I have to admit - I checked this thread just to reassure myself that nobody said "Flight of the Conchords". Unless it was an attempt at irony... That I can forgive.
Keeping Up Appearances - It's not at all hip, but I love it. Hyacinth Bucket is a middle-class social climber - she insists that her name is pronounced Bouquet - whose long-suffering husband has to put up with her endless tea parties, bridge socials, and attempts to pretend to be rich. It's a withering portrait of a certain kind of person and if you know anyone remotely like that it's endlessly funny.
I did enjoy Keeping Up Appearances when it broadcast (my tastes have changed since, I wonder if I'd like it any more) but that's mainly because Hyacinth reminds me so much of my grandmother. Like you say, if you know anyone like that then the situational comedy that arose in each episode was spot on, but I'd be loathe to recommend it to a stranger.
If anyone's interested (because I couldn't think of many British comedies off the top of my head) here's a list of Britain's best sitcoms. Some of the longer running ones are surprising. I didn't realise that 'Allo 'Allo was so popular.
Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister - Early 80s show about the interactions between a British Cabinet Minister (then later PM) and his two closest Civil Servants (Principal Secretary - like a CEO of a Ministry, and the Private Secretary - like an adviser + fixer + etc). It is a fantastically written series and is one of the better political shows and comedies out there. It went on for some time as well, so there is plenty of material, 20 episodes at least. Pretty influential too, I've had it played to me or quoted in more law/political studies/history classes than I can remember. Even 25 years on it still works, which is pretty impressive for political comedy.
Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister were originally books - if you liked the series then definitely give them a read.
Speaking of politcal comedies, does anyone remember The New Statesman? Rick Mayal played an utterly amoral Conservative MP called Alan B'Stard. Amazing show.
I haven't re-watched the New Statesman, but I suspect it has dated.
Can't have dated that badly, I only found out about it 2 years ago and I love it. Admittedly some jokes I don't get, name drops of people in Politics at the time but I think there's more of the show without that stuff than there is. It really is a good series but noone seems to know about it.
Black Books is the greatest. It's an angry, bitter, cynical shop owner.
I can't imagine why you like that sort of stuff, though...
Does House count?
Speaking of, A Bit of Fry and Laurie was good. So is Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, and, even though he can be obnoxious sometimes, Da Ali G Show. It's basically American now, but it started over the pond, so I think it counts.
Mock the Week anyone?
At the moment I am a huge fan of Darkplace, Mitchell and Webb look, Monkeydust(quite old now), Blackbooks, the Boosh, IT crowd's alright, but they could have done a massive amount more with the characters.
Darkwarrior - I watched it when it first came out and it seemed to rely on the contemporary British political references a lot, but I guess it could still work. I must look it up.
Oh and re Black Books - the bitter angry store owner just speaks to me, after working retail for a few years. He says what we all wanted to say. Oh and Bill Bailey + Dylan Moran are gold - they are awesome at stand up and work so well together it is almost painful. IIRC youtube has a fair bit of Moran's standup if you want to check it out
Mock the Week anyone?
At the moment I am a huge fan of Darkplace, Mitchell and Webb look, Monkeydust(quite old now), Blackbooks, the Boosh, IT crowd's alright, but they could have done a massive amount more with the characters.
Monkey Dust was so hilariously dark. I loved it to bits (Even though it was only really ever on BBC3)
Three pages and only two mentions of Coupling? I am constantly surprised by the lack of love for Coupling. For my money, it's probably the greatest comedy ever made. And Steven Moffat is a genius who writes really good episodes of Doctor Who.
If you're one to appreciate fucked up weirdness, then The League of Gentlemen is amazing. I spent half the time disturbed and the other half feeling guilty for laughing at the jokes.
Then there's Jam, but that was too weird even for me.
Glal on
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Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
edited September 2007
Yeah, was Jam even a comedy? I'm not sure. A friend had it on DVD and I think we made it through two episodes before one of my friends broke and said he could take no more.
Mojo_Jojo on
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
Darkwarrior - I watched it when it first came out and it seemed to rely on the contemporary British political references a lot, but I guess it could still work. I must look it up.
Oh and re Black Books - the bitter angry store owner just speaks to me, after working retail for a few years. He says what we all wanted to say. Oh and Bill Bailey + Dylan Moran are gold - they are awesome at stand up and work so well together it is almost painful. IIRC youtube has a fair bit of Moran's standup if you want to check it out
I like Bottom and Rik Mayall and the New Statesman contains elements of both, a little more of Mayall admittedly. So if you like Bottom then you should find it ok. I just like the evil guy doing evil things while all the evil people around him do other evil things.
