Last Sunday, AMC premiered the period adventure drama Nautilus. A loose reimagining of Jules Verne’s classic novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, this version of the titular submarine is the handiwork of labor by inmates enslaved in a private prison by the East India Mercantile Company, which in the mid-19th century is more powerful than any government. One such inmate is the man who helped its official engineer design the craft, and who becomes its captain: Nemo.
If you’re a fan of British comedy, Nemo might look very familiar to you.
A full beard can’t entirely hide his face: yes, that’s Shazad Latif, better known to fans of the Matt Berry sitcom Toast of London as the titular toast’s most impish nemesis, Clem Fandango. But if the rest of this paragraph just looks like Mad Libs, here are five reasons to get up to speed…
He’s the Personification of Steven Toast’s Career Woes
Toast of London is the story of Steven Toast (Berry, who co-created the show with Arthur Mathews), an actor whose self-confidence and pomposity stand in contrast with what seem to be modest achievements. The steadiest work he seems able to get is voice-over gigs — for things like commercials, GPS devices and gay pornography — at Soho’s Scramble Studios. There, he’s forced to take direction from engineers Danny Bear (Tim Downie) and Clem Fandango, who don’t respect him and often openly laugh at Toast’s various performances.
That Clem Fandango started as a “work experience boy” then remained to torment Toast in nearly every episode of the show has to be a particularly galling reminder for Toast of how far he hasn’t come since Clem Fandango was first introduced to him as a student.
His Name Is Hilarious
This is nothing special: Toast of London is known for those. It’s also where you’ll find Martin Aynuss, Cliff Bonanza, Greta Cargo, Colin Corknorth, Dinky Frinkbuster, Pooky Hook, Max Gland, Betty Pimples, Peggy Plywood, Cliff Promise, Susan Random, Astrid Starkass, and Vic Titball, among many others. Yet even amid such stiff competition, Clem Fandango is a standout. “Fandango” puts one in mind of an in-call stripper, while “Clem” seems like it comes from a gold rush prospector. Back-to-back? Magic.
His Catchphrase Cements Him in Your Memory
There’s no reason for Clem Fandango to think that an actor of Toast’s age or professional stature would have a hard time remembering who he is, but it doesn’t matter: When Clem Fandango breaks into a session to address Toast, Clem Fandango’s going to say his full name before making sure Toast can hear him.
Clem Fandango has figured out, or possibly just knew instinctively, that repeating his name is the key to making a lasting impression. He’s the Jason Derulo of Scramble Studios.
His Outfits Are Agelessly Ridiculous
Sometimes, when you’re watching an old TV show, unintentional laughs come from the time-stamped costuming. For instance, if you didn’t know for a fact, when you hit play on an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, that it was from the late ‘90s and early aughts, the backless going-out tops and low-rise jeans quickly give it away. Not so Clem Fandango in Toast of London. In Season Two, Toast finally sniffs at Clem Fandango and Danny Bear for shopping at “Oxfam, or whatever it is you pick up those clown outfits from” — a line that lands just as well today as it did a decade ago.
Clem Fandango is such a scenester that nothing he wears made sense in the early to mid-10s, and makes no more sense today, so every sight gag still works.
He’s a Stone Fox
Doesn’t matter if you dress him like an asshole.
Those dimples will not be denied.
Content shared from www.cracked.com.