| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/phoenix_nights.png]] |
| 2 | |
| 3 | ->''"Clubland will never die."'' |
| 4 | |
| 5 | ''Phoenix Nights'' is a BritCom starring Creator/PeterKay. It revolves around the Phoenix Club, a run-down, scabby social club in [[UsefulNotes/FootballPopMusicAndFlatCaps Bolton]]. The owner is Brian Potter, a wheelchair-bound egomaniac currently on his third club (his first two closed down due to flooding and burning, respectively) but who is convinced that "Clubland will never die". Together with his hapless band of staff and regulars- most notably his long-suffering second-in-command Jerry St.Clair- Brian attempts to make the Phoenix Club the number one club in Bolton, despite rival club owner Den Perry, an extremely bad run of luck and their own ineptitude. |
| 6 | |
| 7 | It later got a SpinOff, ''Series/MaxAndPaddysRoadToNowhere''. |
| 8 | ---- |
| 9 | |
| 10 | !!This series contains examples of: |
| 11 | * AccidentalMurder: Ray Von accidentally suffocates the asthmatic Captain when his smoke machine malfunctions at a disco night. |
| 12 | * AssassinationAttempt: Paddy and Max are hired by a mysterious woman to murder her husband in exchange for £8000. [[spoiler:They can't go through with it]]. |
| 13 | * AsHimself: TV presenter Roy Walker is the special guest for the club's opening. |
| 14 | * AsianAirhead: The Chinese immigrants, Ant and Dec, don't seem that intelligent at the start of Series 2 (they try to stir-fry chips, for crying out loud!). |
| 15 | * BaldnessAngst: Paddy really doesn't like Max ribbing his apparently thin hair. |
| 16 | * BaldOfEvil: The Music/RightSaidFred tribute act Right Said Frank are both bald, and initially they appear just to be harmless Trolls, but then Ray Von finds them [[spoiler:breaking into cars in the car park and stealing their contents.]] |
| 17 | * TheBandMinusTheFace: singing duo Park Drive. Minus Park, with Drive bravely attempting to perform duets solo. It doesn't end well. |
| 18 | * BarBrawl: In the 'Wild West night' episode, complete with all the traditional trappings. |
| 19 | * BavarianFireDrill: Two men wander in off the street and steal the club's TV in broad daylight, and nobody stops them because they're wearing overalls and it's assumed that they're here to repair it. |
| 20 | * BeastInTheBuilding: [[DisabledSnarker Brian Potter]] is [[TranquilFury none too happy]] to find that Wild Bill, one of the entertainers at the Phoenix Club's Wild West night, has brought his horse Trigger into the cabaret suite (mainly because it leaves [[RoadApples its droppings]] on the floor). He's even less happy when [[spoiler:they leave the horse in the empty bar, and it goes behind the counter and [[IntoxicationEnsues gets drunk]].]] |
| 21 | * BerserkButton: Paddy throws Max through a window for suggesting he's going bald. |
| 22 | * BestialityIsDepraved: Keith Lard was acquitted from ''interfering'' with dogs. According to rumors, he re-offends. |
| 23 | * BlatantLies: Most of what Kenny Senior says. He even lies under oath in court. |
| 24 | * BottomlessMagazines: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=CVqyX0X9VU53_0RS&v=n8_pmK8kutY&t=30 “Where are they coming from⁉️ She only had four‼️”]] |
| 25 | * The {{Bouncer}}: Max and Paddy are the not-very-good doormen. |
| 26 | * {{Bowdlerise}}: In-universe. Brian Potter often tells people off for swearing (despite having a foul mouth himself) - once citing "there's a child's bike outside". This reaches peak Potter when he lists off a bunch of subjects that the alternative comedy acts are banned from, which is essentially a list of alternative comedy staples. |
| 27 | -->"No filth, simple as. No smut. No swearing. No racism, right? No queer or lezzy stuff. Don't go there. It's a family club. The Queen's photo's there: As far as you are concerned, she may as well be here." |
| 28 | * BridalCarry: Seeing as Brian can't walk, he instead leads Beverly up the stairs by the hand, while he uses his stairlift. |
| 29 | * BritishBrevity: Two series, with six half-hour episodes each. |
| 30 | * ButtMonkey: Jerry. It's not so bad at first, but in series 2 he takes the fall for pretty much all of Brian's antics. |
| 31 | * CallBack: Max's custom car alarm from the end of series 1 has been installed in his motorhome by the end of series 2. |
| 32 | * CassandraTruth: Hinted at. After mentioning he'd worked in Mexico, Keith Lard asks Kenny Senior (the consummate liar) what's the Mexican for "Let us out, we're burning! Aaah!". Kenny Senior then replies in fluent Spanish. |
| 33 | * CasualDangerDialogue: Max and Paddy casually discuss Paddy's funny hairstyle while beating up [[spoiler:Right Said Frank]]. |
| 34 | * ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Marion the barmaid disappears between series 1 and 2 without explanation to be replaced by Joyce. |
| 35 | * CigarChomper: Den Perry loves his cigars. [[spoiler:He even sets fire to the Phoenix with one]]. |
