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...is mostly a bit shite, IMO.
been sat at home for the last two days feeling ill and sorry for myself and as such have had some time to peruse iPlayer...
only decent things to have come from BBC Comedy recently is Detectorists and People Just Doing Nothing (which i think the BBC snapped up after seeing the stuff on youtube.
clicked on Crims the other night. nicely stereotyped black man/crim. lame arsed jokes. not funny.
the re-hash of Open All Hours just strikes me as sad and desperate. never found the originals that amusing (not a touch on Porridge) and the rehashed series doesn't even raise a smile from me.
Count Arthur Strong looks like it belongs on CBBC. who writes this shit? or more to the point who gives it the go-ahead?
and that Miranda bird.... other than her appearance, i find it difficult to find anything funny about it. i put her in the same catergory as that Ruth woman from the Castle prog... that catergory being "woman i want to punch".
They haven't made a funny comedy since blackadder.
Detectorists I liked.
Cuckoo only thing I saw that was mildly amusing .
Last thing rick mayall did with big guy from cuckoo I caught an episode of and laughed.
You think thats bad? Have you ever listened to the recent 'comedy' on Radio 4? Sweet baby Jesus and the orphans! Its absolutely dire! Its like some ghetto for middle class, middle England, drama graduates, who wouldn't know genuine humour if it donned a pair of DM's and kicked the living shit out of them. Which, coincidentally, is what you'll want to do to them when you listen to it
The Detectorists was ace. As is The Life of Rock with Brian Pern
W1 A I wouldn't classify as Comedy but they do, it's quite good in a "Dear God that's just what it's like at Work" kinda way..
I did have a giggle at Mrs Browns Boys Christmas specials.
The last series was poor but the specials were funny IMO.
Count Arthur Strong looks like it belongs on CBBC. who writes this shit?
Agreed. Utter tosh. Incredibly (co)written by the same man as Father Ted!
He also did The Walshes recently, which I really enjoyed.
The funniest proper comedy I've seen in recent memory was Holy Flying Circus. Quite enjoying Rick and Morty as recommended on here.
Miranda was never comedy, and is now finished innit? so that makes it "not new"
Only funny thing I've found recently is 8 out of 10 cats does countdown, but that's not BBC, and still funny despite the annoying berk whose show it is.
wrecker - MemberThey haven't made a funny comedy since blackadder.
Disagree there.
Fast Show
Catterick
Monkey Dust
Big Train
But mostly I never understood how 'How Not to Live Your Life' wasn't massive. One of the best comedies of the last 20 years IMO.
Uncle was it was ok. Just cos the kid was good
never got the thing about Mrs Brown. never found men dressing up as women that funny, and it seems to me that is what it relies upon to get the gags in.
I did have a giggle at Mrs Browns Boys Christmas specials.
I think somebody needs to go and sit in the corner, and have a long think about what it is they've just said
Bring back How not to live your life.
House of fools is ok.
I think somebody needs to go and sit in the corner, and log off the Internetz, look in the mirror then have a long think about what it is they've just said
FIFY (for added effect)
😆
House of Fools has had it's funny moments (if you like Vic and Bob).
I think comedy is very much like music - all the new, fresh, inventive stuff was done in the 70s and 80s. Everything now just seems like a re-hash of what has gone before.
Early Doors was also very good.
i like it when they don't try and draw out a series for the sake of it. short and sweet is best, IMO.
If you didn't really like Open all Hours it's pretty unlikely you'll like the new ones - I enjoy them, I don't really laugh at it though - it's like hearing a joke you've heard before told by a really old and dear friend.
I have to admit I struggle with BBC sit-coms - they're all middle of the road, nicey nicey stuff now - they've done some great stuff in the past, Porridge, Only Fools, Bottom, the Young Ones, The Fast Show, The Office, Allo Allo, Two Pints, Yes Minister - these days all the characters seem to have to be boring, middle aged, middle class, middle England.
Russell Howard's good news is great, but not a sit-com of course and being so topical good great the second time around.
