History Series / ABitOfFryAndLaurie

** John and Peter, who discuss the fortunes of a small health club corporation as if the fate of the free world depends on it. A parody of UK business soaps of the period like ''Series/HowardsWay''.

* MundaneMadeAwesome: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpzbcuvJOW8 "Berwhale the Avenger"]], which appears to be a small Leatherman knife.

* UniversalDriversLicens: spoofed with the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klZ2suVUL7Q Flying a Light Aeroplane Without Having Had Any Formal Training]] sketch. A definite SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} too.

* HaveAGayOldTime: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtaPaQwSQPA Parodied.]]

-->'''Doctor (Laurie):''' Oh don't worry, that's the beauty of the system. When people see you wearing a combat jacket and driving round in a white van with Killer,[[{{Pun}} the piss will be taken out of you constantly.]]

* DropTheCow: a method used a few times was for the characters to segue into WhoWritesThisCrap, for example accusing each other of having no idea how to properly end the sketch.
* DuelToTheDeath: Except that when their intermediary offers the choice of "sword or pistol", what he meant is that the second man will get the weapon not chosen--so Hugh has a pointy metal stick while Stephen gets a firearm. After trying to work out a way to make it fair, they settle on something they do have two of and are left to try and kill each other with the intermediary's two ''handkerchiefs'', until they realize he doesn't have anything left to signal with.

* ExcuseQuestion: Parodied.

-->'''Stephen''': I think we'd better have a word with this son of yours, Mrs Popey, if it's all the same to you.\\

'''Stephen''': Of course Mrs Popey. We'll leave [[ShapedLikeItself just as soon as we've finished being here.]]

* HurricaneOfPuns: There is some truly groanworthy wordplay ("The boy lives with his mother because I emptied a bowl of trifle over her; she got custardy") if you'll pardon the pun... what pun? Wasn't there one? Sorry.

* ImAHumanitarian: The "Tahitian" cooking show, where Fry's Julia Child {{Expy}} advises the best way to prepare ears, fingers, Welsh toes, and footballers' testicles.

* JustLikeRobinHood: Tony of Plymouth, who heckles politicians for bleeding the poor people of England while disguised under a lightweight traveling hat. Of course, he freely admits that you could just ''write'' your [=MP=].

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Played with in the Michael Jackson sketch. Although he is a skilled mimic, Stephen Fry decided to play "Michael Jackson" in his own accent...and indeed his own clothes with not a single attempt at impersonation... with hilarious results.

** In a tribute to Hugh (whom he has just {{Mercy Kill}}ed), Stephen says that Hugh Laurie's real name was Hugh Laurie, though he was more commonly known by his stage name, Hugh Laurie.

** Also {{parodied}} in one of the "Mr. Dalliard" sketches where the secret code phrase is "Good morning." This ends in embarrassment.

** Hugh plays a man angrily demanding treatment for his "madness", but the psychiatrist views his problem as rather minor... until Hugh complains that he's going to write a letter to the Daily Mail. Stephen immediately verifies that several of Hugh's letters have actually been ''published'' and proceeds to order a straitjacket.

* TwoOfYourEarthMinutes: "Twenty of your Earth pounds", yes, Mr Dalliard's friend again.

Currently, Fry and Laurie have started working together again on an adaptation of OscarWilde's ''The Canterville Ghost''. Both have also recently stated that they are definitely considering making a fifth series. But both are, however, also reluctant to commit to any specific promises.

* DuelToTheDeath: Except that when their intermediary offers the choice of "sword or pistol", what he meant is that the second man will get the weapon not chosen--so Hugh has a pointy metal stick while Stephen gets a pistol. After trying to work out a way to make it fair, they settle on something they do have two of and are left to try and kill each other with the intermediary's two ''handkerchiefs'', until they realize he doesn't have anything left to signal with.

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Played with in the Michael Jackson sketch. Although he is a skilled mimic, Stephen Fry decided to play "Michael Jackson" in his own accent...and indeed his own clothes with not a single attempt at impersonation...with hilarious results.

* TwoOfYourEarthMinutes - "Twenty of your Earth pounds", yes, Mr Dalliard's friend again.
* UniversalDriversLicense - spoofed with the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klZ2suVUL7Q Flying a Light Aeroplane Without Having Had Any Formal Training]] sketch. A definite SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}} too.

* AwesomeAnachronisticApparel: The politician and Tony from "Tony of Plymouth" are wearing modern clothing over Renaissance garb, as they reveal when they confront each other on stage.

* %% AuthorFilibuster

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The premise of a GameShow called "Don't Be Dirty!", the show that shows that you don't ''have'' to be dirty. Basically, it involves contestants trying to talk about potentially risque subjects (or if not risque, involving the possibility of {{double entendre}}s, such as "Preservation of [[BiggerIsBetterInBed Hardwoods]]") without "being dirty".

