Comedy

• Billy Connolly Live Collection - Was It Something I Said?/Live 2002/Billy And Albert | DVD | (19/11/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Was It Something I Said?: Live In Dublin: Join Billy Connolly on a host of nights during his 2002 tour including top moments from sell-out nights in Belfast Killarney Newcastle Plymouth London Cardiff Bournemouth Sheffield and Manchester. Billy Connolly Live 2002 sees the legendary comedian delivering his take on life in his own inimitable style... Billy And Albert: Billy Connolly captured live on stage at the Albert Hall in 1987 offering his own unusual views of (among others) Thatcher and Reagan linoleum and the Khyber Pass...

• Will Hay - Ask a Policeman | DVD | (28/04/2010) from £5.01   |  Saving you £-0.02 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Classic 1939 Will Hay film. B&W, 74 minutes.

• The Royle Family - The Complete First Series | DVD | (06/11/2000) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  On paper, The Royle Family doesn't sound that promising: a working-class family from Manchester sit in their cluttered living room, watch the telly and argue over domestic details (the arrival of a telephone bill, for instance, provides the big dramatic event of the first episode, which aired in September 1998). But from such small everyday incidents, Royle Family creators Caroline Aherne and Dave Best (who play young couple Denise and Dave) have crafted one of the most successful shows on British television: a comedy about the joys and frustrations of family life that's warm, honest and very, very funny--Britain's answer to The Simpsons, whose success the show rivalled when it started broadcasting on BBC2 (the programme jumped channels to BBC1 for its second series).The Royle Family marked an on-screen reunion for Brookside-actors Ricky Tomlinson (who plays bearded, big-hearted, banjo-playing Jim Royle) and Sue Johnston as his wife Barbara, the driving force behind the Royle household. It is smart casting because The Royle Family is as much a soap opera as a situation comedy. Now in its third series, The Royle Family has seen its characters develop like real folk. Denise and Dave got married and now have a little sprog; Barbara starts menopause (how many sitcoms are brave enough to use that for laughs?) and Denise's kid brother Anthony shakes off his surly adolescence when he turned 18 in series two. Unlike Oasis, who provide the shows theme song "Halfway Round the World", this programme just keeps getting better.But no soap--not even Brookside in its dafter moments--has one-liners as brilliantly crafted as The Royle Family. (The scripts from the series are available to buy.) Slouched in his armchair, Jim's dour running commentary on the TV shows that are on at the time are particularly priceless: Changing Rooms, for instance, boils down to "a Cockney knocking nails into plywood... Is this what its come to?" Not quite: because as long as the Royle Family are around, there is something worthwhile to watch. --Edward Lawrenson

• The Cleveland Show - Season 1-2 | DVD | (30/01/2012) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.99

  Everyone's favourite neighbour, Cleveland Brown, is back in this side-splitting Family Guy spin-off. When Cleveland returns to his former stomping ground of Stoolbend, Virginia to start a new life with his high school sweetheart and their fledgling family, it's a recipe for hilarity.The family careens from one outrageous situation to another as they encounter rednecks, enter a drag race, lead a nerd revolution and tackle the town's troublemaking senior citizens. The laughs just keep on coming when the Stoolbend bunch take their show on the road for wild adventures in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Hawaii. All-star celebrity guests such as Justin Timberlake (as a singing booger, no less), the cast of Glee and Kanye West add to the chaos.Crammed with plenty of bonus features including commentary on selected episodes, hilarious featurettes, deleted scenes and more, The Cleveland Show: Season 1 & 2 Box Set is a must-have for fans!

• Supercon | DVD | (10/09/2018) from £5.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A rag-tag group of former TV stars and comic book artists, who make their living working at conventions, decide to steal the loot from a crooked promoter and an overbearing former TV icon.

