Harry Enfield and Chums ran for a couple of series in the 90's, its title was an acknowledgement of the others who contributed to the success of Enfield's comedy, most notably Paul Whitehouse and Kathy Burke. The series continues the same format that 'Harry Enfield's Television Programme' had started, i.e. Sketch based comedy featuring an array of characters that mostly re-appeared several times over the course of the two seasons. It also has to be admitted that the comedy relied quite a bit on the use of catchphrases, which were ultimately an easy identifier for most of the characters. Catchphrase comedy has developed a bit of a bad name over the years for being too simplistic and banal and it's true that many comedy shows definitely fall into this bracket but Enfield seemed to occupy the high ground of this sub-genre back in the 90's and this series definitely shows how good he could be with it. In fairness, the best comedy routines in these shows had a lot more going for them than a memorable repeatable line.
Looking at the series objectively from the point of view of today it does seem far more uneven than it did at the time. Back in the day it did come across as absolutely hilarious but some characters that were funny then seem a bit one-note and average now, like the Slobs, the Old Gits and the Scousers. While others such as the Randy Old Ladies and Harry and Lulu are completely unfunny. On the other hand, the show did introduce classic creations such as Kevin the Teenager and The Self Righteous Brothers. It also featured some inspired old school TV invention with the 1930's information films and Mr Dead. But some of the most memorable moments come via one-off sketches like the clever spoof Benny Elton and the bizarre combination of the Italian Il Postino with Postman Pat. While there are a few dud moments sprinkled throughout the two series, the good moments definitely outweigh the bad. Much of the credit for the success of the show simply comes down to the great comic acting of Enfield, Whitehouse and Burke, the latter is truly inspired as Perry the gormless teenage friend of Kevin. It's a shame that Enfield sort of lost his way with this kind of thing in the years that followed because this series showed that he was a master at it when he got it right.
