funky's TOP 30 Absolutely Fabulous MOMENTS
- Thread starter Funky
- Start date
Funky
User
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2004
- Messages
- 95,520
13. "I've never had any complaints..."
Door Handle, season 3
This was just one of those shocking moments that is never quite as funny after the 100th time but it's still a seminal moment.
The scene itself is great - Patsy needs to go for a 'tit test' and needs Saffy's advice. Cue the two arch enemies in an uncomfortable but bizarrely quite sweet moment as Saffy reluctantly agrees to help,
"do you ever check your breasts yourself?"
"no, but you can't miss em! I've never had any COMPLAINTS..."
My personal favourite bit is when she takes her top off and finds a bottle top in her bra
Then there's the uncomfortable reaction during the 'test'... but of course the money shot is when Gran walks past and catches them, thinking they're having a bit of leslie action. Her reaction is TV GOLD
The scene before is great too. Eddy still hasn't fixed the kitchen because she's too busy with her new pocket organiser. She's driving Saffy round the bend because Saffy wants "surfaces, a cooker, a dishwasher" and Eddy just isn't being logical: "I wonder if Laquoix does kitchens?"
Door Handle, season 3
This was just one of those shocking moments that is never quite as funny after the 100th time but it's still a seminal moment.
The scene itself is great - Patsy needs to go for a 'tit test' and needs Saffy's advice. Cue the two arch enemies in an uncomfortable but bizarrely quite sweet moment as Saffy reluctantly agrees to help,
"do you ever check your breasts yourself?"
"no, but you can't miss em! I've never had any COMPLAINTS..."
My personal favourite bit is when she takes her top off and finds a bottle top in her bra
Then there's the uncomfortable reaction during the 'test'... but of course the money shot is when Gran walks past and catches them, thinking they're having a bit of leslie action. Her reaction is TV GOLDThe scene before is great too. Eddy still hasn't fixed the kitchen because she's too busy with her new pocket organiser. She's driving Saffy round the bend because Saffy wants "surfaces, a cooker, a dishwasher" and Eddy just isn't being logical: "I wonder if Laquoix does kitchens?"
Last edited by a moderator:
VoR
Take it or leave it
Oh I love that. Saffy and Patsy's interactions are always pure gold. How the actresses kept a straight face is beyond me.
Funky
User
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2004
- Messages
- 95,520
12. "How sweet of you to open your own door!"
The Last Shout (special), Part 2
I FUCKING LOVE THE LAST SHOUT. If you haven't seen it, hang your head in shame.
This is the first of 2 scenes from the 2-part special, which is about 90 minutes in length. It comes in between series 3 and 4 and (again) was intended to wrap up the series. It drew massive ratings over Christmas. And it's fucking hilarious.
Basically, Saffy is getting married. But Eddy is too busy going skiing, and is only swayed into organising the wedding once she realises that Saffy's arrogant boyfriend is made of money. Here we meet the in-laws to be, and Eddy's inner snob comes climbing out,
"these people are mega rich... one small withdrawal and SWITZERLAND goes third world!"
"It doesn't matter they're coming to see me! I hope they like me..."
"they gotta like you darling... super-league rich, I mean these people could order CHINA as a takeaway..."
Tom Hollander plays the fiance and Carmen De Sautoy is Absolutely Fabulous as the socialite mother Kalishia,
"oh, stairs? How novel! Be careful Carlos, imagine stepping down off the jet... I mean I always say if you can go sideways, why go up? Oh, are we there? I thought it might have gone through, but I see not..."
[Eddy, frantically] "yeah I'M KNOCKING THROUGH! I might do it a minute actually..."
The scene remains really uncomfortable as Kalishia is beyond patronising to Saffy and her family, and Eddy is a mixture of sychophantic and deluded,
"the National Gallery, oh yes I'm always in there..."
"what for?"
"well lunch really... and postcards! They've got a lovely shop"
"but most I love Bel Air... I find I get a lot of work done there"
"liposuction?"
We get appearances from Bo and Gran, just to add to the choas and Saffy's woes, but it's not til Patsy appears that it gets really interesting... turns out Patsy knows Kalishia from her sordid past, and Eddy can really use it to her advantage,
"that's Kalishia Clegg! She was a BOND girl with me!"
"darling you were never a Bond girl..."
