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French and Saunders do Winehouse and Britney

by
Dorothy Snarker

Things that make me wish I lived in England: Afternoon tea, Wimbledon, the Union Jack, Kate Winslet and, now, this picture.

Yes, that is Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders dressed as celebrity train wrecks du jour Amy Winehouse and Britney Spears. The comedy team of French and Saunders took on the notorious bad girls for their upcoming BBC1 retrospective, A Bucket o’ French & Saunders. The six-episode series begins airing Sept. 7 ... if you live in the U.K. Bloody hell.

The skit will involve a beehived French/Winehouse pushing a shopping cart trolley full of empty booze bottles while a bedraggled Saunders/Britney wanders about with bad extensions and worse acne. This isn’t the first time the dynamic duo has taken on little Miss Oops! I Did It Again. The pair has parodied Britney and Madonna’s “Me Against the Music” video in the past. The bed frame scene alone makes it worth a look.



And let's not forget their inspired Tipping the Velvet spoof Tippin' o' the Velveteen. I laughed my arse off.

The only sad news amid the hilarity? French and Saunders' upcoming retrospective will probably be their last show. After 20 years performing together — and 30 years as friends — the women are hanging up their sketch comedy act. Read a very thorough profile about their decision from the Sunday Times here (and I mean thorough — at times I thought I was reading a therapy session transcript instead of a celebrity interview).

But take heart, they’ve committed to a farewell tour next spring. And we’ll always have the memories. And French’s dead-on Bjork impression.


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    • Submitted by
    Dorothy Snarker
    on August 29, 2007 - 6:37pm.
    CountessEntwistle's picture

    I love those two to bits!

    Submitted by
    CountessEntwistle (30 posts)
    on August 29, 2007 - 6:59pm.

    I've loved both Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders ever since I was 16 when I started watching Dawn's series, The Vicar of Dibley and Jennifer's, Absolutely Fabulous. I later discovered French and Saunders and...they alone are enough to make me want to immigrate to England. All I can say is thank goodness for YouTube because getting to watch them on tv is impossible since I don't get BBCAmerica at the moment and getting dvds can be hard. I got lucky and managed to snag a box set of The Vicar of Dibley while browsing at a Barnes and Noble store.

     

    MaebyFunke's picture

    Bless you

    Submitted by
    MaebyFunke (39 posts)
    on August 29, 2007 - 7:01pm.
    You're doing the good lord's work, Dorothy, I swear. French and Saunders are so damn brilliant. They do parody better than anyone. Tippin' o' the Velveteen is one of my favorites. But really, all of their movie parodies are genius. Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Titanic, Misery, etc. There's just no one else like those two.
    EmsInNz's picture

    One word

    Submitted by
    EmsInNz (19 posts)
    on August 29, 2007 - 7:10pm.

    Genius! 

    --------------------------- 

    www.NZGamer.com

    ereth's picture

    Fabulous!

    Submitted by
    Makkun (111 posts)
    on August 29, 2007 - 9:18pm.
    I absolutly love these two. The most hilarious skit I've ever seen was their version of Batman.
    _____________
    +Phantasie ist wichtiger als Wissen, denn Wissen ist begrenzt. 
    +Able to rock in four languages: English, Spanish, German and Japanese
    invisicoll's picture

    Love. Them.

    Submitted by
    invisicoll (24 posts)
    on August 29, 2007 - 9:23pm.

    I have Jennifer Saunders on a google alert, but I still managed to miss this article. There's so many articles about a Jennifer Saunders that's an athlete in Canada that I've grown to just delete the alerts without reading them.

    They are the perfect pairing. I love how Dawn French is so light on her feet and my favorite Jennifer sketches are when she's singing. I think my favorite sketch is when they are playing opera divas singing "I should be so lucky." I'm a little surprised they never parodied Bad Girls.

    I can understand why these two would want to take a break, but I'm looking forward to the inevitable reunion. In the meanwhile, I'll miss them madly.
    janneke's picture

    Oh.My.God.

    Submitted by
    janneke (51 posts)
    on August 30, 2007 - 11:10am.

    The 'I Should Be So Lucky' sketch is the best ever! But it's even better if you don't know that it's 'I Should Be So Lucky' that they're going to sing. And then you get these little hints and you puzzle it all together, they start doing the 'I - I - I - I - I' bits and it slowly dawns on you, hillarious!!!

    The air kisses, the looks on their faces when the real diva walks in! Dawn's character continually eating ice cream ('for my voice'), and the impressario fiddling with the recording equipment :-)

    Yes, that is definitely my favourite too!!!

    jennifer from pittsburgh's picture

    bring it on

    Submitted by
    jennifer from p... (1256 posts)
    on August 29, 2007 - 9:30pm.
    If yer gonna make fun of people...why not pick at the easy corpse? Brit and Wino fit the bill, so bring it on!
    brazen's picture

    LOL!

