Papa Lazarou
Encyclopedia
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV comedy programme The League of Gentlemen
The League of Gentlemen (comedy)
The League of Gentlemen are a quartet of British dark comedy writers/performers, formed in 1995 by Jeremy Dyson, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith...
.He appeared in two episodes, a Christmas special, and the film The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse is a feature film spin-off of the popular British television comedy series The League of Gentlemen. Starring Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, the film was written by the cast with Jeremy Dyson, and directed by Steve Bendelack...
. The character is part written by and played by Reece Shearsmith
Reece Shearsmith
Reeson "Reece" Shearsmith is an English actor and writer. He is most famous for his work as part of The League of Gentlemen along with fellow performers Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and co-writer Jeremy Dyson.-Early life:...
.
Papa Lazarou has been listed as both the 8th and 14th most popular sketch of all time with British audiences, according to The Radio Times and Channel 4 respectively.
Character
Papa Lazarou runs a circusCircus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
. He appears dressed as a circus master and has a face like a black and white minstrel
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
. He also has three diminutive helpers, called Simba, Pebbil and Tiktik. In the first episode in which he appears, he collects wives, often by pretending to be a humble peg-seller then breaking into their homes and talking gibberish (Gippog) at them until they hand over their wedding rings, which works surprisingly often.
Despite originally only appearing in one episode, the character became very popular and, as a result, appeared in a third series episode, in which he used more elaborate methods to capture men and women alike, and imprison them inside the animals in his circus. He also has important supporting roles in the Christmas special and in The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse is a feature film spin-off of the popular British television comedy series The League of Gentlemen. Starring Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, the film was written by the cast with Jeremy Dyson, and directed by Steve Bendelack...
.
He has a book of wives - all of whom he calls "Dave" - some of which have been photographed on polaroid, but some of which appear to have lived over a century ago.
Upon his first visit to Royston Vasey
Royston Vasey
Royston Vasey is a small fictional town in the north of England, and the setting of the BBC television comedy series The League of Gentlemen. It has made famous the comedic phrase "a Local Shop for Local People". Royston Vasey is the real name of british stand-up comedian Roy 'Chubby' Brown, who...
, he collected some wives, performed his show, then moved on when the audience's noses started bleeding simultaneously. When he returned, it was in the guise of a Keith Drop, an actor. He used the makeup tips he had gleaned from his wives to effect a very convincing transformation. As Keith, he got a job at the charity shop. This led to his discovery when the real husband of one of his wives found some of her jewellery among Keith's donations. Lazarou evaded capture, however, and it is then revealed that he imprisons many of his wives and anyone who tried to follow him as circus animals. In the commentary to the third series the League revealed this is just one of a number of things (many of which haven't been revealed) that he does with his wives.
Gippog
Gippog is the Gibberish language that Papa Lazarou speaks. In the first episode of the second series, it is revealed by his "Wife" that the language is entirely made up as he goes along, which leads soon-to-be-stolen housewife Mary Hobbs into a new life with Papa.Appearance
His face really is black and white like a minstrel, and he has to paint over it with make up to appear normal. Papa learned the makeup skills to cover his minstrel face from his various wives.His hair is black and frizzy, and bears a notable resemblance to Jeremy Dyson
Jeremy Dyson
Jeremy Dyson is an English screenwriter and, along with Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, a participant in The League of Gentlemen.-Early life:...
's hair, who unlike the others, does not appear as any regular characters. His teeth are yellow, and his hands covered in rings - the wedding rings of his 'wives'.
Keith Drop
Papa Lazarou's alter-ego's first appearance was in the third series of the League of Gentlemen. Papa Lazarou's natural skin colour is dark and he wears pink make-up to appear as Keith Drop. He helps out in the charity shop with Reenie Calver (whose friend, Vinnie Wythenshaw has been killed in an accident). This was merely a front for Lazarou to gain more wives.He is keen on amateur dramatics and is doing a production of The Diary of Anne Frank, featuring the character Pam Doove as a Nazi.
He eventually gets rumbled when Brian Morgan comes into the shop looking for the missing pieces to his board games. Drop inadvertently gives Brian the brooch his wife Katy Morgan was wearing the day she mysteriously disappeared — which coincided with the carnival coming to town. Keith is unable to ward him away from the subject and tries to kill him. However, Reenie Calver hits him over the head and they restrain him. He manages to escape and, when they follow him, he imprisons them in his circus animals cages.
When Brian breaks into Papa's home he realises that Keith was a real person whose identity Papa assumed. The fate of the real Keith has yet to be revealed.
