TV Comedy

[swears]

Melchior: Hmmmm....see what you mean, but the cast always seemed a little bit too pleased with themselves to be truly self-depreciating. Found that with Green Wing as well.

 

[IdleRich]

"I can't help but despise the comedy of embarrassment."

This is exactly what my girlfriend said when we watched Extras the other day. I take the point but it still makes me laugh.

"01. Seinfeld

The greatest sitcom ever, and my favourite TV show ever, by a mile. From season 4 til it finished, it was just untouchable. Great main, and peripheral, characters, a liberal dose of surrealism and great dialogue are just a hell of a combination. Then, Jerry himself aside, the cast was just a set of great actors"

Absolute wank. Tried to see what was funny about this programme but realised it was nothing.

"05. Frasier

A weird pick, in that it doesn't make me laugh out lud as much as other programmes on the list, but it's such an effectively-written old-school comedy that I can't deny it. Very sharp dialogue (witty, rather than funny), with under-rated examples of comic timing and slapstick. The brothers are a great team, and it had a massively good hit rate for a show with so many episodes."

Almost as bad. I hate the self-satisfaction of these US big-hitters, man walks through a door and everyone cheers, what the fuck? You can just see them thinking how funny they are, it really gets under my skin. I think it's something to do with the particular type of canned laughter they use, absolutely hateful.

Only seen Curb Your Enthusiasm once or twice but I thought it was great.

Simpson is definitely the best tv programme I've ever seen by a long way.

I'm Alan Partridge was fantastic as well, particularly the first series.

Brass Eye and Day Today, always interesting but not always funny.

Monty Python, films are good but I don't think that the series has aged well. Whenever I see it I expect it to be better than it is.

Never seen that 15 Stories High thing but I've heard it's good. Hardly surprising I haven't seen it because I haven't got a telly so what do I know?

 

[baboon2004]

Um....

I agree on Father Ted, if you're criticising it (can't tell your thoughts exactly) - it was more cozy than cutting...can't understand the love for it here. It's alright, but gets boring very quickly.

Seinfeld over the Simpsons? Sweet Jesus. Seinfeld has always provoked a very 'so-what?' reaction as far as I'm concerned. The best comedy is far more edgy.

Haven't seen Curb Your Enthusiasm at all, but the evangelism for it displayed here means that I'll have to catch an episode or two. Did see a clip or two, and found it rather forced and over-aware of its own supposed cleverness, but shall give it a proper chance.

Porridge is great, but...league of its own?

LoG not funny? Sacrilege. You're right insofar as humour is not the only appealing element of the programme, but those who fail to laugh at Papa Lazarou should take a long hard look at themselves....

Father Ted intially, then later or even

Peep Show:slanted: WTF are you all on about?

All the Ianucci/Partridge/Morris stuff

Simpsons

Seinfeld

Sanders

Curb Your Enthusiasm

I just can't get enough of it! It's the funniest thing ever. Nothing has ever been so funny. Come on! Alot of this other stuff is alright but the British things are so hit and miss. When I watch CYE I cackle and hoot non-stop.

Of the UK comedies I think Porridge is in a league of its own.

League of Gentleman is quite watchable but it's not really funny though is it? Ditto Python.

Anyone prepared to join me on this side of the fence?

 

[baboon2004]

Seinfeld:Absolute wank. Tried to see what was funny about this programme but realised it was nothing.

Frasier:Almost as bad. I hate the self-satisfaction of these US big-hitters, man walks through a door and everyone cheers, what the fuck? You can just see them thinking how funny they are, it really gets under my skin. I think it's something to do with the particular type of canned laughter they use, absolutely hateful.

?

Exactly! Thank God someone else shares my view. It's sooo self-conscious. Moreover, in my view comedy and tragedy should never be too far removed from each other, and both of these shows have all the edginess and bite of Friends.

 

[throughsilver]

Exactly! Thank God someone else shares my view. It's sooo self-conscious. Moreover, in my view comedy and tragedy should never be too far removed from each other, and both of these shows have all the edginess and bite of Friends.

Nonsense; I'm not sure you've seen much Seinfeld at all. Do you know how many characters have died in Seinfeld? An entire season was spent building up George's engagement, only for his wife to die - because of him. He also fell down a flight of stairs and had to re-learn how to walk. They had an inocent man deported. Watched, and laughed, as another man was mugged.

People around here really need to wise up, and stop the empty hating.

 

[Lichen]

It's the cosiness of Seinfeld that I like so much, the complete absence of tragedy makes it a good escape.

Though George is a rather tragic character. His father banned Christmas and replaced it with Festivus; a dreary generic holiday....


I'm really surprised it's hated so much here. Like someone said up-thread: comedy is very divisive subject. Statements like:

but those who fail to laugh at Papa Lazarou should take a long hard look at themselves...


are kind of thoughtless. Why should I find him funny?

 

[baboon2004]

Nonsense; I'm not sure you've seen much Seinfeld at all. Do you know how many characters have died in Seinfeld? An entire season was spent building up George's engagement, only for his wife to die - because of him. He also fell down a flight of stairs and had to re-learn how to walk. They had an inocent man deported. Watched, and laughed, as another man was mugged.

People around here really need to wise up, and stop the empty hating.

Fair enough - I've only seen about ten episodes.

But the whole "you have to have seen every last episode in order to have an opinion" thing is really ridiculous too. In the episodes I've seen (and this is resorting to extreme obviousness) there has been next-to-no edginess. And that that there has been has been very ham-fisted and crow-barred in.

