History Series / HarryEnfieldAndChums

A British comedy sketch show from TheNineties, a collaboration between Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse (who went on to head up ''Series/TheFastShow''). The partnership was later revived with ''Series/HarryAndPaul''. The other "Chum" was Kathy Burke.

** Tory Boy was heavily based on William Hague, a cabinet minister under in the last years of the [[UsefulNotes/JohnMajor Major government]] who had been a prominent Young Conservative in his teens, having famously made a speech at the Conservative Party's annual national conference when he was ''just sixteen''; after the Tories' 1997 election defeat, he became the party leader at the age of just 36. Enfield also claimed to have mixed other then-contemporary Conservative politicians such as Michael Howard and Michael Portillo into the character, alleging that they were "Tory Boys who have never grown up". In one episode, Tory Boy's mum openly wished that he'd joined the Labour Party instead, prompting him to morph into "Tony Boy", a pastiche of UsefulNotes/TonyBlair.

* TeensAreMonsters: Kevin the Teenager.

* PopCulturalOsmosisFailure: The character ''Mr Dead'' (a parody of ''Series/MrEd'' with a ''corpse'' instead of a horse) failed to make impact because (Enfield says) he failed to realise that the (British) viewing public didn't share his enthusiasm for old American TV and so didn't get the reference.

* RunningGag: The appearance of "Fat Bloke" in a StealthHiBye cameo role, and later to sing them out ("the show's not over till the Fat Bloke sings!").

* ShoutOut: In the tie-in song "Loadsamoney (Doin' Up the House)", the title character claims that "I got more money than Stock, Aitken, & Dennis Waterman put together," nodding to both the prolific production trio Music/StockAitkenWaterman and the actor Dennis Waterman.

** Tory Boy, a stereotype of the Young Conservatives (the youth wing of the Conservative Party, which at the time was infamously dominated by the party's hard-right faction); also a specific parody of then Conservative leader William Hague (who, to the Labour-supporting Enfield's horror, was the same age as him). To balance matters, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Enfield had plans to introduce his friend and political counterpart "Ginger Lefty"]] ([[SelfDeprecation based on his own youth]]) [[DevelopmentHell but this idea never made it to film]]. One Christmas special did briefly transform Tory Boy into "[[UsefulNotes/TonyBlair Tony Boy]]".

* SuperZeroes: A short lived sketch in the first season, titled "The Palace of Righteous Justice", revolved around four heroes who had fairly adequate superpowers, but were absolutely useless at their jobs.

* UnwantedAssistance: Mr Don't instructs anyone who crosses his path on how better to attend their current task, be it grocery shopping, barbecuing, or playing ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' onstage.
* UpperClassTwit: Tim Nice-but-Dim is an exaggerated version of "posh" yet pleasant and stupid people that Enfield knew. He is a fictional Old Ardinian with an eccentric public school-influenced dress sense involving jeans and a school blazer worn over a striped rugby shirt. He was written by Ian Hisplop and Nick Newman as an antidote to contemporary portrayals of ex-public schoolboys as sharp-minded, high-achieving young men, and instead chose to base the character on former school contemporaries who had plenty of money and good manners but were light of intellect.
* VisualPun: A one-off sketch sees a young boy call upstairs for help with his homework. Being "in the loo," [[note]] toilet [[/note]], his dad tells him to come upstairs. The boy enters the bathroom and lifts the closed toilet lid. [[spoiler: [[BiggerOnTheInside Somehow]], for some reason, his dad's head is inside the toilet bowl]].

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Kevin started out as one of these and remained so throughout ''Television Programme'', in sketches titled "Little Brother" (though his actual name was always Kevin). In the first episode of ''Chums'', he turns thirteen and abruptly transforms into the better-remembered Kevin the Teenager.

* AffectionateParody: Smashie and Nicey were poking fun at the then-current disc jockeys at [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] [[{{Radio}} Radio One]] who'd been there since TheSixties ... which backfired horribly, as not only were most Radio One presenters over the age of 25 fired by the mid-90's, Smashie and Nicey were ''even mentioned by name'' by the station controller when describing the outdated, out-of-touch image he wanted Radio One to lose in order to draw in and retain younger listeners (those being the station's core target demographic). [[WordOfGod Enfield and Whitehouse later stated]] that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone they were horrified by this turn of events]], and [[RealLifeWritesThePlot included a sketch in which Smashie and Nicey have an on-air rant]] against their BadBoss before leaving the station for good.

* MonochromeApparition: At play when the Old Gits were killed off in the "Four Funerals and a Wedding" sketch. When Alf reunites with old flame Ivy, his [[HeterosexualLifePartner lifelong partner]]-in-gitting Fred dies, seemingly of a [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes broken heart]]. In revenge, Fred returns from the grave to sabotage Alf and Ivy's car just after they get married. While Ivy survives, Alf dies ... and the sketch ends with the ghosts of both Gits, bleached entirely in ashen white, happily dancing on each others' graves.

