stubbers
I've just given a 1 star review to PhoneShop, so I wanted to redress the balance by giving almost perfect review to both series of Facejacker. If anyone reading my other review thinks I don't understand modern comedy then hopefully this will set them straight: it's not me, it's PhoneShop that is the problem! Evidently phones are much more fun when they're "jacked" rather than "shopped", as it were, as Kayvan Novak proved so deftly in the original prank phone call show. Terry Tibbs became an immediate sensation, and in Facejacker the strange car-salesman is brought to life.Taking an overview of both series, Terry Tibbs started off amazingly, then tailed off slightly, then made a great comeback. The first couple of Terry Tibbs appearances, when he hijacked proceedings at Pricedrop TV and then his stunning Come Dine With Me spot, were hilarious! As with Fonejacker, the comedy comes from people's bemused reactions to this obviously full-of-it cockney spiv. Adding to the prank are frequent appearances by Terry's son and daughter, just about the only other people on camera who are in on the joke.After a few less funny sketches, Terry bounced back in Series 2 with "Talk To Terry", the new Jerry Springer show and one which should be commissioned as a real series. Terry takes to US chat shows like a duck to water, although he will have to perfect the art of running through the audience without falling over! "He's a gay! He's a gay!" he gets the crowd to chant after one poor guy fails a lie-detector test, having denied he is homosexual. Lord alone knows what the audience made of this, but they seemed to have fun on the set, and I certainly had fun watching at home.The final Terry Tibbs sketch was "The Apprentibbs", which also featured a hilarious new character Patrick: exactly the kind of eccentric person I've met at various workplaces, making you think: "where DO these people come from?". This is the kind of caricature Kayvan is so good at, not just boring clichés but genuine three-dimensional characters with an implicit back story that makes you wonder about the rest of their lives. You can see this with Terry himself - from a voice on a fake phone call, he evolved into a real man with a real family, real kids and many real ex-wives! You can also see it with Ray Fakadakis, a late addition to the show but a highly welcome one! Ray probably became the star of the second series, and I for one am crying out for more Ray in the future! On one level the shifty ex-con Liverpudlian is a very obvious stereotype, and in lesser hands it would have just raised a yawn. But in Kayvan's genius hands Ray becomes a hero, a pathos-inspiring creature who is desperately, frantically trying to remain positive and happy whilst fighting some very dark demons. It's going to take him a lot of time and a lot of affirming "I'm amazing!" before he finds the contentment that he genuinely wants to impart into the next generation. It's probably going to take an even longer time for his hapless students to fully comprehend the wisdom of Ray's advice, especially his altruistic gift of a Cup-a-soup to a gobsmacked young teenager.I haven't even got to Brian Badonde yet, another true star. His finest encounter was possibly with the LA rappers, poor guys! This was closely followed by Bick at the Fine College with his nude class (I mean, we've all stood naked in the middle of the room while some nice friends paint us, haven't we?) Everyone in Brian's path ended up obliterated by the bonkers, braying, barking art critic and his Bourette's syndrome. The funny thing is watching people gamely trying to maintain dignity and an academic tone while this charlatan pseudo art expert talks gibberish.Another treat was the various guises of the talking machine: from Moira's Drive Thru to an automated tourist kart in San Francisco, the machine unfailingly misheard its instructions, broke down with technicalty difficultings, and just plain confused its users.Augustus Kwembe tried scamming people using hypnosis, he pretended to be a traffic warden and a supermarket cashier, plus many more scams besides.Dufrais was probably the hardest character to watch, and the most thought-provoking. I would even say on one or two occasions he crossed the line into actually being unfunnily obnoxious, but even in those moments there was clearly a point to Dufrais. How much slack do we cut disabled people for saying or doing things that would otherwise be totally inappropriate? Should we apply exactly the same social rules to them, or should we pussyfoot around and treat them with kid gloves? Almost all Dufrais' victims were incredibly patient, some were patronising and others, most hilariously, didn't give a monkeys about his disability and totally lost their temper regardless. I'm thinking of the bus driver on the baseball tour.There were several other equally funny characters who only made one or two appearances. The comedy often had a real heart and soul to it, as well as making subtle points about human psychology. You could debate whether these points were deliberately pondered by Kayvan, or whether every prank show tells us something about ourselves and how we try to make sense of the most bizarre circumstances. I suspect that, for example, Kayvan has thought deeply about people's slavish obedience to machines, or how easily we place our trust in professional-looking camera crews, even when doing so defies all reason. In other words, there is some real intelligence at work here - it's not just Beadle's About or Trigger Happy TV.I could go on, but it feels really good to be able to enthuse wholeheartedly about an original, innovative, fresh, good-hearted, varied, high quality British comedy and to demonstrate how good comedy can really inspire us!
Jackson Booth-Millard
Fonejacker was a brilliant and original comedy television programme based on the classic prank telephone call format, but giving it a new twist, and when it was announced the star would be coming back with a Trigger Happy TV style format I was very excited. British Academy Award nominated Kayvan Novak, or the Facejacker, basically goes in various disguises as distinctive characters, using special effects makeup techniques, to create hilarious situations within the public. Many of the characters featured in the show are familiar from Novak's original show, but there are also the new ones that work as physical entities. Popular Fonejacker characters brought into physical form include millionaire businessman and car salesman Terry Tibbs, with his catchphrase "Talk to me! who turns up on TV shows and various people gatherings, Ugandan scam artist Augustine Kwembe (based on George Agdgdgwngo), who uses different guises and try to get peoples' bank details, art and culture presenter Brian Bedonde, who suffers a speech impediment making him say some words beginning with "B" and spluttering "Bwah", "Boh" and "Bah", and wheelchair bound disabled man Dufrais Constantinople, who has interests in the media, but has high demands and is often very rude to people. New and re-imagined characters in the show include Iraq TV presenter Aziz Azizzi who does not know how to pronounce abbreviations, e.g. "Joovc" instead of JVC, Augustine Kwembe, Augustus's twin sister, who is constantly flirting to get sex, plastic surgeon Dr. Ali who makes insensitive remarks about patients looks, French food photographer Zulfi who wants all the meals to look perfect, Scouse former criminal Ray Fakadakis who shows an over-exuberant personality and overdoes his praise, and the automated machines in places you would expect, and some you wouldn't, e.g. fast food drive thru, lift, supermarket. This is just as funny as Fonejacker, there is a lot to be enjoyed, it will make you cringe and laugh in equal measure, if you are a fan of the original show, or if you like natural unrehearsed on the spot pranks on the public, then this is an enjoyable comedy series. Very good!