 

[baboon2004]

It's the cosiness of Seinfeld that I like so much, the complete absence of tragedy makes it a good escape.

Though George is a rather tragic character. His father banned Christmas and replaced it with Festivus; a dreary generic holiday....


I'm really surprised it's hated so much here. Like someone said up-thread: comedy is very divisive subject. Statements like:

but those who fail to laugh at Papa Lazarou should take a long hard look at themselves...


are kind of thoughtless. Why should I find him funny?

Um, I was being deliberately provocative. When starting the thread, I was more looking for new recommendations (and have found some, thanks to several of those who replied) than to start an argument about why such-and-such is better. Although as much as everyone else, I seem to have been drawn into the oh-my-God-how-can-you-possibly-think-that's-funny? school of response. Hence my remark about Papa Lazarou.

I think we differ over the essential nature of what comoedy 'should' be, and that's fair enough.

 

[labrat]

im with the consensus on Peep Show but their new sketch thing on the beeb(mitchell& webb show?) is jaw-droppingly unfunny-whats that all about?

Jammm was a good codine show




Jerry Sadowitz edits a card tricks fanzine called The Crimp

 

[Lichen]

"Although as much as everyone else, I seem to have been drawn into the oh-my-God-how-can-you-possibly-think-that's-funny? school of response. Hence my remark about Papa Lazarou.

I think we differ over the essential nature of what comoedy 'should' be, and that's fair enough."

An excellent and very diplomatic post Baboon. If you'd care to PM me your address I'll burn CYE Season 5 and send it to you.

 

[IdleRich]

"See also Little Britain, homosexual self hatred, misogyny and racism in full swing..."

"So you don't buy the idea that they were making fun of these things?"

I think that they are but there is a sense in which they are having their cake and eating it. They have a character tell a racist/homophobic joke, then laugh at the guy who says it but they are still getting to tell the joke and I get the feeling that they are laughing at that as well.

 

[tatarsky]

im with the consensus on Peep Show but their new sketch thing on the beeb(mitchell& webb show?) is jaw-droppingly unfunny-whats that all about?

Peep Show was different writers.

The new thing is not total shit all the time, but is only really held up by whichever-one-played-Mark-in-Peep-Show displaying excellent comic timing and delivery (by being Mark from Peep Show).

 

[Slothrop]

It's the cosiness of Seinfeld that I like so much, the complete absence of tragedy makes it a good escape.

I always thought that the cosiness and the lack of tragedy was part of the self absorption and the sheer bourgeois boringness of the main characters, which was kind of the point. It's got a nasty black heart, which is what dstinguishes it from stuff like Friends...

 

[Lichen]

Coming from Larry David I suspect it does have a black heart and they are a pretty grim, disfunctional bunch. In some ways it's exaclty the opposite of Friends. Four 'lovely bit kooky' people .vs. Four reperhensible amoral losers.



Maybe it's the familial quality of their closeness and disfunction that I find cosy!

 

[...]

I love

Bilko
Hancock
Cheers
The Simple Life

and that's about it.

Apart from Cook & Moore, The Good Life, Steptoe.

 

[benjybars]

"Although as much as everyone else, I seem to have been drawn into the oh-my-God-how-can-you-possibly-think-that's-funny? school of response.

hhaha.. yeah, that's me.. i always think people are genuinely crazy if they don't like something i think is funny or vice versa..

re Sienfied - yes, it is fundamentally cosy, partly because it was on a major network (rather than HBO like Curb) but the crafting of the storylines is fantastic and you can really see how Larry David works in that respect.

Not seeing much love for Larry Sanders here - what's wrong with you people!! Hank is anunbelievably great character (he also plays the incarcerated dad in Areested Development)..


I also can't stress enough how much you all need to see 15 storeys high Amazon product ASIN B0000C88LB
has anyone mentioned Monkey Dust yet??

 

[baboon2004]

I also can't stress enough how much you all need to see 15 storeys high Amazon product ASIN B0000C88LB
has anyone mentioned Monkey Dust yet??

No, but good call. Although it was another in the more-than-comedy list, where other factors (in this case, the sheer imagination of the animation) were equally important as the laughs.

Might just have to buy 15 Storeys High when payday comes. Sounds fantastic.

 

[swears]

Monkey Dust was OK, bit of an obvious Chris Morris rip off though.

 

[gek-opel]

Re: "That Mitchell and Webb Look"-- its a tv version of their Radio 4 show, but their radio show was much much better, much more witty. The TV version is a bit naff and only sporadically reaches laughter point...

Sanders and Seinfeld were great back in the day (whenever that was- I remember the BBC really fucking around with the scheduling so no-one in their right mind would actually watch them- cheers lads). The meanness of the characters in these programmes was their key appeal I think.

I'd like to nominate Scrubs as my least favourite-est US comedy. I know there are a myriad of by-the-numbers sitcoms that the networks churn out... but they at least have a bland familiar reliability to them, they're shit, but bearably so. Scrubs is cloyingly sentimental unutterably smug tosh that gets under my skin like ants.

 

[gek-opel]

I think that they are but there is a sense in which they are having their cake and eating it. They have a character tell a racist/homophobic joke, then laugh at the guy who says it but they are still getting to tell the joke and I get the feeling that they are laughing at that as well.

Hmm. I didn't really get that there was that level of subtlety going on... they're not Chris Morris for Gods sake, they make grotesque comedy for kids, they have a man blacked up and naked in a female fat suit, its blindingly obvious where their hatreds lie. Rock Profile was quite good tho.