58% Young Ones: Extra Stoopid Edition (DVD)

"Anything could happen!" declares Rik Mayall, co-writer and co-star of British TV show The Young Ones--and he's right. Though this manic comedy series centered around the petty bickering of four layabouts living in a communal house in London--paranoid, hyperactive new waver Rick (Mayall), dense punk rocker Vyvyan (Adrian "Ade" Edmondson), lugubrious hippied Neil (Nigel Planer), and would-be sharp guy Mike (Christopher Ryan)--at any moment the show could switch to kibbitzing rats or romantic vegetables, or Buddy Holly could be discovered hanging from a parachute in the attic. Bands (as varied as Madness and Motorhead) suddenly appear in their living room and pound out a pop hit. It all seems a bit spastic at first, but the frenzy grows infectious, becoming funnier the more you watch it (in sharp contrast to most sitcoms).