Harry & Paul

Harry & Paul (the first season was titled Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul) was a British Sketch Show that debuted in 2007 and ran until the end of 2012. The concept is to bring back together Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse, who had previously worked together on Harry Enfield and Chums - Whitehouse is now at least as well known for The Fast Show. Other Fast Show actors, such as Simon Day, started appearing in series 2.

A running theme seems to be that of class warfare and cultural divisions in British society. This was true to some extent in Harry Enfield and Chums, but is more obvious here.

Harry & Paul has had a mixed reception: Some people love it, others hate it.


 * Alternate History: The Beatles sketches from Series 3 are about what might have happened if The Beatles had never got into drugs - they're all alive and still together in 2010 and are still acting as they did in their A Hard Day's Night days.
 * As Long as It Sounds Foreign: The multilingual football manager, who talks to each of the players from his international side in his own language - most of which is authentic-sounding but gibberish.
 * Bragging Theme Tune: The opening credits portray Enfield and Whitehouse as Communist-style dictators, accompanied by a patriotic anthem praising them in the same style.
 * British Accents: Like most Enfield shows, much of the humour is about classism and regionalism in the United Kingdom. Examples are Clive the Geordie and Barbican Man.
 * Catch Phrase:
 * "Really Sheridan, one must always make time for one's NHS work" - Charles, the Consultant Surgeons sketches
 * "I saw you coming" - the owner of the eponymous shop
 * "`Ands, Ashley!" - the Clean Chavs (series 1)
 * "...or some sort of shit like that" - the Cultured Fisherman
 * "But I am...a Chocolatier!" - the Chocolatier
 * "What in the name of looooooooove is...?" "You too"/"Are a great band" and "What have you been making history this week, Bono?" - Bono and The Edge
 * "Is he a quare?" "If he looks like a quare and sounds like a quare..." - the Old Tories (series 3)
 * "I'm a very important man" - the Very Important Man (series 2)
 * Dumb Blonde: The Sloane Rangers, who frequent the shop I Saw You Coming.
 * Expy: "I'm Tim Nice-But-Balding"
 * Fake Band: Not exactly - as in The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer, it's a real band presented in a crazy manner, specifically U2. This consists of The Edge hiding a surprise under his woolly hat every week, while Bono appears in a cloud of smoke and a white messianic glow and mentions what he's been "making history" this week. Catchphrases: "What in the name of loooooooooooooooove is..." and "You too" "Are a great band!"
 * Also see their Beatles sketch above.
 * Gaydar: Played with. The Old Tories spend all of their spare time trying out their hopelessly inaccurate Gaydar.
 * Granola Girl: The entire clientele of I Saw You Coming.
 * Have I Mentioned I Am Gay?: While we never see Bunny doing anything more than sitting in his leather armchair, quietly reading a hardback while nursing a dram of whisky, he assures us that he is in fact a frightful quare.
 * Impossible Task Instantly Accomplished: The "Yeah, we can do that" builders, who build a London Underground extension in an afternoon.
 * The Modest Orgasm: In the Retraux take on "When Harry Met Sally", the woman fakes an orgasm by crossing her eyes and clearing her throat slightly. Everyone else in the restaurant is still shaken to their core.
 * Omnidisciplinary Scientist: The Consultant Surgeons.
 * Retraux: The black-and-white 1930s "original versions" of hit movies, such as The Bourne Identity and (controversially) Brokeback Mountain.
 * Ridiculously-Fast Construction: The father-and-son builders who build huge prisons, Tube stations far out in the country, etc., in seconds with the help of a Stock Footage Hard Work Montage.
 * Traffic Wardens: Parking Pataweyo.