The League of Gentlemen was really very good in its first season. Then it just got a little too weird and really really creepy. But how many other comedies have spawned a reasonably successful movie, too?
Rook - I have watched Red Dwarf fairly recently, and I still think there are some fantastic and very original episodes.
Mock the Week anyone?
At the moment I am a huge fan of Darkplace, Mitchell and Webb look, Monkeydust(quite old now), Blackbooks, the Boosh, IT crowd's alright, but they could have done a massive amount more with the characters.
Monkey Dust was so hilariously dark. I loved it to bits (Even though it was only really ever on BBC3)
Monkey Dust was indeed pretty awesome, but jesus, some of it was so dark.
though the nice guy convict with the evil space hopper made me feel so guilty for laughing hysterically.
Also they had the last of the series of Mock the Week on last night. I was in so much pain from laughing at Hugh Dennis' overdub of The Duke of Edinburgh.
I'm not sure if it's just a cultural thing and I notice it more with British shows or if I'm crazy or what but it seems like some British comedies are waaay too formulaic. Like little Britain, some of the sketches are exactly the same with just the most minute of details changed, I don't get it.
Shoggoth on
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Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
Also they had the last of the series of Mock the Week on last night. I was in so much pain from laughing at Hugh Dennis' overdub of The Duke of Edinburgh.
Most of the mock the week regulars are on tour at the moment, which is good. And yes, that best of episode last night was fantastic.
I caught a bit of Saxondale afterwards, it seems very similar to I'm Alan Partridge.
Mojo_Jojo on
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
I'm not sure if it's just a cultural thing and I notice it more with British shows or if I'm crazy or what but it seems like some British comedies are waaay too formulaic. Like little Britain, some of the sketches are exactly the same with just the most minute of details changed, I don't get it.
Yeah, there are a few sketch shows that have suffered from that problem lately. Little Britain, that scummy Catherine Tate show (which suffered from the slightly more major problem that none of the jokes were funny in the first place), Man Stroke Woman. There was a pretty funny satire of 24 hour news networks that was on recently, but so many of the sketches were just variations on a theme.
I'm not sure how specific that is to Britain though. I don't know any American sketch shows, and I don't know any Australian sketch shows that don't suck.
Low Key on
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Mojo_JojoWe are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourseRegistered Userregular
edited September 2007
That Mitchell and Webb Look was pretty good at avoided formulaic sketches.
I think Big Train might have managed it too (outside of the crap staring contest stuff they bloated every episode with).
I can't think of any American sketch shows, so I can't say how repetitive they might be.
Mojo_Jojo on
Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
I'm not sure if it's just a cultural thing and I notice it more with British shows or if I'm crazy or what but it seems like some British comedies are waaay too formulaic. Like little Britain, some of the sketches are exactly the same with just the most minute of details changed, I don't get it.
Yeah, there are a few sketch shows that have suffered from that problem lately. Little Britain, that scummy Catherine Tate show (which suffered from the slightly more major problem that none of the jokes were funny in the first place), Man Stroke Woman. There was a pretty funny satire of 24 hour news networks that was on recently, but so many of the sketches were just variations on a theme.
I'm not sure how specific that is to Britain though. I don't know any American sketch shows, and I don't know any Australian sketch shows that don't suck.
I don't really notice it as much over here. When sketch shows are bad it's usually because they just suck, not because they're repetitive. Saturday Night Live is really the only show I can think of that comes close.
I'm not sure if it's just a cultural thing and I notice it more with British shows or if I'm crazy or what but it seems like some British comedies are waaay too formulaic. Like little Britain, some of the sketches are exactly the same with just the most minute of details changed, I don't get it.
Yeah, there are a few sketch shows that have suffered from that problem lately. Little Britain, that scummy Catherine Tate show (which suffered from the slightly more major problem that none of the jokes were funny in the first place), Man Stroke Woman. There was a pretty funny satire of 24 hour news networks that was on recently, but so many of the sketches were just variations on a theme.
I'm not sure how specific that is to Britain though. I don't know any American sketch shows, and I don't know any Australian sketch shows that don't suck.
