British comedy- Page 2

[fflagg]

Posted: 7/14/08 at 8:29pm

My faves:

1. TO THE MANOR BORN
2. GOOD NEIGHBORS
3. LITTLE BRITAIN
4. NO, HONESTLY
5. FAWLTY TOWERS
6. MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS
7. ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS
8. BUTTERFLIES
9. EXECUTIVE STRESS
10. WODEHOUSE PLAYHOUSE
11. WAITING FOR GOD
12. THE VICAR OF DIBLEY

And probably more.

1 and 2 starred the amazing Penelope Keith. Shame that this talented lady has never been on Broadway. The heir apparent to the brilliant Maggie Smith.

4 and 10 star Pauline Collins, who vanished after the success of SHIRLEY VALENTINE for the most part. Come back to Bway!

5 stars John Cleese is beyond non-PC and brilliant. You'll never look at rats, I mean hamsters, in quite the same way.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 7/14/08 at 10:30pm

It was while watching BBC America that I decided to go back to basic cable. I realized how much I hated most of what I was watching on television. I have a lot more money now.

[etoile]

Posted: 7/14/08 at 10:53pm

I've always enjoyed 'Allo 'Allo! and the all too short series The High Life.

[Hrududu]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 4:36am

Simply Musts:
1. Father Ted.
2. Spaced.
3. The League of Gentlemen.
4. Black Books.
5. Brass Eye.
6. The Thick of It.
7. The Mighty Boosh.
8. Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
9. Harry Enfield (Only for the earlier stuff and the legendary "Women know your limits" sketch.)
10. The IT Crowd.

[HorseTears]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 5:23am

Great topic Weez. Though, from what I can tell British comedy is in state of decline at the moment or at least a state of transition. I'm in Southern California, by the way.

Shows on the air or recently on that I have enjoyed are...

- Nevermind the Buzzcocks.
Amstell's just wicked. That Winehouse episode is just unbelievable. And actually rather sweet at points.

- Catherine Tate Show.
I can't get enough of the Derek Fey sketches.

- Green Wing
Though I really do find the ridiculous editing to be way over the top.

- Extras. Perhaps even more brilliant than The Office? Though, that was a co-production with HBO, so I guess it's not technically a brit-com.

- Mighty Boosch.
I caught one episode and could not get into it. I've been told I should give it another try by several people. What do you reckon?

From what I've seen, there's nothing out there to rival Fawlty Towers, Black Adder, Office/Extras, League of Gentlemen or AbFab right now.

What should I be checking out?

And...when the hell is Buzzcocks back on the air? I can't stand these ridiculously short seasons! I'd say a good 50% of the pop culture references go straight over my head because British pop culture seems to be an ever-revolving door, but it's still bloody entertaining.

[Hrududu]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 7:30am

- Mighty Boosch.
I caught one episode and could not get into it. I've been told I should give it another try by several people. What do you reckon?

Definitely give it one more shot. Try either "Bollo" or "Tundra". They were the two episodes that hooked me in. The later you go with that show the more the quality declines (except for the last two episodes of series 2 which are just sublime)

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 9:02am

- Catherine Tate Show.
I can't get enough of the Derek Fey sketches.

Seriously? Every Derek Fey Sketch I ever saw, was an exact carbonn-copy of the previous one. Right down to the dialog. Truly a case of if you've seen one, you've seen them all. Although, his righteous indignation at being thought of as gay, is funny.

[amalou]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 10:52am

My favorite is Little Britain. It's coming to HBO soon. I loved The Office but I never got into the American version. It's just weird to me since I've been watching the original version first. I also love Extras.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 1:44pm

The problem with Little Britain and The League of Gentlemen is that they portray us to be a nation of psychologically-warped sexual deviants.

I thought we'd passed that baton to Austria.

[amalou]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 2:30pm

Well just from watching American tv, you'd assume all Americans are shallow and materialistic....oh wait.

[Weez]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 4:27pm

But we *are* psychologically-warped sexual deviants. Or at least, I have no problem with the rest of the world drawing that conclusion of me from our comedy. ^_^ I would hope they also assume I swear a lot and do very silly things all the time, because it's not like that's the most inaccurate opinion anyone's ever had of me.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 5:00pm

"The problem with Little Britain and The League of Gentlemen is that they portray us to be a nation of psychologically-warped sexual deviants."

Why do you think Madonna moved over there?

[clever name]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 7:01pm

The League of Gentlemen and Little Britain are my two favorites. What does that say about me?

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 8:54pm

Catherine Tate! The office workers and Lauren are two of my favorite recurring sketches ever.

