Watching Telly - Snuff Box

In the last year I’ve become a big fan of comedy in Britain, especially one group of actors and writers who act in a very Mr. Show/Upright Citizens Brigade way of appearing in each other’s projects. I’ll try to take a look at all these different programs over the next few weeks, beginning with Snuff Box.

Snuff Box is my favorite of this new breed of BBC comedy because it features two of my favorite actors: Matt Berry (you’ve probably seen him as Julian Sanchez in Darkplace) and American transplant Rich Fulcher. Berry plays a hangman and Fulcher his assistant. The majority of the series takes place in gentlemen’s club where Berry and Fulcher seek to undermine each other while sipping scotch. These segments are intertwined with many nonsensical sketches that, unlike a lot of American comedy, don’t lampoon anything specific but are just generally subversive.

The sketches usually involve some recurring themes. Early on in the series, it’s revealed that Rich Fulcher is the love child of Mama Cass and receives a hefty royalty check from her estate as a result. The crafty and jealous Berry goes about finding ways to steal the check away. Berry also has an obsession with stealing away any woman that shows an interest in Fulcher. Some of the funniest scenes come when Berry is trying to woo a woman who he later learns already has a significant other, as seen below:

Music is a big part of the series with Berry being the composer behind all of it. Berry’s interest in music seems to outweigh his interest in acting. He’s released two albums and been the composer on half a dozen BBC series. Each episode of Snuff box ends with Berry remixing his theme song to mimic the styles of various pop singers, including The Mamas and The Papas and Phil Collins. The hilarious Mamas and Papas theme can be seen below:

If you’re a fan of very dark humor, Snuff Box would be right up your alley. Be warned that this is much darker and explicit than anything shown on American television. If you aren’t shocked by some of the material in this series you have to have something seriously wrong with you.