Full of enthusiasm and working on a shoe-string budget, the three
guys that make up The Shambles comedy troupe - Sean "Lynchy" Lynch,
Anthony "Sos" Ziella and Nathan Valvo - do a terrific job in this DVD,
which has a speedy pace, making it easy to watch for first timers. For
example, the almost 3 hours of viewing is easy to swallow, because even
when the small handful not-so-funny skits appear, they are always over
pretty quickly, and it's on to the next one. Being all
things to all people is close to an impossibility in comedy, but the
guys behind The Shambles offer up a fresh take on the sketch comedy
and, for mine, I found it quite amusing, and I even recorded some
painfully drawn-out belly laughs during my initial sitting with the
DVD, suggesting that The Shambles hits the mark in quite a few areas. Originally
a TV programme, first seen on the Melbourne community TV station
Channel 31 (the same place that launched the careers of Rove McManus
and Hamish & Andy), it will be airing its third season in 2006 on
C31 in Melbourne and soon to be airing across Sydney and Mount Gambier, this DVD contains the best bits from the first
two seasons of the cult show. The trio's sense of comedy is surprisingly
broad and largely successful; anything from quick 10 second one-liner
jokes to drawn out sketches and mockumentaries (such as the
slow-starting but intriguingly ended Chaskovvski Brothers) make up the
comedy routines here, and for every different viewer there will be
different favourite segments. For instance, the young 'uns may get a
laugh out of Rave Boy, but middle-agers may be more intrigued by the
Bill Cosby phone-in, where he suggests the boys create a new african american themed animated
movie to take place of Finding Nemo. Very amusing stuff. Some other memorable skits include the
always entertaining Skyline Man who's "fully sick, mate" and talks a
lot of crap about things he never did, but always wanted to.
The
Shambles touch on huge variety of topics for their skits, and most are
refreshingly original. They parody everyday life, plus there's a
smattering of politics and a generous helping of religious and
history-based sketches (the Hitler skit is quite clever, particularly
when he begins singing Deltra Goodrem's duet with Brian McFadden). The
TV series also saw a very funny 'street talk' segment, not unlike the
amusing segments seen on the ABC's Late Show, but sadly this is left
out of the DVD. There are a few parallels to be drawn
with the D-Generation's classic ABC TV offering, but the difference
here is that the trio of young fellas are not only much younger, but
also have a very good grasp on popular culture. As such, younger DVD
fans may find this more amusing than mature aged viewers, but at the
end of the day, I reckon it's pretty tight little package considering
the miniscule budget. Give these guys a few more years
and some serious sponsors and they could be a troupe to watch, and as a
gauge of modern Australian pop culture, they hit the nail on the head. DVD
Extras With cult shows like this, special features are always important, and The Shambles boys deliver the goods here. There
is one of the more humerous audio commentaries here in which the boys
even create a new skit on the spot, as well as a generous helping of
Bloopers and Outakes which are always enjoyable. Theres the
stock standard Photo Gallery, Unaired Promos and also footage from the
boys trip to the 2005 Antenna Awards (The Emmy's of Community TV) Also,
if your clever enough, theres even a hidden Easter Egg to
find which features quite an enjoyable breakfast table converstion
between the boys and Jesus. Conclusion:
Movie 75% Extras: 70% Click Here To View Clips From This DVD 
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