Connect with us

Home Entertainment

Frankie Boyle Live – The Last Days Of Sodom DVD Review

Starring: Frankie Boyle

Running Time: 80 minutes

Certificate: 18

Extras: Frankie Boyle’s Rehabilitation Programme Pilot

Frankie Boyle shot to fame for his controversial observations and quick wit on MOCK THE WEEK. After leaving the show in 2009, Boyle has focused on his stand-up routine and other projects suchas his sketch show TRAMADOL NIGHTS. Boyle never spends too long out of the spotlight, mostly due to his constant Twitter comments, which bored tabloids pick up and exploit in their newspapers during slow periods. It never fails to anger people, but ultimately just brings more attention to the man who feeds off controversy.

Before reading this you’ll already know if you like Frankie Boyle or not. In other words, Boyle hasn’t changed one bit, which is both his strength and his downfall. You know if his jokes will offend you, so if they do you may want to avoid this release. He swaggers onto stage and starts berating the audience as much as he can with a variety of impressive insults. This actually takes up the majority of the show, which is kind f disappointing. On MOCK THE WEEK, Boyle would make observations on the news and society, whereas here he simply lays into those brave enough to adorn the front rows. Obviously they are fans and know his humour, so although some of the cruelty works, knowing the audience are game makes it less shocking.

Luckily for me, I find Boyle hilarious. Not just with the things he says, but the way he says them. The whole point of his act is to piss people off, and there are even some things he says even I wouldn’t utter, mostly because his bizarre mind can twist anything into a sick nightmare. Boyle does have a point, which he expresses from time to time, that his words are just that, words and nothing else. No need to get offended, just don’t listen. He points out exactly how rape can be funny when he asks the audience to imagine Piers Morgan getting raped by Lion-O from THUNDERCATS. Well played Mr. Boyle.

As funny as I found THE LAST DAYS OF SODOM, it also seemed to be a bit safe and outdated by Boyle’s usual standards. It’s filmed in front of a home crowd in Glasgow. All the heckles shouted out are just people wanting to tell their mates how they were torn a new one by Frankie Boyle. When watching offensive comedians such as Boyle, I want to feel embarrassment, awkwardness, and a bit of fear for the performer. I never felt that during this DVD. Boyle also fails to bring anything new to the table, which I’m sure he has rectified since the news of Jimmy Saville and the like. Here he relies on jokes that are years old, including pops at Princess Diana, 9/11, Shannon Matthews, Madeleine McCann, Jade Goody, and Michael Jackson. These are jokes The Daily Mail wouldn’t even bother getting offended by anymore. Boyle does manage to fit in some jokes surrounding The Olympics and Diamond Jubilee just to remind us it’s 2012.

FRANKIE BOYLE LIVE: THE LAST DAYS OF SODOM is nothing new, but still fairly hilarious if you enjoy this kind of humour. But even for me, Boyle works best when juxtaposed against other comedians. It makes his jokes even more shocking and unexpected. Here we just have 80 minutes of constant insults, swearing, foul imagery and the rest, which you’ll probably be immune to after the first 20 odd minutes.

Extras: The only extra is an unaired pilot of Frankie Boyle’s proposed chat show for Channel 4, FRANKIE BOYLE’s REHABILITATION PROGRAMME. It may only clock in at 24 minutes but in many ways it illustrates the problem I had with his stand-up. He is joined by fellow comedians Reginald D. Hunter and Jack Whitehall, and the idea is that fellow the guests and studio audience must confront Boyle about his controversial rules and try and prove him wrong. It’s a great way to mix the shocking humour with current events and they do try and cram in some actual discussion by bringing on special guests. The best part would have to be the panel being joined by Youtube star nuttymadame, the girl who loves TWILIGHT. It’s a shame this show wasn’t picked up as it had a lot of promise, but unfortunately, Boyle recycled a lot of the jokes for the main feature. However, it still includes some of the biggest belly laughs on the disc.

FRANKIE BOYLE LIVE – THE LAST DAYS OF SODOM is available to buy on DVD from 19th November. It is available here.

Luke likes many things, films and penguins being among them. He's loved films since the age of 9, when STARGATE and BATMAN FOREVER changed the landscape of modern cinema as we know it. His love of film extends to all aspects of his life, with trips abroad being planned around film locations and only buying products featured in Will Smith movies. His favourite films include SEVEN SAMURAI, PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC, IN BRUGES, LONE STAR, GODZILLA, and a thousand others.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Latest Posts

More in Home Entertainment