• Mr. Popper's Penguins - Triple Play (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy) | Blu Ray | (12/12/2011) from £19.70   |  Saving you £5.29 (26.85%)   |  RRP £24.99

  If you're dreaming of a p-p-p-perfect Christmas, why not p-p-p-pick up the fabulously funny family film MR POPPER'S PENGUINS, available on Blu-Ray Triple Play and DVD from 12 December, 2011 courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

• Time Bandits | DVD | (05/10/2009) from £8.08   |  Saving you £7.91 (97.90%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Time Bandits

• Hanky Panky | DVD | (07/02/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

• Vice Versa | Blu Ray | (05/09/2022) from £14.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Roger Livesey and a very young Anthony Newley star as a Victorian father and son who accidentally swap bodies after a foolishly casual wish made in the presence of a magical Indian artefact! Written and directed by filmmaker, wit and reconteur Peter Ustinov, Vice Versa is featured here as a brand-new remaster from original film elements in its original theatrical aspect ratio. During a heart-to-heart with his son, pompous businessman Paul Bultitude envies his schoolboy son Dick's youth, while Dick wishes he were grown up. They both get what they wish for when, magically, the son becomes the father (and vice versa) - a situation that soon causes consternation and uproar! Product Features Image gallery The Strange World of Gurney Slade episode one Saturday Spectacular: an Anthony Newley variety show from early 1960 Limited edition booklet by Neil Sinyard

• Bridget Jones's Diary / The Edge Of Reason | DVD | (14/11/2005) from £4.94   |  Saving you £15.05 (304.66%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Featuring both of Bridget's cinematic adventures in one Special Edition box set. Bridget Jones' Diary (Dir. Sharon Maguire 2001): In the screen adaptation of 'Bridget Jones Diary' Helen Fielding's international best-selling phenomenon documentary filmmaker Sharon Maguire has managed a rare feat: a film as captivating as the novel! Bridget Jones (Renee Zellweger) is a pretty and neurotic thirtysomething ""singleton"" (in her vernacular) who vows to take control of her

• Love Potion No. 9 | DVD | (29/04/2002) from £24.99   |  Saving you £-19.00 (-317.20%)   |  RRP £5.99

  The premise of Love Potion No. 9--that a magic potion makes the user irresistible to the opposite sex--could be the setup for the crassest sex farce imaginable. Instead, this film is a surprisingly subtle romantic comedy. Nebbishy scientist Paul (Tate Donovan) goes to a Gypsy fortune teller (Anne Bancroft), who tells him she sees no women in his entire life. To make up for this depressing news, she gives him a few drops of a love potion--number 8. Paul, a biochemist, scoffs; but when his pet cat accidentally gets a taste and attracts every female cat in the neighborhood, he enlists fellow dweeby scientist Diane (Sandra Bullock) to analyse it. After experimenting on monkeys, they decide to test it on themselves; soon Diane is being pursued by handsome Italians in the street and comes close to marrying the Prince of England (sic), while Paul gets a little revenge on a woman who previously rejected him, then embarks on his own love spree. Shortly they discover that they really want each other; but before they can get married, an old boyfriend of Diane returns with his own dose of love potion number 8. Paul's only hope is to get something even more powerful. Love Potion No. 9 is genuinely clever and sweet, and both Donovan and Bullock work well with the low-key but effective humour of the movie's well-written script. It's a tribute to her talent and her girl-next-door looks that Bullock, unlike most pretty stars dressing down, is effective as both a lovelorn loser and the confident glamour-girl she becomes. Altogether, a charming and enjoyable film.--Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com

• Carry On Spying | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £7.98   |  Saving you £6.01 (75.31%)   |  RRP £13.99

  While the later chapters of the Carry On series have received fairly constant exposure, some earlier examples such as 1964's Spying remain relatively unseen. Given the brash production and ensemble playing of the more well-known films, this black and white version of the Carry On world seems oddly low-key in comparison. Four of the soon-to-be-regular cast are in attendance--Barbara Windsor, Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Charles Hawtrey--and there are many signs of a formula in development (the double entrendres, bad puns, Windsor's ill-fitting clothing). Of course, with its obsession with sex and bodily functions it's all very English and parts have dated horribly, not least the casual racism of some of the secondary characters, but fans of this most unique of genres will find much to tickle their fancy. And don't they look so young?On the DVD: Given the long history and colourful characters of the series, there must be scope for much behind the scenes and documentary footage, but this disc is totally bereft of any extras bar scene selection. There is also little to add to the original black and white film stock, although the soundtrack, chock full of humorous instrumentation, sounds pretty good. --Phil Udell