* UnwantedAssistance: Mr Don't instructs anyone who crosses his path on how better to attend their current task, be it grocery shopping, barbecuing, or playing ''Theatre{{Hamlet}}'' onstage.

* TheComicallySerious: Thirties public information film hosts Mr. Greyson and Mr. Cholmondley-Warner, with impeccable reserve, narrate how to evade muggers via hypnosis, farcically myopic predictions of life in the distant future, and "how to maintain [[SexualEuphemism not only a stiff upper lip]]".

* CaptainObvious: One sketch with Mister Dont-Wanna-Do-That has him discussing a football match with a number of [[NewscasterCameo real football pundits]]. All find themselves in complete agreement that the losing team didn't want to let goals be scored against them, but instead should have tried to score more goals than the other team, because that would have allowed them to win.

** '''Know-it-all Guy''': "You don't wanna do it like thaaaat!" and also "Only me!"

* ChocolateBaby: Waynetta dumps Wayne because she's the only mother on the estate who hasn't got one. Wayne eventually solves this by fathering a child with Naomi Campbell.

* TheComicallySerious: Thirties public information film hosts Mr. Greyson and Mr. Cholmondley-Warner, with impeccable reserve, narrate how to evade muggers via hypnosis; farcically myopic predictions of life in the distant future, and "how to maintain [[SexualEuphemism not only a stiff upper lip]]".

* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Mr. Know-It-All. This character was originally referred to by Enfield simply as Mister Dont-Wanna-Do-That (the name even appeared in a first-series link piece). He was eventually retired when Enfield got fed up with him.

** Tory Boy was heavily based on William Hague, who was a prominent member of the Young Conservatives group since he was a teenager and famously made a speech at the Conservative Party's annual national conference when he was just sixteen. Enfield also claimed to have mixed other recent Conservative politicians such as Michael Howard and Michael Portillo into the character, alleging that they were "Tory Boys who have never grown up".

** A special, "Harry Enfield's Guide to the North of England, collected these sketches and added segments reviving a less popular character, a Yorkshire industrialist stereotype named George Whitebread, who had appeared in two isolated sketches in the first series (and who had his own [[catchphrase]]: "No offence!").

* SexAsRiteOfPassage: A comically [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerated]] example. In the final episode of the regular series, Kevin at last loses his virginity. The next morning he has been transformed from an unspeakably horrible teenager into a charming, polite and helpful young man, to his parents' incredulous delight (and Perry's disappointment). However, this was [[{{Retcon}} retconned]] in a subsequent Christmas special, turning out to have been just a dream of his mother's.

* SmallNameBigEgo:
** The Self-Righteous Brothers are built around this trope.
** As is the "we are considerably richer than ''yow''" couple.

** Tory Boy, a stereotype of the Young Conservatives (the youth wing of the Conservative Party, which at the time was infamously dominated by the party's hard-right faction); also a specific parody of then Conservative leader William Hague, who had addressed the Conservative Party Conference at the age of ''16'' (an appalled Enfield realised that Hague was the same age as him). To balance matters, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Enfield had plans to introduce his friend and political counterpart "Ginger Lefty"]] ([[SelfDeprecation based on his own youth]]) [[DevelopmentHell but this idea never made it to film]]. One Christmas special did briefly transform him into "[[UsefulNotes/TonyBlair Tony Boy]]".

* AffectionateParody: Smashie and Nicey were poking fun at the then-current disc jockeys at [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] [[{{Radio}} Radio One]] who'd been there since TheSixties ... which backfired horribly, as not only were most Radio One presenters over the age of 25 fired by the mid-90's, Smashie and Nicey were ''even mentioned by name'' by the station controller when describing the outdated, out-of-touch image he wanted Radio One to lose in order to draw in and retain younger listeners (those being the station's core target demographic). [[WordOfGod Enfield and Whitehouse later stated]] that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone they were horrified and disgusted at this turn of events]], and [[RealLifeWritesThePlot included a sketch in which Smashie and Nicey have an on-air rant]] against their BadBoss before leaving the station for good.

* SexAsRiteOfPassage: A comically [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerated]] example. In the final regular episode Kevin at last loses his virginity. The next morning he has been transformed from an unspeakably horrible teenager into a charming, polite and helpful young man, to his parents' incredulous delight (and Perry's disappointment). Though the transformation (but not the sex itself) was [[{{Retcon}} retconned]] in a subsequent Christmas special, turning out to have been just a beautiful dream of his mother's.

* AffectionateParody: Smashie and Nicey were poking fun at the then-current disc jockeys at [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] [[{{Radio}} Radio One]] who'd been there since TheSixties ... which backfired horribly, as not only were most Radio One presenters over the age of 25 fired by the mid-90's, Smashie and Nicey were ''even mentioned by name'' by the station controller when describing the outdated, out-of-touch image he wanted Radio One to lose [[WereStillRelevantDammit in order to draw in and retain younger listeners]] (those being the station's core target demographic). [[WordOfGod Enfield and Whitehouse later stated]] that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone they were horrified and disgusted at this turn of events]], and [[RealLifeWritesThePlot included a sketch in which Smashie and Nicey have an on-air rant]] against their BadBoss before leaving the station for good.