| 36 | * ColbertBump: Brian schemes to boost the profile of the club by allowing 'Crimetime' to feature the burning down of the club on its show. It's implied to have worked at the end of the episode, when a couple stop off to check out the club specifically because it was on TV. |
| 37 | * ComicallySmallBribe: Paddy is willing to [[spoiler:kill someone]] for his paltry cut of £8000. |
| 38 | ** "A thousand pounds? I'll [[spoiler:blow his 'ead off]]!" |
| 39 | * CrappyCarnival: The 'family fun day' in episode 8, complete with a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=almkFPN3SVg questionably shaped bouncy castle]], a children's 'play area' (actually a Portaloo full of scaffolding and footballs scavenged from the roof) and face paint which is apparently permanent. |
| 40 | * CrazyEnoughToWork: The ''consummate liar'' is put on the stand in court as a character witness. Unbelievably, not only does he get away with it, but the judge reduces Brian's sentence based on, among other things his "glittering boxing career". |
| 41 | * {{Crossdresser}}: When the staff are forced to be the last-minute stars of the Talent Trek contest, they make costumes out of whatever they can get their hands on. As Kenny Senior appears on stage in a Music/BritneySpears schoolgirl outfit, Spencer remarks that outfit "wasn't in the hamper". |
| 42 | * CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Max and Paddy, at least in the season one finale. |
| 43 | * CurbStompBattle: When Ray Von goes up against Right Said Frank [[spoiler:upon finding them breaking into the customers' cars]], the two big bald men overpower him and pin him against Max's car. Max and Paddy then flip this around by pinning the thieves to the road. They ''are'' trained bouncers, after all. |
| 44 | * DeadpanSnarker: Most of the cast, but primarily Brian and Jerry whenever they're interacting with one another. |
| 45 | * DemotedToExtra: Young Mary, Holy Mary's daughter and Paddy's love interest in series one, played by Sian Gibson from Series/CarShare, has a wordless cameo in series 2 episode 1. |
| 46 | * DepravedDwarf: Max and Paddy face a whole stag party of FootballHooligans who have dwarfism. They wipe the floor with the two bouncers once they get riled. |
| 47 | * DestinationDefenestration: Inverted. Paddy throws Max ''into'' the Phoenix Club through a window by shaking his ladder repeatedly until he falls off. |
| 48 | * DisabledSnarker: Brian. |
| 49 | * DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery: BRIAN. |
| 50 | * DodgyToupee: Frank Cartwright, owner of Le Ponderosa. When Brian meets him for the first time since his accident: |
| 51 | -->'''Frank:''' "What happened to your legs?" |
| 52 | -->'''Brian:''' "What happened to your head? You were bald last time I saw you!" |
| 53 | * DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: After Brian talks of an upcoming night of passion with his beau, she's shown from a POV view bouncing up and down on top... of the edge of his new water bed. |
| 54 | ** Similarly, when Brian is talking excitedly on the phone, hands under the desk... turns out he's polishing his glasses while giving a visitor directions to the club. |
| 55 | * [[spoiler:EngineeredPublicConfession: How Den Perry gets his come-uppance at the end of the second season]]. |
| 56 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In their initial appearance in ''That Peter Kay Thing'', Max and Paddy talk about security gigs and solider of fortune type antics. In episode one of ''Phoenix Nights'', Max mentions serving in the Falklands and both are implied to have kids [Max describes a fight, Paddy 'That's why I don't go to parent's evenings']. None of this is mentioned again and Peter Kay mentions CreatorBacklash to these early appearances on the DVD commentaries. |
| 57 | ** The mild mannered Jerry winding up the cowboys and instigating a fight in episode two could also count. |
| 58 | * EscapeArtist: One of the auditioning acts. It goes terribly. |
| 59 | * EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: After [[spoiler:setting fire to the Phoenix Club]], Den Perry shows up to taunt Brian, "Will you pop inside, see if me jacket potato's done?" |
| 60 | ** And again in Series 2 Episode 2, when he finds Brian holding a funfair to reopen the club. |
| 61 | -->'''Den Perry''': A family fun day? In November? I thought you'd have preferred a bonfire, a bonfire, Brian. OhWait, I've forgot- you've already ''had'' one. |
| 62 | * EvilIsPetty: Den Perry's perfectly happy to needle Brian's past mistakes made at the Phoenix Club. |
| 63 | -->'''Den Perry:''' Killed many pensioners this week, Brian? If you like your folk music classy, with a touch of racism, Brian's your man. |
| 64 | * EvilSoundsDeep: Den Perry has a considerably deeper voice than Brian. |
| 65 | * EyeScream: The Captain had one of his eyes blown out by a German sniper in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. His friend behind him caught the eye, and the Captain [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction remarked]], "I thought ''you'' were supposed to be keeping an eye out for ''me''!" |
