Bo' Selecta!
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Bo' Selecta! (title taken from Craig David's song, Re-Wind) is a British TV comedy sketch show and the brainchild of writer/performer, Leigh Francis. The humour involved in Bo' Selecta! derives from masks, puppetry, brutal (and pop culture-penetrating) catchphrases, vulgar jokes and imagery, and the exposing of celebrity pretentiousness disguised as enthusiastic fan worship.
Despite being a relatively new show (starting in 2001), Bo' Selecta! has so far been rewarded with three complete TV seasons, a Christmas special, a hit music single (with video) called 'Proper Chrimbo' and a diverse (though mainly UK) fanbase.
In reality and in interviews, Francis is seldom seen outside of his role as the celebrity-obsessed and sexually tilted Avid Merrion. Merrion essentially presents the show. In the first two seasons of Bo' Selecta! Avid lives in his flat with his dead mother slouched in one cupboard and Craig Phillips from TV's Big Brother chained up in another. By the time Series 3 comes around, Avid becomes conscious of his newly heightened status in popular culture and is given the freedom to talk one-on-one with his celebrity heroes on his own chat show.
As an aside, Francis also plays 'The Bear', a foul-mouthed and easily aroused but completely adorable bearcub who intimidates showbiz figureheads on his 'treehouse' set. The Bear sketch is essentially a combination of two televisual mediums: the children's show and the celebrity interview.
The main body of the Bo' Selecta! series, however, involves a host of celebrity caricatures. This perhaps evolves from the puppets of 1980s political satire Spitting Image (though where Image employed complete puppets, Bo' Selecta! draws from masks and prosthetic limbs on human actors). Leigh Francis plays the vast majority of these celebrity characters himself. Some characters such as Kelly Osbourne or Dale Winton are quite obvious send-ups of their real-life counterparts but others have become bizarre distortions of their namesakes. For example, the Bo' Selecta! version of The Spice Girls' Mel B seems to be mostly aesthetically based upon out-of-work darts aficionado Jim Bowen and spends most of her time talking about her periods or hemorrhoids. The Bear character is partially based on comedian Ronnie Corbett. Perhaps the most popular or iconic of these rubber-faced creations are those based on Michael Jackson and Craig David.
Leigh Francis has immitated a great number of celebrities that include: Melanie Brown, Craig David, Geri Halliwell, Jimmy Savile, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Tito Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Martin Bashir, David Baddiel, Frank Skinner, Ozzy Osbourne, Sharon Osbourne, Kelly Osbourne, Jack Osbourne, David Beckham, Victoria Beckham, George Michael, Boy George, Eric Anzalone of the Village People, Davina McCall, Lorraine Kelly, Casey Kasem, Pink, Robbie Williams, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Lily Savage, Daniel Bedingfield, Jonathan Ross, Harry Hill, Jade Goody, Trinny & Susannah, Elizabeth Taylor, Jordan (aka Katie Price), Jodie Marsh, Jay Leno, Donatella Versace, Claire Sweeney, Enrique Iglesias, David Blaine, Uri Geller, Rhona Cameron, Nigel Benn, Puff Daddy, Eminem, Sara Cox, Vernon Kay, June Sarpong, Stevie Wonder, Duncan James from Blue (boy band), Mick Hucknall, Marilyn Manson, Richard Madeley, Judy Finnigan, Ricky Gervais, Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu, Drew Barrymore, Justin Timberlake, Kim & Aggie, Nadia Almada, Ahmed Aghil, Victor Ebuwa, Jason Cowan, Will Young, Gareth Gates, Cheeky Girls, Michelle McManus, Anouska Golebiewski, Ant McPartlin, Declan Donnelly, Busted, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas, Daniel Radcliffe, Destinys Child, Danny Foster from Hear'say, Denis Norden, Eric Bana, Elijah Wood, Alfred Molina, Andy Serkis, Jessie Wallace, Justin Hawkins, Ronnie Barker, Anthony Hopkins, John Lennon, Multiple Miggs, Graham Norton, Keanu Reeves, Kirsten Dunst, Leonardo DiCaprio, Liam Gallagher, Noel Gallagher, Martine McCutcheon, Mike Myers, Nicole Appleton, Peter Jackson, Robert Downey Jr., Rosemary Harris, Sean Astin, Elton John, Ian McKellen, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Steven Patrick Morrissey, Sylvester Stallone, Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker, Trisha Goddard and Uma Thurman.