"yeah I was - Bond Meets Black Emmanuel..."
you have to watch when Patsy confronts her. AMAZING
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SESQCTliV5E&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SESQCTliV5E&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZXwxRgrrxEI&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZXwxRgrrxEI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
The Last Shout (special), Part 2
I FUCKING LOVE THE LAST SHOUT. If you haven't seen it, hang your head in shame.
This is the first of 2 scenes from the 2-part special, which is about 90 minutes in length. It comes in between series 3 and 4 and (again) was intended to wrap up the series. It drew massive ratings over Christmas. And it's fucking hilarious.
Basically, Saffy is getting married. But Eddy is too busy going skiing, and is only swayed into organising the wedding once she realises that Saffy's arrogant boyfriend is made of money. Here we meet the in-laws to be, and Eddy's inner snob comes climbing out,
"these people are mega rich... one small withdrawal and SWITZERLAND goes third world!"
"It doesn't matter they're coming to see me! I hope they like me..."
"they gotta like you darling... super-league rich, I mean these people could order CHINA as a takeaway..."
Tom Hollander plays the fiance and Carmen De Sautoy is Absolutely Fabulous as the socialite mother Kalishia,
"oh, stairs? How novel! Be careful Carlos, imagine stepping down off the jet... I mean I always say if you can go sideways, why go up? Oh, are we there? I thought it might have gone through, but I see not..."
[Eddy, frantically] "yeah I'M KNOCKING THROUGH! I might do it a minute actually..."
The scene remains really uncomfortable as Kalishia is beyond patronising to Saffy and her family, and Eddy is a mixture of sychophantic and deluded,
"the National Gallery, oh yes I'm always in there..."
"what for?"
"well lunch really... and postcards! They've got a lovely shop"
"but most I love Bel Air... I find I get a lot of work done there"
"liposuction?"
We get appearances from Bo and Gran, just to add to the choas and Saffy's woes, but it's not til Patsy appears that it gets really interesting... turns out Patsy knows Kalishia from her sordid past, and Eddy can really use it to her advantage,
"that's Kalishia Clegg! She was a BOND girl with me!"
"darling you were never a Bond girl..."
"yeah I was - Bond Meets Black Emmanuel..."
you have to watch when Patsy confronts her. AMAZING
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SESQCTliV5E&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SESQCTliV5E&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZXwxRgrrxEI&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZXwxRgrrxEI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
it is from series 5, where Saffy is coming back from Africa, and Emma Bunton is forcing everyone to clean the house.
EDIT: it's the first episode; 'Cleanin'.
Last edited:
Funky
User
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2004
- Messages
- 95,520
11. "Get your mouth sewn up"
Fashion, season 1
SO before we head into the all important top ten, the last moment from the first series appears (yes, the whole of the top 10 is from series 2 and 3, plus another cameo from The Last SHout)
This is how it all began. It essentially leads off from the original F&S sketch that started the concept off, as Eddy wakes up hungover and has to take a lecture from her daughter. We cover all of Eddy's fads that would fill up the following decade+ of AbFab jokes - the drinking, the drugs, the plastic surgery, the buddhism, the overeating, the various health fads, and of course Saffy's disgust at all of it.
It's a very different Saffy that we see in the latter seasons and therefore the relationship is quite different also. In that sense the humour is of a different vibe but it works in its own way.
The mother-daughter ironies are ramped up to full in this scene, and although it often feels a little under-rehearsed, some people actually prefer the style to the more over-produced later series.
My favourite bit is when she starts chanting
also the writing really is top notch,
"It's only a fashion show and you've had six months to prepare it. I mean why is everything always so hysterical? All you've got to do is play a bit of music, turn on the lights, get some people who have thrown up everything they've ever eaten and send them down a catwalk! ...I mean for God's sake, 500,000 troops were mobilised in the Gulf, a war fought and won in less time, without everyone involved having a nervous breakdown and being sent flowers. It cannot be that difficult!"
"Darling, every troop didn't have to contain Yasmin Le Bon, the generals didn't require "big hugs" after every manoeuvre, and the whole operation
did not have to be co-ordinated to rap and Japanese avant-garde pipe music!"