[hermionejuliet]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 8:59pm

I absolutely LOVE a comedy called Goodnight, Sweetheart. It is about married TV repairman who lives in present day Britian, and he finds a time portal to WWII London. Of course, he meets a beautiful young girl who works at a bar in the East End. He, of course, has to visit the portal again to see the girl. He disguses himself as a secret agent. You can probably guess the general storyline from there. I actually got a region free dvd player so that I could have the DVDs of this series.


Other favorite: As Time Goes By, Mr. Bean, Vicar of Dibley, Father Ted, My Family, Monty Python, My Hero, To the Manor Born, Good Neighbors (ie. The Good Life), Posh Nosh, Black Adder and Open All Hours are a few of my other favorites.

I love Brit Coms because it seems like much smarter humor than American sitcoms. Okay... now I totally sound like the public television employee who does the beg-a-thon

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 7/15/08 at 11:06pm

I think they're just as good or bad as American sit-coms. And, they only do about 1/3 of the shows per season that American sit-coms turn out. Much easier to stay witty with far less episodes.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 7/16/08 at 2:45pm

"I have no problem with the rest of the world drawing that conclusion of me from our comedy."

Weez: I drew that conclusion about you from your posts!

"Why do you think Madonna moved over there?"

Very clever, Goth!

Hermionejuliet: I'm glad you like Open All Hours. It helps ease
the embarrasment of knowing Last of The Summer Wine gets shown over there. There has been a bit of an outcry recently because the local council wants to demolish the street where it was filmed thirty years ago.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 7/16/08 at 9:37pm

Count me in on the BritCom train.

I own the entirety of "Vicar of Dibley," "The Good Life/Good Neighbors" and "To the Manor Born."

I also love "Waiting for God," "My Hero," "Goodnight, Sweetheart," and "Are You Being Served?" If my grandmohter weren't so scarily close to Hyacinth Bucket, I'd be MUCH more likely to want that show on DVD.

The thing I love about British Comedy is that, as someone else said, it's so broad, and it's not full of "pretty" people. It retains a vauedvilian aspect that is lost in America now.

MY parents religously watch "Last of the Summer Wine" which I think is actually into the 90s now. Is the show still airing over there?

[DMsquared2]

Posted: 7/17/08 at 3:05am

I like: "Ab Fab", "A Bit of Fry & Laurie", "Little Britain", "The Vicar of Dibley", and any of the incarnations of Graham Norton's show.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/17/08 at 4:47pm

On our PBS, they show Are You Being Served and EastEnders on the same night. It's funny to see Wendy Richard as a young, thin salesgirl with a squeaky voice and then as a matronly laundromat worker with a voice two octaves lower.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 7/18/08 at 4:09pm

*BRITCOM SPOILER ALERTS*

There's a delicious irony in there Goth! Now that she's been killed off in EastEnders she'll probably pop up in Last of the Summer Wine.

"MY parents religously watch "Last of the Summer Wine" which I think is actually into the 90s now. Is the show still airing over there?"

It was airing the last time I dared to switch the TV on during its regular Sunday evening slot. The BBC even kept it going after the death of Bill Owen who played Compo and who was its raison d'etre. The episode where the character dies was a cringe-inducingly bizarre piece of fiction-morphing-into-reality.

They've even changed the marketing for the London production of Spring Awakening so that the show's Broadway logo doesn't invite comparisons with Nora Batty.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/18/08 at 5:03pm

Someone was kind enough to post Wendy Richard's exit from EastEnders on YouTube so I got to see it. It's too bad she was unhappy because she was an original cast member. But I don't blame her if they were giving her crappy storylines. But I did like how the cast spilled out of the Queen Vic and started a snowball fight.

I don't think they show Summer Wine on our station. On their beg-a-thons, they always complain how expensive EastEnders is, so anything that they can't repeat ad nauseum doesn't get shown.

[Mythus]

Posted: 7/18/08 at 5:10pm

Mmmmmm, Boosh. I went to one of their warm-up gigs (as the Mighty Boosh Band, for the festival) in Shoreditch, in June, whilst on vacation in London...I'm so glad I got to see them in person.

IT Crowd, anyone?

[Weez]

Posted: 7/18/08 at 5:12pm

Richard Ayoade = <3

(In other words, yes. :3)

[Mythus]

Posted: 7/18/08 at 5:19pm

Ugggh. I love him.

Also, not exactly a British comedy tv show, but it is British and it is funny: Big Fat Quiz Show of the Year.

The Goth Detectives' win in 2006 goes down as one of the most epic victories in history.