Rolling UK Comedy Thread - "Ricky Don't Lose Larry David's Number

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At the risk of inviting hate mail, I'd argue that Gervais and Merchant's second sitcom is, objectively, a patchy programme.

At the risk of, on this reviewer's logic, inviting lynch-mobs to my door, I'd argue that Extras was shite.

― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:02 (nineteen years ago)

Radio Ha Ha is great. I was fooled by it the first time.

― vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:10 (nineteen years ago)

sometimes writers employ rhetorical devices.

xpost

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:10 (nineteen years ago)

wait, i'm thinking of that other thing on radio 4. carry on. xpost

― vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:10 (nineteen years ago)

xpost: Yes, but I still think the sentence panders unnecessarily towards Extras when it can really go for the kill instead.

― You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (Haberdager), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:12 (nineteen years ago)

'This week: Worzel says all reggae is vile.' thread actually linked to from John Harris wikipedia!

― vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:12 (nineteen years ago)

A handful of contributors to the I Love Music boards have strongly attacked what they as a thread of covert racism in some of his work

― vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:13 (nineteen years ago)

david quantick wrote a book about chris rock?

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:16 (nineteen years ago)

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE WORDS COMING OUT OF MY QUIZZICALLY PURSED LIPS?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:18 (nineteen years ago)

to get off the hate and link to Quantick... TV Burp is back on Saturday! woo! Harry on this year's CBB should be a joy.

― acrobat (elwisty), Monday, 15 January 2007 14:28 (nineteen years ago)

for reference or summat from the green wing thread:

To put things into context: Harry Hill aside, all British TV Comedy right now is total shit.

-- Ruairi Wirewool (horseproduction...), January 15th, 2007. (Ruairi Wirewool) (later)

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what were the chances of that happening?
-- mark grout (mark.grou...), January 15th, 2007. (mark grout) (later)

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If you can put CT and Green Wing on a par, you truly show a lack of discernment IMO.
Frankly, now that GW has been and gone, I'm inclined to agree with Ruairi, minus the bit about Harry Hill.

-- You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (papiermachealamphibia...), January 15th, 2007. (Haberdager) (later)

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If you can put CT and Green Wing on a par, you truly show a lack of discernment IMO.
no it's just a 'higher' (or rather 'stricter') level of discernment.

-- vita susicivus (n...), January 15th, 2007. (blueski) (later)

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'the thick of it' will be back, later in the year, and so will 'peep show'.
-- the original hauntology blogging crew (miltonpinsk...), January 15th, 2007. (Enrique) (later)

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but in a another more accurate sense...
-- mark s (mar...), January 15th, 2007. (mark s) (later)

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but then i do like Harry Hill so it's apples and roundabouts.
-- vita susicivus (n...), January 15th, 2007. (blueski) (later)

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rubbish
-- RJG (RJ...), January 15th, 2007. (RJG) (later)

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so you keep saying
-- vita susicivus (n...), January 15th, 2007. (blueski) (later)

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RJG's TV Burp
-- Dom Passantino (juror...), January 15th, 2007. (Dom Passantino) (later)

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Hmm. I was only talking about currently-running comedy shows. If Peep Show returns for a fourth bite at the cherry (and TTOI for a second), I will only be too delighted. Of course, the one I'm really looking out for is Nathan Barley II.
-- You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (papiermachealamphibia...), January 15th, 2007. (Haberdager) (later)

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i think it would be a big ask for there to be a 'great' uk comedy series to be running all 52 weeks of the year. i have low standards perhaps; but i don't ask for a 'great' film each month either.
-- the original hauntology blogging crew (miltonpinsk...), January 15th, 2007. (Enrique) (later)

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of course i too want 'nathan barley' back.
-- the original hauntology blogging crew (miltonpinsk...), January 15th, 2007. (Enrique) (later)

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They could drop scissors on a dog's head this time.
-- Dom Passantino (juror...), January 15th, 2007. (Dom Passantino) (later)

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uh, rose-tinted view there i reckon - but at least it was generating interesting discussion.
one episode of Screen Wipe a month would be good. ditto TV Burp.

