|
|
'Lead Balloon' In The Press...One of the few reliable British sitcoms around, Jack Dee's unfulfilled comic Rick Spleen has a wince-inducing talent for skewering himself. Funny as those mishaps are, Rick's interactions with sullen housekeeper Magda (Anna Crilly) are the real comedy gold. Geoff Ellis, The Radio Times, 31st January 2009 The third series goes out on a high with a Christmas episode that verges on the heart-warming. Yes, this is Lead Balloon we're talking about, but for once, Rick Spleen's badwill to all men can't quite spoil things. In fact, while out on his scooter, he finds it in himself to do a genuine good turn at one point, and if that isn't a Christmas miracle, I don't know what is. Mind you, there's plenty of the bah-humbug to begin with, as Rick's role as a panto pirate leads to a mishap with a bag of sweets, while the tree he's bought sheds its needles freely on the living-room floor. Somehow, it's the little hardships that get blown out of proportion by Lead Balloon, and while the show always teeters on the edge of the inconsequential, tonight there are some rich comedy moments. It will come as no surprise that these involve home help Magda, who's in mourning for her country's president, and Michael, who's in love. David Butcher, The Radio Times, 23rd December 2008 One of the many pleasures of Lead Balloon is the strength and diversity of the ensemble cast. Although the series revolves around the childish egotism of Rick (Jack Dee), everyone else - including the children - behave like grown-ups dealing with a fractious child. His wife reasons with Rick. His writing partner mocks him. Magda suffers him. His daughter and her boyfriend exploit or ignore him. Rick's behaviour, on its own, would be ridiculous and self-defeating. Surrounded by the eccentric sanity of a superb supporting cast, it is funny and vulnerable and endearing. More from the low-key sitcom that has me ignoring the jokes and simply trying to work out which character I hate the most. It's a tough call (even Rick's wife is annoyingly smug), but it has to be the odious co-writer Marty, who I get the feeling we're actually meant to side with. A brilliantly funny sitcom starring deadpan comic Jack Dee as disillusioned stand-up comedian Rick Spleen. The Express, 27th November 2008 Although it's easy to understand why Jack Dee's surly sitcom has survived to a third series, you need an electron microscope to find the humour in it these days. Jack Dee may be on of the writers, but it's clear he knows that successful sitcoms need a good ensemble cast. Which perhaps explains why Magda, his sullen Eastern European help, and Michael, the ultra-neurotic cafe owner, get all the best lines. James Stanley, Metro, 20th November 2008 Another dollop of sourpuss comedy, and this week, a revelation: Rick Spleen isn't Rick Spleen at all, it turns out. His real name is Rick Shaw, a pun that caused no end of amusement in his school days and which comedy partner Marty continues to enjoy, at Rick's expense, during their fractious writing sessions. It's a detail that may prove crucial, too, if Rick's hopes of appearing on a family tree series called Where Do You Come From? materialise. The pre-title sequence where Rick meets the show's producer Calvin is one of several lovely scenes, the best of which involves a priceless misunderstanding by Magda the home help, who's moved in with Rick's family. Then there's Michael, Rick's super-tense restaurateur friend. Michael has not taken well the news that his father is gay. Look out for a brilliant visual gag in the scene where Rick and Marty visit Michael's place to check he's OK: Curb Your Enthusiasm, this sitcom's spiritual parent, would be proud. David Butcher, The Radio Times, 20th November 2008 Beeb strikes comedy gold with semi-improvised sitcom Well, after sparking a national outcry for allowing grown-ups to improvise on air, the Beeb has struck true comedy gold for the first time since The Office by giving their very youngest actors the freedom to stay and do the first thing that comes into their head. Written by Richard Ferrer. The London Paper, 14th November 2008 Jack Dee says the US is keen to look at his sitcom, Lead Balloon, but he has no intention of trying his luck in America. The Northern Echo, 13th November 2008 Jack Dee 'happy' with BBC sitcom Stand-up comedian Jack Dee says he's not as nervous about the new series of BBC Two sitcom Lead Balloon as he was when the show was first aired on TV in 2006. BBC Radio 1, 13th November 2008 Jack Dee returns as angst-ridden comedian Rick Spleen in this third run of the entertaining series, which sees us discovering a whole lot more about his complicated world and the colourful people who inhabit it. The Daily Express, 13th November 2008 Although the return of Jack Dee's grumpy comedian Rick Spleen is always welcome, the start of series three misses the bull's eye a bit tonight. Maybe it's because there's no sense of cause or effect. I had forgotten just how wonderful this series is - albeit wonderful in a deadpan sort of a way. The director Lindsay Anderson said once that the key to success was in the casting, and that is certainly the case here. Tonight, Magda (Anna Crilly), the surly East European help, moves in with the family because 'boiler is leaking gas'. She partitions the fridge like the Berlin Wall and poisons the son with her carthorse sausages, while Mel (Raquel Cassidy) - the wife who usually manages to keep it all together - gets splendidly drunk. I laughed out loud, which woke up my mother-in-law and startled the dog. Jack Dee and Pete Sinclair's bitter-hearted comedy enters its third season and seems to have found its feet. We return to find Magda, the wonderfully sullen Polish help, has moved in until her boiler is fixed. James Stanley, Metro, 13th November 2008 Once again, Jack Dee gets that sinking feeling As Jack Dee returns for a new series of Lead Balloon, he tells The Telegraph about being miserable and getting that sinking feeling. Written by Andrew Pettie. The Telegraph, 8th November 2008 Comedian Jack Dee is back on TV for a third series of his sitcom, Lead Balloon. The Press And Journal finds out how similar he is to the character, Rick Spleen, and asks what his children think of his comedy projects. Written by Kate Whiting. The Press And Journal, 8th November 2008 TV Scoop interviewed the star of the show in the run up to the third series. TV Scoop, 27th October 2008 Thursday nights will be sad and hollow now the series has ended. I shall miss the saintly wisdom and tolerance of Rick's partner, Mel, and the unworldly abruptness of Michael, the cafe owner who makes Basil Fawlty look like Michael Palin. Lead Balloon may seem increasingly formulaic - you find yourself waiting for the scenes with the café owner, the au pair and the monosyllabic daughter - but it remains one of the funniest things on the box. Shorn of the excesses of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Lead Balloon reveals traces of true brilliance. Perhaps it would be more palatable to many if they actually did admit the link instead of constantly denying the obvious. Written by John Phillips. Off The Telly, 22nd November 2007 Jack Dee's back with a second series of his (written with Pete Sinclair) hugely enjoyable BBC2 sitcom Lead Balloon. Sadly for Jack Dee, he's created a character that is impossible to side with. Look at David Brent for example. He's odious, stupid and distasteful... but somewhere, underneath all that hideousness lies a heart. Where Brent clearly wants to please everyone all the time, Dee's Spleen is, in short, a horrible human being. I'm not an interesting celebrity The Guardian meets Jack Dee to talk about series two of Lead Balloon. Written by Ben Dowell. The Guardian, 7th November 2007 Frank Skinner said his favourite sitcom of the moment was Jack Dee's Lead Balloon. A surprising choice, perhaps, because it had more of an impact on BBC4 than it did when it transferred to BBC2, and suffered from comparisons with Curb Your Enthusiasm? With Jack Dee making a perfect grouchy everyman and his long suffering family and small circle of 'friends' providing amiable foils for his general moans and mishaps, Lead Balloon goes down really well, despite the show's name. When Lead Balloon started, I obsessed about its debt to Curb Your Enthusiasm and whether it was too self-regarding in having a comedian playing a comedian. But I guess what counts is whether it's funny, and Lead Balloon has delivered lovely moments as well as scene-stealing turns from Anna Crilly's Magda, as perpetually gloomy as a Soviet tenement block, and Tony Gardner as a shell-shocked City trader-turned-organic restaurateur. And leading it all is Dee, who turns childish pettiness into something almost endearing. Jack Dee's new sitcom Lead Balloon has gone down like anything but. It is so successful it has grown too big for BBC4. It will now be broadcast on BBC2 as well. Hermione Eyre, The Independent on Sunday, 22nd October 2006 Jack Dee is interviewed by The Guardian about why he wrote the comedy and what his key influences were. Written by Stephen Armstrong. The Guardian, 16th October 2006 A programme called Lead Balloon is a hostage to critical misfortune, but then I expect Jack Dee knows that. This miserabilist sitcom about the Pooterish home life of a stand-up comic, written and performed by a stand-up comic, is better than it sounds. Observational humour is as funny as the observer, not necessarily what's observed. This series is part of a new trend of comedy shows that don't make you laugh; you just nod your head and mutter, "That's really funny." It's a Darwinian improvement on the tyranny of the set-up-gag guffaw, and I approve of it. Laughter is ugly and common. Another interview with Jack Dee about the first series of Lead Balloon. Written by James Rampton. The Independent, 3rd October 2006 Jack Dee explains how he took a vague idea for a sitcom and turned it into Lead Balloon Written by Jack Dee. The Times, 30th September 2006 |