• The Brittas Empire - The Complete Series 1 | DVD | (21/07/2003) from £12.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (53.89%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Broadcast between 1991 and 1997, The Brittas Empire is a sitcom set in Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre. It stars Chris Barrie as Gordon Brittas, the prattish, blazered manager who remains loudly oblivious to the fact that his high-handed efforts at running the place result in utter calamity. As his gin-supping, nervous wreck of a wife observes, he thinks he's the oil that lubricates the machine but in reality he's "a bag of grit". This first series introduces Brittas, whose arrival at the new Centre prompts a rash of resignations as his petty and pedantic managerial methods constantly rebound on him. Mishaps in these episodes include a malfunctioning set of automatic doors, a disastrous wedding in the pool and a lost baby. Somehow, however, Brittas' strange sense of idealism keeps him bobbing up as all others sink into despair. The Brittas Empire could either be seen as a satire on the new tier of superfluous middle-management types who flourished in Tory Britain, or a 90s update of the old stereotype of the bureaucratic buffoon. Compared to, say, Alan Partridge, Brittas seems a bit broad and one-dimensional, a sketch-show character stretched beyond its limits. The rest of the cast don't offer much in the way of resistance or support and Brittas very swiftly becomes very annoying. Despite all problems, however, The Brittas Empire was an immense success, attracting over eight-million viewers at its peak. On the DVD: The Brittas Empire include some perfunctory, text-only items, including a Chris Barrie biography and a Brittas Fitness Quiz, as well as a sketch performed at the Royal Variety Performance of 1996, in which Brittas reveals himself as an enthusiast for conformity with EEC regulations. --David Stubbs

• All Gas And Gaiters | DVD | (03/11/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  All 11 surviving episodes of the classic TV comedy. 'All Gas And Gaitors' is a sitcom centred on the ecclesiastical rivalries at St. Oggs a 13th Century cathedral. All 11 surviving episodes are included in this release. Episode titles: The Bishop Rides Again The Bishop Gets The Sack The Bishop Sees A Ghost The Bishop Loves His Neighbour The Bishops Heats The System The Bishop Warms Up The Bishop Entertains The Bishop Gives A Present The Bishop Shows His Loyalty The Bish

• Bagdad Cafe | DVD | (11/05/2002) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-4.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  ""An adorable comic fable."" -Los Angeles Times. German writer-director Percy Adlon makes a ""remarkable"" (Boxoffice) American debut with his ""charming"" (Vogue) Bagdad Caf starring CCH Pounder (Face/Off) and Jack Palance (City Slickers). Injecting his bold and unique style into a sweet story about the common threads that connect disparate people Adlon succeeds in creating a cinematic jewel that is both ""hilarious and touching"" (Los Angeles Times). Drawn to a pair of lights in the

• Joking Apart: Complete BBC Series 1 (Exclusive to Amazon.co.uk) | DVD | (29/05/2006) from £59.99   |  Saving you £-46.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £13.99

  From the multiple BAFTA Award winning writer Steven Moffat (Coupling Press Gang Doctor Who Jekyll Tin Tin) comes the first series of Joking Apart starring Robert Bathurst and Fiona Gillies. First shown in 1993 the series was a huge cult hit and has been eagerly awaited on DVD ever since. Comedy writer Mark Taylor knows he has found the woman of his dreams when he meets Becky and sweeps her off her feet with his non-stop quick-fire one-liners. But five years on Mark doesn't realise that the joke has worn thin and a surprise party for Becky changes his life completely. Told in flashback this award-winning bittersweet comedy has it all; laughter and tears joy and pain.