* AuthorFilibuster

* CompensatingForSomething - one character whose genitals have been removed is offered a doberman, a combat jacket, and a rusty white van, for the dual purpose of restoring his manhood and...
-->'''Doctor(Laurie):''' Oh don't worry, that's the beauty of the system. When people see you wearing a combat jacket and driving round in a white van with Killer,[[{{Pun}} the piss will be taken out of you constantly.]]

* CrosscastRole

* FlairBartending: See notes under GargleBlaster.

* TableSpace: "Pass The Marmalade!" ("Arse the Parlor Maid?") sketch

* TakeThat: Take that, MargaretThatcher, John Major, Rupert Murdoch, MoralGuardians, estate agents, {{Eagleland}}, yuppie culture, critics, psychics, TopGear, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and Noel Edmonds]]!

* BrickJoke: [[YesMinister Paul Eddington]] makes a cameo and is asked how he would rate his own comic timing. He pauses, frowns, responds "Good question, I'll have to think about that," and leaves. [[spoiler:Several sketches later, he interrupts the very last line of the show to respond: "Immaculate, I'd say." Roll credits.]]

* TalkativeLoon - The shop assistant in the Mr Dalliard sketches (the same one who prefers the word 'Brothels')

* ButtMonkey: Hugh gets punched, hit with a cricket bat, or otherwise beaten up with shocking regularity.
** It's even worse, as Hugh explained in a later interview that Creator/StephenFry had never been very good at "acting" hitting people, and so when the script called for him to hit Hugh, he would... well... actually hit him.

* {{Eagleland}}: The "Kickin' Ass" song, and American army general; "Get your ass in here!"

* HurricaneOfPuns

* SpySpeak: Thoroughly averted in the "Tony and CONTROL" sketches, discussing matters of international espionage as if explaining them to a 3-year-old.

* UnusualEuphemism: "Ram it up your pimhole, you fusking clothprunker"

It was a progressive show, playing with the audience's expectations. For example, it frequently broke the fourth wall; characters would revert into their real-life actors mid-sketch, or the camera would often pan off set into the studio. In addition, the show was punctuated with non-sequitur vox-pops in a similar style to those of Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus, often making irrelevant statements, heavily based on wordplay. Laurie was also seen playing piano and a wide variety of other instruments, and singing comical numbers.

'''Lawyer:''' Oh it's correct, is it? I see. I wonder, Miss Talliot, whether you were aware that the American novelist Gertrude Stein was a self-confessed Lesbian?

* ItIsPronouncedTroPay: Parodied in the sketch featuring "Mister (drops an object onto a tabletop). It's as it sounds." (Turns out, it's spelled [[spoiler:NIPPL-hyphen-E, but he's very offended when referred to as "Mr. Nipple."]])

* ProtestSong: 'All we gotta to do is ... ''(mumblemumble)''' Hugh notably [[http://vimeo.com/44962330 reprised this]] when he hosted SaturdayNightLive.

* ItsAWonderfulPlot: A media mogul (a clear AnonymousRinger for RupertMurdoch) gets this treatment. It turns out that if he had never lived, the world would be a much better place where everyone would live in peace and harmony without the influence of his violent media. This makes him decide to turn his life around--because the peaceful world is ripe to be exploited by manipulative media. At this point, his guardian angel, realizing that he is a lost cause that who will never improve, pushes him off the bridge. And calls him a twat.

-->'''Stephen'': I think we'd better have a word with this son of yours, Mrs Popey, if it's all the same to you.\\

'''Stephen''': Of course Mrs Popey. We'll leave just as soon as we've finished being here.

'''Stephen'': I think we'd better have a word with this son of yours, Mrs Popey, if it's all the same to you.\\

* EnforcedMethodActing: According to Hugh in a later interview, Creator/StephenFry had never been able to convincingly fake hitting someone. So when the script called for him to hit Hugh - which happened quite often - he would actually hit him. So that wincing and those cries of pain you hear from Hugh in this show are mostly real.
** A lot of the time it's accidental though. A good example of this is in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNrS9RHMc-I the racing driver sketch]]. Near the end you can see Stephen's eyes widen in shock, before he folds his arms and looks away.

--->'''Doctor(Laurie):''' Oh don't worry, that's the beauty of the system. When people see you wearing a combat jacket and driving round in a white van with Killer,[[{{Pun}} the piss will be taken out of you constantly.]]

* CompensatingForSomething - one character whose genitals have been removed is offered a doberman.

*** [[EnforcedMethodActing Well, that explains why he always made it look so realistic.]]

* FakeAmerican: Hugh Laurie plays an American country singer in one sketch, and he and Stephen play American soldiers saying "ass" a lot in another.

** There is a similar one in which Laurie keeps interrupting the whole time to turn to the cammera and tell the audience that this is his favorite gag, and it will be hilarious when they get to the punchline.

* ItsAWonderfulPlot: RupertMurdoch gets this treatment. At the end, his guardian angel, realizing that he is a lost cause that who will never improve, pushes him off the bridge. And calls him a twat.

-->'''Critic Stephen:''' No, no. [points] That's my cup of tea.