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jAgBeAFZVgI&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jAgBeAFZVgI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Fashion, season 1
SO before we head into the all important top ten, the last moment from the first series appears (yes, the whole of the top 10 is from series 2 and 3, plus another cameo from The Last SHout)
This is how it all began. It essentially leads off from the original F&S sketch that started the concept off, as Eddy wakes up hungover and has to take a lecture from her daughter. We cover all of Eddy's fads that would fill up the following decade+ of AbFab jokes - the drinking, the drugs, the plastic surgery, the buddhism, the overeating, the various health fads, and of course Saffy's disgust at all of it.
It's a very different Saffy that we see in the latter seasons and therefore the relationship is quite different also. In that sense the humour is of a different vibe but it works in its own way.
The mother-daughter ironies are ramped up to full in this scene, and although it often feels a little under-rehearsed, some people actually prefer the style to the more over-produced later series.
My favourite bit is when she starts chanting
also the writing really is top notch,
"It's only a fashion show and you've had six months to prepare it. I mean why is everything always so hysterical? All you've got to do is play a bit of music, turn on the lights, get some people who have thrown up everything they've ever eaten and send them down a catwalk! ...I mean for God's sake, 500,000 troops were mobilised in the Gulf, a war fought and won in less time, without everyone involved having a nervous breakdown and being sent flowers. It cannot be that difficult!"
"Darling, every troop didn't have to contain Yasmin Le Bon, the generals didn't require "big hugs" after every manoeuvre, and the whole operation
did not have to be co-ordinated to rap and Japanese avant-garde pipe music!"
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jAgBeAFZVgI&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jAgBeAFZVgI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Funky
User
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2004
- Messages
- 95,520
"and three times a week someone sticks a hose up your bum and flushes it all out of you!"
"it's called colonic irrigation darling, it's not to be sniffed at..."
"well why can't you just go to the toilet like normal people?"
"IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT ME TO BE, SOME BORING OLD NORMAL OLD TOILET GOER?"
"it's called colonic irrigation darling, it's not to be sniffed at..."
"well why can't you just go to the toilet like normal people?"
"IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT ME TO BE, SOME BORING OLD NORMAL OLD TOILET GOER?"
VoR
Take it or leave it
"I'm chanting as we speak darling"
dollyV
2010's Althea Flynt
Amazing tags! Mark em up, sell em on, re: Romanian babies.
My favourite series is two. Eddie's character was very dark and dry, cynical observer. I preferred that to loopy slapstick Eddie.
I think the gasm moments for me involve the star cameos. "But you're Mandy Rice-Davies." (great to see THAT face on tv), along with Germaine Greer "Your whole face just hangs of these cheekbones" and Helena Bottom Carter. Favourite cameo, Marianne as god Anita as the devil. This was just so fucking perfect i cried. Since we're talking about Anita Pallenberg, let's have a butcher's at her outside Waitrose aged 65.
http://i.STOP FUNDING HATE.co.uk/i/pix/2010/01/08/article-1241743-07CBE230000005DC-154_468x666.jpg
FABULOUS
My favourite series is two. Eddie's character was very dark and dry, cynical observer. I preferred that to loopy slapstick Eddie.
I think the gasm moments for me involve the star cameos. "But you're Mandy Rice-Davies." (great to see THAT face on tv), along with Germaine Greer "Your whole face just hangs of these cheekbones" and Helena Bottom Carter. Favourite cameo, Marianne as god Anita as the devil. This was just so fucking perfect i cried. Since we're talking about Anita Pallenberg, let's have a butcher's at her outside Waitrose aged 65.
http://i.STOP FUNDING HATE.co.uk/i/pix/2010/01/08/article-1241743-07CBE230000005DC-154_468x666.jpg
FABULOUS
VoR
Take it or leave it
:Oi:
Funky
User
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2004
- Messages
- 95,520
10. "I may well have a gun in my bag"
New Best Friend, season 2
One of the more beautifully subtle scenes from Ab Fab - it's not difficult to explain, but rather than being your typical blend of farce and slapstick,it's a simple but brilliant disection of Eddy and Patsy's dysfunctional relationship. They're having lunch with "other friends" on separate tables of a plush kensington restaurant, in order to make each other jealous, after falling out over Eddy's old friend Petina. Of course the joke is that Eddy & Patsy don't really have other friends - they are only fabulous in their own minds.
