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Kenny Everett - The Complete Naughty Bits

Umbrella Entertainment/AV Channel . R4 . COLOR . 114 mins . PG . PAL

  Feature
Contract

Hello my little Jam Butties.

Anathema (ha!) to wowsers everywhere, Kenny Everett first burst onto the airwaves in Britain via radio. Then he burst off again after being sacked for being too naughty.

But then he returned – only to nick off again, you guessed it, for being too naughty once more. Luckily for us, however, those radio and television folk in England seemed to have short memories, for he returned yet again, this time to telly screens, and weekdays with The Goodies and Doctor Who were never the same again for a generation who are now out there at large in society, many of whom hold down positions of great importance throughout the land. Bwahaha!

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'Ullo plebs...

Sadly some will be asking at this point, “just who the doobrie is this Kenny Everett fellow of which they speak?”. Well, suffer in your panties peoples, for you missed out on one of the silliest, most irreverent, cheeky and fab little media terrorists ever to have climbed inside a television set and gone off like a ferret in a rissole. Ask anybody who grew up with him about the likes of Marcel Wave (from Paris – he’s French, you know?), Brother Lee Love (who could easily grasp the whole world in his hands), Angry of Mayfair or the always delightful bit of rough Sid Snott and you’re likely to see somebody glassy eyed with nostalgia. Erm, either that or they’re just conking out for they’re so damned old now. Alright, we’re talking the late ‘70s and early ‘80s here, but the best bit about revisiting Kenny Everett after all these years is that, unlike much which we cherish from childhood and eventually reinvestigate only to be completely embarrassed at its sheer crapness, is that it still holds up as being an absolute hoot-a-roony today.

Two compilations released many years ago on video are the basis of this release, Kenny Everett’s Naughty Bits and the sequel with the ever-so-inspired title More of Kenny Everett’s Naughty Bits. At almost two hours in duration there’s plenty to bring those memories flooding back, with such regulars as Commercial Time, Fulcrum (the programme which looks at the world today and says “focus!” with Quentin Pose), the baby, the cowboy guy, the stand-up guy, the priest guy, the Choc-Block-proportioned general guy, the giant gold Brillo pad Tinselman, 30 Second Theatre (plays for people in a hurry), Star Quiz (where famous people try to avoid the gunge), Superstar Interviews and, of course, the naughtiest bits of them all in the gratuitous Dallas set to music segments featuring the Hot Gossip dancers, and lest we forget the world’s most fabulous man with his adventures so bold and staggering that they made Star Wars look like a home movie, the remarkable exploits of Captain Kremmen of Star Corps (and of course his assistant, the world’s most voluptuous woman Carla) – and both in cartoon and live action form! Hey, there’s even lots of Cliff Richard!

And now it’s over there time…

  Video
Contract

More than 20 years old, made for telly, shot mostly on video – you guessed it, this is hardly the most fab-a-roony looking transfer you’re ever going to clap your peepers on. Naturally presented in full frame, there’s the odd fleeting glitch, touches of video noise, and when it comes to the animated adventures of Captain Kremmen, all manner of grain, flecks and general ickiness. However, it’s certainly not shocking, and any fan of Mr Everett will be just so gosh darned grateful to relive old memories that any impurities will probably skate by like a drink to a parched gunslinger…

Oh yes, before we depart this little section, the layer change is one of the clunkiest you’ll ever encounter, mega-throbbing two scenes at a great rate of fastness for a few seconds whilst the player gets things together.

  Audio
Contract

Oh dratty-poos, the sound isn’t exactly spiffy, now is it? Realistically it isn’t surprising that mono audio pumped through a Dolby Digital stereo mix is all we get, but sadly the programme’s age shows, with regular walls of hiss and the odd muffled bits. When Hot Gossip strut their stuff the deficiencies are really evident, as the songs used tend to head easily into distortion and just sound, well, kind of naff. And no smarty-bum, it’s not because they’re early ‘80s ditties…

Still, all is synched to perfection when it's supposed to be, and it ain’t gonna get much better than this. It isn’t horrific, just not what we’re used to now that we’re all spoiled with hyper-super six channel mixes and the like.

  Extras
Contract

Hmm, lots of extras! Oh, wait – scratch the surface and there ain’t really much.

Candid Kenny is simply a gallery of ten stills, Biography - well, if you can’t work it out then you’re a number nuts than the numbest of nuts (to sum up – reasonably thorough, very teensy font) and Commercial Time is two ads for the videos (total time 1:24).

The next two, Captain Kremmen and Hot Gossip are simply direct links to the featured episodes of each in the main programme – six Kremmens and seven Hot Gossips, gyrating in a turny-onny manner to tracks from the likes of Isaac Hayes, Sparks, Flying Lizards and Nick Gilder.

Wrapping stuff up is the ubiquitous Umbrella Propaganda - simply the opening credits sequences for ‘70s Britcoms Man About the House (1:06) and George & Mildred (0:40).

  Overall  
Contract

Despite the average DVD quality, the return of Kenny Everett to our little glowing doobrie boxes of pleasure is sheer nirvana for lovers of dead clever things – yes it’s actually real and really actual! So set’em up bartender, assail your Thron banks and buy it today – or at least tomorrow.

Au revoir my little Snack Pups…


  • LINK: http://www.dvd.net.au/review.cgi?review_id=2743
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      And I quote...
    "Yes it’s actually real and really actual; the return of Kenny Everett to our little glowing doobrie boxes of pleasure…"
    - Amy Flower
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Pioneer DV-535
    • TV:
          Sony 68cm
    • Receiver:
          Onkyo TX-DS494
    • Speakers:
          DB Dynamics Eclipse RBS662
    • Centre Speaker:
          DB Dynamics Eclipse ECC442
    • Surrounds:
          DB Dynamics Eclipse ECR042
    • Subwoofer:
          DTX Digital 4.8
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard RCA
    • Video Cables:
          Standard Component RCA
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