In my opinion it was the funniest show I ever saw with the likes of beat your brains out and the bare balloon dancers. Probably one of the funniest moments for me was the pre credit sequence at the start of episode 4 when they had a Tennis violence match and they all had to try and commit the most violent act on the umpire in order to gain a higher fine. Helen Atkinson Wood was an American using four letter words and Lenny, who Chris Tarrant referred to as a six foot nig nog threw grenades at him. Finally Bob Carolgees tried everything, but when he failed he finally gave in and mooned Chris. Then it all ended when Alexi Sayle pulled out a Bazooka to blow up Chris, who finally said in a very weak voice, new balls please.
Add a Review
-
psyduck-psyduck2 November 2002
-
markwatling12 October 2006not being a drunk i can only say that this program was in my opinion excellent and before its time. this program was not meant to be taken seriously. it was at the end of the day a children's program for adults which just allowed you to laugh at everything it came up with. the combination of Lenny henry, Alexei Sayle, Michael Palin, Chris Tarrent and Bob Carolgees made it very funny indeed. with late night programs like eurotrash and gods gift doing well it goes to show the lack of good late night entertainment we have in this country. if it was on now it would be on at 9pm and probably be one of the highest rated TV shows of all time. **********
-
psyduck1911 October 2006O.T.T. was the greatest, very funny to say the P.I.T.T.S. as the last comment did. This show was not the P.I.T.T.S. and it is funny the last comment split up pitts with dots like O.T.T. There was no difference between O.T.T. and Tiswas except O.T.T. was on very late, I guess the guy who thought it was the pitts never understood the humour, look on some of the reviews O.T.T. got. Seven Million viewers for a one hour late night Saturday show. The PITTS. Obviously 7 Million people as well as myself would disagree. O.T.T. was a very funny show simply put it was late night Tiswas, Beat your Brains out was Tiswas Compettion time. The Phantom Benny Mills was still there. The greatest curse on this Country is political correctness, leading to shows like The minstrels and love thy neighbour even mind your language getting cancelled. O.T.T. was from a time when political correctness was as vulgar as it is today
-
Robsnide16 November 2010'O.T.T.' ( 'Over The Top' ) has gone down in television history for all the wrong reasons. A.T.V. had recently become Central Television, and this was one of its first offerings - a disaster that nearly ended the career of producer/star Chris Tarrant. It started out as the very funny and anarchic Saturday morning children's show 'Tiswas'. Noting its popularity among teenagers, Tarrant then decided to make a special late-night version, and this was the tragic result. The gang - Lenny Henry, John Gorman, Bob Carolgees, and Tarrant himself - stayed, but lovely Sally James had the good sense to jump ship. In came Helen Atkinson-Wood of 'Radio Active' and Alexei Sayle. Each week an animated nude woman flew through the opening credits and commenced the show by ( and this summed up the general level of humour ) opening her legs. 'O.T.T'. had the general appearance of a drunken rugby fans' night out in Cardiff.
The sketches were witless, crude and appalling. I remember one with Carolgees in bed with Helen. They'd just had sex, and she said to him: "There you are, you see. You're not impotent.". At which point, he winked at the camera and muttered: "Works every time!". Now that is not only tasteless but demeaning to women. And not funny either.
Lenny Henry later said: "Because we were on late, there was a feeling of 'great, now we can show our bums!'. But what do you do after you've done that?". Indeed. The nadir was the appearance of a group of nude men doing a dance with balloons covering their private bits. Funny perhaps if you're at a stag night perhaps but not on television. Page 3 girls bared their breasts on air at every opportunity.
The reaction was largely negative. 'Only Too Terrible' was the verdict of 'Daily Star' television critic Ken Eastaugh. 'Not The Nine O'Clock News' producer John Lloyd ( himself no stranger to controversy ) said: "'O.T.T.' is crap, crap, crap, and you can quote me on that! What next? The adult version of 'Play Away'?".
To be fair, it had its fans, such as Victoria Wood and Mavis Nicholson, both of whom spoke in his defence on B.B.C.-2's 'Did You See?'. But they were in the minority.
Alexei did a monologue similar to his later 'Young Ones' routines, but felt uncomfortable with his co-stars' moronic humour and quit.
'O.T.T.' died after one series. Few mourned its passing. Tarrant has said he does not want it put out on D.V.D. He is wise - who wants to be seen in a flop? When the 'Tiswas' cast reunited a few years ago, the 'O.T.T'. experience was not mentioned. It has been airbrushed out of existence. Tarrant amazingly returned to I.T.V. a year later in the virtually identical ( and equally unpopular ) 'Saturday Stayback'. -
Prismark1029 July 2013Tiswas ended, ATV lost its ITV franchise to Central TV and OTT was a late Saturday night adult entertainment show featuring a lot of the gang from the anarchic children's TV show Tiswas.
The result a lot of kids staying up late to watch this and in equal measures confused, appalled and titillated.
Chris Tarrant who was one of the driving force behind this show in a sense was ahead of the times. If he had waited five years and gone to Channel 4 he would had been a millionaire earlier.
Tarrant clearly was on the lookout for new talent, and sensed there was a wind of change in comedy and he managed to give a break to the new wave of alternative comedians who could use the late night slot to try out the edgier material and also swear a lot.
Mixed with this was just crude jokes and nudity both male and female which would find an appreciative audience from those who came in late night from the pubs to see men dancing with popping balloons and bare breasted ladies but would be flummoxed with Alexei Sayle's spiel.
It did not last, the press had a field day denouncing the show and there was only going to be limited mileage with the smuttiness.
Still there was a rumour if this programme had continued that the BBC were going to get in the act with 'Even Bluer Peter!' -
Nylon992 March 2006My one abiding memory of OTT was the running gag Chris Tarrant had with a female member of the audience. Those who saw the show will know what I'm referring to. For everyone else all I can say is that she was a spectacularly well developed lady, a fact that was not lost on Tarrant. Week after week the hapless girl would be trotted out in ever more revealing costumes (a skimpy bikini was the most memorable)
Until ... the final episode (the clips one) and just when everyone had given up watching, bored by the speech Tarrant was making, she quickly stripped off to reveal her breasts!
Their sheer size was impressive ... OTT, sadly, wasn't!