Black Books: Difference between revisions

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It was broadcast on [[Channel 4]] between 2000 and 2004, starring Moran as Bernard Black, a foul-tempered Irish misanthrope who ostensibly runs a cluttered little London bookstore but rarely sells anything. (Because when people buy books, they also sell books, and then he'd have to order books, and sell them again, and all that's just ''miserable''.) Instead, he spends his time chain smoking, drinking cheap wine and verbally abusing everyone who crosses his path, especially his relentlessly excitable, somewhat naive assistant Manny Bianco ([[Bill Bailey]]). Bernard's friend and (rueful) one-time lover Fran Katzenjammer (Tamsin Greig) has limited success in making him occasionally stop being a total prat, but as she herself is a neurotic pessimistic drunk she can only do so much.

Relied on [[A Simple Plan]] for pretty much all of its plots. The characters would decide to go to a party, or do their taxes, or write a children's book, or something, and would more or less use this as a springboard for a lot of bizarre and/or appalling behaviour, until they eventually failed, or at best broke even.

 

* [[Alien Lunch]]: Bernard has lost so much of his sense of taste due to his cigarette habit that he mistakes a coaster for "some kind of delicious biscuit."

* [[Alliterative Name]]: Bernard Black.

* [[Audio Erotica]]: Howell Granger the shipping forecaster's sexy voice is a plot point.

* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: In the series finale of season 2, Bernard, Manny and Fran all end up in an airport with no idea what country they're in, so all three ask a barman a random question in a different language in an attempt to ascertain where they are. Bernard asks (in a vaguely Middle Eastern-sounding accent, no less) "''An bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas?''" - an Irish phrase meaning "May I go to the bathroom?", which is probably about the only phrase in the language that every native Irish person could reliably speak.

** In the same episode, we learn that Fran's surname is "Katzenjammer", German slang for hangover.

** Also, the identity of the strange products in Fran's shop in the [[Pilot]] can be figured out if you read the [[Japanese Language|katakana]] on the boxes.

* [[Broken Treasure]]: The wine meant for the Pope.

* [[Burger Fool]]: Bernard takes a job at a burger joint for a few hours just to get out of the rain.

* [[Card Sharp]]: Fran turns out to have mad poker skillz that she uses to win back the £20,000 that Bernard lost in a series 3 episode.

* [[The Cast Showoff]]: [[Bill Bailey]]'s piano skills are a cornerstone of his stand-up act. Manny discovers to his shock that he can play any piece of music on hearing it once.

* [[Coincidental Accidental Disguise]]:

** A third episode ends with all three wearing dark glasses due to hangovers, and Manny walking with a stick. A woman then comes in asking for donations for the blind.

** Plus several times when Bernard starts ranting at Manny through a soundproof door.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Bernard and Fran.

** Manny and Bernard's intervention over how many shoes Fran intends on taking on holiday is played as if they were in a [[Spy Fiction|Spy Thriller]] trying to deprogram a [[Manchurian Agent]].

* [[Downer Ending]]: Depending on how much you sympathize with Bernard, it probably qualifies.

* [[Dramatic Pause]]: "I am... The Cleaner" ([[Psmith Psyndrome|Can't you just hear the capital letters?]])

* [[DVD Commentary]]: A particularly brilliant one on the DVD, almost as quotable as the show itself:

* [[Eagle Land]]: The American tourists who give Bernard's shop a visit hail from the second variety. They're used as inspiration for Fran and Bernard's later impersonation of a pair of American tourists.

* [[Electrified Bathtub]]: Subverted for comedy. Manny uses an alarming number of electric devices while in the tub, including a toaster and a hairdryer. He even drops the latter into the water, but nothing happens, and he casually acknowledges his luck.

* [[Epunymous Title]]

* [[Even the Guys Want Him]]: Jason.

* [[Expensive Glass of Crap]]: After drinking the rare bottle of wine meant for the pope, Bernard and Manny attempt to "recreate" it using cheap wine and ingredients from around the house so no one will notice. It ends up subverted, as it kills the pope.

* [[Fawlty Towers Plot]]

* [[Gilligan Cut]]: [[Double Subverted]]. Manny, during his role as a model for Japanese gay fetish magazines, fervently insists that he will ''not'' accompany a Japanese businessman to the casino. Cut to... Black Books, where it appears that he's made good on this promise, until a £50 chip falls out of his pocket.

* [[Grammar Nazi]]: "Don't you ''dare'' use the word "party" as a verb in this shop!"

* [[Happy Place]]: Bernard's is apparently a bar. Under a table.

* [[Hide Your Pregnancy]]: Tamsin Greig in series 1, with the help of several long scarves.