It starts off with Patsy egging in on Twiggy and Zandrah Rhodes's lunch, and Eddy having to bribe LULU of all people to eat with her. Patsy's reminiscing with Twiggy gets so random that Twiggy eventually walks off with the closing line "I don't know know you at all do I?" and Eddy leaves Lulu with the posing question:
"you know what you need is a really good publicity machine. Who does your PR?"
to which Lulu responds,
"you do!"
Genius. The entire PR inustry summed up and smacked down in just two words.
In another random hysterical Patsy moment, I love it when she sits down at the table and just starts going "yup yup yup" as Twiggy and Zandrah natter a moment OFT imitated among friends ever since...
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PHZsg4MHYvw?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PHZsg4MHYvw?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
New Best Friend, season 2
One of the more beautifully subtle scenes from Ab Fab - it's not difficult to explain, but rather than being your typical blend of farce and slapstick,it's a simple but brilliant disection of Eddy and Patsy's dysfunctional relationship. They're having lunch with "other friends" on separate tables of a plush kensington restaurant, in order to make each other jealous, after falling out over Eddy's old friend Petina. Of course the joke is that Eddy & Patsy don't really have other friends - they are only fabulous in their own minds.
It starts off with Patsy egging in on Twiggy and Zandrah Rhodes's lunch, and Eddy having to bribe LULU of all people to eat with her. Patsy's reminiscing with Twiggy gets so random that Twiggy eventually walks off with the closing line "I don't know know you at all do I?" and Eddy leaves Lulu with the posing question:
"you know what you need is a really good publicity machine. Who does your PR?"
to which Lulu responds,
"you do!"
Genius. The entire PR inustry summed up and smacked down in just two words.
In another random hysterical Patsy moment, I love it when she sits down at the table and just starts going "yup yup yup" as Twiggy and Zandrah natter
a moment OFT imitated among friends ever since...<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PHZsg4MHYvw?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PHZsg4MHYvw?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Last edited:
TurnerPrize
time to dance
OH OH, EILEEN, there's an "Absolutely Everything" boxset out in November i think. or at least there was when i went cyber hunting for a complete boxset a few months ago.
VoR
Take it or leave it
It isn't Twiggy in that sketch, it's Britt Ekland 
:swedish:
:swedish:
Funky
User
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2004
- Messages
- 95,520
9. "You haven't got the stick..."
The End, season 3
While season 3 remains consistently funny for me, I can see why some people feel it starts to lose its way later on. It all gets a bit weird when Eddy starts having a midlife crisis and Saffy leaves for University; it's like everything that made Ab Fab what it was, was changing, and old jokes were replaced by new ones that perhaps, perhaps, weren't as good.
Eddy as a live-alone mum fending for herself is always a winner, but they do take a while getting to the climax... the climax being this scene, where Eddy finally decides to take herself off to a retreat and "find herself" (again)
Here we see one of those retreats, with Saunders completely mocking the idea that such places are a genuine way to heal yourself mentally and physically.
However, it remains the character of Eddy that provides the biggest laughs. Fish out of water scenarios ensue, the most brilliant being around the talking circle, in which you cannot talk unless holding the talking stick. Eddy just cannot seem to grasp spirituality:
"you haven't got the stick..."
"well give me the stick, how much IS the stick, I'll buy my own stick! Give it to me!"
And she really isn't fitting in:
"yeah sorry I'm late, I had problems with the form, see they wanted to charge me a weekly rate but seeing as I'm going to be here forever I thought I should get a discount, that's all..."
There's some great moments with Patsy struggling in her new job in New York and Saffy moving into the University Halls, but nothing quite as good as Saffy and her talking stick.
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/p8dJZ2H5UnI?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/p8dJZ2H5UnI?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
The second scene in the retreat (not in this clip) is also a scream, with Eddy struggling to bond with her mentor
"oh I love OLD CHEESECLOTH!"
"no that's Nicole Fahri, could you put it down?"
The End, season 3
While season 3 remains consistently funny for me, I can see why some people feel it starts to lose its way later on. It all gets a bit weird when Eddy starts having a midlife crisis and Saffy leaves for University; it's like everything that made Ab Fab what it was, was changing, and old jokes were replaced by new ones that perhaps, perhaps, weren't as good.
Eddy as a live-alone mum fending for herself is always a winner, but they do take a while getting to the climax... the climax being this scene, where Eddy finally decides to take herself off to a retreat and "find herself" (again)
Here we see one of those retreats, with Saunders completely mocking the idea that such places are a genuine way to heal yourself mentally and physically.
