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Click here to return to the main site. DVD Review
Disguised with the aid of prosthetics, Kayvan Novak plays a dazzling multitude of fictional characters in Facejacker, some familiar and some brand new, including the charismatic and many times divorced millionaire car salesman, Terry Tibbs; scamster Augustus Kwembe, who hypnotises people to stop smoking but is really eliciting their bank details; and irritating complaint monger, Dufrais. All are thrust into real-life situations where they butt up against unsuspecting members of the public... Facejacker: Series 1 sees the popular Fonejacker series maturing from prank telephone call to visible character pranks. So instead of Terry Tibbs or Augustus Kwembe talking to unsuspecting "victims" on the phone, they now get to meet their prey face to face. Out of all of Novak's characters, I have to say that Brian Badonde was by far my favourite. Badonde is an art critic with a speech impediment and touch of tourette's (which he pronounces "bourette's"). He's the host of Voyage into Art with Brian Badonde a fake TV show in which Badonde tries to bring the wonders of various arts into the homes of ordinary members of the public. So over the series we see him at an art gallery, at an art class, in a pottery, learning about whiskey and how to rhyme with a young Hip-Hop emcee. I also loved Augustus Kwembe, a scammer from the Republic of Uganda who tries to get money out of people in the most bizarre ways. These include posing as a hypnotist in order to gain cash card pin numbers; dressing up as a Beefeater and charging tourists £20 to take photographs of him (which is actually a common foreign scam usually involving a monkey); posing as a traffic warden in order to get people to ring him and give over their credit card details to pay for their parking; and sitting at an empty supermarket till and hoping that customers are going to pay with their credit cards so he can copy down the details. Dufrais Constantinople, a young disabled Jewish man who fancies himself as a writer/director, is also another enjoyable character. He's arrogant, demanding and basically gets away with murder due to the fact he's in a wheelchair. Good old Terry Tibbs, millionaire cockney used care salesman, seems to take up the lion's share of this collection though. And while he's a funny character, I did find him very annoying and couldn't help feeling he'd overstayed his welcome as a character just a little. Extras include Characters (a handy feature that lets you play all of a character's segments back to back); Stings (all of the sketch links played as one feature); Inside the Lizard's Lair (3 min, 26 sec behind the scenes footage with Tibbs); Augustus Green Screen (1 min, 41 sec of ad libbed material); The Making of Terry Tibbs Car Advert (3 min, 04 sec); Dufrais Green Screen (3 min, 41 sec - I wish to make a complaint! This is Blue screen and not Green screen as advertised); The Making of the Headcast (4 min, 25 sec which shows Novak having his head cast); Terry Green Screen (1 min, 14 sec); Aramis on Iraqi TV (2 min, 55 sec look at a cut sequence showing spoof Iraqi singer Aramis); Trailer (1 min); Trailer Bloopers (2 min, 21 sec); Terry Tibbs Car Lot Recce (2 min, 50 sec footage of Novak visiting the used car lot to be used in the Terry Tibbs ad); Kayvan's Fone Footage (10 min, 57 sec worth of videos from Novak's phone showing him in various hidden locations - but mainly in public toilets); Brian's Makeup (2 min, 18 sec look at removing the Brian makeup); and Dufrais's Wheelchair (48 sec of footage from various wheelchair cameras). What's interesting about this collection is that some of the best sketches (eg the broken lift and automated fast food drive through) actually hark back to the days of the Fonejacker series. While the prosthetics make for interesting viewing, it's fair to say that it does limit Novak's ability to put his vocal talents to good use. While not as enjoyable as the original Fonejacker, Facejacker is still worth investing your time in. 8 Darren Rea Buy this item online
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