Long before 'Father Ted' hit the screens, Ireland had a comedy icon in the shape of Dave Allen, one of the funniest deadpan comedians ever to grace a television screen.
'Dave Allen At Large' was his finest hour. It was a traditional sketch show with irreverent sketches interspersed with monologues from Allen sitting before the studio audience with a glass of whisky in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Most memorably, much of the comedy had Allen bashing Catholicism ( note that Allen was a Catholic himself ).
Some of my favourite sketches included a middle aged couple sitting morosely in their living room when all of a sudden their electric fire suddenly moves itself out of the room, leading the wife to remark ''the fire has just gone out!'', a man taking a bath only to end up being sucked down the plug hole when he tries to drain the water, a death row prisoner being given a cigarette as per his last request: ''A cigarette is no good with a light!'' he says to the executioner, to which the executioner responds: ''I told you, you only get one request!'', though the best had a man about to enter a confessional booth with a sign above the door reading 'Forgivable Sins', only for his conscience to get the better of him and steer him towards the booth where above a sign reads 'Unforgivable Sins'. As he enters the booth, he drops through the floor straight down into hell! Each edition would end with Allen saying to the audience ''Goodnight and may your god go with you!''.
Allen's regular supporting cast included Ronnie Brody, Chris Serle, Michael Sharvell Martin, Jacqueline Clarke. Scriptwriters included Allen himself, Terry Ravenscroft, Peter Vincent, Austin Steele and Colin Bostock Smith,
The final series ended in 1978, with a few seasonal specials appearing until the mid '80's. He did a stand-up based sketch show for the BBC in 1990 and one for ITV in 1993 but neither rivalled anywhere near the quality of 'At Large', Dave Allen died in 2005.
To conclude, 'Dave Allen At Large' was wonderful stuff that set a standard that wouldn't be matched until the arrival of 'Paul Merton: The Series' in 1991.
'Dave Allen At Large' was his finest hour. It was a traditional sketch show with irreverent sketches interspersed with monologues from Allen sitting before the studio audience with a glass of whisky in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Most memorably, much of the comedy had Allen bashing Catholicism ( note that Allen was a Catholic himself ).
Some of my favourite sketches included a middle aged couple sitting morosely in their living room when all of a sudden their electric fire suddenly moves itself out of the room, leading the wife to remark ''the fire has just gone out!'', a man taking a bath only to end up being sucked down the plug hole when he tries to drain the water, a death row prisoner being given a cigarette as per his last request: ''A cigarette is no good with a light!'' he says to the executioner, to which the executioner responds: ''I told you, you only get one request!'', though the best had a man about to enter a confessional booth with a sign above the door reading 'Forgivable Sins', only for his conscience to get the better of him and steer him towards the booth where above a sign reads 'Unforgivable Sins'. As he enters the booth, he drops through the floor straight down into hell! Each edition would end with Allen saying to the audience ''Goodnight and may your god go with you!''.
Allen's regular supporting cast included Ronnie Brody, Chris Serle, Michael Sharvell Martin, Jacqueline Clarke. Scriptwriters included Allen himself, Terry Ravenscroft, Peter Vincent, Austin Steele and Colin Bostock Smith,
The final series ended in 1978, with a few seasonal specials appearing until the mid '80's. He did a stand-up based sketch show for the BBC in 1990 and one for ITV in 1993 but neither rivalled anywhere near the quality of 'At Large', Dave Allen died in 2005.
To conclude, 'Dave Allen At Large' was wonderful stuff that set a standard that wouldn't be matched until the arrival of 'Paul Merton: The Series' in 1991.