Last Sunday night, I watched with dread as one of my all-time favorite British comedies made it's debut on HBO. Like the successful "Extras" with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant before it, HBO has delved into the world of Brit-coms again, wisely bringing the geniuses of the original series with them. "Little Britain USA" is an American spinoff of the successful British BBC television series Little Britain. As in the British series, the show will mainly focus on characters played by Matt Lucas and David Walliams. With Tom Baker of Doctor Who fame reprising his role as narrator, I settled back for a half hour of some of the sickest comedy I have ever seen.

Following their third season, the BBC's successful comedy "Little Britain" returns, this time to America. All the crazy characters are back, including some new ones, Majorie Dawes, Bubbles DeVere, and the crass Vicky Pollard will be sent to a boot camp, Daffyd Thomas will attend a university, Sebastian Love will become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Lou and Andy will visit a preacher who can hopefully heal Andy! New characters "Mark and Tom" aka "Gym Buddies", two new bodybuilder characters, a reversal of the female body suit characters from seasons 2 and 3. Lucas will also play a girl going to brownie camp and Walliams will play her mother, and a grandmother named 'Mildred' who is obsessed with drugs will be played by Lucas.

"They range from the nice to the really gruesome — and we’re having a ball inventing them", revealed Lucas. According to the makers, Little Britain USA "...is effectively series four..." of the BBC instalment. The new series will first be shown on HBO and in Canada on The Movie Network on September 28 2008, at 10.30pm EST, then will be shown on BBC One on October 3rd 2008 in the UK. The six-part series started filming in March 2008, in Wilmington, North Carolina. The show will be executive produced by Simon Fuller, creator of American Idol.

The duo looked for an American movie star to play the role of US President. George Clooney was mentioned as one of the actors suitable for the job. The role was actually filmed with Harry Lennix as President, and Vivica A. Fox as First Lady.

Lucas and Walliams appeared on England's "Friday Night With Jonathan Ross" last September on BBC One and showed a clip of Little Britain USA featuring two new characters called Mark and Tom who are bodybuilders with stereotypically small penises!

New guests stars have been announced and include; Rachael Harris, Bob Stephenson, Paul Rudd, Hilarie Burton and Sting (who has been seen acting and singing). David Schwimmer is expected to direct studio-based segments of the show. Rosie O'Donnell also made an appearance in the premiere "Fat Fighters" segment.

Fans of Little Britain will tell you that some of the bits are not for the squeamish; disgusting, yet outrageously funny. Seeing many of the series funniest characters let loose in America is unbelievable, however like Rowan Atkinson's character "Mr. Bean" had done before them, this clash of cultures is another riotous romp by two of the best comic talents England has ever produced.

E. "Doc" Smith is a musician and recording engineer who has worked with the likes of Brian Eno, Madonna, Warren Zevon, Mickey Hart, Jimmy Cliff, and John Mayall among others. He is also the inventor of the musical instrument, the Drummstick. He can be reached at http://myspace.com/edoctorsmith