different styles; puns based on misunderstanding of foreign languages; scatological humour (some of it quite base); discussions of political philosophy in 20th century language – that sort of thing – all in a 55BC adventure setting.
Fart jokes have never, ever been funny to me, but in this movie, there is a scene where farts actually make me laugh. It’s a miracle.

A Briton, a Celt and a Pict walk into a bar… no it’s not really the opening line of a joke, but it’s a good setting for a scene in this movie. The Pict has the dried head of a slain enemy hanging around his neck. (Yes, my cultural heritage on the big screen!) No matter how many times I see this scene I cannot fail to be impressed by the writing. I guess Gladiatress succeeds for the same reason Smack the Pony succeeded – it isn’t always predictable.

When Caesar puts the three sisters in an arena to fight a Goth, two of them start squabbling amongst themselves. Some rabid humourless twit will probably be unhappy to see a bitch-fight put the Britons at risk, but I would expect nothing else from this crew – they are all about human nature and silliness; they would rather poke fun at an agenda than pander to one.
As for the Romans in this movie – no one has had such a dreadful Italian accent since Chico Marx retired … but we can’t stay mad when we hear the line about … well, you’ll have to watch it, really. This could also double as an instructional video on how the “Celtic Kick” serves as a weapon of warfare.

As I say, not for everyone, but you should have enough info now to decide whether to try it or not.
MA 15+ Rating - nothing to worry about