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

congratulation definitely a bit dodgy, made me a little uncomfortable.

Did anyone see matt morgan's the mimic? 1st ep much better than I expected. Not exactly hilarious, but I'm fascinated by impressionists anyway so I enjoyed it. Some of the main guy's voices are really good, although his morgan freeman is about as good as yours or mine.

I like the idea of congratulating people for tiny, everyday things. I'm just not so keen on doing it in the style of Jim Davidson's Chalky White "wo am dat watty melon" voice.

didn't take 'congratulations' as dodgy at all. kinda see what you mean after it's pointed out but still seems to be reaching a bit. interesting to see if anyone in national press or elsewhere takes same view.

2nd ep of it's kevin was an improvement. better core gags but something about the editing and the pace mars it for me - fairly standard jokes often fall flat. possibly would be improved with a studio audience or maybe it's the producer (screenwipe's barry shitpeas)

anyone aware of this nick helm guy? keep reading his name in various places so checked some of his standup and wow is it bad. mindblowingly weak jokes, bludgeoned through with the most aggressive and retrogressive manning-style persona. ch4 and bbc3 both seem to be putting bets on him, check this from the former: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk2l2WZq1Xo and the latter have commissioned a (neither awful nor good) series about him as an uncle.

in happier news, a series pirate radio station has been commissioned by bbc3 and if the pilot is anything to go off it should be great: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00v5jj0/People_Just_Do_Nothing/ brilliant sharp writing, great acting, v true-to-life

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22456065

oh the humanity

Jesus. This current series of Not Going Out is painful, giving Mack more semi-autobiographical sitcom material seems such a wrong move.

I once saw that Nick Helm bloke on 8 out of 10 Cats or some such and he was so fucking bad I had to look him up to see if he was a made-up character.

Are there any good comedians in the UK?

saw mark thomas being awesome last week.

Mack can currently be seen on BBC One in the sixth series of his hit sitcom Not Going Out.

fuckin amazing

almost as amazing as them dragging four years out of The Green Green Grass

or six years out of that Ardal O'Hanlon thing (googles) "My Hero"

when you see what shite the BBC pays for there's every chance Ben Elton's thing can run for years

nick helm's rise to fame, supported by both ch4 and bbc, makes me impossibly sad. pure distilled example of lad culture gone old and bitter and angrier and shoutier. shocked that he's featured on richard herring's podcast, wouldn't think he'd be his bag.

i go to a lot of small-scale comedy nights around manchester and there's a bunch of great up and coming comedians out there - best one so far is a geordie guy called carl hutchinson, p mainstream but smart and sharp and not hateful.

that pirate radio show pilot i linked to above has all the signs of being a truly great cult bbc comedy, cf 15 storeys

Are there any good comedians in the UK?

do I need to say Kitson again?

Lee, Roberts/Kamil, Jon Richardson, Wil Hodgson, Nat Luursema, Stephen Carlin, Shappi Khorsandi, Hils Barker

Celia Pacquola / Sarah Bennetto / Bec Hill / Steve Hughes :)

pure distilled example of lad culture gone old and bitter and angrier and shoutier.

I totally get not liking Helm, but it's 100% a character, FWIW.

Kitson, for sure. Tim Key is still great. Daniel Simonsen. Claudia O'Doherty. Jamie Demetriou. Sam Fletcher.
But none of those people are "stand ups," in the sense that they'll have Live from the Apollo DVDs or whatever. But they're all a lot of fun and do some unique stuff.

Shappi Khorsandi? Really? She seems dreadful.

How so? She's been really funny each time I've seen her.

I must watch her on the wrong stuff (panel shows, mostly, where she is really boring)

Oh okay, I don't really watch any panel shows (and am kind of unwilling to extend a comedian's job to "must be funny on panel shows")

Yeah I remain to be convinced

are you only watching panel shows?

No I watch other TV programmes too sometimes. Haven't seen her do stand up tho, true but then I don't like stand up as a rule.

ah I thought you were referring to your more general question

Saw her (SC) do stand-up a while back, she was awful. Maybe she's stepped up in the last couple of years.

did you know that she is a woman, and also divorced, and also iranian.

I totally get not liking Helm, but it's 100% a character, FWIW.

yeah i get that, but to choose that as your #1 character? almost as vile as lee nelson

rik mayall playing greg davies's father is the best thing i have read all year

It's the most obvious casting thing in the world, isn't it? I am delighted that someone is making it happen. Greg Davies is terribly unfunny though, almost painfully so.

Indeed, I'm almost embarrassed for him when I see him but you should never feel embarrassed for a comedian

oh yeah, it'll be terrible, but seeing them together will be like when steve punt played eric idle

never seen him be himself, or anything else, but whoever cast him in The Inbetweeners deserves a medal

caitlin moran and sister of caitlin moran have written a sitcom pilot and... i dunno, something about it makes me feel really uneasy. the basis of what she's aiming at is sound and kinda necessary but it all smells a bit rose-tinted and condescending, self-congratulatory and not all that interesting or funny unless you're a moran

definitely interested in watching though, if it sidesteps those concerns there's a good chance it could be great, but equally strong chance it'll be a ben eltony shitstorm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/media-blog/2013/may/29/caitlin-moran-raised-by-wolves-sitcom

Telly never has any smart, amusing intellectuals living on a council estate

Okay, interesting, go on...

Germaine, Aretha, Yoko, Mariah, Wyatt and baby Cher

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/gospeldrivenchurch/files/2013/02/get-a-brain-morans.jpg

Telly never has any smart, amusing intellectuals living on a council estate

Modest lot, the Morans

rose-tinted and condescending, self-congratulatory and not all that interesting or funny

That's oor Caitlin.

"Telly never has any smart, amusing intellectuals living on a council estate"

yeah this stuck out a bit, can think of a fair few from pre90s tv but have there been many lately? (serious qu, don't watch much terrestial tv)

Caitlin Moran is pretty funny imo

has she ever written fiction/comedy for tv/radio before? only know her from naked city and the limmy twitter beef which was hilarious for different reasons

Think council estates has changed quite a bit since Caitlin Moran lived on one

But if she's set it in the 80s, fair enough

Think council estates has changed quite a bit since Caitlin Moran lived on one

in what ways?

How many people live in council houses now as opposed to the 70s and 80s?

When I was at school I don't think I knew anyone who didn't live in a council house

there was always one posh git that had a "boat hoose"

(boat as in bought, if that wasn't clear)

Eh not sure that means the estates themselves have changed that much, except inasmuch as everything has changed since the 70s

Well the "aspirational working class" are far less likely to be living on them

I grew up on a council estate in the 90s /smartfunnyintellectual

so you'd say modern council estates more disaffected & impoverished than 80s? makes sense, i guess

what are the stats btw?