* [[Holy Backlight]]: Manny just after internalizing ''The Little Book of Calm''.

* [[I Shall Taunt You]]: Bernard to a bunch of skinheads. His first few attempts are too erudite and fail to insult the gang (that, or they're just too shocked that he was taunting them to react).

* [[I Want Grandkids]]: Manny's parents.

* [[Jerkass]]: Bernard & Fran

** [[Jerkass Woobie]]: Bernard, as is revealed in the final episode of the series.

* [[Large Ham]]: Bernard, Manny has his moments as well.

* [[Looks Like Jesus]]: Manny in the first episode, due to [[Coincidental Accidental Disguise]]

** Also hilariously supplemented by Manny as [[The Igor]] after breaking his tooth (Giving him a muffled voice), having his nerves spasmed by a massage machine (making him hunch over) and getting cramp in his leg due to stress, giving him a limp.

** Manny told his parents he had a girlfriend and had made partner in the bookshop. Then they came to visit...

** Many hiding in a piano to support Fran's pretence that she can play.

* [[Mistaken for Gay]]: Subverted. At their first meeting, Manny mistakenly believes Bernard to be gay, to which Bernard casually acknowledges that he himself made this mistake "for a bit", but changed his mind after discovering the apparently unreachable high standards of hygiene, "and all that ''dancing''".

* [[Nietzsche Wannabe]]: Bernard.

* [[Noodle Implements]]

* [[Noodle Incident]]: Whatever did happen in Canada?

*** [[Let Us Never Speak of This Again|WE SAID WE WOULDN'T TALK ABOUT CANADA!]]

* [[Not a Game]]: see the trope's page quote.

* [[Only Sane Man]]: Manny and Bernard take turns at this role

* [[Overly Long Gag]]

** Doubly ironic considering how all three of them must possess a newfound hatred for the blind after being forced to feign to play piano (or climb inside and play with spoons) for the benefit of three blind piano teachers.

* [[Pet Heir]]: Bernard's landlady left the building to the cat. Which Bernard then proceeds to attempt to kill to avoid paying rent to it.

* [[Proportional Article Importance]]: Bernard misses the enormous headline "POPE KILLED BY INFERIOR WINE" because he's looking at the ''date.''

* [[Relative Error]]: Committed by Fran. She thinks her boyfriend's cheating on her; he's actually taking his sister out to lunch because she lost her job.

** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by Bernard, [[Genre Savvy|who manages to guess she's made this mistake.]]

* [[Right Behind Me]]

'''Fran''': [looks at picture] Look at them. Wankers. }}

* [[A Simple Plan]]

* [[Sit Comic]]

* [[Stealth Hi Bye]]: The Cleaner.

* [[There Are No Therapists]]: Averted. One appears in "Hello Sun"; she's so good she manages to trigger a (temporary) breakthrough from both Manny and Bernard without actually saying anything.

* [[They Called Me Mad]]: Parodied by Bernard while attempting to make a "super wine" from scratch, "with a fraction of nature's resources and a ''FOOL'' for an assistant..."

* [[Trash of the Titans]]: "North corner, cobwebs containing a number of deceased arachnids... with beans".

** The cleaner sweeps his finger through ''thin air'' and it comes away black with dust.

** "Everything's dirty! See? I am right now eating scrambled eggs...with a comb...from a shoe!!"

* [[Twice Shy]]

* [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist]]

* [[Verbal Backspace]]:

* [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]: Bernard and Manny.

* [[Weaksauce Weakness]]: The Pope is somehow killed by inferior wine.

* [[We Want Our Jerk Back]]: Manny starts to miss Bernard when he goes to work for Evan at Goliath Books.

** Fran disapproves of Bernard's behaviour when he tries to be a bit less miserable: "Look! I can do ''fun''!"

'''Fran''': It was in between those two things. }}

* [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic]]: Manny appears to briefly turn into Jesus after ingesting ''The Little Book of Calm''.

** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] near the end of the episode, when the two missionaries from earlier in the episode see [[Looks Like Jesus|Manny]] in the store, and promptly run away screaming.

* [[Wimp Fight]]: Bernard and Fran settle their differences with a fight, which involves them turning their heads away and slapping each other like sissies until Fran twists Bernard's arm behind his back and pulls his hair.

* [[You Do NOT Want to Know]]: Manny refuses to say what happens to him if the temperature reaches 88 degrees, referring to his condition only as "Dave's Syndrome." It turns out it involves {{spoiler|a war dance on top of a car, naked save for a strategically-placed hot water bottle.}}

* [[You Would Make a Great Model]]: Happens to Manny in "He's Leaving Home".

* [[Zany Scheme]]

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:British Series]]

[[Category:Britcom]]

[[Category:Black Books]]