Fry & Laurie Reunited - Review

It wasn't the most in-depth piece of documentary film-making I've ever seen. Though, what it was; was a nice snap-shot of a journey two very diverse men took to get to where they are today.

It was nice to see Fry and Laurie reunited on Fry and Laurie: Reunited (Gold) even if it took a whopping 25 minutes of this 90-minute show to get them in the same room giggling over their heyday in the early 90s. But how else to make room for all the ads and biogs (for those who didn't know, Fry was a big darts fan and went to jail when he was 18) and unconscionable padding with tributes from an endless roll call of comedians including, slightly bafflingly, Daniel Ratcliffe?

But the best bit was just ahead of the big event (though it turned out quite small with a lot of recapping and Emma Thompson), each interviewed in the back of their cars on the way to the venue in a grand house, recalling their first encounter at Cambridge.

Ah, yes, said Laurie, we met at Stephen's rooms...

Yes, said Fry, it was at Hugh's...

And we had wine...

Tea and crumpets, I think...

I remember we played chess...

Hugh sang a song and played guitar...

Very funny. Or maybe you had to, um, be there.

A modest moment of TV history took place in Fry and Laurie Reunited, in which the beloved comedy duo appeared on screen following a gap of 15 years.

Interviewing each other informally in an English country manor, their mutual affection was palpable. Although it was charming seeing them in tandem again, it was disappointing that their cheerfully anecdotal conversation offered scant insight into their working process. Sadly, it wasn't that kind of show.

Instead, this was - as Fry might say - a moist, fluffy tribute to one of Britain's most exceptional double acts: a reminder that Laurie is one of the most naturally gifted clowns of his generation, and that Fry was once so much more than a cosy national treasure.

Despite their closeness, it was interesting to note their different temperaments. Now one of the world's biggest TV stars thanks to House, Laurie disguised himself behind a torrent of unsentimental quips, while Fry guffawed adoringly and spoke emotionally of their relationship.

It's tempting to draw parallels with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore: the troubled, resolutely English wit and the ivory-tinkling clown turned unlikely superstar sex symbol. But there isn't a hint of jealousy or spite between them.

As torrid as it got was when Laurie questioned Fry's memories of their first meeting and expressed concern that he was spreading himself too thin, while Fry dug heavily at the likes of Little Britain for lazily regurgitating sketches, which Fry and Laurie rarely did.

Notwithstanding a glimpse of their obscure comedy pilot from 1983, this reunion was over-reliant on familiar clips and padding. If not a squandered opportunity exactly, then not quite the summit I'd hoped for.

Fry and Laurie Reunited, G.O.L.D., review

Michael Deacon reviews Fry and Laurie Reunited, G.O.L.D.'s documentary about Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie's comedy partnership.

Last Night's TV: Fry and Laurie Reunited

A rare and sumptuous treat," promised the makers of Fry and Laurie Reunited at the beginning of Gold's celebration of a comedy double act that (unusually as these things generally go) gave rise to two very successful solo careers.

Fry & Laurie - Reunited | TV Review

GOLD couldn't have gone far wrong with this well-judged and timely reunion, with public affection for Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie - once one of comedy's biggest double acts - sky high at the moment.

'Fortunately, I never fancied him... it would have been embarrassing,' confided Stephen Fry on Fry And Laurie Reunited, happily putting to bed a question that had thankfully never occurred to me, as it might have put an altogether different spin on all those Blackadder slapping scenes. No, Hugh and Stephen are just frightfully good chums.

Though it did at times descend into the showbiz love-in suggested by the title, this Reunited still amounted to a rather superior slice of nostalgia.

It's 15 years since the duo, who met at Cambridge University's Footlights (aka the BBC's in-house comedy training scheme), last appeared together. So getting them together for a chinwag was something of a coup for Gold, a channel eager to escape the twin yoke of Spandau Ballet and Nescafé.

For a while, they could easily have settled for chewing up and spitting out A Bit Of Fry And Laurie, their rather good sketch show that was here turned by hagiographic showbiz fawners into a missing chapter of The Bible. However, they took a tilt at different careers and it paid off. As Dr Gregory House, Laurie has become the world's most watched TV star (no idea how they work that out), while Fry tweets on everything from darts to ecological destruction ('I do wish he wouldn't put himself about so much,' said Hugh - but not to his face).

You can't begrudge them their careers but their obvious on-screen chemistry did make you wonder about all the comedy sketches we've missed because they didn't stick together. Though it didn't always work - and Reunited had the decency to recall the long-forgotten Alfresco from 1983, a show beaten into a pulp by The Young Ones - Fry and Laurie set a standard for the comedy sketch duo that has rarely been matched since.

And though they had a jolly time taking the mickey out of their shared past, the chances of a fully fledged on-screen reunion, usually the hook for this kind of TV encounter, thankfully seemed like a total non-starter. Fry and Laurie are no fools: they know there's no going back.

Fry & Laurie Reunited is huge ratings success for Gold

A total of 1.1m individuals tuned into the programme, helping to make Gold the biggest pay only channel in the country.

Rather than a simple clip show, this is a specially-convened summit between Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, together on screen for the first time in 15 years. It's hard to make much out over the gales of self-deprecation but, over 90 minutes, the friends discuss their working relationship and history together, vamping on some old themes for the benefit of the camera. Fry is never far from our screens, so the real revelation is Laurie, whose less widely exposed wryness is hilarious. At Cambridge the pair met in Fry's room. "A2," says Laurie, "also the Folkestone road . . ."