Harvey Danger – A History of Dubious Taste

The End of an Era

And so it’s over. Our twelve year love affair with the Channel 4 show which introduced us to super-square Mark Corrigan and super-shithead Jeremy “Jez” Usbourne, not forgetting Dobby, Johnson and of course Super Hans, has come to an end. And what an end. Perfect. (Except for the fact that as I double-checked a couple of facts when writing this before the final episode aired, I accidentally stumbled across a spoiler for it. Ho hum. See how I suffer for you all?)

For those of you who have never seen it (no, I didn’t think it was possible either, but I recently came across one such person, who I have commanded to watch them on All 4 and I’m pleased to say she has reported back that she had binge-watched a couple of series and loved it), the show tells the story of exceedingly odd couple Mark and Jez, flat-mates who can’t live with or without each other, and the hilarious, more-often-than-not gross scrapes they manage to get into, with the audience privy to the internal monologues of all of the main characters, and the camera angles positioned to show the view of the owner of that internal monologue.

The show, which pretty much launched the television careers of David Mitchell (Mark) and Robert Webb (Jez) – making them household names along with Paterson Joseph (Johnson), Matt King (Super Hans) and Olivia Coleman (Sophie) – has taken us through such memorable tales as Mark’s attempts to avoid marrying Sophie whilst Jez pisses on the congregation; of accidentally killing the family dog of two women they were attempting to seduce, then trying to burn the corpse to the evidence, before ultimately having to eat it to save face (standard comedy fare, I’m sure you’ll agree); and numerous drug-related trips with Super Hans, only some of which culminate in his pet snakes escaping.

My description can not do justice to the show, so here’s a couple of clips.

First up, a clip which perfectly encapsulates Mark’s straightness:

The next is from my favourite episode:

Drugs are a recurring theme. Here, Mark smokes weed for the first time:

And here, pretends to take ecstacy:

Leading to this classic confrontation:

But nobody takes drugs like Super Hans takes drugs:

As you’ve probably guessed, I could happily post clips from the show for a very long time indeed, but I’ll stop there, and leave you with this, the theme tune since Series 2:

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