"Little Britain USA": The British are Coming, and They're Bringing the Gays With Them

Matt Lucas as Dafydd Thomas (Photo: Danny Feld/HBO)

From episode one, the show is wonderfully gay-inclusive in a way that American (or, really, Canadian) sketch comedy hasn't seen since The Kids in the Hall debuted (again on HBO) back in 1989. Like the groundbreaking Kids, not only do the Little Britain lads both play characters of both sexes, but they also play openly gay characters, and of course have an openly gay member in the ensemble.

Dafydd's American experience is a continuation of what he had back in Wales; namely, he is convinced that the world is far less gay-friendly than it actually is, and chooses to cling to his "outsider" status as "the only gay", even if it's been rendered irrelevant by more progressive times. In the States, he meets fellow students who couldn't care less that he's gay as well as other actual gay students whom he chooses not to acknowledge, with the clever joke of course being that sometimes our own hangups are what keeps us from relating to others.

Sebastian Love (one of my personal favorite characters) is in fine form as the Prime Minister, at turns sniping at the American President's lovely wife (played by Vivica A. Fox) and the French Premiere (played completely poker-faced by the adorable Paul Rudd). Sebastian's wildly inappropriate bitchiness is funny in and of itself, but the real comedy in these skits has always been the rest of the political world's bizarre tolerance for it (which hints at some crazy global conspiracy), which continues here.

Matt Lucas as Marjorie Dawes, Rosie O'Donnell

But doubtless the biggest celebrity guest arrives at Marjorie Dawes' first Stateside FatFighters meeting, where she introduces her new victims to FatFighters spokesperson Rosie O'Donnell. Though at times she drives me nuts, one thing I've always admired about O'Donnell is her willingness to poke fun at herself, and here she mocks everything from her weight to her movie career to her being a lesbian. It's pretty funny stuff ... although am I the only one who preferred the FatFighters segments when they weren't filmed in front of a studio audience?

Folks who are new to the series have plenty to look forward to, as the show is pretty much a non-stop parade of hideous prosthetics, inappropriate behavior, and timely comedy. And for fans of the show who are perhaps tiring a bit of the usual suspects, the new characters provide some brilliantly profane and awkward moments. I have to admit that even though I adored the original run, I'll be tuning in to see the new characters — particularly Phyllis and Mr. Doggy and Bing Gordyn — more than the comebacks.

Now all that remains to be seen if the Yanks will get the joke. I'm betting that they will: people who are already fans won't be disappointed by the translation and those new to the table will have plenty to keep them laughing. We asked if the guys were nervous about their new frontier, and they summed it up in their own way:

Matt Lucas: The only thing I’m worried about this show is it’s really outrageous.
David Walliams: It’s very kind of –
ML: Even though we do it in a cheeky way, but, you look at some of the sketches and you go, oh my God, I can’t believe we -
DW: Then when you put it all together, do you go, oh my God, we’ve got this thing and then that thing and then we’ve got breastfeeding and then we’ve got nudity and then we’ve got –
ML: But look at South Park and that’s outrageous and it’s great. And I think there’s room for – people say to us, how do you deal with, you know, what’s going to happen, what’s the response going to be like? But there’s room for Two and a Half Men and there’s room for South Park and or something in the middle.
DW: I’ve got room for two and a half men.
ML: I’ve got room for the other half.

Little Britain USA premieres Sunday at 10:30PM EDT on HBO.