However, it remains the character of Eddy that provides the biggest laughs. Fish out of water scenarios ensue, the most brilliant being around the talking circle, in which you cannot talk unless holding the talking stick. Eddy just cannot seem to grasp spirituality:
"you haven't got the stick..."
"well give me the stick, how much IS the stick, I'll buy my own stick! Give it to me!"
And she really isn't fitting in:
"yeah sorry I'm late, I had problems with the form, see they wanted to charge me a weekly rate but seeing as I'm going to be here forever I thought I should get a discount, that's all..."
There's some great moments with Patsy struggling in her new job in New York and Saffy moving into the University Halls, but nothing quite as good as Saffy and her talking stick.
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/p8dJZ2H5UnI?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/p8dJZ2H5UnI?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
The second scene in the retreat (not in this clip) is also a scream, with Eddy struggling to bond with her mentor
"oh I love OLD CHEESECLOTH!"
"no that's Nicole Fahri, could you put it down?"
VoR
Take it or leave it
Oh I love the little narrative arc in the latter half of series 3. The extended scene between Patsy and Eddie getting stoned in the toilets in the penultimate episode manages to be hilarious, tragic and really sweet at the same time. I love how despite being utterly dysfunctional, Patsy & Edina's friendship IS weirdly genuine.
"You'll be alright without me, won't you Pats?"
*cut to Patsy's extended black 'n' white nightmare sequence*
"Yeah I'll be alright :| "
"You'll be alright without me, won't you Pats?"
*cut to Patsy's extended black 'n' white nightmare sequence*
"Yeah I'll be alright :| "
Last edited:
Funky
User
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2004
- Messages
- 95,520
Oh I love the little narrative arc in the latter half of series 3. The extended scene between Patsy and Eddie getting stoned in the toilets in the penultimate episode manages to be hilarious, tragic and really sweet at the same time. I love how despite being utterly dysfunctional, Patsy & Edina's friendship IS weirdly genuine.
"You'll be alright without me, won't you Pats?"
*cut to Patsy's extended black 'n' white nightmare sequence*
"Yeah I'll be alright :| "
oh yeah I love that bit.
"I don't want that to be me Pats! The whole world, asleep!"
"What?"
VoR
Take it or leave it
Best of all is the bits where they're so stoned they're barely intelligible, just rolling around on the floor gasping with laughter.
"EDDIE EDDIE EDDIE! For the BITCH DAUGHTER... HERE LIES MINGE-FEATURES" *cracks up*
Also when Saffy and Eddie are having the big fight and Patsy is just sat on the toilet intermittently screaming abuse.
"BITCH TROLL!"
Last edited:
Funky
User
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2004
- Messages
- 95,520
8. Have you opened these?
Sex, season 3
OK, so I'll stick my neck on the line and say that SEX is probably my favourite episode EVER. A corking storyline mixed with a STARTLING array of one-liners, it's just laughs from beginning to end.
I'll come onto the scenario of Eddy's sexual awakening LATER as Sex is featured more than once in this Top Ten. But for now, we'll focus on a couple of ICONIC scenes that are only very short in length but are among the funniest and most famous of all episodes. The episode is not so much a couple of extended scenes as it is a series of separate, laugh-out-loud sequences. So I've chosen a couple of them here.
First, and perhaps less well known but IMO just as funny, is the GENIUS moment when we get to see Saffy and her repressed, sheltered sexuality get tested for the first time as mother discovers a porno mag in her sons untouched room. One of the beautiful intricacies of the mother-daughter relationship is that, while Eddy is happy to embarrass and humiliate Saffy in everything from her job to her excesses to her friends, sex remains a considerable taboo in the Monsoon household. So comes the unbearably uncomfortable moment when mother catches daughter, well, HAVING A PEEK.
My favourite moment is Eddy's RUBBISH attempt to look distracted by pretending to wash her hands in the sink and then RUN AWAY. It's just all so AWFUL
This is followed by the LEGENDARY moment when Saffy relunctantly hands her soon-to-be-shagged mother some condoms only to discover there are some missing... even if you've seen it a hundred times before, watch it again. There is a reason why June Whitfield is a comedy legend. She plays the moment PERFECTLY. It's only fuelled further by Saunders amazing comic timing "JUST GET OUT!" and the tight-fitting outfit that is, shall we say, RIDING UP. Joanna Lumley tries everything to keep a straight face and I imagine it took more than one take to keep it that way.
