OK, here's the spoiler : All of the writing and acting.I am a great fan of English comedies (ie. Python, Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin, Alexei Sayle's Stuff, Alan Partridge, Knowing Me, Knowing You, Saxondale, Fawlty Towers, The Games)(okay, last one's Aussie) - sitcoms, sketch comedy, satire, whatever - and was extremely disappointed as this was supposedly an influential series, but is in fact a load of nonsensical dreck. Badly delivered, childish, corny and extremely dated jokes - although I hesitate to call them jokes. Yeah, I get that it's supposed to be a parody of earlier television variety shows, but parodies are also supposed to be funny. This isn't.Don't waste your time, it's about as funny as cancer.By the way, Simon Day appears briefly a few times and is billed as Tommy Cockles, but he is not doing the (very funny) Tommy Cockles character from the Fast Show.

I felt the need to defend this programme after reading the first review written by someone who has never been a fan. Everybody is entitled to an opinion and i understand that Vic & Bob's humour is not for the masses. In fact it tends to be very much a love or hate thing (My mum loved it, my dad hated it!).I remember the first time this was shown on television. I would have been around 15 years old and it had a huge impact on me. I had always been more into comedy than music like most of my mates and this was not only a new show but a brand new style of comedy, much in the same way that Python paved the way for so many comedians, i reckon BNO or rather Mr Reeves and Mr Mortimer did the same in the nineties. Not that comedy had gone stale during that time, we had some great programmes; Absolutely (the Scottish sketch show, not to be confused with Absolutely Fabulous), The Mary Whitehouse Experience, Fry & Laurie, Harry Enfield and Chums, etc etc. So for BNO to be such a breath of fresh air took some doing! These days you'd be hard pushed to find anything that stood out from the crowd, with the exception of The Office, The Mighty Boosh and Peep Show (with maybe a handful of others). But i can safely say that nothing has made my jaw drop in sheer wonderment in the way Vic & Bob did back then. Yes it was rough around the edges, the props were bad (that was the point) sometimes the timing was off, but you could forgive them anything for that next belly laugh.They just simply did what they thought was funny. THAT'S it. No statements, no irony, satire or the need for any kind of structure. You saw, you laughed. End of. Visual humour that went way beyond slapstick and into another realm. From the very first viewing they had me, i was hooked and woe-betide the video recorder if it malfunctioned during the show. Vic Reeves' Big Night Out is one of my fondest memories from my teenage years and throughout their careers Jim & Bob have remained two of my most favourite people in the world! (Although i have to admit, i think the Smell Of series was ever so slightly better :P )

I consider Vic Reeves Big Night to be one of the finest comedy shows ever to have adorned British television. It was brilliantly funny, incredibly inventive and superbly performed. It is comedy in the true sense, in that the objects or names that Vic mentions (eg when he's looking at what the man with the stick has written on his helmet) are funny in themselves. Reeves and Mortimer had an unerring ability to know exactly what was funny. So one type of vegetable is funny, another is not. The mere mention of one celebrity's name is funny, another is not. This is observational comedy in its purest form, and a sign of witty, perceptive minds. Get the DVD of this and keep it close. They don't make many like this.

"Vic Reeves Big Night Out" is one of the funniest shows that I have ever seen. If you like surreal & nonsensical humour, this is definitely your cup of tea. If you need your humour based in reality, you will probably not like this show. I find that people either love or hate Vic Reeves - there is no middle ground. Vic Reeves & his comedy companion Bob Mortimer will utterly amaze you with their ability to come up with total nonsense. The show was filmed in front of a live audience who join in with catchphrases and occasionally are called upon to participate in the silliness. The show is like some sort of surreal music hall or variety show with Vic Reeves (billed as the "King of Light Entertainment") as the emcee. The set & props are all very cheaply done which I think adds to the whole feel of the show. I think that people who don't like this show are trying too hard to "get it" when there's really nothing to "get". The humour of the show comes from its utter nonsense. It is the sheer absurdity of the characters and their acts that is so funny. There is no underlying meaning. If you like this show, you should definitely check out Reeves & Mortimer's other surreal comedy shows "The Smell of Reeves & Mortimer" and "Bang, Bang, It's Reeves & Mortimer". These shows were made with a higher budget which allows them to go out even farther than on "Big Night Out" where they are limited to performing everything on a single stage. However, I definitely recommend "Vic Reeves Big Night Out" as a starting point. It really is one of the funniest shows ever made. Reeves & Mortimer are the funniest thing since Monty Python.