A moped and an overweight, bald-headed, thuggish looking man in a cast-off suit which looks as though it has shrunk in the wash. Put those two together and what have you got?
If any single individual epitomised the alternative comedy movement of the '80's, it was Alexei Sayle. Looking like a newly released convict whose suit has gotten too small for him, he bludgeoned audiences into submission with a powerful blend of surreal humour and satire.
Sure, Alexei isn't always spot on, and sure, he's much easier to follow if the viewer is at least a little drunk (the more the merrier). Nevertheless, the way he opens his shows alone is worth the price of admission, whether it's the small children singing "Who's an ugly bastard and as fat as he can be...
Alexi Sayle's style is extremely political, and if you listen to his audio-book of early comedy club recordings, you'll hear the prototypes for many of the gags which appear in Stuff. Marshall & Renwick have a distinctly different style - they came from the world of radio comedy - "The Burkis Way to Dynamic Living" was one of theirs (that mutated into a short-lived TV version on ITV with the same cast, but it was too surreal to last on the low-brow ITV).
Just like the inventors of true 'new' 'alternative' comedy, aka The Goons and Monty Python, when you thought it was safe to come out into the 'normal' TV comedy world, along came Alexei Sayle's Stuff. Straight out of the alternative comedy basket and into his own series here.
Stuff is the best comedy series, and it is amazing how a comedian can come up with such original stuff for so long. Unlike other comedians he does not constantly recycle jokes through various characters.
Alexei Sayle produced one of the finest programs ever seen on BBC2, recording three series of 'stuff'. The supporting cast were excellent.
Alexei Sayle and his writers somehow managed to make several series of surreal humour and not be compared to Monty Python, even with Cleese-a-like Angus Deyton in the days before he disappeared up his own smug a**e.Largely unnoticed at the time and widely unrepeated, this was a series that deserved more credit than it was ever given.
Comedy, most especially contemporary comedy, seems to stand more chance than anything else of dating.I was disappointed to see highlights of this series and realise that, just twelve years on, "Stuff" has lost its bite.
