An Introduction To: Reeves and Mortimer

As the live show grew in popularity, Vic Reeves began making occasional television appearances, and eventually a TV pilot version of the live show (reduced to a half hour) was commissioned. This proved a success, and in 1990 a full series (in the UK, a television season is referred to as a series) of Vic Reeves Big Night Out made it to air on Britain’s most inventively-named television channel, Channel Four. By now, Vic and Bob were in effect a comedy partnership, co-writing and performing the shows, although at this stage Bob’s on-screen role was mostly that of sidekick to Vic’s host. The show attracted a very loyal following, and this would eventually lead to bigger and better things for Reeves and Mortimer. Two series of the show were produced, and a popular live tour of the act took to the road before the duo retired the format.

The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer

After the success of Vic Reeves Big Night Out, the pair took their comedy to a slightly larger audience with two series of BBC2’s The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer, starting in 1993. This show represented a departure from Big Night Out in that Mortimer now received equal billing, and equal parts in the on-screen comedy. It was also in this series that perhaps the finest element of Reeves and Mortimer’s humor really came into its own—character comedy, in a loosely sketch-based format.

Absurd, almost grotesque caricatures of celebrities often made appearances, as did original creations, such as the somewhat disturbingly odd folk music duo Mulligan and O’Hare. Music was an important element of their comedy from the beginning, and their shows would often open with relatively extravagant musical numbers. Each episode of The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer opened and closed with an energetic song-and-dance performance from the duo, the closing song describing why each of them “liked the smell of” various discordant objects and subjects.

Around the same time, Reeves and Mortimer vaulted further into the mainstream with the introduction of Shooting Stars. This show was a variation on the celebrity-based comedy panel show, a format which remains very popular in the UK, but has been virtually unseen in America since the 1960s, when shows such as What’s My Line enjoyed large viewing audiences. Infusing the most manic elements of the duo’s sketch and variety shows into a more family-friendly format proved to be a huge success. The show was hosted by Vic and Bob, and ostensibly pitted two teams of celebrities against each other in a quiz.

Shooting Stars

In actual fact, success of the show had little to do with the quiz or the celebrities who took part, who were mostly used as props for Reeves and Mortimer’s comedy. This is also the show which introduced the talents of Matt Lucas to a wide audience. Lucas would later eclipse Reeves and Mortimer’s fame as half of the team (with David Walliams) responsible for Little Britain. It was a dream job for Lucas, who had been a budding comedy talent and somewhat obsessive Reeves and Mortimer fan only a few years earlier.

Bob Mortimer had watched one of the young Lucas’s club performances, recognized his talent, and hired him to work with the pair, starting off with some minor roles in the first series of The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer. On Shooting Stars, Lucas was cast as George Dawes, a possibly schizophrenic “giant baby” who played the drums and acted as the show’s scorekeeper. The naturally hairless head of Lucas, combined with his wearing of a fuzzy pink romper suit (sometimes diapers) made his role one of the show’s most memorable highlights.

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