Origins
Despite being one of the more bizarre characters in the series, Papa Lazarou was actually based on a real person, Peter Papalazarou who was a landlordLandlord
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant . When a juristic person is in this position, the term landlord is used. Other terms include lessor and owner...
who owned a flat in which Reece Shearsmith
Reece Shearsmith
Reeson "Reece" Shearsmith is an English actor and writer. He is most famous for his work as part of The League of Gentlemen along with fellow performers Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and co-writer Jeremy Dyson.-Early life:...
and Steve Pemberton
Steve Pemberton
Steve James Pemberton is an English actor, comedian, writer and performer, most famous as a member of The League of Gentlemen along with fellow performers Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss and co-writer Jeremy Dyson.-Early life:...
lived. When he called, he would only ever ask for "Steve" (Pemberton), and would refuse to talk to Shearsmith. When calling, he would say "Hello Steve? Is that Steve?"; when Shearsmith informed him that Pemberton was not present he would persist, "O.K., is Steve there?". When Shearsmith said that he was not present but that he could take a message, Mr. Papalazarou would just say "No, I wanna talk to Steve." Both this, and the landlord's other saying, "This is just a saga now", were adapted into Papa Lazarou's character.
Also, he would say, "I've got a hoover Steve... BeLOOONGING to you...". This also found its way into the series, except 'hoover' became 'pegs' - Papa Lazarou's trade as a cover for his true purpose: collecting wives.
Papalazarou is a common Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
last name
Last Name
"Last Name" is the title of a song composed by country singer Carrie Underwood, Hillary Lindsey and Luke Laird. It is the third single from Underwood's second studio album, Carnival Ride. It was released in the United States on April 7, 2008, by which point the song had already charted...
.
Comments by the Writers
Mark GatissMark Gatiss
Mark Gatiss is an English actor, screenwriter and novelist. He is best known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock....
:
"People are always banging on about how dark it is and we always say, 'Oh, come on…'. And then we watch it again and sometimes I’m quite taken aback by all that’s going on. The thing that I always think is really something is Papa Lazarou kidnapping Bernice’s mother in the Christmas Special. That’s absolutely terrifying."
"But that flashback with the screaming child and Papa Lazarou is absolutely ghastly."
Reece Shearsmith: "I've done a few Hello Dave's for people's answering machines," said Reece Shearsmith, before putting on the Papa Lazarou voice, 'They're not in at the moment!'"
"I love doing Papa Lazarou because he is almost iconic now. I just saw in Kerrang magazine this week, there was some rock band talking about how he’s their favourite weird character. It’s weird that kind of crossover he’s made into like goths and the heavy-metal world, it’s great."
"I think that Johnny Depp was Papa Lazarou in 'Pirates of the Caribbean'".
Mark Gatiss: "There was a funny moment when we were filming by the sea and the doubles for Tubbs and Edward and Papa Lazarou were all having a fag. Actually, I filmed it because it was really quite creepy."
Pemberton: "There was one bit at the end when all our characters had to be there and they came in one at a time. It was really freaky. It was like the film had come to life."
Mark Gatiss: "Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
keeps dressing up as Papa Lazarou".
Steve Pemberton: "We had our photo taken, and this guy said 'I was doing a photo shoot with Marilyn Manson, and as I was doing it, I said "Do you realise that this look you've got is from a British TV show?".' He didn't know so someone got him the DVD and showed it to him. He offered to change his look, because he didn't want to step on our toes."
Reece Shearsmith: "Things shock you because you don’t expect characters to do certain things, but you’re never thinking, 'Oh, that can’t happen.' With Papa Lazarou coming through, that’s normal, you’re watching that thinking, 'Oh wow, that’s brilliant, this crazy circus is coming to town.'"
Popular culture
One of the oddest aspects of the character is how he has managed to become a figure in popular culture. The magazine 'Bizarre' featured Papa Lazarou on its front cover, as if he were a real person Bizarre Cover. Various people have noted him as their favourite character, and he has numerous fan sites.
Papa Lazarou was a key element in their publicity material for the League of Gentlemen's live tour.
Comments by Reviewers
"...oddest of all is a spring-heeled, blacked-up refugee from some ramshackle, time-warped carnival: Papa Lazarou.""...no matter who you are Papa Lazarou will freak you the hell out."
"Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
... blacked up with hollow white eyes, an image that would probably inflame and enrage a little more if it wasn't so reminiscent of the League Of Gentlemen's Papa Lazarou!"