Bruiser (TV Series)
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''Bruiser'' is a British comedy sketch television show that was produced for
BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...
. It premiered on 28 February 2000 and ran for six episodes, ending on 15 March 2000. The principal writers were David Mitchell and
Robert Webb Robert Patrick Webb (born 29 September 1972) is an English comedian, actor and writer. He rose to prominence alongside David Mitchell as part of the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb. Mitchell and Webb starred in the Channel 4 sitcom '' Peep Show' ...
. Additional writers included
Richard Ayoade Richard Ayoade ( ; born 23 May 1977) is a British comedian, actor, writer, director and presenter. He played the role of socially awkward IT technician Maurice Moss in Channel 4 sitcom ''The IT Crowd'' (2006–2013), for which he won the 2014 Br ...
and
Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, television producer and filmmaker. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office (British TV series), The Office'' (2001–2003) ...
. The BBC writes, "And if the series itself is not widely remembered, it's notable not least for bringing together an immensely talented group of young performers who have since joined the 'A' list of British comedians." In addition to Mitchell and Webb, cast members included
Olivia Colman Sarah Caroline Sinclair ( Colman; born 30 January 1974), known professionally as Olivia Colman, is an English actress. She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, four BAFTA Awards, two Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Award ...
,
Martin Freeman Martin John Christopher Freeman (born 8 September 1971) is an English actor. Among other accolades, he has won two Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Freeman's most ...
,
Matthew Holness Matthew James Holness (born 1975) is an English comedian, director, author, plus actor. He is known for creating and portraying the fictional horror author Garth Marenghi. Early life and education Born in Whitstable, Kent, Holness became a fa ...
and
Charlotte Hudson Charlotte Hudson (born 4 January 1972) is an English actress and television presenter. Hudson was born in Sheffield. Her brother is actor Robert Hudson. Education and early career After attending Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, Hudson started ...
. Due to much of the cast's later popularity, the show has achieved cult status.