| 66 | * FakeIrish: InUniverse, Kenny Senior thinks Roy Walker's pretending to be Irish. He's not, and neither is Gerry Adams. |
| 67 | * FallingInLoveMontage: Involving feeding the ducks, being rude to rose sellers, paintball, and karaoke. |
| 68 | * FanDisservice: Jerry St. Clair's exposed arse, centre frame. |
| 69 | ** Also, Jerry drunk out of his mind and dressed in the outfit of one of his Free and Easy Night acts- a female one, at that! And then he falls over and starts urinating. |
| 70 | * FallenOnHardTimesJob: In the first episode of season two, Brian rounds up his former employees. Jerry and Alan are singing salesmen at Asda, Les is a butcher, Ray Von works at a fairground, Kenny Senior is a lollipop man and Max and Paddy are bus drivers. |
| 71 | * FanonDiscontinuity: In-series, Les only considers ''Film/TheKarateKid1984'' to be canon. "Forget 2 and 3, they were crap." |
| 72 | * FatBastard: Brian partially qualifies as this, on account of his GoodIsNotNice personality, but Den Perry even more so. Also Keith Lard. |
| 73 | * FatIdiot: Young Kenny's not always on the same wavelength as Brian. |
| 74 | * FauxAffablyEvil: Den Perry can be quite polite and friendly at times, but he always sours it by insulting and threatening Brian. |
| 75 | * FictionalCounterpart: ''Crimetime'' is a homage to ''[[Series/CrimewatchUK Crimewatch]]''. The theme tune is a pastiche, and the presenter even says "don't have bad dreams" (instead of "don't have nightmares") at the end. |
| 76 | * FootballHooligans: A stag party of Bolton football hooligans shows up outside the Phoenix and starts causing trouble with Max and Paddy. To make it funnier, they're all [[DepravedDwarf dwarfs]]. |
| 77 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: Done quite well with [[spoiler:the fire inspector's visit]], which foreshadows [[spoiler:the club being burned down at the end of series 1]]. It also explains why [[spoiler:there were no smoke alarms when the club was set on fire]]. |
| 78 | * FourEyesZeroSoul: Keith Lard, the bespectacled ObstructiveBureaucrat and [[BestialityIsDepraved dog interferer]]. |
| 79 | * FriendToAllChildren: Les, whatever his flaws, knows how to relate to the young actors he works with. |
| 80 | * FreezeframeBonus: Beverly's return address includes her second name, which is a ShoutOut to a particular Creator/EddieMurphy [[Film/BeverlyHillsCopII sequel]]. |
| 81 | * FunWithAcronyms: The '''A'''rmchair '''S'''uper '''S'''tore. |
| 82 | * GagPenis: "Sammy the Snake", a Dutch bouncy castle with a massive inflatable willy(and matching testicles), which causes problems for Brian at the family fun day. Kenny Senior says that "It's almost as big as mine", but [[BlatantLies we all know he's not a reliable informant]]. |
| 83 | * GetOut: Brian's response to a FatBastard uni student heckling Jerry and going too far. |
| 84 | * GiverOfLameNames: ''Everyone''. |
| 85 | * GoneHorriblyRight: Paddy spies on the Ladies' Night to learn all about their kinky sexual interests, and eventually joins them as sexy dancer "Lord Love Rocket". Then he gets pinned to the wall and scratched up by the lust-crazed women, and only drives them off by farting. |
| 86 | * HadTheSillyThingInReverse: Max intends to reverse the box van, but actually drives ''forward'' into a wall. |
| 87 | * HandsomeLech: Paddy. |
| 88 | * TheHeckler: Stu the FatBastard uni student to Jerry. Eventually, Jerry loses patience and fires back at him. |
| 89 | * HilariousOuttakes: 'Next!' |
| 90 | * HonestJohnsDealership: Eric's 'Games sans Frontiers', responsible for Sammy the Snake, a ''Film/DasBoot'' fruit machine (responsible for a [[CrossesTheLineTwice hilarious scene]] in which someone wins [[GratuitousGerman "Achtung! Das Jackpot!"]] complete with a synthesised chorus of ''Deutschland uber Alles''... during the wake of the Captain, a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII veteran) and a 6-foot Ker-plunk set among others. |
| 91 | * HorsingAround: Trigger, Wild Bill's horse. After being put in one of the vacant suites, he goes behind the bar, gets drunk, and then starts trying to have sex with the bucking bronco. |
| 92 | * {{Hypochondria}}: Jerry St Clair. He sometimes make things worse by taking a heap of pills and herbal supplements. |
| 93 | -->'''Brian:''' "You're a bloody [[{{Malaproper}} hypodermic]] Jerry!" |
| 94 | -->'''Jerry:''' "A what?" |
| 95 | -->'''Brian:''' "Well, y'are! Worried about this and worried about that. You wanna try walking a mile in my shoes." |
| 96 | * HypocriticalHumor: Brian Potter repeatedly makes insulting comments about Den Perry's [[FatBastard weight]]. Brian's pretty fat himself. |
| 97 | ** Also, he calls out Den Perry for bringing ringers to a pub quiz, but he's encouraging his own pub team to cheat. Of course, we then find out that he's not supporting ''his'' pub team in the first place. |
| 98 | * IBangedYourMom: Stu, the FatBastard uni student, when heckling Jerry. |
