Frankie Boyle: If I Could Reach Out Through Your TV And Strangle You, I Would

DVD review by Steve Bennett

This might come as a surprise, but apparently Frankie Boyle has been holding back until now. ‘It's my last tour and I don't give fuck any more,’ he says on this DVD, as if he’d hitherto been afraid of causing offence.

That explanation comes just after he’s done a particularly savage joke about Katie Price’s disabled son Harvey; which sits in a show that merrily targets the McCanns, the Cumbrian taxi driver killer, Jade Goody, Susan Boyle, Michael Jackson and rape, all without mercy.

But then again, you probably expected that; there can be few who would buy a Frankie Boyle DVD not knowing the dizzying onslaught of vicious putdowns it contains. He doesn’t need to reach out through the TV and strange us, he can bludgeon us senseless with gags.

If you are a fan, though, you’ll find much to enjoy, as behind the aggression lies a cruel poetry. Boyle makes heartless abuse into an artform, and his lines are brutally beautiful as an artfully directed horror film. But if you find him difficult to stomach – an understandable point of view – look away now.

The show is structured around machine-gun bursts of the one-liners, broken up with snatches of audience banter; where again he takes no prisoners. Clearly there’s a masochistic streak among his fans, as they all love being sworn at by an aggressive Glaswegian. However you have to question the parenting skills of those who brought their children to witness such horrors – and there seem to be plenty of them in the Hammersmith Apollo audience at this filming.

There’s usually not much depth to the material – while the DVD chapter headings pretend Boyle will address a matter such as ‘male sexuality’, in reality it’s a thin excuse for a barrage of gags about vaginas. There is opinion behind some jokes about politics or military conflicts – although the punchlines equally end up in a hard place, no matter how well intentioned he started out.

The audacity of his approach offers a vicarious thrill, and on a technical level he’s a master. Like a fine tequila, he’s sharp, potent - and can leave a nasty taste if you’re not accustomed to it.

Frankie Boyle: If I Could Reach Out Through Your TV and Strangle You I Would
Certificate: 18
Running time: 76 mins
Recorded at: Hammersmith Apollo
Extras: Training Montage (28 mins of him trying out stuff at the Hen & Chickens in London); Valium-Fuelled Publicity Thing (32 mins web interview with MySpace); Nigel Buckland, Endomorph (17 mins, audio feature)
Released by: 4DVD, November 22
Priced: £19.99. Click here to buy from Amazon for £11.93.