Magic.
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YgRJdLSkopA?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YgRJdLSkopA?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
The sequences in question are in the middle and end of this clip but if you watch the whole thing you'll find another BRILLIANT moment where Patsy throws the porno mag in question on the table in front of Saffy's friends. Just as Saffy is arguing to her mother how embarrassing she is, Patsy siezes her moment perfectly with the line "here you go babes!"
Eddy's response to her mortified daughter?
"that wasn't me! it was her!"
Sex, season 3
OK, so I'll stick my neck on the line and say that SEX is probably my favourite episode EVER. A corking storyline mixed with a STARTLING array of one-liners, it's just laughs from beginning to end.
I'll come onto the scenario of Eddy's sexual awakening LATER as Sex is featured more than once in this Top Ten. But for now, we'll focus on a couple of ICONIC scenes that are only very short in length but are among the funniest and most famous of all episodes. The episode is not so much a couple of extended scenes as it is a series of separate, laugh-out-loud sequences. So I've chosen a couple of them here.
First, and perhaps less well known but IMO just as funny, is the GENIUS moment when we get to see Saffy and her repressed, sheltered sexuality get tested for the first time as mother discovers a porno mag in her sons untouched room. One of the beautiful intricacies of the mother-daughter relationship is that, while Eddy is happy to embarrass and humiliate Saffy in everything from her job to her excesses to her friends, sex remains a considerable taboo in the Monsoon household. So comes the unbearably uncomfortable moment when mother catches daughter, well, HAVING A PEEK.
My favourite moment is Eddy's RUBBISH attempt to look distracted by pretending to wash her hands in the sink and then RUN AWAY. It's just all so AWFUL
This is followed by the LEGENDARY moment when Saffy relunctantly hands her soon-to-be-shagged mother some condoms only to discover there are some missing... even if you've seen it a hundred times before, watch it again. There is a reason why June Whitfield is a comedy legend. She plays the moment PERFECTLY. It's only fuelled further by Saunders amazing comic timing "JUST GET OUT!" and the tight-fitting outfit that is, shall we say, RIDING UP. Joanna Lumley tries everything to keep a straight face and I imagine it took more than one take to keep it that way.
Magic.
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YgRJdLSkopA?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YgRJdLSkopA?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
The sequences in question are in the middle and end of this clip but if you watch the whole thing you'll find another BRILLIANT moment where Patsy throws the porno mag in question on the table in front of Saffy's friends. Just as Saffy is arguing to her mother how embarrassing she is, Patsy siezes her moment perfectly with the line "here you go babes!"
Eddy's response to her mortified daughter?
"that wasn't me! it was her!"
VoR
Take it or leave it
MORE 
Funky
User
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2004
- Messages
- 95,520
7. He'd WANT me to be there!
Death, Season 2
I love how now matter what the situation, everything stays the same in Ab Fab; they always manage to bring it back to the themes. Even with Eddy's father's death, she's still desperate to be somebody and Patsy is still desperate for a piece of whatever Eddy is after. In this case, death has reminded Eddy that she needs to leave a legacy and Patsy wants in,
"Eddy you know you said you were going to die..."
"Yeah well I might not be now Pats, I'm looking into it..."
After Patsy lip-services her way into getting the house when Eddy dies,
"SAFFY doesn't want it, she's NOT HERE!"
...it leads up to Eddy deciding that, against the family's wishes, she is going to attend the funeral, as the self-pity consumes her, and Patsy eggs her on in an effort to ensure she stays onside while her 'best friend' plans her future. This brings us to the climax at the cemetery, where Patsy... well we all know the rest.
This episode is generally regarded as one of the best episodes ever; so many great scenes to choose from but it's mostly just a slew of small iconic scenes... this particular 'moment' covers the drunken discussion and the cemetery scenes mentioned above
5.30 onwards:
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cQ3SqJfqf0g?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cQ3SqJfqf0g?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Death, Season 2
I love how now matter what the situation, everything stays the same in Ab Fab; they always manage to bring it back to the themes. Even with Eddy's father's death, she's still desperate to be somebody and Patsy is still desperate for a piece of whatever Eddy is after. In this case, death has reminded Eddy that she needs to leave a legacy and Patsy wants in,
"Eddy you know you said you were going to die..."