* WittyBanter: Smashie and Nicey parody how [=DJs=] do this instead of (or while talking over) the songs they are playing.

* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: Waynetta insists on giving her children names like Frogmella and Spudulika on the grounds that she finds them "exotic".

* WittyBanter: Smashie and Nicey.

** Also Freddie and Jack, two middle-aged housemates who are ardently Tory and Labour respectively and argue about whether everything from public toilets to ''Series/DoctorWho'' is better under a Conservative or a Labour government (but once joined forces to bully former Liberal leader David Steel, appearing [[AsHimself as himself]]).
* SuddenNameChange: Kevin's original surname was Carter, but it was later changed to Patterson.

!!You don't wanna trope it like thaaat...

* AffectionateParody: Smashie and Nicey were poking fun at the then-current disc jockeys at [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] [[{{Radio}} Radio One]] who'd been there since TheSixties ... which backfired horribly, as not only were most Radio One presenters over the age of 25 fired by the mid-90's, Smashie and Nicey were ''even mentioned by name'' by the station controller when describing the outdated, out-of-touch image he wanted Radio One to lose [[WereStillRelevantDammit in order to draw in and retain younger listeners]] (those being the station's core target demographic). [[WordOfGod Enfield and Whitehouse later stated]] that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone they were horrified and disgusted at this turn of events]], and [[RealLifeWritesThePlot included a sketch in which Smashie and Nicey have an on-air rage against their]] BadBoss before leaving the station for good.

* {{Mockumentary}}: The 1994 special ''Smashie & Nicey: End of an Era'' was one of these -- complete with archive footage with them spliced into it. The usual laughs are [[MoodWhiplash noticeably absent]] as the two characters are basically pensioned off (although they would later return in a ''UsefulNotes/ComicRelief'' special three years later, and again in a special edition of ''Pick of the Pops'' on Radio Two in 2007).
* MonochromeApparition: At play when the Old Gits were killed off in the "Four Funerals and a Wedding" sketch. When Alf Git reunites with old flame Ivy, his [[HeterosexualLifePartner lifelong partner]]-in-gitting Fred dies, seemingly of a [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes broken heart]]. In revenge, Fred returns from the grave to sabotage Alf and Ivy's car just after they get married. While Ivy survives, Alf dies ... and the sketch ends with the ghosts of both Gits, bleached entirely in ashen white, happily dancing on each others' graves.

* ChocolateBaby: Waynetta dumps Wayne because she's the only mother on the estate who hasn't got one. Wayne eventually solves this by fathering one with Naomi Campbell.

** It is believed that Smashie and Nicey were based primarily on veteran [=DJs=] Mike Read, Simon Bates and Radio/TonyBlackburn, though other then-current [=DJ=]s such as Alan Freeman and Dave Lee Travers were also believed to have influenced the writers.

** One ChristmasSpecial is an elaborate parody of ''Film/Titanic1997'', fitting all the characters into appropriate roles as a UniversalAdaptorCast.

The show ran for four series between 1990 and 1997; the first two (1990 and 1992) were broadcast under the title ''Harry Enfield's Television Programme'', with the last two (1994 and 1997) as ''Harry Enfield & Chums'', although thanks to various subsequent specials and a ClipShow, it continued until 2001. In terms of adding new StockBritishPhrases to the lexicon, it wasn't ''quite'' as prolific as ''Series/TheFastShow'', but it still came up with several memorable characters and [[CatchPhrase catchphrases]] of its own. In particular, Kevin the Teenager would go on to have his own spin-off movie, ''Film/KevinAndPerryGoLarge''.

* AffectionateParody: Smashie and Nicey were poking fun at the then-current disc jockeys at [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] [[{{Radio}} Radio One]] who'd been there since TheSixties ... which backfired horribly, as not only were most Radio One presenters over the age of 25 fired by the mid-90's, Smashie and Nicey were ''even mentioned by name'' by the controller when describing the outdated, out-of-touch image he wanted Radio One to lose [[WereStillRelevantDammit in order to draw in and retain younger listeners]] (those being the station's core target demographic. [[WordOfGod Enfield and Whitehouse later stated]] that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone they were horrified and disgusted at this turn of events]], and [[RealLifeWritesThePlot included a sketch in which Smashie and Nicey have an on-air rage against their]] BadBoss.

* TheComicallySerious: Thirties public information film hosts Mr Greyson and Mr Cholmondley-Warner, with impeccable reserve, narrate how to evade muggers via hypnosis; farcically myopic predictions of life in the distant future, and "how to maintain [[SexualEuphemism not only a stiff upper lip]]".

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The 1930s public information films ("Women! Know Your Limits! Thinking too much makes you ugly!") and accompanying "advertisement breaks" (which recommended making babies drink gin in order to help them get to sleep, encouraging teenagers to smoke, etc).

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The 1930s public information films. "Women! Know Your Limits! Thinking too much makes you ugly!"