User Reviews

Freddie Starr first gained regular exposure as a comedian when he appeared on London Weekend Television's 'Who Do You Do?' which saw the rubber faced comic pull off impersonations such as Adam Faith and James Cagney. By 1979, he was held in enough regard to be given his own weekly series - 'Freddie Starr's Variety Madhouse'- with Russ Abbot, Bella Emberg, Toni Palmer, Mike Newman and Norman Collier appearing alongside him as support. Unfortunately, it was not very good. The whole thing looked more like a televised pantomime. There were no sets, just backdrops used as scenery and despite some mildly amusing jokes, the show overall just could not amount beyond the status of mediocre.

Freddie Starr is great, but the 'Madhouse' series did not do him very many favours. Rumour has it that prior to production, Freddie would cause a rumpus as he was unhappy with the material he was given to work off of. The show also suffered from the friction between Starr and producer David Bell, who also earlier worked with Freddie on the dreadful 'Ready Freddie Starr'.

Sensing the show was not working, Freddie packed it in after the first series, where it was remade the following year as the much funnier and long running 'Russ Abbot's Saturday Madhouse'.

Russ Abbot: You're a complete idiot!

Freddie Starr; No, I'm not. I've got a tooth missing!

The above was one of the many witty ( note the sarcasm ) gags which graced 'Freddie Starr's Variety Madhouse', shown on Saturday nights on I. T. V. Back in 1979. Starr was known as the 'wild man of comedy'. He shot to stardom in the '70's after appearing on 'Opportunity Knocks', went on to headline L. W. T.'s 'Who Do You Do?', had a chart hit ( the soppy 'Its You' ) and starred ( pardon the pun ) in several one-off specials. By far and away the worst thing he ever did, however, was this dreadful series, which looked as though it were televised live from a seedy Northern workingmen's club. Surprisingly, it was made by London Weekend Television.

The endless stream of tenth-rate gags was poorly delivered, though it didn't stop the studio audience from sounding as though they were on laughing gas. When Freddie, in the first episode, shrieked: "Ow! My Nipple!", a woman could be heard expiring from the sheer hilarity of it all. The show's poor quality was all the more surprising because of the talent involved; as well as Freddie, there was Russ Abbot, Bella Emberg, Toni Palmer, Norman Collier and Mike Newman. After one series, Freddie wisely quit, and the show was relaunched as the much funnier 'Russ Abbot's Saturday Madhouse'.

When I wrote this review in 2006, a fellow IMDB member messaged me ( which you cannot do anymore ) to inquire as to why I had been so negative about the show. My reply was basically "If you'd seen it, you'd understand!". He must have thought I was unfairly maligning a work of comedic brilliance. Years passed. Then the show got posted onto You Tube, and my IMDB friend wrote a review of his own. You can read it here. No mention of comedic brilliance, you will notice.