Take the banal, the irrelevant and the downright silly, add a female perspective, pour in a hefty dose of comic timing, stir well, and what do you get? Two series of
Smack the Pony, the highlights of which are found here. So many of the sketches are very short that watching this in one go might induce epilepsy, but regular doses, little and often, can only prove beneficial. The team of Sally Phillips, Doon MacKichan and Fiona Allen play on women's neuroses (snogging, pubic hair and size of boobs, not necessarily in that order), their preoccupations (finding a man, finding a man and finding a man), their weaknesses (Marks & Spencer, fashion and men) and their competitiveness (more covert than that of the male of the species, and therefore far more deadly). The spoof dating agency clips take in the full range of stereotypes and unfailingly hit the spot. And the prize for the most surreal sketch goes to the one which sets that most bourgeois of institutions--the wedding list--in a sex shop, with the
coup de grace: "Two butt plugs ... with love from Kathy and Edward". Not a compilation to give your grannie for her birthday but to be enjoyed in the company of like-minded people (men included).
On the DVD: The one failing here is that the DVD disappointingly adds nothing to the VHS format. Shame!--Harriet Smith