    Submitted by
    brazen (97 posts)
    on August 30, 2007 - 2:38am.

    That Bjork clip was a cracker - she sure has her to a T. thanks for that, I hadnt seen that one.

    katemc39's picture

    Another Reason to Live!

    Submitted by
    katemc39 (43 posts)
    on August 30, 2007 - 3:51am.

    I'm excited to see their upcoming series.  Their parody work is top-notch.  Not only are they fantastic mimics but the costumes and set designs are always note-worthy.  I think one of my faves is the Aliens parody where Kathy Burke takes on the super-lestastic Pvt. Vasquez. 

    How about their 'Phantom Menace' sketch?  Jennifer Saunders looks disturbingly right with chest hair.

    That 'Tipping the Velvet' spoof is great too....as much as I love the original material, I can't watch it the same way now without hearing French's 'I'm an oyster girl, miss'...

    scoutgems's picture

    Sheer comedy genius!

    Submitted by
    Scout (15 posts)
    on August 30, 2007 - 4:03am.

    I adore both of these women.  It's one reason to be thankful I'm British I guess, that I got to grow up watching these guys. They were part of a group of comics who defined my teens. Alongside Ade Edmunson (Jen's hubby), Rik Mayall,  Nigel Planer, Robbie Coltrane, Keith Allen (Lily's Dad), Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Victoria Wood (Acorn Antiques anyone?) and a whole host of others they gave us French and Saunders, A bit of Fry and Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, The Vicar of Dibley, Absolutely Fabulous, Murder Most Horrid, The Young Ones, Girls on Top (oh the memories with that one!!) and, among so many other titles, my personal favourite - 'The Comic Strip Presents...'  Not sure if they were ever shown in any other country but their version of Enid Blyton's 'Famous Five' was hysterical.

    For any of you who have never been introduced to Victoria Wood you have to see her sing 'The Ballad of Freda and Barry' better known as 'Lets Do It'. I remember watching it with my whole family when I was too young to know what they hell she was singing about and it was still funny!

    Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZCIKjYDf1g

     I can't even begin to think what growing up would have been like without that whole crew.

     I'm going to have to find out where I can see French and Saunders live for this final tour now!!! :)  I can't wait.  Thanks for the blog!

    brazen's picture

    victoria wood

    Submitted by
    brazen (97 posts)
    on August 30, 2007 - 4:46pm.

    Now there's someone who has a lot more comedy in her. Much better than catherine tate or any of the newer ones (Kathy Burke excluded). Ahhh wood & walters...

    Natasa's picture

    I simply adore French and

    Submitted by
    detelina (57 posts)
    on August 30, 2007 - 4:24am.

    I simply adore French and Saunders. Too bad I never saw their sketches :o/

    I have watched Vicar of Dibley, Absolutely Fabulous, Wild West and Let them eat cake. Nobody compares to them. They're the best!!!

    tucksioni's picture

    House of Idiot anyone?

    Submitted by
    tucksioni (80 posts)
    on August 30, 2007 - 5:12am.
    Too many great memories to mention from French and Saunders.
    But Jennifer does Jodie in Silence of the Lambs is a must see. 

    Also one of my personal faves was the parody of The House of Elliot (Louise Lombard was so one of my first FIG crushes). The House of Idiot is just fantastic,

    http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=house+of+idiot&search=Search

    Love em 
    faith55's picture

    French and Saunders

    Submitted by
    faith55 (27 posts)
    on August 30, 2007 - 7:21am.

    Oh my god, House Of Idiot is my all time favourite parody, so many genius lines in it like "Here we are in this inter war period" the crys of "Jack" and "Buttons" and the use of the old style phone! Amazing!

    In the most recent series I loved Dawn French's Catherine Zeta Jones impression, I cannot see CZJ now without thinking "Hello, I'm Catherine Zeta Michael Douglas Spartacus Jones"!

    Their comedy will be greatly missed!

    jorja's picture

    I love them.These are some

    Submitted by
    jorja (9 posts)
    on August 30, 2007 - 5:26am.

    I love them.

    These are some my favourite sketches.

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=YOM-_PYgQPY

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=FOG9BYmfDtY

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ev2ioN-yCCQ

     

    theDgrl's picture

    Want More

    Submitted by
    theDgrl (not verified)
    on August 30, 2007 - 5:44am.

    Those two are my favourite people who do sketches [3rd would be Little Britain]

    Thankyou for this blog, for making me happy today by bringing some of their old sketches back.

