Vic Reeves Big Night Out

Vic Reeves Big Night Out
DVD cover, released in September 2005.
Left to right: Bob Mortimer, Vic Reeves, Fred Aylward
Genre
  • Sketch comedy
  • Surreal humour
Created byVic Reeves
Starring
No. of series2
No. of episodes15
Production
Running time25 minutes (and one 40 minute special)
Production companyChannel X
Original release
NetworkChannel 4
Release25 May 1990 (1990-05-25) 
17 April 1991 (1991-04-17)
Related
Vic and Bob's Big Night Out (2017–present)

Vic Reeves Big Night Out is a cult British comedy stage show and later television series which ran on Channel 4 for two series in 1990 and 1991, as well as a New Year special. Its live incarnation marked the beginnings of the collaboration between Vic Reeves (real name Jim Moir) and Bob Mortimer and started their Reeves and Mortimer (also known informally as Vic and Bob) comedy double act.

The show was later acknowledged as a seminal force in British comedy throughout the 1990s, the influence of which continued long afterward.

Arguably the most surreal of the pair's work, Vic Reeves Big Night Out was effectively a parody of the variety shows which dominated the early years of television, but which were, by the early 1990s, falling from grace. Vic, introduced by Patrick Allen as "Britain's Top Light Entertainer and Singer", would sit behind a cluttered desk talking nonsense and introducing the various segments and surreal guests on the show. Vic Reeves Big Night Out is notable as the only occasion in their career in which Vic took the role of sole host, while Bob was consigned to the back stage, appearing every few minutes as either himself or as a strange character. The two received equal billing in the series credits.

Both series of the show and the 1990 New Year's Eve special are currently available for viewing on Channel 4's streaming service, All 4.