| 99 | -->'''Stu''': Hey, granddad, your jokes are as old as you!\ |
| 100 | '''Jerry''': So, what are you into?\ |
| 101 | '''Stu''': Your mother!\ |
| 102 | '''Jerry''': [[DudeNotFunny My mother's dead]].\ |
| 103 | '''Stu''': [[NoSympathy Did she hear your act]]? |
| 104 | * IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: Paddy and Max are practicing shooting for the night they're supposed to murder a woman's husband on a country wall with glass bottles set up on the wall by Max' brother. Max is already skirting the line by shooting the bottles as soon as his brother sets them up, but then Paddy accidentally shoots his brother in the leg. |
| 105 | * TheIllegal: The two Chinese men from the duty free shop in Calais literally stow away in Max and Paddy's van. They're put to work in the club's kitchens. |
| 106 | * ImmediateSequel: Series 2 starts where series 1 finished... then has a small TimeSkip. |
| 107 | * TheImmodestOrgasm: Holy Mary, after popping some "Love Eggs" up herself before Ladies' Night, can't do more than a few minutes bartending before she falls over gasping and screaming "Sweet Jesus!" Makes sense, since she's a middle-aged woman who presumably has never had that much sex outside of begetting her two children, so naturally she's overwhelmed. |
| 108 | * ImplausibleDeniability: Brian's showing his date his holiday video, when the fireworks display suddenly cuts to porn. He immediately launches into "It's Jerry's tape". |
| 109 | * ImpliedDeathThreat: |
| 110 | --> '''Brian''': You're making a big mistake, Denzel! |
| 111 | --> '''Den Perry''': The only mistake I made... was setting fire to this place... while ''you'' weren't inside. |
| 112 | ** And again with Max and Paddy and the unnamed woman who hired them to (unsuccessfully) murder her husband: |
| 113 | -->'''Max:''' I've told you, love, killing him's not the answer!\ |
| 114 | '''MysteriousWoman:''' Who said anything about killing ''him''? |
| 115 | * IncaseYouForgotWhoWroteIt: Creator/Channel4 used to list this show as ''Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights''. |
| 116 | * InflationaryDialogue: When the horse relieves itself all over the club's cork floor, Brian complains to Jerry that the floor cost 30 grand (£30,000). Talking to Wild Bill (the horse's handler), it's suddenly 40 grand. Talking to the police at the end, the floor's now worth 45 grand. |
| 117 | * InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Not at all the case with Brian, whose struggles to get around and get things done aren't glossed over but who's rude, abrasive and only ever mentions his disability to get his way or derail an argument. |
| 118 | ** Parodied with the one-legged ElvisImpersonator whose prosthesis [[SwissArmyAppendage includes a mini drum kit]]. |
| 119 | ** "Very brave, son!" |
| 120 | * InstantHomeDelivery: Armchair Super Store. Not quite instant, but the timeline of series 1 episode 3 suggests that people can order and receive goods from the shopping channel within hours. |
| 121 | * JapaneseRanguage: The English cast of 'Karate Kid the Musical', and the Japanese Kamikaze Lager salespeople. |
| 122 | * JarPotty: Being paralyzed from the waist down, Brian uses a drinks bottle to save getting out of bed at night. |
| 123 | * {{Jerkass}}: Brian himself, but compared with the bullying, swaggering, loutish Den Perry he's a JerkWithAHeartOfGold. |
| 124 | * JerkassBall: Jerry, when they have a Wild West-themed night between two gunslinger teams, a Lancashire team and a Yorkshire team. He repeatedly insults the Yorkshire team and awards points to the Lancashire team, even when Yorkshire shoots first, until one of the Yorkshire gunslingers finally loses patience with him and punches him ''hard''. In his defense, the Yorkshire-Lancashire teams are heavily prone to violently attacking one another anyway. That's why Den Perry got rid of them after just one night. |
| 125 | ** And again when he ends up drunk on stage at Free And Easy Night, he becomes unnaturally assertive and shouting towards both audience and Les and Alan. |
| 126 | * JerkassHasAPoint: Callous though he is in his attempts to get the Phoenix Club closed (setting fire to Les' bonsai tree just to prove it's flammable stands out), Keith Lard's suspicions about the club's fire safety regulations are confirmed in the Series 1 finale [[spoiler:when Den Perry sets fire to the place with a dropped cigar in the bathroom]]. |
| 127 | * KickTheDog: Keith Lard setting fire to Les' bonsai tree. |
| 128 | -->'''Les''': This here's the bonsai, the [[JapaneseRanguage rickle tree of rife]]. Focus on its wisdom, focus on its strength.\ |
| 129 | '''Keith Lard'''(sets fire to bonsai with a lighter): Focus on the fact that it's highly flammable. |
| 130 | * KnowNothingKnowItAll: Max, and nowhere is this more clear than when he's on the same quiz team as Paddy and getting all the answers wrong. |
| 131 | * LackOfEmpathy: Brian to Jerry's problems, most of the time. |
| 132 | * LargeHam: Brian Potter gets pretty loud when he's emphasizing his points to Jerry. |
