Whole Lotta French and Saunders

This post was inspired by my good friend Jennie. For you newer readers that are wondering who Jennie is, the time will come for that post. For you more dedicated folk, you may remember her from other posts as: a friend from school, a friend from work, a good pally I had a good Thanksgiving turkey sandwich with. But this is really neither here nor there.

The point is that she referred to me as a “book obsessed” person one of her most recent blog posts. This is not offensive, nor worrisome. It was the word “obsessed” that made me start a-thinkin. I have been called this before in reference to many things: books (clearly), Beatles (you should see my room, it’s like I’m a teenager in the 60’s), and whatever currently grabs my fancy. Currently, my obsession de-jour is the ever funny French and Saunders (mostly Saunders) double act.

I stumbled onto this dynamic British duo during the summer. My dear friend David and I were in a public library several years ago (probably 2005-ish) just wandering around. He saw a copy of a show called Absolutely Fabulous, and asked me if I had ever seen it. I hadn’t. And at that time, my anglophile-ness hadn’t really reached the level it is now, so I brushed it off. I had always liked those old British sitcoms you see on PBS late at night, but didn’t actively seek them out. So, one day this summer, I saw Series 1 (they call 6 episode seasons “series” in the UK) of Absolutely Fabulous (or Ab Fab, as is commonly called) at the library. I picked it up skeptically because the cover of the DVD looked old. I was hooked within 10 minutes of the first episode.

The show revolves around a character named Edwina Monsoon (played by Jennifer Saunders), a self-obsessed, alcoholic, drug abusing, middle-aged woman who can’t get out of the 60’s. Sounds bleak? No, it’s hilarious because they pull it off with British humor. Here in the states they tend to not “go that far” with jokes and apologize the moment they do. They end out sitcoms (other than maybe Seinfeld) with sweet syrupy messages. This show does no such thing. Eddie’s best friend Patsy is just as bad, if not worse. Eddie also has a mild mannered daughter named Saffy who is their foil. The show was originally made in the early 90’s, and has 5 sporadic series (6 episodes each), with several “special Christmas episodes”, throughout the past 20 years. It is an iconic comedy in the UK and recently returned on Christmas day for another 30 minute special, with two more to follow in the next few months.

The show started from a 9 minute sketch on the French and Saunders sketch show. Jennifer Saunders took this character she had portrayed and decided to write a show around her. Dawn French, her comedy partner, was unable to do the series with her. Saunders has won a BAFTA (like an Emmy and Oscar mixed together) for her work on the show and was nominated for several others. The following clips are some of my favorites from the entire show (they are super short clips).

Eddie and Patsy are forced to take a menopause class

Baby shower confusion



Drug convictions

New Years Eve plans

After I had watched every episode twice, and then bought all the episodes, I decided to check out clips from the French and Saunders show. I’ll admit, I didn’t love it at first. The show is very British and it took me a couple tries before I could start understand their accents, and then catch on to the humor. Now, I own all of their series as well. The show started in the late 80’s, and they’ve since retired it. It is also an iconic show, and French and Saunders received the highest honor the BAFTA’s could give a couple years ago for their contribution to television. What I like most about the show is that it is two lead females and that when you watch it, you just keep thinking “That’s exactly what that’s like.” Of course, there is also slight exaggeration for comic effect, but I think what makes it so funny is that it is so true. I’ve attached two clips below that I think are pretty good.

"I've Had That"



Schoolyard Trouble