Sketches

* Two Writers: (Webb and Colman) pitch surreal ideas for television shows to
Alan Titchmarsh Alan Fred Titchmarsh (born 2 May 1949) is an English gardener, broadcaster and writer. After working as a professional gardener and a horticultural journalist, he became a radio and television presenter and a novelist. Early career Alan Fred T ...
's agent (Mitchell). *Outdoor Wee: Television host Keith (Holness) interviews celebrities one-on-one (played by Mitchell, Webb, Colman, and Freeman) whilst the two urinate outdoors at a unique location around Britain, on a TV programme called "Outdoor Wee". *I'm Not A...: A hapless, paranoid man (Freeman) mentally over-analyses the situations he stumbles into and worries that he looks like he has perverted intentions. He then panics and shouts out loud something he's not doing, to the bewilderment of people around him. *All Pile On: An obese man with a high-pitched voice (Holness) seizes any opportunity to call out "All pile on!" when he comes across someone lying on a flat surface in public, causing a group of strangers to appear and stack themselves on the unsuspecting victim. *Q: A
James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
spoof in which inventor Q (Mitchell) shows off new "weapons" to James Bond (Freeman) which are mostly ordinary objects. Q never demonstrates them properly. Instead, he takes out his fury on a dummy by punching and kicking an imaginary enemy. *Sparky: A mischievous
puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in anci ...
named Sparky (voiced by Webb) constantly pranks and publicly humiliates his human friend Roger (Freeman). *Pussy on a Stick: A suave
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
n man (Holness) boasts about various hobbies he participates in to pick up women, including lawn bowls, choir singing, and grave tending, calling them "
Pussy ''Pussy'' () is an English noun, adjective, and—in rare instances—verb. It has several meanings, as slang, as euphemism, and as vulgarity. Most commonly, it is used as a noun with the meaning "cat", or "coward" or " weakling". In slang, ...
on a stick." *Touchy Builder: A builder (Holness) becomes extremely angry about being called "touchy" by his workmate (Freeman). *Bickering Couple: A married couple, Gary and Samantha (Freeman and Colman), constantly argue about Gary's faddish new interests such as converting to
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
, claiming to be
gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...
, or a fear of being
murdered Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excu ...
. *Sasha Solomon: An American TV journalist (Colman) viciously offends British actors and actresses during interviews with them, while backhandedly complimenting the UK as being enlightened enough to embrace actors that Americans would never accept. *Hollywood Interviews: A Hollywood celebrity interviewer (Mitchell) interviews celebrities at their homes and makes irrelevant, opinionated remarks. At the same time, he constantly fears offending them. *Steve: A cautiously exploitative man (Webb), who uses hypothetical scenarios and draws logically extreme conclusions with his friends and coworkers to take gross advantage of their offers. *A group of French artists, who carry puppets and remark about dead artists in black and white sketches. The sketch is a parody of French new wave films. *Do You Do Poison?: A fast-paced, tense and inquisitive man (Webb) barges into businesses asking for poison and other outlandish means of killing his wife, but proclaims his innocence whenever the business employee questions his intentions. *IT Guy: An IT worker (Holness) within the office who consistently uses vulgar, vague language to explain and condescend to his colleagues on PC hardware and software. *Girl Talk: A pair of female friends (Colman and Hudson) discuss sexual habits in a bar, constantly finishing each other's sentences until Colman's character says something different or unusual, causing Hudson's character to be disgusted. * A man (Freeman) attempts to impress a woman (Colman) by doing silly things from a distance, then eventually injures himself or others in the process. * Workers in an office fall victim to childish pranks, before lamenting to the camera the inconvenience it has brought them. *Condescending Worker: A frustrated, angry, and sarcastic man (Mitchell) who works in various roles (e.g. bartender, plumber, paramedic) acts condescendingly and insultingly towards the people he is serving. He proves himself utterly incompetent at the task at hand and angrily berates himself. *BBC Knowledge Fun Size: A parody of the BBC's Bite Size TV series. Presenters (Webb and Hudson) give banal A-Level revision "lessons" on subjects such as French, Geography, and Philosophy, consisting entirely of useless, irrelevant or incorrect information. *Cultured Dilettante: A man (Freeman) tries to convince his friends (Holness and Hudson) that he is cultured and knowledgeable in areas such as modern art, jazz, and ballet. *Two police officers (Mitchell and Webb) go about their duties for a documentary-style show. Webb's character has great difficulty explaining very simple concepts to the viewer, and is at times incompetent at his job. Mitchell plays a brooding, violent policeman of few words.


Series writing credits

* Russell Young *Richard Parker *Jason Doll-Steinberg *David Tomlinson *Daniel Lander *
Richard Ayoade Richard Ayoade ( ; born 23 May 1977) is a British comedian, actor, writer, director and presenter. He played the role of socially awkward IT technician Maurice Moss in Channel 4 sitcom ''The IT Crowd'' (2006–2013), for which he won the 2014 Br ...
*
Bathsheba Doran Bathsheba Sarah Lee "Bash" Doran is a British-born playwright and TV scriptwriter living in New York City. Life & Education Bathsheba Doran, nicknamed "Bash", grew up in London and her mother is the Elizabethan historian, Susan Doran. She beca ...
*
James Bachman James Hamilton Bachman (born 24 February 1972) is an English comedian, actor and writer. He has written for and acted in many British television and radio programmes, including ''That Mitchell and Webb Look'', '' Saxondale'', '' Bleak Expecta ...
*
Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, television producer and filmmaker. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office (British TV series), The Office'' (2001–2003) ...
* David Mitchell *
Robert Webb Robert Patrick Webb (born 29 September 1972) is an English comedian, actor and writer. He rose to prominence alongside David Mitchell as part of the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb. Mitchell and Webb starred in the Channel 4 sitcom '' Peep Show' ...


Reception

''
The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...
'' included it on their list of the "10 Great Forgotten Comedy Shows".


DVD release

The series was released on DVD on 23 July 2007.


References


External links

*
BBC ''Bruiser'' guideBruiser, IMDB
{{Mitchell and Webb 2000 British television series debuts 2000 British television series endings 2000s British comedy television series BBC television sketch shows British television shows featuring puppetry British English-language television shows