| 133 | * LaserGuidedKarma: Perry burning the club down was genuinely evil, but to say that Brian brought it on himself is an understatement. He lied about Jerry being terminally ill to get sympathy points, and it was his corner-cutting when it came to health and safety which indirectly caused the mishap. Jerry more or less says all this word-for-word after the court case, which Brian assumed he’d get off with a slap on the wrist because of his disability. |
| 134 | * {{Malaproper}}: Brian Potter frequently, e.g. "St. Paul on the road to Domestos". |
| 135 | * MalevolentMaskedMan: Parodied in a ''Crimetime'' robbery reenactment, where the robbers wear gigantic ugly masks(one of which is literally a rugby ball with a grinning face on it!). This is based off one of Peter Kay's stand-up jokes about ''Series/Crimewatch'' reenactments featuring criminals so ugly they don't look human. |
| 136 | * ManipulativeBastard: Brian, especially when [[spoiler:he gets around his newly-imposed ban on running the club by manipulating Jerry into doing it]]. |
| 137 | * TheMole: Beverly was sent to investigate Brian Potter for possible fraudulent benefit claims... and falls for him, BecomingTheMask. |
| 138 | * MrFanservice: We get to see [[HandsomeLech Paddy]] nude in a sarolium with his backside facing up, and later on, he poses as a sexy dancer in a thong for the Ladies' Night, that... doesn't go so well for him. |
| 139 | * NeverMyFault: When Brian has a powercut in the first episode, and Ray Von reveals that the club's using too many bulbs, Brian tells Jerry "I said we had too many bulbs!" Jerry, who knows that Brian specifically insisted on having countless bulbs, calls him out for it. |
| 140 | * NiceGirl: Holy Mary, as you'd expect from someone with [[ASaintNamedMary a name like that]]. |
| 141 | * NotAMask: Young Kenny gets face-painted as a tiger at the family fun day... the artist uses spray paint and a cardboard template. It doesn't come off. For the rest of the series, Kenny has to cover it with make-up. |
| 142 | * ObfuscatingDisability: It's implied that Brian is faking his disability in his dialogue in episode 3, after he and Jerry get pulled over by the police for speeding, and again later on by Clinton Baptiste's supposed clairvoyance. The next episode, it turns out his love interest Beverly is a DSS officer investigating the authenticity of his disability claim. [[spoiler:Heavily implied in the first episode when he gets into his wheelchair from the mobility scooter between a camera switch, all confirmed at the end of ''That Peter Kay Thing'' episode "In the Club"]] |
| 143 | * ObstructiveBureaucrat / KnightTemplar Keith Lard. |
| 144 | * OhCrap: Den Perry in the last episode of season two [[spoiler: when he realizes he's been manipulated into an EngineeredPublicConfession by Brian]]. He tries giving the audience his typical smug smirk, but it's looking very watery at that point. |
| 145 | * OhCrapSmile: Den Perry [[spoiler:in an attempt to regain public favor after being unmasked as the arsonist of the Phoenix Club]]. |
| 146 | * OnceAnEpisode: In the first series, something gets stolen from the club in every episode. |
| 147 | ** Also, at the end of 10 of the episodes [not the final episode of either series] there's an audition by an appallingly bad or inappropriate act, which is dismissed with a loud 'Next!'. Only two who are successfully booked (both because they were SoBadItsGood), and one auditionee shows up twice. |
| 148 | * OneSteveLimit: Played with. Two club regulars are Kenny Senior and Young Kenny. They're not suggested to be related. |
| 149 | ** Also Holy Mary and her daughter Young Mary. |
| 150 | * OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The woman who [[spoiler:hires Max and Paddy to kill her husband]] is wearing a Ladies' Night sexual name badge reading "Fanny Tickler", so Max thinks that's her actual name(it was either that or "Brenda Blowjob"). |
| 151 | * OopNorth: The show is set in Bolton, Lancashire. |
| 152 | ** Also, the leader of the Half A Shilling folk band is played by Tim Healy, from Newcastle, and Brian's brief LoveInterest Beverly is from Warrington. |
| 153 | * OpenSaysMe: Attempted by Jerry at Brian's request, when the latter is trapped in his own home. |
| 154 | * OverlyStereotypicalDisguise: Max and Paddy dress as priests "bringing in alter wine" to smuggle booze through customs, complete with hat, gown and rosary beads. Meanwhile, some ''real'' priests are being arrested for something ahead of them, wearing dog collars, but otherwise in dark tops and blue jeans. |
| 155 | * ThePawn: While Jerry is made the licensee, Brian is still very much in charge. Subverted when Jerry starts to use his position as a bartering chip. |
| 156 | * PedoHunt: When the Phoenix Club is attracting customers with a bucking bronco, Jerry says "I've not seen them this excited since they printed that pedophile's address in t'paper." |
| 157 | * PhonyPsychic: Clinton Baptiste. Watch him fudge people's names and change his "messages" repeatedly. |
