This was a better episode than the ones that have come previously. Not least because of the cavalcade of additional talent that appears, but also because the concepts are a bit less specific to the time of production than has been with some of the other shows.
The episode consists of three specific parodies. In the first, Walliams and Jessica Hynes play a married couple whose family life is dominated by a wise-cracking sock puppet, this is specifically a problem today as Walliams boss is coming for dinner. The second is "My cousin is English". Walliams plays a redneck American, and Paul Putner his son. Both are joined at the breakfast table by Lucas, who is a bowler hat wearing Englishman and the language and cultural barriers crash togehter. Finally, Reece Shearsmith plays a standup comedian in a "Seinfeld" parody, when his friends played by Walliams, Anna Francolini, Steve Pemberton, Bob Mortimer and Lucas all come to his house and hide from each other, for various reasons.
It's a thin target to aim for, parodying something that's unfunny and being funny yourself, and this episode doesn't hit it every time but does do a pretty good job. The first one is probably the least funny but does hit the mark of something like "Alf" with a wisecracking addition to the household. It also does the "boss coming to dinner" trope that is so universal, we've just seen it used on "Wandavision". The second again takes aim at the super broad concept sitcoms of the 1980's but things start to take a darker turn as Lucas takes his English character to darker places. The Seinfeld sketch is probably the funniest, as that starts to play with the format a little bit, the longer the sketch runs on. That is some cavalcade of comedic talent in that sketch too.
Still not much in terms of visual flashes for Edgar Wright, not that any would have been particularly in keeping with tone of the show.
The episode consists of three specific parodies. In the first, Walliams and Jessica Hynes play a married couple whose family life is dominated by a wise-cracking sock puppet, this is specifically a problem today as Walliams boss is coming for dinner. The second is "My cousin is English". Walliams plays a redneck American, and Paul Putner his son. Both are joined at the breakfast table by Lucas, who is a bowler hat wearing Englishman and the language and cultural barriers crash togehter. Finally, Reece Shearsmith plays a standup comedian in a "Seinfeld" parody, when his friends played by Walliams, Anna Francolini, Steve Pemberton, Bob Mortimer and Lucas all come to his house and hide from each other, for various reasons.
It's a thin target to aim for, parodying something that's unfunny and being funny yourself, and this episode doesn't hit it every time but does do a pretty good job. The first one is probably the least funny but does hit the mark of something like "Alf" with a wisecracking addition to the household. It also does the "boss coming to dinner" trope that is so universal, we've just seen it used on "Wandavision". The second again takes aim at the super broad concept sitcoms of the 1980's but things start to take a darker turn as Lucas takes his English character to darker places. The Seinfeld sketch is probably the funniest, as that starts to play with the format a little bit, the longer the sketch runs on. That is some cavalcade of comedic talent in that sketch too.
Still not much in terms of visual flashes for Edgar Wright, not that any would have been particularly in keeping with tone of the show.