Reeves and Mortimer

Reeves and Mortimer is the name of a British comedy double act. The particular relationship between the two persons and their opposite personalities constitute the main sources of humour.
An unfortunate event is at the origin of the creation of the duo. Indeed, following a sentimental deception, Bob Mortimer was convinced to go and see a show in a tavern performed by a comedian known as Vic Reeves. Afterwards, they were introduced and they began to write together for Reeves’ next show. Their partnership revealed to be successful and in 1989 they made their first television pilot together named Vic Reeves Big Night Out. The show consisted of two series. Each episode lasted 25 minutes and presented a parody of the different variety shows which dominated television’s early years.

Their collaboration has also led to Shooting Stars in 1995, a comedy panel gameshow which ended in 2003. This was originally a show in which teams of celebrities played against each other but in the instance of Shooting Stars it resembles a parody. From January 2008 onwards, the show is being broadcast again on the UK digital channel Challenge.
They also wrote a TV sketch called The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer and regarded it as the highest point of their TV work. The first series appeared in 1993. Each programme was dintroduced by Patrick Allen before the well-known duo appeared. They mainly sang songs, told silly jokes, parodied programmes famous at that time such as Food & Drink and advertised their own products. The second series only came out in 1995 with a few changes to the first one. Namely, the duo did not advertise their products themselves anymore and the atmosphere of the show was less bizarre than earlier.



In 2003, Mortimer and Reeves were considered by The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.
Last month, they announced that they were working on a new series.