COMEDY SHOWCASE – The Eejits

Writers: Arthur Matthews & Paul Woodfull
Director: Steve Connelly

Cast: Dessie Gallagher (Maurice), Patrick McDonnell (Gerard), Paul McGlinchey (Tom Grace), Kathy Burke (Virgin Mary), Ned Dennehy (Bob Salmon), Mark Huberman (Rory McWilliams), Debbie Chazen (Garvey), Eamon Geoghegan (Balaclava Man) & Finbar Lynch (Concrete O'Hara)

Irish pub band E-Z Feelin hope to hit the big time when a former U2 roadie give them some of Bono's old equipment, but they run into problems when U2 want their stuff back, whilst smuggling a package into Northern Ireland...

Arthur Matthews, co-creator of Father Ted, is half the talent behind this Comedy Showcase one-off, writing with Paul Woodfull. The Eejits stars Dessie Gallagher as Maurice and Patrick McDonnell as Gerard, a duo reminiscent of Father Ted and Father Dougal from Matthews' classic series. Gerard even sleeps in a child's bedcovers like Dougal, and actor McDonnell had a memorable guest role as Dougal-alike Eoin McLove in Father Ted once...

Minor similarties aside, The Eejits was a very different beast in terms of scope and complexity. Unfortunately, it strained for big laughs, had far too many characters (requiring a distracting use of legends to explain who people are!), and its plot completely drowned most of the characterisation.

The Eejits resembled a low-budget comedy film, but with its 60-minute plot condensed into 30-minutes. Consequently, it was a struggle to keep up with events and, because Maurice and Gerard just weren't very amusing, it lacked strong performances to hold onto while the plot got increasingly complicated. If it had told a simpler story, crafted some bigger laughs, and spent time making sure Maurice and Gerard were endearing, it could have worked.

There's the seed of a good idea here, but the best jokes were ripped from Father Ted's screwy worldview – a vision of the Virgin Mary made from household items and the need to glue cotton wool onto sheep. The rest was a sequence of sporadic, fast-paced incidents that you weren't invested in...

Kathy Burke as a working class Virgin Mary... using strobe lights and dry ice at a gig for asthmatics and epileptics... a former U2 roadie who spouts obvious insider knowledge (The Edge isn't his real name...) -- there was some good stuff here and there, but it was undermined by a lack of focus, disappointing lead performances and irritating legends/music apparently styled on The Good, The Bad And The Ugly!

Unfortunately, The Eejits was the first episode of Channel 4's Comedy Showcase that I contemplated turning off after 15 minutes. But I stuck with it, and was admittedly glad when the plot coalesced into a decent climax, but I wouldn't want to spend any more time on the road with E-Z Feelin...

Arthur Matthews is definitely a writer with a strong, narrative mind for comedy – something his Father Ted writing partner Graham Linehan is desperately in need of over on The IT Crowd. Those two should get back together, don't you think?


26 October 2007
Channel 4, 10.30 pm