Lee Evans: Access All Arenas

We have to be honest here. We at BestForFilm have never quite ‘got’ the whole Lee Evans thing. He’s very sweaty, very very shouty and his arms flail about quite a bit. That’s funny, is it? However, in the name of good journalism and of not being beaten up by stadiums of people who do actually like the big eared prat, we decided to put our prejudices aside and watch this hilarity-fest with an open mind.

And it turned out we were right the first time.

Look, before you flex your complaining and spitting muscles, hear us out. This DVD is not bad because we don’t like Lee Evans. Thousands of people have been to watch him, thousands more have bought DVDs of people watching him, clearly this man has something. We’re not denying it.

We’re disappointed in this DVD purely because it is a lazily-constructed, money making scam that even fans of Lee Evans do not deserve to be subjected to. Firstly, there is no material that owners of his previous DVD’s have not seen before. Secondly, there is barely three minutes of continuous action at a time, just spliced clips of Evans talking about various subjects crudely lumped together in catagories such as ‘Animals’, ‘Driving’ and ‘Holidays’. There is no progression, no arc and subsequently no climax of any sort, just lots of tiny haphazard scenes that make the watcher feel like they’re playing with a digital Lee Evans jigsaw.

Surely a large part of the joy in watching talented comedians is seeing how they construct their shows, how they develop their subjects and how they take us on their mirth (or in Evan’s case, sweat) filled journey. This DVD helpfully rids viewers of this entirely, making Evan’s entire back catalogue digestable in tiny two minute chunks.

No matter what your opinion of Lee Evans, this DVD is disappointing. If you’re a big fan, just buy the actual tour DVDs and watch the man work as you’re supposed to. If you’re not a fan, well, frankly well done you. Eddie Izzard is just over there.

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