The Fast Show was the only one, to my mind, that never really had a problem with that. Sure, it had many sketches that were the same people in similar situations with only slight differences, but it was still funny, and even managed to make a joke out of that.
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I did enjoy Keeping Up Appearances when it broadcast (my tastes have changed since, I wonder if I'd like it any more) but that's mainly because Hyacinth reminds me so much of my grandmother. Like you say, if you know anyone like that then the situational comedy that arose in each episode was spot on, but I'd be loathe to recommend it to a stranger.
If anyone's interested (because I couldn't think of many British comedies off the top of my head) here's a list of Britain's best sitcoms. Some of the longer running ones are surprising. I didn't realise that 'Allo 'Allo was so popular.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Top quality farce in the British style. Well established and carefully used running gags. Timing. Lashings on innuendo.
'Allo ' Allo is basically a comedy writers handbook.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
Then there was the Comic Strip
Speaking of politcal comedies, does anyone remember The New Statesman? Rick Mayal played an utterly amoral Conservative MP called Alan B'Stard. Amazing show.
edit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-B8Xv4lNs8
Can't have dated that badly, I only found out about it 2 years ago and I love it. Admittedly some jokes I don't get, name drops of people in Politics at the time but I think there's more of the show without that stuff than there is. It really is a good series but noone seems to know about it.
I tried watching Red Dwarf again, some how it just really isn't that funny any more.
I have been enjoying peepshow, even if I now get this constant running monologue to myself whenever I'm in a horrendous situation.
I'm of the same persuasion yet I can't help but watch it.
I can't imagine why you like that sort of stuff, though...
Does House count?
Speaking of, A Bit of Fry and Laurie was good. So is Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, and, even though he can be obnoxious sometimes, Da Ali G Show. It's basically American now, but it started over the pond, so I think it counts.
At the moment I am a huge fan of Darkplace, Mitchell and Webb look, Monkeydust(quite old now), Blackbooks, the Boosh, IT crowd's alright, but they could have done a massive amount more with the characters.
Oh and re Black Books - the bitter angry store owner just speaks to me, after working retail for a few years. He says what we all wanted to say. Oh and Bill Bailey + Dylan Moran are gold - they are awesome at stand up and work so well together it is almost painful. IIRC youtube has a fair bit of Moran's standup if you want to check it out
Monkey Dust was so hilariously dark. I loved it to bits (Even though it was only really ever on BBC3)
Then there's Jam, but that was too weird even for me.
Yes, I think it was a comedy.
I like Bottom and Rik Mayall and the New Statesman contains elements of both, a little more of Mayall admittedly. So if you like Bottom then you should find it ok. I just like the evil guy doing evil things while all the evil people around him do other evil things.
Rook - I have watched Red Dwarf fairly recently, and I still think there are some fantastic and very original episodes.
Monkey Dust was indeed pretty awesome, but jesus, some of it was so dark.
though the nice guy convict with the evil space hopper made me feel so guilty for laughing hysterically.
Also they had the last of the series of Mock the Week on last night. I was in so much pain from laughing at Hugh Dennis' overdub of The Duke of Edinburgh.
Also Extras.
I'm not sure if it's just a cultural thing and I notice it more with British shows or if I'm crazy or what but it seems like some British comedies are waaay too formulaic. Like little Britain, some of the sketches are exactly the same with just the most minute of details changed, I don't get it.
I caught a bit of Saxondale afterwards, it seems very similar to I'm Alan Partridge.
Yeah, there are a few sketch shows that have suffered from that problem lately. Little Britain, that scummy Catherine Tate show (which suffered from the slightly more major problem that none of the jokes were funny in the first place), Man Stroke Woman. There was a pretty funny satire of 24 hour news networks that was on recently, but so many of the sketches were just variations on a theme.
I'm not sure how specific that is to Britain though. I don't know any American sketch shows, and I don't know any Australian sketch shows that don't suck.
I think Big Train might have managed it too (outside of the crap staring contest stuff they bloated every episode with).
I can't think of any American sketch shows, so I can't say how repetitive they might be.
I don't really notice it as much over here. When sketch shows are bad it's usually because they just suck, not because they're repetitive. Saturday Night Live is really the only show I can think of that comes close.
The Fast Show was the only one, to my mind, that never really had a problem with that. Sure, it had many sketches that were the same people in similar situations with only slight differences, but it was still funny, and even managed to make a joke out of that.
god I miss the Fast Show.
He is as a god.
Can't we lure him out with something?