Editor’s review by Julia Diddy, January 6, 2009

When reviewing the work of the American sketch comedy duo Dave & Tom, there’s an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed. It’s nigh impossible to discuss Dave & Tom without invoking England’s mighty Monty Python.

It’s not simply that David Beeler and Tom Konkle are skilled at literate lampooning, and choose to deliver much of it in British accents. Or that Beeler studied drama for over a decade on the other side of the pond. Or that Konkle recently wrote and co-starred with John Cleese in a two-man sketch show. Beyond the more obvious connections, much of the material from this double act plays like vintage Flying Circus, comedy writ large with an almost swashbuckling sense of wordplay and whimsy.

Exhibit A: The duo’s newest web series, Invention with Brian Forbes, centers around a genteel British television host and his recurring (and, in fact, only) guest, a half-baked inventor named Sir Reginald Bo-Hey Know. Invention recently scored a distribution deal with KoldCast TV, which also has a deal with TiVo. TiVo? It’s a surprising success for such a wry and literate series.

There are more mainstream pop culture parodies within the Dave & Tom repertoire as well, but even those canter off into unexpected tangents. There’s the Jedi knight felled by technological malfunction; a crime show spoof that references white dwarves and Asian mysticism; and even a breakfast cereal commercial that extols the virtues of starting the day with a heaping bowl of Raisin Brahms — as hawked by its namesake German composer. And according to TubeMogul, Dave & Tom’s assorted web offerings have accumulated an impressive 12 million hits thus far. In an age where the knuckle-dragging “comedy” of the Jackass reality franchise profitably milks America’s illiterate underbelly for laughs, it’s heartening to discover that there’s still an audience for the multi-syllabic punchline.

While Dave & Tom’s artful anglophilia is clearly steeped in a nostalgia for the more subtly flavored comedy of yesteryear, it’s surprisingly fit for modern consumption. There’s not a dead parrot in sight, but plenty of time-traveling historians and inept bookshop proprietors rouse the specter of ye olde English sketch show….and even teach it a few new tricks.

Brian Forbes is clean cut, British, and has a love of inventions. His regular guest, Sir Reginald Bo-Hey No, is also enthusiastic about inventions, but unfortunately he is also almost certifiably insane. From inventing an “electric toupee” that could electrocute and kill its owner, to copyrighting trees and a raunchy new letter for the alphabet, he certainly seems to have more than a few screws loose. But, he is completely and blissfully unaware that he is nuts, which makes his interactions with Brian all the more hilarious. Even when he comes up with a “Rocket Ship to the Stars,” that actually takes visitors on a rocket ship through the homes of the stars, Sir Reginald doesn’t seem to understand why it could be a bad idea.

This series is very well written, and most episodes only last a few minutes so it never has time to get boring. You do start to wonder why Brian would have the loopy Sir Reginald on his show over and over again, but it is worth it for the audience because he is consistently funny. Many of the other reviews and comments I have seen about this series mention a similarity between it and Monty Python, which I’m not sure I saw. While the actors were British (or at least employing British accents), many of their jokes didn’t seem quite what I would expect from something “similar to Monty Python.” Dave Beeler, who plays perpetually optimistic and perpetually misled Brian Forbes, is too straight of a character. He reacts to Tom Konkle’s Sir Reginald as if his ideas are truly the silliest things he has ever heard. If this was a Monty Python sketch, I could see Brian Forbes going along with Sir Reginald’s goofiness, and probably topping it a bit. This webseries just isn’t quite absurd enough to be at the Monty Python level.
This isn’t a very involved show, with a bunch of special effects or even a bunch of actors. But, the two leads play off each other very well and together they make a great comedy duo. It was really easy to watch each webisode back to back and not lose interest. And I continued laughing until the very end, which proves that this show handles its simple but funny concept really well.