|
Bo Selecta
Background Information: Bo Selecta Bo Selecta! is a British TV comedy sketch show & the brainchild of writer/performer, Leigh Francis. The humour involved in Bo Selecta! derives from masks, puppetry, brutal catchphrases, vulgar jokes & imagery & the exposing of celebrity pretentiousness disguised as enthusiastic fan worship. Despite being a relatively new show, Bo Selecta! has so far been rewarded with three complete TV seasons, a Christmas special, a hit music single called Proper Chrimbo & a diverse fanbase. In reality & in interviews, Francis is seldom seen outside of his role as the celebrity-obsessed & sexually tilted Avid Merrion. Merrion essentially presents the show. In the first two seasons of Bo Selecta! Avid lives in his flat with his dead mother slouched in one cupboard & Craig Phillips from TVs Big Brother chained up in another. By the time Series 3 comes around, Avid becomes conscious of his newly hightened status in popular culture & is given the freedom to talk one-on-one with his celebrity heroes on his own chat show. DVD Extras: Bo' Selecta! on disc features numerous extras, including a behind the scenes feature in which the production team discuss making the show , deleted scenes including Gareth Gates as a Tourette's victim, which was deemed a little beyond the pale, some unfunny bloopers & a feature on the life story of Craig David with Kate Thornton, including an unmissable nativity scene in which the infant Craig plays Jesus. There's also a commentary, with Merrion as his stalker self watching himself with consternation. It's a pity we don't get to hear from the real Merrion.
Featuring Avid Merrion as the Scandinavian stalker/host & sketches in which he plays the parts of pop stars like Craig David & Britney Spears in lurid, latex masks, Bo Selecta! is a brilliantly surreal take on celebrity culture. This first series features a number of cameos & guest appearances from minor celebs: Boyzones Keith Duffy, Davina McCall, Vanessa Feltz & the hapless Christine Hamilton, one of numerous guests to be interviewed by a puppet bear played by Merrion whose feverish line of questioning invariably results in him sprouting a little erection. Another character is hauled up in a neckbrace , but Merrions innocent broken English cant conceal the fact that hes a psychotic sex maniac who explicitly lusts after celebs who make me do a sex wee, keeps Craig from Big Brother locked in a cupboard & his dead mother in a wardrobe. Merrions pop spoofs are also masterly: rather than mimic the stars, he reinvents them, Mel B & Britney Spears, as farting, hairy-chested Northerners, slobbing out on fry-up breakfasts washed down with lager and, most improbably, Michael Jackson as a cussing, jive-talking black dude à la Huggy Bear. Bo Selecta! doesnt so much satirise celebrities as debase them, exposing their humiliating none-dimensionality by drawing them into a vortex of vulgar absurdity, not unlike Vic Reeves Shooting Stars. Of course, they play along, theyre on television. Although initially off-putting to some, once you get into Bo Selecta! there is, as for Big Brothers Craig, no escape. Biography: Craig Phillips Craig Phillips was the winner of the first series of the British Big Brother show. After leaving the house Craig annouced he was giving his £70,000 prize fund to his friend Joanne to pay for her heart & lung transplant. He went on to feature in comedy series Bo Selecta! He also appeared in the reality TV series, Back to Reality. A builder before entering the Big Brother house, Phillips was brought in as the DIY expert for Housecall & Housecall in the Country on the BBC. He also co-presented episodes of Trading Up & Big Strong Boys. Craig Phillips at the Internet Movie Database.
Editors Choice: Bo Selecta, View DVDology
Leigh Francis is a comedian from Leeds, England. He married Jill Carter on Halloween, 2003. Francis was discovered by television presenter Davina McCall, who got him regular appearances on MTV UK. This kick-started his television career. In postmodern fashion, Leigh Francis conducts every interview & arrives at every celebrity function in his character guise of Avid Merrion. Francis has taken Andy Kaufman s Tony Clifton creation & carried it to an extreme so that the identity of the performer is completely lost beneath that of the character while in the limelight. Many have trouble understanding that Avid Merrion is a fictional creation & Francis name means very little in popular discourse. Avid Merrion is most famously known from British television comedy sketch show, Bo Selecta ! Avid used to be a stalker of celebrities but is now allowed to socialise with them thanks to his new status as a celebrity himself. Born in the small town of Arachnipuss near Transylvania, Romania to a father who was a Dracula Impersonator, Avid grew up to be the number one super fan, here in the world.
Editors Choice: Bo Selecta, A Bears Tail, View DVDology
Additional Articles & Resources: ©2004-2008 DVDArk.co.uk * Some data on DVD Ark is derived from this GNU FDL article.
| 
