Coogan's post-Alan Partridge series is pretty rock solid. He's carved out a pretty great character, as the once somewhat cool Tommy Saxondale--a former roadie for many of the great 70s and 80s rock bands who has settled rather uncomfortably (each episode starts with him hijacking an anger-management class) into a more suburban lifestyle as an pest-control guy, who is smarter than he appears but is unable to relate to his suburban brethren. The awkwardness (latent in most British comedy) arises generally in a few ways: Tommy's compulsive verbosity, eventually placing his foot in his mouth; Tommy's unexpected worldliness falling on deaf ears as his clients tend to be either a) not interested in hearing the philosophical waxings of their exterminator, or b) completely ignorant of what he is expounding upon ad nauseum; Tommy's sexual piccadilloes or embarrassing physical conditions being exposed. When any of these things happen, he has to hold back his anger, which queers out everyone around him.
Random notes on the series to follow:
- I like how the actress who plays Tina (Sarah Hadland) in episode five has played essentially the same role in two things I've seen her in recently--she was also in The Dinner Party episode of "The IT Crowd"--the over-sexed thirty(possibly-forty)something.
- Vicky's cattiness and the ensuing twitching fits it sends Tommy into is hilarious.
- The semi-goth squatter Coogan plays is brilliant
There'll probably be more on this later on down the line, but Coogan (Steve, not Keith) is aces in my book.
1 comment:
I was so taken aback by the Keith Coogan reference that I actually laughed aloud. Um, damn you for making me laugh with such a cheap trick.
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