omg, that was hilarious.  esp the first half.  Funniest thing I’ve seen all day.

Hilarious!

The BBC is awesome.

They've been cross dressing for their spoofs for ages (and playing with gender and sexuality). From the top of my head: The Poo Stripes (with Jennifer Saunders as Jack White), Bros (British 80s boy band), LotR, Batman, Jennifer Saunders as Bono... There's just too many to mention. 

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"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)

I love love Jennifer Saunders. I'm such a huge AbFab fan.

Thanks to youtube I discovered 'French & Saunders'. I'll be eternal grateful for that.

Other great movie parodies are 'Cold Turkey (movie Cold Mountain) and a Silence of the lamb parody.

Cold Turkey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE4dyN4tPqo

Also, Dawn can morph into anyone. You have to see her as Pam Anderson in the Baywatch spoof from the mid-90s. Hilarious. I love their parodies, in particular - so many levels of brilliance. Each time you watch you realize how complexly layered they are.

...effing hilar. The subtle incorporation of "Lady Marmalade" into the musical number is hysterical.

Their parody of Misery is not to be missed, either. I heart French & Saunders.

This has definitely always been one of my fave French and Saunders skits! Dawn definitely can morph into anyone, I love her as "Catherine Spartacus Zeta-Douglas-Jones" too - but hey, I just love anything to do with Catherine.

 Catherine Spartacus Zeta-Douglas-Jones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqyp96gmtxs

They're always throwing that line around and it always makes laugh. But "Don't get funny - it's Christmas night"... that takes the cake. Love it! And I'm old enough and (originally) English enough to pick the other parody at the beginning - did anyone else used watch "The Olden Days"? with the audience ooo-ing and ahh-ing at the MC's loquacity?

My favourite F&S parody was actually one of their first - Dangerous Liaisons, when their dresses matched the curtains and they were sharing unbelievably complicated gossip when Dawn said that someone was having an "affair with a porcupine...sorry, a CONcubine. I always get those confused."  

To all those expressing their undying crushes for Jennifer Saunders, I'm sorry to tell you she's been married forever to the very funny Adrian Edmonson (who's probably almost as famous as her everywhere but the US) and they have about 500 children. But you can still dream.

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Well my father has just reminded me it was called the Good Old Days, not the Olden Days. Not that I'm sure anyone cares. But I was looking at the BBC website and there's a picture of the new (new to me anyway) Dr Who and his HOT!!! assistant. (Wearing leather - do I need to say more?) What's that about? Are any of the UK readers able to fill me in here? Have we returned to the days of a (he-hem) glamorous Dr's assistant? (Not that anyone will ever replace Sara-Jane Smith in my affections...) 

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Yeah, Dawn's Catherine Zeta-Douglas Spartacus Jones impersonation is spot on, especially the one where she calls Michael Douglas her granddad. I just laugh thinking of it.

I also love the Thelma & Louise parody, too, especially when it's revealed they're driving somewhere in England... so funny. Part of what makes their parodies so brilliant, I think, is how reflexive they are. They always break the fourth wall (I think that's the phrase) and start talking to each other (e.g., asking, "Are you going to do the accent?" "I am doing the accent." or getting on each other's nerves). So different from the parodies I've seen (on US TV).

Their opera divas skit, which isn't a movie parody, is also ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT! 

I love Saunders' face when she smells Nancy Boy's hand and when she tells her to put the glove back on. And when Nancy says 'Do you think I smell like a mermaid?'. Hilarious.

I had no idea Rachael Sterling was Diana Rigg's daughter! Thanks for the Frank Skinner clip jinx1125. Imagine that - having Mrs Peel as your mum. So Diana Rigg played Mrs Peel in the Avengers opposite Patrick MacNee as John Steed and of course Joanna Lumley played Purdy opposite MacNee in the New Avengers before reigniting her career years later as Patsy in AbFab opposite Jennifer Saunders, who developed the show around a sketch she originally wrote with Dawn French. Which brings us full circle.

And Patrick MacNee's mother was a lesbian (at least, I remember him saying so on a talk show years ago). So there you go. 

OK it's official. I need to get a life.

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They are brilliant. This is one of my favorite sketches:

Opera ladies lol which only really works if you know the song I should be so lucky, but hey I didn't know it and still found it funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80knHbZMVXE

Thx to everyone for the links.  I spent the morning watching F&S clips and laughing my ass off.  And spewing coffee.  So my computer’s a little sticky, but I can’t think of a better way to start my day.  Going out with a big smile now :D

Yeah, this is great, knowing there are other F & S AfterElleners out there!

 I don't get BBC America, so I can't watch Jam & Jerusalem (Clatterford), save for the excerpts on YouTube. It seems like it's been picked up in the UK for a second season, which is great. I think Jennifer Saunders has shot the pilot for a solo-starring programme, Vivienne Vyle, about a talk show psychologist, I think. And, I've heard she's reteaming with Dawn for a tour next year. That should be great!

heard of French and Saunders until this blog post.

 All I can say is: This proves that I live in the wrong country. I've spent the past 2 days Youtubing for French and Saunders clips and I haven't stopped laughing since.

Love, love, love, love.

I came home and went straight to their movie parodies - Misery, Titanic, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter.  My stomach still hurts from laughing.

Now if only they would do a spoof of Bad Girls...

There is a commercial currently running that features the old Petula Clark song, Downtown.  I can't even hear that song now without bursting into fits of giggles thinking of the Gape commercial on F&S Live revolving around that song. 

Dawn French is without a doubt my favorite pathological upstager. 

Apologies in advance, but I’m going to be the lone voice of dissent here!

Firstly, let me just say that I used to love F&S, but I don’t think they’ve been officially funny now for the last decade or so (maybe apart from the odd sketch). Most of the stuff they do now is painfully unfunny, and these film/TV parodies are so tiresome, but it’s something they always seem to fall back on when they run out of fresh ideas.

Gina Riley/Jane Turner???

OK SophieStLucas, I give up. How on earth has a good Welsh lass heard of them? Don't tell me Kath and Kim actually made it beyond Australia? That's brilliant. But does the extremely Australian (actually, extremely Melbourne!) context translate? (Kim: But I want to be effluent mother. Kath: You ARE effluent, Kimmy, you ARE!)

And Agent Starling, don't worry, you're not alone. I agree with you - it was all downhill after the second series. Actually, it was all down hill since Five Go mad on Mescalin.

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