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Today’s the day

We say goodbye

To House of Fools on the tel-ly!

It had Bob and Vic

And lots of slapstick

And that guy with the voice from Toast of London...

Yup, the final episode in the - hopefully - first series of House of Fools has just aired, the supreme silly-com written by and starring the inimitable Vic and Bob, along with a whole host of stellar comedy talent – and speaking of which, what a cracking guest turn that was from an ex-League of Gentlemen member tonight that was well worth tuning in for.

House of Fools was a return to very funny form for the stalwart duo and in order to celebrate its farewell from the schedules, here's some of the funniest running gags that were peppered through the series...

Getting Stuck in Things is Funny

Like this predicament for Vic, that can only be solved with the eye-watering ‘Heidenberg Stretch’. His arse is in next door's lounge.

And in the following episode, there was Bob’s mishap with a bullet-proof pork pie case (to stop people shooting at the pies, obvs).

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Or the time he got his head stuck in a microwave, a situation Vic is only too happy to take advantage of.

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And who could forget the mystery of the diabolically terrifying Professor Lightbulb!?

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Don’t worry though, our intrepid heroes soon gave the dastardly beggar what for.

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Bob Mortimer, Eternal Underdog

In the gloriously flimsy series set up, it’s actually Bob who owns the House that’s perpetually filled with loafers, timewasters, sexual predators and clowns.

You’d think they’d all be grateful for his hospitality, but nope. He’s the constant fall guy and has to suffer a near constant stream of unwarranted abuse and bad luck, as these two clips ably demonstrate...

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The poor bloke can’t even catch a break on his birthday! All he wanted was a trike from Vic...

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But it’s Bob’s endlessly likeable and endearing personality that keeps us coming back again and again for the schadenfreude. Yum, schadenfreude.

Vic’s Flights of Fancy Animations

There’s always been a dark side to Vic and Bob’s humour, and while it can sometimes go a bit far when not kept in check *coughCatterickcough* in mild-to-moderate doses it can be sublime.

Anyone who’s seen any of Vic Reeves’ paintings will be familiar with his slightly sinister, surrealist style, and in House of Fools this offbeat imagination is put to good use with animations depicting the dark recesses of Vic’s warped mind.

Like when he waxes lyrical about Sir Elton John walking his pet leopard...

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Or how Julie, their sex-crazed neighbour played by the superb Morgana Robinson, will react to meeting Bruce Willis...

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Or Vic’s reasoning that seems to suggest the best way to replace a missing slice of pork pie is to dress as Hitler and go to war on it.

And though it wasn’t in an animation, the truly chilling scene when Vic put his Photoshop skills to good use in order to discover what Richard Branson would look like without his beard...

... As Bob sagely points out: “I don’t even know who that is.”

Those Damn Catchy Songs

Every episode would begin with a jaunty, silly little number that helped set up the bizarre premise for each episode. We’d repeat some here, but they often include Bob sticking in a few choice, um, ‘nicknames’ for Vic that we daren’t publish for fear of offending the ears of our more delicate readers.

And to bookend the episodes, each one finished with a song that would end with the assembled cast dancing around some truly off-the-wall prop that had magically appeared in the middle of the set. Our personal favourites, ranked in order of preference, were...

A Mexican turtle:

A poorly-constructed hydrothermal:

And finally, Michael Bublé.

Oh, and for those of you who can’t bear the unresolved tension, it’s time to reveal the identity of the heinous Professor Lightbulb... Prepare yourselves!

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Turn out it was Vic all along.