Get the drinks in, Dylan Moran's
booze-addled bookseller is back for
another round of Fawlty Towers-esque hilarity
By Graeme Virtue

HEAVY drinking is an insidious evil in society. It routinely destroys bodies, pickles minds and explodes families. But there's still a long and distinguished tradition of serving up alcoholism for laughs, from the trademark belch of Homer's drinking bud Barney in The Simpsons to our very own Rab C Nesbitt. There's a rich seam of comedy to be tapped in this liquid stream of tragedy, and it reached a new level of distilled purity with spit-flecked booze-hoover Father Jack from Father Ted and his alarmingly loud monosyllabic shouts of 'feck!', 'gurls!' and 'drink!'

But there's a new kid in the gutter. Dylan Moran -- Irish too, would you believe -- embraced the lush life as a means towards laughs at an early age. At the start of his career, this ex-florist turned comedian nurtured a reputation as a sozzled stand-up to the extent that he was once asked if he was comedy's answer to Shane MacGowan. 'I've always thought of myself as the Dana of comedy,' was his response. 'Short, cute, and very funny to look at.'

Black Books, the sitcom idea Moran first came up with back in 1998, allowed him to take this uninhibitedly antagonistic on-stage persona into something resembling the real world. The first series -- written with Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan -- was great, and deservedly bagged a Bafta for Best Sitcom last year. This Friday, the show is back for another round. But with Linehan busy working on a feature film script, Moran has collaborated with various other writers for this new six-pack of episodes (one even sees him collaborate with Arthur Mathews, the other genius who came up with Father Jack).

The setup is simple: Moran is Bernard Black, a perpetually hungover bookseller who can't sell books because he hates customers so much. Perma-drunk and sporting a haircut that looks as if he's just stepped out of a salon and then through a hedge backwards, Black is a monster from the same gene-lagoon as Basil Fawlty; irascible, illogical and unintentionally hilarious.
Fellow comic Bill Bailey also returns as Manny -- are we supposed to hear echoes of Manuel? -- the good-natured sales assistant victimised and abused by his boss as they endure long days in their scabby shop.

Like Fawlty Towers, the fusty, cramped setting can sometimes feel claustrophobic. But this faded milieu -- combined with the whizzy, whippy dialogue -- actually help alchemise Black's self-loathing and despair into something laugh out loud funny. And if the opening salvo is anything to go by, Moran wasn't riding on Linehan's coat-tails. In fact, the only indication that he might be worried about flying solo is the amount of guest stars he's packing in this series, including Jessica Stephenson out of Spaced, Rob Brydon from Marion And Geoff and 'Orrible's Ricky Grover.
But best of all, Johnny Vegas turns up. And if anyone can beat Moran's apocalyptic booze consumption, it's Vegas. But don't be too judgmental; you get the feeling he's just trying to get that monkey off his back.