| 158 | ** Oddly, one of his wild suggestions is that Brian can walk... which was an abandoned plot line. |
| 159 | * ThePlan: The pub quiz [[spoiler:which backfires when the prize of a year's supply of Japanese "Kamikaze" lager turns out to be ''non-alcoholic'']]. |
| 160 | * PlayingSick: Potter forces his compere to pretend that he's dying - it's the only way he could win the contract to host the talent contest. He even makes him wear a baseball cap, to 'look more ill'. |
| 161 | * PoorlyDisguisedPilot: Sort Of. Notice how the last 2 episodes of Series 2 feature Max & Paddy much more heavily than the rest of the series. Fast forward 2 years and the duo get their own SpinOff in ''Max & Paddy's Road To Nowhere'' which revolves around travelling in the motorhome Max buys at the end of ''Phoenix Nights.'' |
| 162 | * PoliteVillainsRudeHeroes: Den Perry is suave, charming, and [[FauxAffablyEvil puts on a charming air unless he's interacting with Brian]], which makes him a VillainWithGoodPublicity. Brian Potter, meanwhile, is a foul-mouthed, cantankerous, tight-fisted OpportunisticBastard, who rarely bothers to soften his opinions of things he doesn't like. |
| 163 | * PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Brian, and Max and Paddy, don't have a high opinion of travellers, like Ray Von. |
| 164 | * PottyFailure: Brian is stuck in his stairlift overnight due to a power failure. When rescued, he tells a questioning Jerry to ignore the smell... it's made clear what the smell was later on. |
| 165 | -->'''Brian''': "Don't you think I'm traumatised enough with what I've been through?" |
| 166 | -->'''Ray''': "I heard about that. Are you all right? You must have shit yourself." |
| 167 | -->'''Brian (to Jerry):''' "...Thank you, big mouth! Didn't take long, did it?" |
| 168 | * PrecisionFStrike: The F-word only comes up once in each series. In series 1, when Brian's on a date and a waiter asks him to buy a "flower for the lady" he replies "fuck off".[[note]]according to the DVD commentary, this was supposed to be dubbed over with music / inaudible, but they just found it [[ThrowItIn too funny to cut]][[/note]]. In series 2, he says the same thing to an auditioning act. |
| 169 | * PrisonRape: |
| 170 | -->'''Den:''' "Ah, but what's your motivation?" |
| 171 | -->'''Brian:''' "I've got plenty of motivation, fat boy. Seeing you in jail. Biting a pillow on D Wing." |
| 172 | * PunnyName: A lot of the acts, and Ray Von (R-r-r-rave on!) |
| 173 | * PuttingTheBandBackTogether: [[spoiler:The start of the second series, after the Phoenix Club is burned down]]. |
| 174 | * RagingStiffie: Exaggerated with Sammy the Snake. |
| 175 | * RapidHairGrowth: Fed up of all the 'going bald' jabs, Paddy tries some "spray-on hair" from the shopping channel. He gains jheri curls in seconds. |
| 176 | * RefugeInAudacity: Den Perry offering to star in a ''Crimetime'' recreation of the Phoenix Club fire, [[spoiler:when he's the one who set fire to it in the first place]]. |
| 177 | * RidiculousCounterRequest: In one episode, a heckler named Stu starts an argument with Jerry. Brian breaks up the argument and orders Stu to GetOut |
| 178 | -->'''Stu:''' I'm not leavin' until I get a refund!\ |
| 179 | '''Brian:''' [[SarcasmMode Did ya hear that, Jerry? You best make him a bed up.]]\ |
| 180 | '''Stu:''' I want my money back!\ |
| 181 | '''Brian:''' ''I'' wanna moonwalk, son, but life's a shithouse! Out! |
| 182 | * RiggedContest: The "Phoenix Corral" quick-draw contest: Even when Lancashire fires a full second after (neighboring) Yorkshire, Lancashire is declared the winner.[[note]]The Phoenix Club being in a Lancashire town.[[/note]] |
| 183 | * RoguishRomani: Ray Von is a carnival gypsy who Brian hires as his new DJ after he fixes the Phoenix's powercut. Afterwards, he finds out that Ray "fixed" the power by connecting it to a lamp post, so when Max accidentally pulls the cord, the power goes off again. Additionally, Les and Alan tell Brian that Ray killed his former girlfriend Tracey Burns and left her head in a wheely bin. That and Ray's apparent NightmareFetishist interest in murderous things(such as Franchise/HannibalLecter) make Brian deeply suspicious of Ray, until he finds out that Tracey is in fact still alive, and those rumors of murder were just that, rumors, because Les and Alan were trolling him. |
| 184 | ** Also, Ray's friends, The Gypsy Kings, one of whom serves as a face painter at the family fun day, and ends up applying tiger-themed face paint that never comes off. The rest of them compete in the pub quiz for a year's supply of Kamikaze lager, and end up winning, though they're never confirmed to have cheated. [[spoiler:No wonder Brian backed them instead of the inept Team Phoenix]]. |
| 185 | * RunningGag: Bob Carolgees, continued from ''That Peter Kay Thing''. |
| 186 | * TheScrooge: '''Brian Potter'''. He loves to cut corners at every turn to save a bit of money, and wring as much money out of customers as possible. |
