Papa Lazarou
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Papa Lazarou is a fictional character in the BBC TV comedy programme The League of Gentlemen. He appeared in several episodes, and the film The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse. The character is part written by and played by Reece Shearsmith. 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[1] and Channel 4[2] respectively (despite the fact that Lazarou is a character who appears in sketches, rather than a sketch)
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[edit] Character
Papa Lazarou runs a circus. He appears dressed as a circus master and has a face like a black and white minstrel. Papa may be considered the "Anti-Clown", due to his overtly frightening manner and the reversal of colours (over a usual clown)
He later returned as a travelling peg salesman, and attempted to grab any unfortunate women to take back to his house to be "his wife".
Despite originally only appearing in one episode (Lazarou and his circus were frightened away by the nose bleeding epidemic), 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.
He's the ringmaster in a circus, owner of the Pandemonium Carnival. He has three diminutive helpers, called Simba, Pebbil and Tiktik. 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 ring. Which works surprisingly often.
He has a book of wives - all of whom he calls "Dave" - some of which have been photographed on polaroid, but some of which must have lived over a century ago... Upon his first visit to Royston Vasey, 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 Mr Keith Drop, a camp actor. He used the makeup tips he had gleaned from his wives to effect a very convincing transformation. As Keith, he got a volunteer's 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 simply imprisoned all of his wives (and anyone who tried to follow him) in his circus animals.
[edit] Appearance
In the fictional world in which the character lives, his face really is black and white like a minstrel, and he has to paint over it with a pink coloured make up to appear more normal.
His hair is dark black and frizzy, and bears a notable resemblance to Jeremy Dyson's hair, (one of the writers on the show), who unlike the others, does not appear as any regular characters, only in cameos. His teeth are yellow, and his hands are white, and covered in rings - the wedding rings of his 'wives'.
[edit] Quotes
- "Dave, my wife would like to use your toilet."
- "Dave, my wife tells me there is a block in your toilet...there is now."
- "Hello Dave! My wife was right, there is a block in your toilet but, um, I've fixed it now."
- "You're my wife now!"
- "Hello Dave."
- "Want to buy some pegs, Dave?...I've got some pegs belonging to you."
- "This is just a saga now "
- "Tell them the circus is coming to town "
- "I got some pegs belonging to you! "
- "Get sat down if you like"
- "Mmm... I want you for my wife!"
- "Autom...Sprow...Canna...Tik banna...Sandwol...But no sera smee?"
- "Of course you can. We would love for you to join us."
[edit] Origins
Despite being one of the more bizarre characters in the series, Lazarou was actually based on a real person, Mr. Papalazarou who was a landlord who owned a flat in which Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton lived. When he called, he would only ever ask for "Steve" (Pemberton), and would refuse to talk to Shearsmith, therefore if Pemberton was not in he would ask "Hello Steve? Is that Steve?", and when Shearsmith informed him that Pemberton was not present he would persist "Ok, 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' - apparently Papa Lazarou's trade as a cover for his true purpose: collecting wives.
Papalazarou is a common Greek last name.
[edit] Comments by the Writers
Mark Gatiss: "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." [3]
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!'" [4]
"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'" [5]
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." [6]
Mark Gatiss: "Marilyn Manson keeps dressing up as Papa Lazarou" 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." [7]
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.'" [8]
[edit] 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. 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.
Fans of the show also like to contribute further to the confusion by producing artwork featuring the character. This includes spoof posters for films such as The Lord of the Rings and Face/Off, apparently starring Papa Lazarou.
[edit] Trivia
- The Series 3 scenes that show Papa Lazarou captured have many parallels with The Exorcist (even down to substituting the name of Charity Shop worker Merrill for that of Father Merrin).
- Papa Lazarou's "Book of Wives" is full of pictures of various crew members.
- According to the Series 3 DVD commentary, Papa Lazarou's first name is Peter.
[edit] Comments by Reviewers
"...oddest of all is a spring-heeled, blacked-up refugee from some ramshackle, time-warped carnival: Papa Lazarou." Source: The Independent - [9]
"...no matter who you are Papa Lazarou will freak you the hell out" [10]
"[Marilyn Manson] ... 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!" [11]
[edit] Excerpt from the Show
Papa Lazarou is standing with an old lady, Annie Rains, from the audience. Lazarou is in the middle of his psychic display.
Papa Lazarou: I sense grief…are you grieving?
Annie: Yes.
Papa Lazarou: I sense it was for someone close.
Annie: Yes, my husband, George.
Papa Lazarou: Was it…your sister Mary?
Annie: No! It were my husband, George!
Papa Lazarou: So…who is this Mary?
Annie: I don’t know!
Papa Lazarou: Then why do you grieve for her, so?
Annie: I don’t…
Papa Lazarou: Good. Because she tells you not to grieve…!
He takes a bow to applause from the audience. Annie looks bewildered." [12]
[edit] Notable Appearances
One of Papa Lazarou's most notable appearances was during a Christmas Special:
The cynical Reverend Bernice Woodall gets a man entering through the church door. She recognises him as a man dressed as Father Christmas and apologises for throwing a snowball at him earlier. Father Christmas simply says "Hello Dave".
As one, the audience and Bernice realise that this is a different Father Christmas to the one seen before, and it is actually Papa Lazarou in disguise.
"It's nice to see you again Dave. All grown up!" says Papa Lazarou.
We then cut to a flashback sequence where Bernice remembers a moment as a child. Papa Lazarou bursts in, and grabs a woman (Bernice's mother). Bernice (as a girl) is screaming, as is her mother. Lazarou laughs maniacally.
We then cut back to the present, and Lazarou pursues Bernice through the church. She appears to escape through the back door, but Simba, Pebbil and Tiktik (dressed as elves) grab her and place a bag over her. They force her into what appears to be a crate along with many other similar bags.
As the camera pans out we become aware that the "crate" is actually the back of a sleigh, and as Lazarou gets on the front, he appears as a sinister doppelganger for Father Christmas. "You're my wife now!" shouts Papa Lazarou. He rides his sleigh into the night, declaring "Merry Christmas!"
It is also worth noting that Bernice and Papa Lazarou are both played by Reece Shearsmith, so he is essentially chasing himself.
Clip available here
Script available here
[edit] Alter ego
Papa Lazarou dressed up as Keith Drop to enable him to merge into mainstream society. He ran a charity shop, along with a fellow villager. This was merely a front for Lazarou to gain more wives. In one scene Papa Lazarou talks about how he paints his face so that he can dress up as Keith Drop, he said he had learned a lot about make up from his wives.