"Yeah well I might not be now Pats, I'm looking into it..."
After Patsy lip-services her way into getting the house when Eddy dies,
"SAFFY doesn't want it, she's NOT HERE!"
...it leads up to Eddy deciding that, against the family's wishes, she is going to attend the funeral, as the self-pity consumes her, and Patsy eggs her on in an effort to ensure she stays onside while her 'best friend' plans her future. This brings us to the climax at the cemetery, where Patsy... well we all know the rest.
This episode is generally regarded as one of the best episodes ever; so many great scenes to choose from but it's mostly just a slew of small iconic scenes... this particular 'moment' covers the drunken discussion and the cemetery scenes mentioned above
5.30 onwards:
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cQ3SqJfqf0g?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cQ3SqJfqf0g?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Funky
User
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2004
- Messages
- 95,520
6. "You little Bitch Troll from hell!"
Birth, season 2
I didn't quite know where to separate this episode out into a 'moment'... so I haven't really. It's just one long great scene that sees the three main characters trapped in the living room under the worst possible conditions - Eddy and Patsy are supposed to be going out, and Saffy is secretly inviting a boy round for a date. Naturally, all levels of embarrassing and hilarious bonding and fighting ensues, and it's actually the first time we really get to see so much of the obvious angst and unresolved tension between the 3 boil over.
Saffy calls her mum out for not bringing her up properly, Patsy hates on Saffy for being ungrateful, and Eddy feels caught in the middle. While there is a rather fabulous climax in the middle where Patsy let's rip on Saffy ("bring me a knitting needle!") and Saffy slaps her leading to a ridiculous fight, this scene is really all about her Eddy and her terrible mothering skills:
"Sweetie, darling, sweetie darling, you don't remind me calling you that do you sweetie? Hey darling? I don't know how it started..."
"it started because you couldn't remember my NAME for the first 3 years!"
"don't be silly darling, you didn't have a name until the first FOUR... It! Thing! Thing It!"
"I did TELL you the facts of life didn't I darling?"
"If you're talking about the time when you came into my room at three o'clock in the morning STONED out of your brain and slurred into my ear, 'by the way sweetie, people do have it off', then YES you told me the facts of life..."
"well if there's any GAPS you want me to fill in, just let me know..."
It sums up the first two seasons of chaos and was a fitting end to what is largely considered the best series to date.
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bVSDo6Z5PAQ?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bVSDo6Z5PAQ?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/S0rczr3EFAU?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/S0rczr3EFAU?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Birth, season 2
I didn't quite know where to separate this episode out into a 'moment'... so I haven't really. It's just one long great scene that sees the three main characters trapped in the living room under the worst possible conditions - Eddy and Patsy are supposed to be going out, and Saffy is secretly inviting a boy round for a date. Naturally, all levels of embarrassing and hilarious bonding and fighting ensues, and it's actually the first time we really get to see so much of the obvious angst and unresolved tension between the 3 boil over.
Saffy calls her mum out for not bringing her up properly, Patsy hates on Saffy for being ungrateful, and Eddy feels caught in the middle. While there is a rather fabulous climax in the middle where Patsy let's rip on Saffy ("bring me a knitting needle!") and Saffy slaps her leading to a ridiculous fight, this scene is really all about her Eddy and her terrible mothering skills:
"Sweetie, darling, sweetie darling, you don't remind me calling you that do you sweetie? Hey darling? I don't know how it started..."
"it started because you couldn't remember my NAME for the first 3 years!"
"don't be silly darling, you didn't have a name until the first FOUR... It! Thing! Thing It!"
"I did TELL you the facts of life didn't I darling?"
"If you're talking about the time when you came into my room at three o'clock in the morning STONED out of your brain and slurred into my ear, 'by the way sweetie, people do have it off', then YES you told me the facts of life..."
"well if there's any GAPS you want me to fill in, just let me know..."
It sums up the first two seasons of chaos and was a fitting end to what is largely considered the best series to date.
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bVSDo6Z5PAQ?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bVSDo6Z5PAQ?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/S0rczr3EFAU?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/S0rczr3EFAU?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>