| 187 | ** When pitching the CrappyCarnival for the charity fun day, he says "Whatever you'd normally charge, double it. Today's about money." (Jerry replies, "I thought this was about raising the club's profile?") |
| 188 | ** He also sells "memorabilia" from when [[spoiler:the club burnt down]]... not only items like the burnt ashtrays cost £4 each, they're being freshly 'cooked' in the back yard. |
| 189 | ** The club has a colour photocopy of a fire safety certificate. Their crooked inspector is fired, leading to Keith Lard. |
| 190 | ** Even the jukebox in Brian's front room still needs money inserting to play. He asks his girlfriend for change. |
| 191 | ** Potter's excuse is that his insurance premiums are through the roof, due to the Phoenix being his third club (and this is before [[spoiler:it burnt down at the end of series 1]]). Although since [[spoiler:Jerry took over as licensee]], the premiums should be more reasonable. |
| 192 | ** All the staff conspire to keep the expensive stage lights that belonged to the Crimetime production crew. |
| 193 | *** The staff also try to use a crime reconstruction programme as free advertising for the club. |
| 194 | -->"Thank you, that is a lovely, silky-smooth pint." |
| 195 | -->"Here is your change, madam." |
| 196 | --> "Oh, no, that's too much [change]!" |
| 197 | * SeinfeldianConversation Max and Paddy fill most of their nights with inane but hilarious ramblings about 'classic' films. |
| 198 | * SelfDeprecation: When Den Perry pretends to be Jerry in order to [[spoiler:cancel the Stars In Your Eyes night]], he "agrees" with the man on the phone that Den Perry is a FatBastard. |
| 199 | * SequelHook: When [[spoiler:the club catches on fire]] at the end of series 1. |
| 200 | * SeriousBusiness: Talent Trek, and the quiz night. |
| 201 | * SharedUniverse: Set in the same universe as ''Series/CoronationStreet'', if the floral tribute to Alan Bradley on the Promenade at Blackpool is anything to go by. |
| 202 | ** As long as you ignore Ray Von's girlfriend and Shelly Unwin being played by the same person, although Peter Kay plays three visible[[note]]also the voice of Paul Le Roy[[/note]] roles in ''Phoenix Nights'' and had two in ''Coronation Street'' so it works out in a way. |
| 203 | * ShoutOut: Series 2 has a few shout outs to Peter Kay's own stand-up material. |
| 204 | ** "Garlic Bread?" |
| 205 | ** Max and Paddy are delighted to find 'Les Cadbury's Fingres' in France. |
| 206 | ** The robbers on Crimetime reconstructions using family-friendly language and hilariously ugly masks. |
| 207 | * SidetrackedByTheAnalogy: Paddy talking about personal hygiene: |
| 208 | -->'''Paddy:''' "Prostitutes are rough in Amsterdam. One made me wash my old man in't sink." |
| 209 | -->'''Max:''' "...you took your dad?!" |
| 210 | * SilverFox: Jerry St. Clair is played by attractive older man Dave Spikey. |
| 211 | * SitcomArchNemesis: Den Perry, as the owner of rival club ''Banana Grove''. [[spoiler:Though he becomes much more than this when he burns down the Phoenix Club at the end of the first series]]. |
| 212 | * SmugSnake: Den Perry, all the time. |
| 213 | * SnarkToSnarkCombat: Brian and Jerry, whenever they grate on one another. |
| 214 | -->'''Jerry''': If you must know, Brian, these tablets are for stress.\ |
| 215 | '''Brian''': Stress? [[NoSympathy What do you know about stress?]] You want to try and walk a mile in my shoes, son.\ |
| 216 | '''Jerry''': [[DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery Yeah, well, so do you]].\ |
| 217 | '''Brian''': Ooh, that were a low blow, Jerry.\ |
| 218 | '''Jerry''': Well, you wouldn't have felt it, then, would you? |
| 219 | * SoUnfunnyItsFunny: After sitting through the alternative comedy, Jerry's barrage of corny jokes go down a storm with the audience. |
| 220 | * SongParody: Jerry's job as supermarket promoter involves a couple of these. 'Men in Black' becomes 'black bin bags', and 'Call Me' turns into 'corned beef'. |
| 221 | * SpinOff: This is a spin-off of ''That Peter Kay Thing'', and got its own spin-off/sequel later on. |
| 222 | * StageNames: It's Jerry "The Saint" St Clair for his [[SarcasmMode prestigious position]] of Phoenix Club compere. Otherwise, he's Mr Jerry Dignan. |
| 223 | -->'''Alternative Comedian:''' "Who's The Saint?" |
| 224 | -->'''Brian:''' "Him, out there, trying to sing. Watch and learn, he's forgotten more than you lot know." |
| 225 | * SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: 'The Whole Of The Moon' plays on the radio while Jerry lies on the table for his colonscopy... with his backside on full display through his backless medical gown. |
| 226 | * TakeThat: For the Stars In Your Eyes night, Spencer goes on stage as Music/GaryGlitter, and after failing to get the audience to sing along with him, he loses his balance in his clumsy platform boots and falls off the stage, hurting himself. At that point, everyone stands up and cheers. |
