Black Books: The Entertainer

Air Date

Friday March 1, 2002

Production Code

Unknown

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  8.9 Great

  Bernard wants to impress a woman he fancies but Fran is upset at being bullied by her piano tutor for being unable to play. Manny ends up being exploited to help them both out at the expense of his weekend's holiday which Bernard promised him. hide show

  Very funny episode. I liked the bit where Manny is hiding under the piano hitting the strings with spoons and Bernard "playing" confidently. It shows that despite the fact Bernard frequently bullies Manny, he tries to be nice to him when he is in trouble. Fran, who normally makes Bernard behave himself, is also exploiting Manny. Jozef's family who have travelled from far abroad are also funny. I wonder how old Jozef's Grandfather is? A brilliant start to the new series of an original comdedy. It is a same this comedy has now stopped. Dylan Moran and Bill Bailey worked so well together.

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  eddie071 Added Oct 28, 2007 All my reviews

• Guest Cast

  • George Miller (II) Anton (Josef's Grandfather)
  • Jean Ainslie Charity Collector
  • Luing Andrews Mr Williams
  • Nina Conti Kate
  • Kay D'Arcy Customer
  • John Marquez Waiter
  • David McKail Josef Slvanski

• Writers

  • Dylan Moran Writer

• Stars

  • Dylan Moran Bernard Ludwig Black
  • Tamsin Greig Fran Katzenjammer
  • Bill Bailey Manny Bianco
Episode Cast and Crew Details »

• The shop's sign on the door says 'Open' on both sides, in season one it said 'closed' on both sides. [edit]
• Music used in the episode (all played by Bill Bailey), includes Grieg's 'Piano Concerto in A Minor', Beethoven's 'Rage Over a Lost Penny' and one of Bach's 'Preludes'. [edit]
• The music heard on the radio is actually a recording of Bill Bailey playing the piano. [edit]

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• Manny: We have needs! Fran's got her piano; I want some time off; you want to go out with a girl.
  Bernard: Don't make me laugh...bitterly. Fran will fail. You'll toil your life away and I'll die alone, upside down on the floor of a pub toilet. [edit]
• Bernard: You! What did you say to Kate? She thinks I'm the Renaissance! She'll think I've lied. I have to go along with all this 'reclusive genius' stuff. She's going to be very upset when she finds out I'm a reclusive wanker! [edit]
• Fran: It's so unfair. I must be musical. I've got hundreds of CDs. [edit]

• The Entertainer
  
  A popular ragtime piece of piano music, made famous as the theme to the film "The Sting". [edit]
• Bernard: She thinks I'm the Renaissance!
  
  A period of European culture which saw a rapid expansion of the arts and sciences. The embodiment of the period is not, in fact, Bernard but Leonardo da Vinci. [edit]
• Episode Title: The Entertainer.
  
  "The Entertainer" is a play by John Osborne about a man "largely spent, but still sufficiently self-aware to suffer from the knowledge that he is, as he puts it, "dead behind the eyes".". Rather like Bernard's view on their future... [edit]