Catterick is Vic and Bob's 'sitcom'
It's on Youtube (with a lot of 'How Not To Live Your Life' too)
Harry and Paul is far funnier than The Fast Show. Also liked Lead Balloon.
The majority of BBC comedy is really really bad - both the mainstream stuff like Miranda and the attempted New Wave stuff like Bad Education, which is funny for a couple of episodes but doesn't go anywhere.
As for R4 comedy, most is rubbish but 'In and out of the kitchen' by/with Miles Jupp is brilliant.
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01q9tb1 ]In and out of the kitchen[/url]
i find i get distracted by Russel Howard's eyes too much and find his style too OTT and obvious most of the time. although i managed to sit through his 2014 review.
Try W1A if you like the comedy of cringe, as in "The Office".
They've just done a late "Part 4" to the series and re-released the previous 3 on iPlayer catch-up...
Allegedley, it's a bit close to how things DO actually happen inside the Beeb.
Yeah "Lead Ballon" was bloomin hilarious, however not a peek from Jack as to it's return, like eva.. 🙁
How not to live your life was utterly brilliant. W1A is good in a cringey sort of way.
The Revolution Will Be Televised seems like it should be on Channel 4. Still quite entertaining though.
A new series of Lead Balloon and How Not To Live Your Life to go with the new series of Detectorists would be wonderful. Please?
I've given up listening to Radio 4 at the half 6 slot. Even the Friday night stuff other than the Now Show seems fairly dire. The only thing of note that really stood out in the past year was Cabin pressure and The Castle.
PJDN is closer to the style of the Office, IMO. and funnier, too! very creative and proper laugh out loud for me.
The problem with all of this, and I agree with the majority of the comments, stems from Commissioners at a Producer level or above.
There is plenty of talent around, but the main gripe is from writers who are not given enough of a platform, in order to hone their craft before being released into a larger format. This has been the case for a while.
Example : The Mighty Boosh ( love it or hate it ) was first put on in a late night slot, on a minor digital channel. When it started to pick up a following, and after about 2 seasons became hot property, THEN it was put into a prime time slot where it could shine. In other words, it was given a chance to fail, and also a chance to succeed.
Other comedies were the same. Red Dwarf and Blackadder immediately spring to mind, as they both took a little while to find their audience.
Many comedies are not given the chance, and they are pushed out straight onto the main stage, where if they don't IMMEDIATELY get ratings, then they are axed. The execs are hungry for numbers, not talent, and are not prepared to take any risks, which may result in a few turkeys, before they find gold.
The same is true of Hollywood. Don't like the same types of films playing in your local cinema, same problem.
Here's an Interview with John Lloyd, who produced Blackadder, Not The Nine O'Clock News and Spitting Image.
Anybody remember Happiness with Paul Whitehouse, that was good.
Aye plenty on TV and R4 that's is puuuuuuure sheeeeeeite, including Dave-Lamb (come dine with me)-written stuff!
In and out of the kitchen S1 v good, S2 not so much.
Having watched Mrs Browns Boys Christmas Special - It would have been too rude to leave the room it didn't even manage a smile, not one, there was no joke in there....
In my current experience of comedy output it's designed not to offend people, or upset them, or challenge them. It's only offensive to those with a sense of humour.
It's symptomatic of the age we live in, which has spawned ball-less commissioning editors. Almost all of it is watered down asinine sh1te. Nothing edgy, challenging, satirical or just plan funny. I'm still waiting for a return to the halcyon days of The League of Gentleman, I'm Alan Partridge, Yes Minister, Black Adder, Red Dwarf and the like. What we have now is bilge like Citizen Khan and Mrs. Brown's Boys. Even shows like Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You are shadows of their former selves ... on that note has Paul Merton every said anything remotely amusing?
Count Arthur Strong is odd. The stage show from years ago was bloody brilliant, it then got toned down for radio and is utter shite on the telly.
Even shows like Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You are shadows of their former selves ... on that note has Paul Merton every said anything remotely amusing?
