The Best of Smack the Pony (Plus . . .)

Smack the Pony was a British sketch comedy show that ran from 1999 until 2003 on Channel 4. The main performers and writers on the show were Fiona Allen, Doon Mackichan, and Sally Phillips. There were also regular appearances from Sarah Alexander and Darren Boyd. The show's popular theme tune was Dusty Springfield's song In the Middle of Nowhere, sung by Jackie Clune.
As far as performance quality generally is concerned, I find Smack the Pony to compare favorably with the very best of British "absurdist sketch comedy".







The first set of links is a "best-of" compilation of the first two series/seasons of the Show -- unsurprisingly called "The Best of Smack the Pony". It runs approximately eighty (80) minutes, and the video and audio quality is comparable to that of the Series Two shows, below -- which is to say, DVD-rip quality:

http://rapidshare.com/files/195443907/BOSTP.zip.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/195447921/BOSTP.zip.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/195451978/BOSTP.zip.003
http://rapidshare.com/files/195456136/BOSTP.zip.004
http://rapidshare.com/files/195460439/BOSTP.zip.005
http://rapidshare.com/files/195464596/BOSTP.zip.006
http://rapidshare.com/files/195464728/BOSTP.zip.007

(As a parenthetical here, the Best Of Compilation probably isn't the best best-of that could have been made. That is, that best-of could have been bettered and plenty of excellent material (and some much better) should have made it into that DVD, but didn't.)

I'm also posting both Series 1 and Series 2 shows, here. Those files below come in two flavors - dvd-rip quality and vhs quality. While the vhs quality shows (Series One) definitely leave something to be desired (video-technics-wise), the comedy is still "brill" (and, of course, some of the Series One sketches are reprised in higher quality mode, on the "Best Of" video).

The Season One links follow (though Ep. 6 is missing, unfortunately):

http://rapidshare.com/files/195469726/stp1_1.zip.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/195473712/stp1_1.zip.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/195478217/stp1_2.zip.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/195482035/stp1_2.zip.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/195545197/stp1_3.zip.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/195550508/stp1_3.zip.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/195555671/stp1_4.zip.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/195560735/stp1_4.zip.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/195566076/stp1_5.zip.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/195571272/stp1_5.zip.002

(Again, Season One episodes are somewhat raggedy video-technics-wise, which tends to mar the viewing somewhat.)


Links for the 7 episodes of Series 2 (dvd rip quality) follow here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/195659134/stp2_1.zip.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/195664561/stp2_1.zip.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/195670006/stp2_1.zip.003
http://rapidshare.com/files/195675967/stp2_2.zip.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/195681798/stp2_2.zip.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/195682097/stp2_2.zip.003
http://rapidshare.com/files/195687704/stp2_3.zip.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/195692818/stp2_3.zip.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/195693466/stp2_3.zip.003
http://rapidshare.com/files/195699319/stp2_4.zip.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/195704657/stp2_4.zip.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/195705181/stp2_4.zip.003
http://rapidshare.com/files/195710789/stp2_5.zip.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/195716351/stp2_5.zip.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/195716696/stp2_5.zip.003
http://rapidshare.com/files/195721538/stp2_6.zip.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/195726237/stp2_6.zip.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/195726878/stp2_6.zip.003
http://rapidshare.com/files/195731524/stp2_7.zip.001
http://rapidshare.com/files/195735959/stp2_7.zip.002
http://rapidshare.com/files/195736484/stp2_7.zip.003

(And, while certainly none-too-informative, the basic "video data" for the two Series is as follows:

Season 1 -- 640 x 480 / 29 fps / 1035 kbps [audio: mp3 128 / 44]
Season 2 -- 720 x 432 / 25 fps / 1144 kbps [audio: mp3 160 / 48] )

To play any of the thirteen (13) "avi" files posted here, join its constituent parts with hjsplit, extract the file, and then play.

Share and enjoy!