Sunday 12 May 2019

A Comedy On This Day: Spitting Image (13 May 1984)


 This first series is still taking an age to find its feet. The only moment to really capture my imagination is a choreographed sequence in a diner during the 'Do Doo Ron Ron' Reagan musical number. For some reason they've decided to include full size figures of Ayatollah Khomeini and an Iranian woman among the revellers, meaning that - in a tiny space of a few feet - a dancer in heavy robes and a rubber mask has been expected to jump into the arms of (and be caught by) a similarly incommoded figure. It brings it home to you just how on the hoof production of this programme was.

 One thing that will invariably - if only momentarily - perk up my interest watching these old episodes is that two or three "I don't remember them having a puppet" faces will always turn up every edition. Alongside of Gary Hart, this week also features Saatchi & Saatchi and Len Murray. Len Murray! I doubt that they were still using models of trade union leaders by the mid-nineties (John Monks? Bill Morris?)

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