Mock the week is still funny, but I think it only has a series or 2 left in it. HIGNFY died years ago, and you can just see that they don't get the guests anymore. QI has also run for too long now. The comments by Lloyd are interesting, especially about the female comedians, because everytime I see them on these panel quiz shows they are generally outclassed by their male counterparts, I wonder if instead of tokenism they need to have a majority women some weeks, change the focus so there not just stuck on the sidelines of a male conversation between a bunch of lads.
Everything I see either seems sanitised or purile attempts at shocking, there just doesn't seem a middle ground, little inteligence, no politics and nothing challenging. I wonder if changing viewing habits aren't helping, where we used to "graze" on television for an evening, now we tend to pick shows to watch when we want. Shows need to hit big right from the start and get good reviews or chances are nobody will see them, they don't get the same chance to grow an audience.
Most shows I watch now I tend to wait till a series has finished then download and mainline it over a weekend, gone are the days when 9pm thursday night on BBC2 was the comedy time, not helped by BBC scheduling, even hit shows like mock the week just seem all over the schedule and get dropped for weeks.
There are still some gems out there:
American comedy is quite good right now, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Rick and Morty and Brooklyn Nine Nine are all pretty good.
Funniest program on the Beeb...
"All at Sea" on CBeebies.
Storey lines are just brilliant.
Hebburn is pretty good as is the madcap House of Fools but yes overall it's very poor.
Mrs Browns Boys shouldn't be in the thread as it's not even comedy.
South Park is still funny as well.
There was an Irish comedy on BBC2 just before Christmas that was really funny (comparitively speaking, I suppose. It was no Blackadder!) Can't remember the name of it though " The Byrnes" something like that - proper comedy actors.Worth finding on iPlayer for the want of anything decent.
(How is SouthPark a "BBC comedy"?)
On R4 6.30 slot: John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme (similar kind of sketch comedy as Mitchell and Webb)
I can hardly wait for the new series of Bluestone 42
What's the first rule?
Well, seeing as BBC comedy is shit at the moment and actually thinking about it.... most UK comedy is currently shit, I thought I'd post a few alternatives.
The comments by Lloyd are interesting, especially about the female comedians, because everytime I see them on these panel quiz shows they are generally outclassed by their male counterparts,
even the GF mentioned this.
i don't get the humour of that Bluestone, either.
not sure if it is stupid or just crass.
Has anyone actually watched blackadder recently? I tried to watch it last year and found the canned laughter ruined it, I don't remember even noticing it when it was first aired.
Mock the week is still funny
Are you sure? It went off the Boyle when Frankie left 😀
i don't get the humour of that Bluestone, either.not sure if it is stupid or just crass
Agreed seems to try too hard.
There are still a few decent 'mainstream' sitcoms around (but you do have to go beyond the Beeb at times).
Cuckoo
Man Down
Friday Night Dinner
Best of the crop of 'old school' throwback comedies is probably Big School, but only because they roped in some decent comedy actors.
Not a sitcom, but The Last Leg is great value for topical/edgy stuff at the moment.
[i]Has anyone actually watched blackadder recently? [/i]
Yep, I think I laughed even more than first time round. It was a mixture of knowing what comes next and being surprised by bits I'd forgotten ( Percy fancying Baldrick in women's clothes " What an original perfume!")
Fantastic. didn't hear the canned laughter.
It was [url= http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/father-ted-writer-unveils-new-irish-comedy-to-rival-mrs-browns-boys-9150013.html ]The Walshes[/url].
Written by the Father Ted writer, apparently, i didn't realise that. And NOTHING LIKE Mrs Brown's Boys!
Also there was Drifters on E4, which I thought was great.
I thought Count Arthur Strong was funny on R4. However, after the switch to TV .....
Monkey dust was great but the BBC have disowned it I imagine for being too close to the bone. Only season 1 was ever released on dvd.
News Quizz, Now Show and ISIHAC on R4 still makes me laugh but other than that i've retreated into R4 extra. Captain Kremmen is currently a surreal way to start the day.
There's tons of superb comedy on Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra. Far better than most of what is on TV because they don't feel the need to pander to the lowest common denominator.