• A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy | Blu Ray | (12/12/2016) from £11.92   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Woody Allen's 1982 homage to Bergman and Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy is a delight from start to finish and must rate as one of his most joyous films. The period setting--Edwardian up state New York--gives the whole thing a misty, elegiac quality. Part Midsummer Night's Dream (the magic supplied by visions through a spirit glass) and part Smiles of a Summer Night (Bergman's source material provides the basic plot and ensuing couplings), it's a gentle satire on male sexuality and frustration. Allen handles the angst with the lightest of touches. He plays a Wall Street broker who spends his holidays inventing flying machines (they work, with telling consequences). He and his wife (Mary Steenburgen) are increasingly depressed by their ailing sex life. Cue the arrival of weekend guests: crusty academic (Jose Ferrer) and beautiful blue-stocking fiancée previously in love with Allen (Mia Farrow, of course); and insatiable doctor (Tony Roberts) with his latest squeeze, a nurse (the excellent Julie Hagerty). Eighty minutes of unravelling, discovery and renewal follow, accompanied by a Mendelssohn sound track. This is one of Allen's most treasurable pictures. On the DVD: A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy is presented in widescreen that recaptures the pleasure which greeted the setting of this most pastoral of Allen's films on its first release; it really does glow with summery light. The standard stereo soundtrack is perfectly acceptable. Extras include the original theatrical trailer and multiple language soundtracks.--Piers Ford

• The Wedding Singer | DVD | (29/05/2006) from £7.27   |  Saving you £5.72 (78.68%)   |  RRP £12.99

  It's 1985 and Robbie Hart (Sandler) is a wedding singer who can cover the hits deliver the perfect toast and even get Grandma on the dance floor. But when Robbie is dumped at his own wedding he has a total eclipse of the heart and becomes the ultimate cynic. It's not until he meets a waitress named Julia (Barrymore) that Robbie starts to come around. However Julia's about to get married herself and unless Robbie can pull off the performance of a lifetime the girl of his dreams m

• South Park: Passion of the Jew | DVD | (29/03/2010) from £8.48   |  Saving you £2.77 (38.37%)   |  RRP £9.99

  After seeing The Passion Of The Christ Stan and Kenny attempt to get their money back from Mel Gibson while Cartman starts a campaign against the Jews. Includes 2 bonus episodes.

• Carry On Teacher | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £6.66   |  Saving you £10.33 (155.11%)   |  RRP £16.99

  When Carry On Teacher was released in 1959, the series was still in its infancy but all the familiar constituent parts were already in place. Innuendo, naturally, reigns supreme and on the brink of the permissive 1960s it's surprising what Peter Rodgers and the gang were able to get away with. "Are you satisfied with your equipment, Miss Allcock?", child psychologist Leslie Phillips asks gym mistress Joan Sims. Naturally, it isn't five minutes before Miss Allcock's shorts have split, leading to a series of pants gags. And we're off. For Carry On fans, Teacher contains many of the funniest lines and certainly some of the best performances from the whole series. Kenneth Williams is still acting rather than giving his mannerisms a good work out. Hattie Jacques is establishing her gorgon-with-a-soft-centre-for-the-right-man persona and Charles Hawtrey's birdlike twitching makes him ideal as the precious music teacher. A youthful Carol White and Richard O'Sullivan are among the scheming pupils. But you don't have to be a diehard Carry On fan to appreciate the boisterous, sub-St Trinians comedy. And thanks to Ted Ray's poignant acting as the headmaster, there's a real moment of Mr Chips-style bathos at the very end. On the DVD: Carry On Teacher doesn't gain much from being presented in widescreen. Much of its appeal lies in its familiarity. All we ask for is a clear print--and in black and white this is diamond sharp--and decent sound quality. The whole thing fits like a comfortable old shoe. But apart from the scene index there are no extras on the disc. Given the cult status of the Carry On films, and the wealth of documentary material which has been made about them and their stars, you'd think something extra could have been offered with the DVD releases to make them a more worthwhile alternative to the video. --Piers Ford