dbo:abstract
- Vic and Bob, also known as Reeves and Mortimer, are a British double act consisting of Vic Reeves (born 24 January 1959; real name Jim Moir) and Bob Mortimer (born 23 May 1959). They have written and starred in several comedy programmes on British television since 1990, with Reeves having made his first TV appearance in 1986. They have often been referred to as the modern day Morecambe and Wise. Reeves and Mortimer's comedy combines absurd, visually and verbally inventive material with traditional comedy double act staples such as violent, cartoonish slapstick (the duo frequently engage in escalating fights with large frying pans, baseball bats, hammers, etc.), often improvised silly banter (usually at a large, prop-strewn desk) and purposefully corny, rapid-fire jokes. Both at times play the straight man; often Mortimer will play the exasperated foil to Reeves' eccentric buffoon, or Reeves will play blankly bemused or annoyed to a manic or hyperactive Mortimer. They forged a status for themselves as "the alternatives to alternative comedy" in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In a 2005 poll The Comedian's Comedian, the duo were voted the 9th greatest comedy act ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. (en)