| 227 | * TallTale: Kenny Senior is a pathological liar. The majority of the anecdotes he tells are so ridiculous - Sleeping with Creator/BonnieLangford, collecting paint cans from Creator/JackieChan, being friendly with the SAS - that nobody believes a word he says. |
| 228 | * ThatLiarLies: Kenny Senior isn't called out often, but at one point Potter runs out of patience. |
| 229 | --> '''Kenny:''' "I'm very friendly with the SAS." |
| 230 | -->'''Brian:''' "But you see, you're '''not''', Kenny!" |
| 231 | * ToTheTuneOf: In the first episode of season two, Brian finds Jerry working as a singing salesman at Asda, singing songs such as "Black Binbags" to "Forget Me Nots" by Music/PatriceRushen and "Corned Beef" to "Call Me" by Music/PetulaClark. |
| 232 | * TooDumbToLive: Keith Lard, if you want to be seen as a professional fire safety instructor, ''don't'' keep having sex with dogs in the backs of cars. It'll give a desperate nightclub manager content to extort you with. |
| 233 | * ToxicFriendInfluence: It's heavily implied that Paddy's perversion has rubbed off on the younger Chinese immigrant [[spoiler:when he and his friend replace Max and Paddy as bouncers in the finale]]. |
| 234 | * TranquilFury: Brian when he sees Trigger the horse on stage. |
| 235 | -->'''Brian''': There is a horse in my cabaret suite.\ |
| 236 | '''Young Kenny''': Oh! Is it real?\ |
| 237 | '''Brian''': (noticing the [[RoadApples massive mound of poo]] the horse has left on his cork floor) Oh, it's real, my friend! It's real, you'd better believe it! |
| 238 | * UngratefulBastard: Brian acts like this towards Jerry, a lot. |
| 239 | * {{Unperson}}: Marion vanishes before the end of series one, and come series two she's been replaced by Joyce and the rest of the cast act like she was always there. To hammer this trope home even more, Brian is shown holding a framed version of the page image where Joyce's face has been photoshopped over Marion's. Basically, for whatever reason, Marion never existed as far as series two is concerned. |
| 240 | * VillainInAWhiteSuit: Den Perry. |
| 241 | * VillainousBreakdown: Den Perry, when [[spoiler:confronted with the fact that the public knows he's the one who set fire to the Phoenix Club]], is left helplessly trying to maintain his OhCrapSmile, and eventually is reduced to tears as the police escort him onto the van. |
| 242 | * WasItAllALie: Beverly claims that she really did grow to care for Brian after being sent to investigate him. Brian turns her away. |
| 243 | * WeHardlyKnewYe: Gavin "The Captain" Gladstone, an elderly bouncer introduced in the premiere, dies in the following episode after Ray Von's smoke machine malfunctions and sets off a lethal asthma attack. |
| 244 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We never find out what happened to the mysterious woman who hired Max and Paddy to kill her husband in the sequel series. |
| 245 | * WholesomeCrossdresser: Kenny Senior makes a surprisingly attractive Music/BritneySpears cosplayer, if a talent agent's response is anything to go by. |
| 246 | -->'''Kenny Senior''': Does he (the talent agent) want to book me?\ |
| 247 | '''Brian''': Well, it sounded like "book". Cross your legs, [[SlutShaming you little slut]]. |
| 248 | * WokenUpAtAnUngodlyHour: [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist Brian Potter]] is woken up at "'alf three in the pissin' mornin'!" by his bouncers Max and Paddy prank-calling him to tell him that his nightclub, the Phoenix, has burnt down, and his compere Jerry was caught in the blaze. Brian is initially [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold distraught at the idea that Jerry was killed]], but as soon as Max asks him whether Jerry had false teeth (at which point he and Paddy [[{{Corpsing}} can't keep themselves from laughing]] anymore), a furious Brian realizes they've pranked him and hangs up. Just seconds later, he's woken up again by another caller: this time, it's the police, telling him that someone's broken into his club and stolen a TV. Brian, however, just thinks [[CryingWolf this is another prank call]] and openly insults the police, farts down the phone at them, and tries to go back to sleep. [[GilliganCut Minutes later,]] he's outside the club, apologizing to the police for not believing them. |
| 249 | * WrongGenreSavvy: Attractions are often poorly matched to their audience, such as Ray Von's blasting hardcore dance music at a roomful of pensioners. |
| 250 | * YouHaveFailedMe: The mysterious woman decides to hire a bunch of professional hitmen to kill Max and Paddy after they fail to kill her husband, [[spoiler:forcing them to leave the Phoenix Club behind]]. |
| 251 | * YoungerThanTheyLook: Jerry gets out of a speeding ticket by claiming that Brian is his Dad. Despite both looking around the same age (and both having grey hair), the policemen doesn't bat an eyelid. In real life, Dave Spikey is older than Peter Kay. |
| 252 | * ZergRush: Max and Paddy vs. all-dwarfism FootballHooligans stag party. |
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