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Rowan Atkinson in 2009 |
Rowan Sebastian Atkinson, CBE, M.Sc. is one
of the most famous British comedians of our time. His best known work is
centred around the Mr. Bean character. This act is mainly focused on physical
and somewhat childish humour. Mr. Bean doesn't talk much and mainly
communicates by uttering sounds as well as using body language. Whenever he
does speak it is usually in a mumbled, low-pitched voice. The character seems
to be somewhat impaired in the sense that he doesn't seem to have outgrown childhood
mentally. He does seem to appreciate art and in his first film is shown to work
as a guard in an art museum. He consistently introduces himself as 'Bean' to
others and until the film Mr. Bean on holiday his real name is never revealed.
In the film however, his first name is shown to be 'Rowan', as is the actor's
first name.
The humour in Mr. Bean comes from the
character's ineptness at performing simple, day-to-day tasks. The episodes
generally show him trying to go swimming, use a television set, drive a car,
etcetera. His solutions to the problems, although creative and often absurd are
often with total
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Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean |
disregard for others and for the norms in society. This
usually results in hilarious situations where Mr. Bean himself is often a
victim at first, but always comes out on top.
Besides Mr. Bean Atkinson has worked on
several other wildly successful series, including Not the Nine o' Clock News,
Blackadder and The Thin Blue Line.
Not the Nine o' Clock News was a comedy
sketch show produced by BBC2. It was intended as a funny alternative to the
Nine o' clock news on BBC1 which was a serious news show. It features comic
coverage of news stories, parody songs, sketches and much more. It was
hilarious and launched Rowan Atkinson's career.
Blackadder is discussed elsewhere on this
blog, so I'll keep it short here. Blackadder is a comedy sitcom produced for
the BBC. It consists of 4 series, each focusing on a different period in
English history, starting in the Late Middle Ages and ending in the Great War (World
War I). Each series has a member of the Blackadder lineage, who is accompanied
by his servant Baldrick. There is also in every series at least one twit, in
the first to series portrayed by Lord Percy, in the third season by Prince
George of Wales and in the final series by Lt. The Hon. George Colthurst St
Barleigh. It is a true masterpiece of British comedy and if you haven't seen it
yet, you should go watch it NOW.
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Rowan Atkinson in The Thin Blue Line |
“I don't want to buy the Queen a present
sir, she's an Antichrist”. The Thin Blue Line features marvellous quotes,
absurd humour and over-the-top ridicule of British law enforcement. Full of
innuendo, satire and wit, this is a thoroughly enjoyable sitcom, although it is
not as fast-paced as Blackadder or indeed, most modern sitcoms. It did help
boost Atkinson's career though and it did the same for Ben Elton, who earlier
wrote Blackadder, and went on to work on his own show, The Ben Elton Show and
he worked on musicals including Love Never Dies and We Will Rock You.
Besides his work on television, Atkinson
has also worked on several films. He starred in Never say never again and he
took on the role of Johnny English in Johnny English and Johnny English Reborn.
Both film were not written by Atkinson and received mixed reviews. Both were
box office successes though.
Rowan Atkinson has become one of the
best-loved comedians of our time. He has been compared with the likes of John
Cleese and he is often seen as the embodiment of contemporary British humour.
He remains popular and humour has brought him great wealth and fame, although
he is remarkably skilled at separating his private life from his fame. He is a
force to be reckoned with and well worth the time viewing.