    Truely amazing, beautiful, and funny as hell <3

    "I never knew a love
    A love that could be sweeter
    No matter what my mind says
    Your music gives me fever"
    -iio "Is It Love?"

    kerplunksky's picture

    Loved this post!  I have

    Submitted by
    kerplunksky (48 posts)
    on August 30, 2007 - 9:53am.

    Loved this post!  I have always been a big fan of their work and watched all their series' I must admit a few sketches weren't all that funny but their parodies always hit the mark, especially the movie and music video ones!  House of Idiot and Titanic were always my favourites.  I also loved AbFab and Vicar of Dibley.

    Strangely I work in an arena and the several years before I worked here the first event I came to was French & Saunders Live tour, it was hilarious.  I will be keeping an eye out to see if they come back here next year.  If anyone gets the chance to see them live, definitely try!  My aunt was crying with laughter at Dawn French, she actually made everyone laugh just by walking on stage, it's the way she carries herself and the faces she makes.

    Looking forward to the series, thanks for the info.

    JillJ's picture

    Clatterford

    Submitted by
    bentley (13 posts)
    on August 30, 2007 - 1:10pm.
    Here's the new ensemble show that is a Saunders and French production. It's a sweet, quirky show about a women's guild in a small English town. Both ladies are in it as well as Joanna Lumley, Sue Johnston (Lena's mom in IY&M), Pauline McLynn (Bubbles?). Inspired by Calander Girls. I believe it is the show Jennifer refers to as Jam and Jerusalem in the Times article. BBC America shows it, but you can also rent it from netflix. 
    scoutgems's picture

    Nope...

    Submitted by
    Scout (15 posts)
    on August 31, 2007 - 2:25am.

    Pauline McLynn played Mrs Doyle in Father Ted (you know....'You'll have a cup of tea won't ya father, ah go on, go on, go on, go on, go on etc...).  Bubble in Ab Fab was played by Jane Horricks.

    Oh and the show is called 'Jam and Jerusalem'.

    perfectflaw75's picture

    All good things come to an end

    Submitted by
    Mara (906 posts)
    on August 30, 2007 - 3:37pm.

    I've always enjoyed French and Saunders. Loved their spoofs (The Poo Stripes, U2, Bros, ABBA, Boyzone, Lord of the Rings, Batman, House of Idiot, Star Wars, Silence of the Lambs, Harry Potter, Thelma & Louise, Baywatch etc.) Amazing how Jennifer Saunders morphs into male characters. I think she paved the way for a lot of others; one of the actresses in "Tittybangbang" makes Tom Cruise deadringer

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6szGQkPVsvo 

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtNAagACOic F&S both in drag *lol*

    _ _ _ _ _

    "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind." (Dr. Seuss)

    Brenda647's picture

    Two of the Funniest Ladies in Comedy

    Submitted by
    Brenda647 (90 posts)
    on August 30, 2007 - 7:36pm.

    I don't remember where I first saw them. I think it was the first year of Comedy Central broadcasts.  They were showing a lot of British comedy shows including Fry and Laurie, Lenny Henry and French and Saunders.

    The first show of their's I saw was the sketch comedy show.  There were so many wonderful characters. Then a few years later they came out with a show about them putting on a TV show. Not only were they funny, but the rest of the cast was hysterical.

    I can't think of two funnier women.  Even separately, they are wonderful. But together they are amazing.

    Hopefully, they will still be creating, even if they're not acting the roles themselves.  

    Long live French and Saunders!!!

    Peace, Joy and Love

    k8d's picture

    brilliant female comedy act....

    Submitted by
    its_just_a_thought (31 posts)
    on September 3, 2007 - 4:44pm.
    i always thought they should be on tv more they are probably two of the funniest female comedians we have, along with victoria wood to be fair, i'm gutted they won't be doing any more comedy shows. I loved Jam and Jerusalem, i think if i'm correct its one of the most recent shows they've been in together that was hilarious. I'm a huge Dawn French fan and have loved her in everything she's been in and everyone knows how great Jennifer Saunders was in Ab Fab was so I do hope they continue to work within the industry in some capacity.
    belfastbelle's picture

    Brilliant Craic

    Submitted by
    belfastbelle (4 posts)
    on September 5, 2007 - 2:28am.

    Thanks for making me laugh my legs off today. Dawn n' Jen are just fantastic. After 7 years in the good old U.S. of A. I had almost forgotten how hilarious they can be. I have heard that Dawn's Crissy special in her role as the "Vicar of Dibley" was stupendous, wonderful and piss your pants funny. Raging I didn't get to see it but hopefully soon.

     

    In my opinion both of their husbands (renowned comics in the U.K.) should be kneeling in front of them chanting "We are not worthy".

     

    Cheers!


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