To everything is to everyone's taste, but it's well worth seeking out and checking. I love stuff like Ed Reardon, Hut 33, Now Show etc. And anything that John Finnemore writes is gold dust. I'd rate Cabin Pressure as the funniest sit-com of all time, beating the likes of Fawlty Towers and Blackadder.
This is probably just part of getting old IMO. Comedies were so much funnier in our day, as was the music etc. When I was a lad, me and my mates thought Eddie Murphy - Delirious was hilarious but I bought the DVD a few years and it hasn't aged well at all.
Writers are so constrained by political correctness and so many subjects are off limits that it is hard to produce anything with a bit of an edge.
I'm not talking about crass stuff like Love thy Neighbour either. I reckon something like the glorious Father Ted would struggle to get commissioned nowadays.
I'd rate Cabin Pressure as the funniest sit-com of all time
Seriously? It's tepid, middle of the road rubbish.
Ed Rheardon and the Now Show are about the only funny things left on Radio 4.
All of the current R4 6.30 shows are pretty lame at the moment.
It's pretty obvious that humour is very individual and subjective. Everyone is unique. We're all individuals!
Yes! We're all individuals!!
But as just demonstrated, some items of comedy are timeless classics that permeate our society.
(That was a deliberate 'feed' btw! I expected that response. But I didn't expect...)
Someone will post in a mo saying they just didn't 'get' Life of Brian. That's the way of the world.
No-one has mentioned Citizen Khan.
How on earth did that get picked up? The jokes would have been old in Dad's Army but no-one in the commissioning meeting dared say anything unless they were judged racist.
Sitcoms are dead now, like variety shows.
My favourite of the last few years was 'Rev' but that is finished now so not new either
Oh yes Rev was excellent. How could I forget
THE THICK OF IT
?
Friday Night Dinner
+1 for Friday Night Dinner.
Found it on Netflix having totally missed it on tv.
Jeff
ScottChegg - MemberNo-one has mentioned Citizen Khan.
Come on now pay attention 😉
deluded - Member
What we have now is bilge like Citizen Khan and Mrs. Brown's Boys.Posted 15 hours ago
I think the true mark of comedy is where phrases and scenes become part of everyday language, can't see much new stuff doing that.
Mind you thinking back to the 70's there was some real dross.
This is probably just part of getting old IMO. Comedies were so much funnier in our day, as was the music etc
[s]Erm, utter bollocks![/s] (Beg pardon, just noticed the "IMO" - well not in mine!)
Music is different, but just as good as it ever was.
Comedy is different, but as funny as it ever was.
I've laughed will tears ran down my face at Not the Nine O'Clock News as a teenager - done the same a few months ago a Mickey Flanagan's Back in the Game.
Did no-one else see The Walshes then?
R4's produced some great sitcoms--Clare in the Community, HR, Beauty of Britain, Polyoaks, Ed Reardon, Party--but it's all archive stuff. The last series of Him and Her on BBC 3 was v good. Psychob*tches on Sky is brilliant (if you can find it).
I've laughed will tears ran down my face at Not the Nine O'Clock News as a teenager - done the same a few months ago a Mickey Flanagan's Back in the Game.
I don’t mind Mickey Flanagan – I’ve sent this clip to ex barrow boy colleagues in London when they take the pi55 out of the ‘turnip top from Hicksville’ that worked with them for a few years.
I've had a quick scan and no one seems to have mentioned Stuart Lee's Comedy Vehicle.
Lifer - MemberAs for R4 comedy, most is rubbish but 'In and out of the kitchen' by/with Miles Jupp is brilliant.
In and out of the kitchen
Yup, it's superb.
🙂
Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang Up's was good too, but we do seem to be going through a bit of a bad patch at the mo.
As for R4 comedy, most is rubbish but 'In and out of the kitchen' by/with Miles Jupp is brilliant.
No it's rubbish. In jokes for the middle classes, pretty much a laugh free desert for me from beginning to end.
It feels like R4 controllers basically commission writers that remind them of younger versions of themselves (Tom Wrigglesworth, Alex Horne) or try to be 'with it' ('Elvenquest', 'The Castle' don't get me started) rather than taking risks on the truly surreal or really investing in good writing.