-- vita susicivus (n...), January 15th, 2007. (blueski) (later)

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ha ha Dom OTM
-- vita susicivus (n...), January 15th, 2007. (blueski) (later)

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Unread Messages
as with 'green wing', take away the hype and the expectation it'll live up to 'the day today' and 'nathan barley' was 23 minutes well-spent. i lolled anyway.
-- the original hauntology blogging crew (miltonpinsk...), January 15th, 2007. (Enrique) (later)

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i didn't laugh more than i did laugh etc.
-- vita susicivus (n...), January 15th, 2007. (blueski) (later)

― acrobat (elwisty), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:00 (nineteen years ago)

We're, what, 18 months away from NB now? Can we work out why it was so bad and so hated yet?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:02 (nineteen years ago)

we already did!

― vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:03 (nineteen years ago)

like, 5 minutes after the end credits!

― vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:03 (nineteen years ago)

I'm talking about THE BENEFIT OF DISTANCE AND HINDSIGHT

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:03 (nineteen years ago)

Charlie Brooker's Monday G2 column is weird because you can see the video game journalist in him threatening to break through at any moment. qf the Geoff Capes gag in today's etc.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:04 (nineteen years ago)

Louis you seem to be assuming that the guy from the Indie actually thinks Extras is shite, which isn't what he's saying. Something can be patchy and still have plenty of redeeming features overall

― Feargal Hixxy (DJ Mencap), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:06 (nineteen years ago)

It wasn't bad. It was funny, well-drawn and turn-itself-inside-out clever, not to mention superbly casted and acted. It needs re-watching cos it skips from one idea to the next so quick, but yeh, it's awesome.

And Screen Wipe rocks.

― Johnney B English (stigoftdump), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:07 (nineteen years ago)

Brooker should start doing his columns in cartoon strip form, like those ads for some gaming shop or other that were always in Gamesmaster magazine

― Feargal Hixxy (DJ Mencap), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:08 (nineteen years ago)

ok 'nathan barley' in the oh-7: that corner of east london had probably lost its edge well before 2005, but now it feels even less edgy. the kind of magazine the show is lampooning is long gone. i have even forgotten the name of that sleazenation guy the guardian hired. but there were some very good throwaway gags.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Monday, 15 January 2007 15:10 (nineteen years ago)

the IT crowd was about 300 times better than nathan barley if we're talking post being any good chris morris.

― acrobat (elwisty), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:04 (nineteen years ago)

i know a person who knows the redhead, from that.

it was good, but not 300 times better than 'nathan barley'.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:05 (nineteen years ago)

30 times?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:06 (nineteen years ago)

IT Crowd would've been a lot better without the Irish guy.

― vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:06 (nineteen years ago)

no. i actually disagree that it's better, but even if i dodn't i wouldn't say more than 1.5 times.

xpost

steve otm

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:07 (nineteen years ago)

it had jokes and didn't feel like an attempt to make a big insightful statement about something. nathan barley missed so many targets, pulled so many punches and generally got the tone wrong (we should HATE NB) that for me at least its glaring faults overrid any of it's mildly amusing qualities.

― acrobat (elwisty), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:22 (nineteen years ago)

well this was the thing, we weren't entirely supposed to hate nathan barley.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:23 (nineteen years ago)

Are you sure that's not just because they fucked up the characterisation?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:25 (nineteen years ago)

oh he was hateable enough but his foil dan ashcroft, ie the viewers, was not much better. and i guess you can hate someone and be jealous of them.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:31 (nineteen years ago)

if you don't hate him what's the point? the original tv go home columns had him (or maybe it was his frineds) getting blowjobs from underage hookers and stuff. in the tv show he's just bloke in a silly hat who says daft things. how are we supposed to give a shit about might boosh man if all he's supposedly kicking against are people who are a bit silly? they could have created a proper comedy monster but it was just nothing.

― acrobat (elwisty), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:33 (nineteen years ago)

the original tv go home columns had him (or maybe it was his frineds) getting blowjobs from underage hookers and stuff.

this happened in the show except he thought she turned out not be under-age (at which point NB thinking it now okay to pretend she WAS under-age was actually quite a clever little point about...something or other).

i did hate NB but yes no less than anyone else around him.

― vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:38 (nineteen years ago)

no more, rather

― vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:38 (nineteen years ago)

I thought that was kinda the idea, that NB was a harmless berk, mooching around London and getting into scrapes like a coked up Shaggy, and DA (because of his own self-loathing) decides to not sort himself out, but instead write columns about how idiotic the rest of the world is.

Actually, scratch that, that's not the idea at all. It's funny caricatures falling into situations and scrambling to return to the status quo whilst simultaneously being trapped; a very old-fashioned sitcom thread. I certainly didn't feel that is was trying to make a big insightful statement about something, at least, nothing larger than "it's better to like something than to dislike something."

― Johnney B English (stigoftdump), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:48 (nineteen years ago)

the barley getting a bj ep was better than any 'it crowd'.

'THIR-FUCKING-TEEN'.

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:50 (nineteen years ago)

Acrobat OTM.
In TV Go Home, 'Cunt' was unbridled misanthropy. 'Nathan Barley' gave us a guy who was a bit of a tool. You could forgive Barley being sympathetic if it was an entirely naturalistic piece, but the tone was so inconsistent.

In fairness, I guess originally Barley wasn't really a character, just a cipher, and in making him human Morriss and Brooker made him more, er, human. I just don't think that made for great comedy. It wasn't sharp enough to be genuine satire and it wasn't silly enough to be knockabout comedy. It was just 'dark'.

― Ruairi Wirewool (Ruairi Wirewool), Monday, 15 January 2007 16:54 (nineteen years ago)

on a thread that started with a load of gervais bashing... Barley should have been presented more like david brent. deluded, egotistical, actually unpleasant but whom we might in the end feel some sympathy for. all the "idiots" seemed nice, there was so sense of infighting or bitchiness which seemed wrong to me. also they could have had some more funny lines.

― acrobat (elwisty), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:02 (nineteen years ago)

So was the "nicening" of NB down to Brooker, Morris, or Channel 4 themselves?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:04 (nineteen years ago)

what do YOU think?

― acrobat (elwisty), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:06 (nineteen years ago)

'Cunt' was very funny in TVGH, on the whole, but a half-hour show on actual telly where he actually did those things would have probably been a bit shit to say the least

― Feargal Hixxy (DJ Mencap), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:08 (nineteen years ago)

I've just rememberd Baddiel's Syndrome again.

― vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:20 (nineteen years ago)

lost classic?

― acrobat (elwisty), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:40 (nineteen years ago)

certainly one of those two

― vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:41 (nineteen years ago)

Should have been 30 minutes each week of David Baddiel pointing out who people look like.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:42 (nineteen years ago)

Or a study of people who keep saying things sarcastically even if they mean it sincerely (this may be more Newman Syndrome tho).

― vita susicivus (blueski), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:47 (nineteen years ago)

those baddiel and skinner unplanned episodes are the nadir of something or rather. some cultural wave definetely died on that sofa. faux laddism or whatever john harris, james brown called it finally dying on it's arse as middle aged men bullying people without microphones.

― acrobat (elwisty), Monday, 15 January 2007 17:49 (nineteen years ago)

'So was the "nicening" of NB down to Brooker, Morris, or Channel 4 themselves?'

I doubt whether Channel 4 enforced any 'nicening'.
You know, maybe Barley always looked like that in Brooker's head, and if you boil the actions in any of the episodes down to the kind of 3-sentence description that you would find in TV Go Home, it wouldn't be that different. But TVGH gave the impression that Barley was a cartoonishly horrible amoral grotesque, and that's not what we got in the TV show. We got 'idiots'. I hoped it would be either venemous or ridiculous and it was neither.

― Ruairi Wirewool (Ruairi Wirewool), Monday, 15 January 2007 18:09 (nineteen years ago)

francis macdonald of teenage fanclub etc on myspace on gervais:

pt. I

pt. II

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 09:51 (nineteen years ago)

the comedy conceit of the piece is that people in third world countries dying of aids and starvation rarely complain about ME.

i lolled?

