It’s quite the pivot going from blanket coverage of the D-day anniversary straight to Crizards’ This Means War. The one, reverential to the hilt; the other poking slacker fun, if not at war then at how it is usually represented. The show follows the double act’s 2022 debut Cowboys, a parody western which introduced their straight-man/mischief-maker dynamic and taste for stagecraft-with-a-shrug and crappy props. Those features are summoned to attention once more at this outing and are just as delightful – if no longer accompanied by the thrill of new discovery.
The conceit here is that deadpan Eddy Hare wishes to recreate his beloved grandfather’s wartime experience, which he has not fact-checked “out of respect”. Sidekick Will Rowland is worried that that might be boring, and seeks at every turn of Private Grandad’s mission through war-torn Belgium to add incongruity (Michael Jackson makes a cameo) or anachronistic colour.