Often these comedies feel like they have been put on the radio without sufficient development, as the writers come from a nice safe reliable stable (ie Oxford or Cambridge) and 'should' be funny, but frequently are not outside the glass cubicles of the dear old beeb.
'Fags, Mags and Bags' was great (the early series at least) because it came from the writer's personal experiences. Kevin Eldon's 'It's Kevin was brilliantly surreal, and worked because it basically didn't give a damn what you thought of it.
If you play it safe you get a low laugh count (IMO) and the beeb is playing it very safe at the moment.
Did no-one else see The Walshes then?
Yup, way back on page one. 😉
eviljoe - you're absolutely bang on. I like to have Radio 4 on in the evening while I'm pottering about. And the 'comedy' all reeks of nice cozy meetings where nice people form nice suburbs in the home counties say' since Tabitha and Belinda both graduated from Oxford, they've written some simply super material, They storybooked it while they were travelling in Goa. Its frightfully funny! I read some of it to the girls at the Rotary Club and they all thought it was hilarious"
I find myself asking who the **** finds this banal, uber-safe, tedious, formulaic claptrap remotely amusing. Then I see the audience figures for Miranda, and it all becomes apparent. A lot of people apparently.
+1 on the once great, now shit R4 6.30pm slot. All just a bit meh.
The 6:30 slot is limping but far from dead, the News Quiz, Now Show and ISIHAC are still pretty reliable, the Unbelievable Truth seems to be getting slowly better as well now that David Mitchell seems to have found his stride. I also quite enjoyed Paul Sinha's history revision, good mix of funny and 'Ooo I never knew that.'
However... On the way home this week I have encountered "Bridget Christie Minds the Gap" and "what does the K stand for" holy moses, lasted a few minutes and turned them off, both painfully forced and just not funny to a toe-curling degree, even the studio audience sounded a bit embarrassed.
There's plenty of good comedy about just not all of it in traditional formats, I cannot help but think that if Ben "Yahtzee" Crosshaw had been born 30 years earlier he'd be writing viciously funny comedy scripts rather than reviewing video games, the man's use of weaponised English is a sublime.
+100 for Binners. I wonder if even the chattering classes find them funny? Miranda? Don't get me started. I thought Hugh Bonneville was good in W1a, though. (Runs for cover)
The other thing to consider, is how programming has changed has changed in the wake of the internet.
In the old days, a program was an event. I used to wait all week to see the next episode of Blackadder, and it would be something that I would watch with my entire family.
Those days have gone, and with it, the reliable method of how to measure success. Unless of course, you desperately try and hold on to that tried and tired old formula to get the punters in, and fill all the cheap seats.
There is room for all the safe stuff, and apparently, people love it. It's when you try and do something outside of that, it gets a bit more difficult, and the networks get a bit nervous. Hence why the best place to find exciting and edgy new comedy is online. The BBC has lost it's way, and until that changes, you'll need to look on You Tube instead.
Channel 4 does better, but it needs to keep that edge in order to keep ahead of the competition.
+1 on Paul Sinha
Big +1 on Yahtzee and Zeropunctuation. Love it!
eviljoe - MemberAs for R4 comedy, most is rubbish but 'In and out of the kitchen' by/with Miles Jupp is brilliant.
No it's rubbish. In jokes for the middle classes, pretty much a laugh free desert for me from beginning to end.
I thought it was an excellent pisstake of the kind of people who actually enjoy Nigel Slater's memoirs on 'Book Of The Week'.
The Paul Sinha stuff was good, Fags, Mags And Bags was genius.
But budgets are tight and someone talking at you for half an hour is a lot cheaper than a full series of a sitcom.
Lowlights for me last year were The Party (the political, idiots round a table one), The Castle, again, and any more than 10 minutes of Isy Suttie.
For those a bit bored of Mock the Week/HIGNFY's brand of political satire John Oliver's new vehicle [url= https://www.youtube.com/user/LastWeekTonight ]Last Week Tonight [/url] has produced some crackers.
Think a less American John Stewart.
The Last Leg.