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 09:54 (nineteen years ago)

I'm still lolling

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 09:57 (nineteen years ago)

But TVGH gave the impression that Barley was a cartoonishly horrible amoral grotesque, and that's not what we got in the TV show.

Oh okay, I didn't read the website so I didn't know what was supposed to happen, I only saw (and liked) what did.

― Johnney B English (stigoftdump), Tuesday, 16 January 2007 10:04 (nineteen years ago)

Skipping 4320 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Yeah I can’t help but feel sceptical but I really like some of the people on here so I hope the format doesn’t squish what’s good about them.

― Tim, Sunday, 15 March 2026 16:08 (two months ago)

i wonder how many of the usual suspects have got their "this isn't funny because of woke" columns already written and ready to go?

― podcast Diderot (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 15 March 2026 16:14 (two months ago)

They're far too touchy feely for Brits in that pic, feels off.

― chap, Sunday, 15 March 2026 17:56 (two months ago)

Last One Laughing back this Thursday. Hoping it's as good as the first

― groovypanda, Monday, 16 March 2026 13:05 (two months ago)

Oh god, amazing.

― congragulations (stevie), Monday, 16 March 2026 13:18 (two months ago)

Sam Campbell is the contestant I'm most excited about

― chap, Monday, 16 March 2026 19:22 (two months ago)

one month passes...

not comedy per se, but I've been enjoying Zero Stars on TLC on Sundays

― koogs, Saturday, 9 May 2026 17:19 (one month ago)

two weeks pass...

I want to talk about Small Prophets. For those who don't know, it's the recent Mackenzie Crooke dramedy that's sweetly funny but not quite the same as Detectorists but still has a sort of Alan Garner-ish rural magic realism but not obviously folk horror really either. It's not laugh out loud but I did laugh out loud at lots of points. It did make me a little cry-y in places too. Anyway, good i like it 5 stars

― rameau in the main room (dog latin), Friday, 29 May 2026 00:30 (one week ago)

I enjoyed that a lot too.

The Guardian gave Sam Campbell vehicle Make That Movie 5 stars and called it the funniest show of the year, but I barely cracked a smile in the first episode - and I generally quite like Campbell.

― chap, Friday, 29 May 2026 10:09 (one week ago)

(xp) Wasn't everybody raving about that when it was on? I started watching the first episode but I couldn't bear the thought of 6 episodes of having to look at Pearce Quigley's facial hair.

― Tom D, focussed with getting on with the job (Tom D.), Friday, 29 May 2026 10:21 (one week ago)

We loved Small Prophets in our house. I feel like we had a big chat about it on some thread, because I'm sure I was chatting to another ilxor about having come across Mackenzie Crook when he was just a baby standup and how nice he was and how we've always wished him well as a result.

― trishyb, Friday, 29 May 2026 11:05 (one week ago)

I remember it.

― Tom D, focussed with getting on with the job (Tom D.), Friday, 29 May 2026 11:08 (one week ago)

There's some SP chat up thread

As is your anecdote lol xp

― groovypanda, Friday, 29 May 2026 11:08 (one week ago)

ah yes, i see. I did a search for it but only saw one or two glancing references. I don't have a TV license, so I had to watch it on my partner's TV when I went to visit her. I loved it though

― rameau in the main room (dog latin), Friday, 29 May 2026 12:10 (one week ago)

my 12yo daughter LOVES Small Prophets, she's watched every episode MULTIPLE times, and is now exploring Detectorists.

― the first of many brazen movies (stevie), Sunday, 31 May 2026 18:05 (one week ago)

Good for her. I was disappointed by the ending. Detectorists was all time exceptional.

― kraudive, Sunday, 31 May 2026 19:13 (one week ago)

I was disappointed by the ending.

I kind of was too but I guess they had to open it up for s02.

― the first of many brazen movies (stevie), Sunday, 31 May 2026 20:11 (one week ago)

his worzel gummidge reboot was great too

― ||||||||, Sunday, 31 May 2026 20:35 (one week ago)

Worzel has terrified me since I was tiny, not sure I can stomach that!

― the first of many brazen movies (stevie), Sunday, 31 May 2026 20:47 (one week ago)

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