Rowan Atkinson Comedy Collection – Part I

This takes a bit of explanation, especially since I want to head off quality comments, or requests for more stuff. I was looking around for a specific Rowan Atkinson 1988 HBO Special that nobody anywhere appears to have. BTW, in case anybody reading DOES have it (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0234122/), PLEASE upload it and comment here to let me know! 

Anyway, I stumbled across a bunch of Rowan Atkinson stuff that was rather rare and also badly seeded. I thought I would put it together here as two large uploads. These consist of rare comedy concerts, TV appearances, and comedy albums in Part I, and as many of the NOT THE NINE O’CLOCK NEWS episodes as I could find in Part II.

Please note that this torrent does NOT include any of the Black Adder, Thin Blue Line, or Mr. Bean material, since that is already torrented and seeded all over the place. Don’t ask me for it; just run a search and you won’t have any problem finding them. It is worth noting that almost all of this material came form the torrent site THEBOX, which specializes in BBC TV. Keep in mind that most of the video is from old VHS rips. They are offered AS IS. Don’t bother whining about quality or format, this is what I could find. All I’m doing is lumping it together for easier distribution.

Part I – 

•	Comic Relief at The Shaftesbury Theatre (1986) [TV-VHSrip] – http://thebox.bz/details.php?id=28013 - In April 1986, inspired by the previous summer's bombastic Live Aid event and the success of Amnesty's first four Secret Policeman's Ball shows, the UK's alternative comedy scene (and a few of the old guard) put on a fund-raising comedy revue at The Shaftesbury Theatre, London. The show's took place on 4-6 April, a recording was broadcast by the BBC on 25 April.

Featuring: Paul Eddington (as Prime Minister, Jim Hacker), Lenny Henry, Spitting Image (The Queen & Prince Philip, Prince Andrew, Bob Geldof and Paula Yates), Ronnie Corbett, Angus Deayton, Sebastian Coe & Steve Ovett, Stephen Fry, Bob Geldof & Midge Ure, Kate Bush  duetting with Rowan Atkinson (worth the download on it's own), Rory Bremner, Rik Mayall, The Young Ones, Cliff Richard, Pamela Stephenson, Billy Connolly, French & Saunders.... and at least a few more.

This was broadcast as an edition of the arts magazine show, Omnibus which ran from 1967 to 2002.

AVI File Details
========================================
Name.........: comic relief.avi
Filesize.....: 699 MB (or 716,432 KB or 733,626,368 bytes)
Runtime......: 01:31:01 (136,536 fr)
Video Codec..: XviD
Video Bitrate: 942 kb/s
Audio Codec..: 0x0055(MP3) ID'd as MPEG-1 layer 3
Audio Bitrate: 128 kb/s (64/ch, stereo) CBR 
frame Size...: 640x480 (1.33:1) [=4:3]


•	Rowan Atkinson - 60 Minutes Of Stand-Up - Audio Comedy (Originally upped by Slimoo over on radioarchive.cc, which specializes in BBC Radio. I highly recommend the site – go sign up!)


•	Two Comedy Albums, “Live in Belfast [1982]” and “Not Just a Pretty Face [1987]”


•	1992 Live HBO Special - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0163186/


•	Black Adder Bloopers – Self explanatory


•	Canned Laughter - http://thebox.bz/details.php?id=81223 - was a one-off ITV sitcom featuring Rowan Atkinson broadcast on 8 April 1979. Atkinson plays three roles; the nerdy Robert Box (who has been cited as an early incarnation of the Mr. Bean character), his sinister boss Mr. Marshall, and would-be stand-up comic Dave Perry. Made by LWT, the 30 minute episode was directed by Geoffrey Sax.


•	Dead on Time (Feb 1983) [VHSRip Divx] - http://thebox.bz/details.php?id=59933 - The story revolves around Bernard Fripp(Atkinson) who is wrongly diagnosed by his doctor(Hawthorne) as having only 24 hours to live. This sets Bernard bumbling off on a mission to live life to the full, pursuing Greta Scaachi around the town, trying to make peace with God (via the slowest vicar ever, Broadbent), listening to all his unheard favorite music, and asking Leslie Ash if she has time for some "love, or something?".

Cast:
Rowan Atkinson plays Bernard Fripp, Nigel Hawthorne, Peter Bull, Jim Broadbent, Greta Scacchi, Leslie Ash, Perry Benson, Christopher Biggins, Richard Curtis, Adrian Edmondson, Rupert Everett, Michael Fenner, Gorden Kaye, Jo Kendall, Tim McInnerny, Nigel Planer

Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137457/

Name..........: Dead on Time (Feb 1983) [VHSRip Divx].avi
Filesize........: 349 MB (or 358,110 KB or 366,704,640 bytes)
Runtime.......: Run Time 00:32:35 (48,867 fr)
Video Codec..: Xvid MPEG-4
Video Bitrate..: 1389 kb/s
Audio Codec..: 0x0055(MP3) ID'd as MPEG-1 Layer 3
Audio Bitrate..: 103 kb/s (51/ch, stereo) VBR LAME3.97
frame Size.....: 480x368 (1.30:1) [=30:23]

The video & audio are good for a twenty year old video tape rip.
Some slight distortion at the start, with a few seconds missing.


•	Rowan Atkinson - Laughing Matters (1992) http://thebox.bz/details.php?id=92383 – This is a quite comprehensive lecture on visual comedy by Rowan Atkinson, from 1992. It includes several funny sketches as illustration. It's a serious yet funny instructional video. The video has embedded Dutch subtitles, but so far it is the only version I've found with good quality video. 

Name.........: Rowan Atkinson - Laughing Matters (1992) [VHSRip  (XviD)].avi
Filesize.....: 449 MB (471 470 080 byte)
Runtime......: 00:47:31 (71208 fr)
Video Codec..: XviD
Video Bitrate: 1185 kb/s
Audio Codec..: MPEG-Audio (mp3)
Audio Bitrate: 128 kb/s 44100 Hz(24/ch, stereo) CBR
frame Size...: 680x480


•	Rude For a Reason 1999 - http://thebox.bz/details.php?id=11516 - Comic Relief's first ever live show played at the Brixton Academy to highlight the campaign to cancel the Third World Debt. (Atkinson is the first act, he does not reappear, but the rest is quite good)