Cool It (TV series)
| Cool It | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Comedy, impressionism |
| Created by |
Phil Cool Jasper Carrott Paul Alexander Keith Donnelly Barry Faulkner |
| Directed by | David Weir |
| Starring | Phil Cool |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 15 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Steve Weddle |
| Running time | 25–30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC Two |
| Original release | 30 August 1985 – December 1990 |
Cool It is a British television comedy series which first aired on BBC Two between 1985 and 1990. It was a vehicle for comedian Phil Cool.
Impressions ranged from political and important figures such as Robin Day, Roy Hattersly, Arthur Scargill, Neil Kinnock, The Pope and Ronald Reagan to popular celebrities, comedians and musicians such as Mick Jagger, Bryan Ferry, Mike Harding, Terry Wogan, Billy Connolly, Clive James, Rik Mayall and his signature impression, Rolf Harris. Fictional characters like Quasimodo, Bugs Bunny and E.T were also impersonated; Cool even created personalities for inanimate objects such as Morris Minors and Volkswagen Beetles.
Series 1
The first series of three, 25-minute episodes were first broadcast between 30 August and 13 September 1985, on Fridays at 10pm. Cool wrote all of the material for this series himself. The series was made on a shoestring budget; the set was very basic, with a relatively small audience and barely any props to assist him.
In this series he impersonated the entire cast of The Young Ones including Alexei Sayle. It also featured Prince Charles interviewing Mick Jagger, the Pope ordering something from a Fish and Chip shop, Rolf Harris painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Mike Harding singing the song "Spewie, Ewie" and Quasimodo playing the guitar whilst singing "The Bellringer's Blues".
Fellow Comedian and friend Jasper Carrott was associate producer on this series.
Each series of Cool It had a different set of opening titles, almost every episode would start with a sketch before the titles rolled.
For Series 1 it had an animated version of Cool's head pulling various faces behind a light-blue background. After the theme tune had finished the Cool It titles would drop down underneath the animated head and the episode would start.
Series 2
The second series of five, 30-minute episodes were first broadcast between 24 November and 22 December 1986, on Mondays at 9pm. Cool co-wrote this series with Jasper Carrott.
Series 2 featured a bigger set with a bigger audience. There were more props and a few pre-recorded video inserts to assist him. To tie in with the show, Cool released a comedy album through Virgin Records called "Not Just a Pretty Face" and a single in which Cool (as Rolf Harris) sang a rendition of the Simon and Garfunkel song "Bridge Over Troubled Water". A tie-in book was also released entitled Cool's Out.
Skits from this series included Rolf Harris (literally) painting the audience, Griff Rhys Jones transforming (Werewolf style) into Dave Lee Travis, an anecdote in which Cool reminisced about a disastrous gig at a club called "Quaffer's" in which he imitated the face of an Aquaphibian from the 60's show Stingray and it stuck. There was also a routine where Cool portrayed Terry Wogan as an Intergalactic Alien from Outer Space, when halfway through he imitated pulling a mask off to reveal an Alien Visage underneath.
A critic later remarked that "His impersonation of an Alien from Outer Space was nightmare material and would have taken Steven Spielberg's Make-Up Artists hours to recreate the same Gruesome effect".
Series 2 won the Royal Television Society Award for "Most Original Television Achievement".
The opening titles for Series 2 were done in a similar style to the Terry Gilliam animations from Monty Python's Flying Circus. It started with an animated version of a Guitar and an Harmonica playing themselves in time with the Theme Tune. We then go inside the Harmonica to find 5 animated versions of Cool jumping Up and Down to the music. After that we see a long shot of Cool's head pulling a selection of funny faces while his head spins all the way round. His head then explodes revealing a variety of Mechanical works and Cogs inside his head, the lights go out and the Cool It logo appears on screen, the episode then starts.
Series 3
After a one-year break, Cool It returned for another series. The third series of 6, 30-minute episodes were first broadcast between 1 September and 6 October 1988, on Thursdays at 9 pm. Along with Cool, this time around the writers consisted of Keith Donnelly, Paul Alexander and Barry Faulkner.
This series had an even bigger set and audience than the last. It gained a repeat viewing after the final episode was broadcast.
This series included impressions of Ventriloquist Dummys, a parody of The Four Tops called "The Four Bottom's" performing a rendition of their song "Mooning", imitations of telephone hold music and singing parts of the Elvis Presley song "Are You Lonesome Tonight" in Japanese.
The opening titles for Series 3 started off with Cool relaxing on a chair watching television and then for no apparent reason the Series 2 titles appear on screen. Cool quickly uses the remote control to go to another channel but it doesn't work and it appears on screen again. He gets increasingly frustrated and starts gesticulating away in an angry manner. He then presses a red button at the top of the remote which operates a huge swinging ball behind him that smashes the TV screen. On the other side of the ball we see the Cool It logo; the episode then starts.
Christmas special
A final Cool It special was aired on Tuesday 18 December 1990.
Filmed in front of a live audience in Birmingham, it included impersonations of the Gremlins, Terry Wogan interviewing Michael Crawford, techniques on how to distract Fishermen, a routine about the hazards of the M25 Motorway and Prince Charles singing the Coil song "The Anal Staircase".
After this Cool made the move to ITV.
Video and DVD release
There were two video releases of Cool It, the first one was a "best of" compilation of Series 1 released in 1985. The second entitled Cool It Too was a video of the best moments from Series 2.
In 1989 he released a video entitled Cool N Hot, recorded live at the Royal Leamington Spa Centre; most of the material from this appeared in the 1990 Christmas Special.
Cool It has never been released on DVD.