Best British comedy series to have debuted in the last ten years.

No...whatever that Jasper Carrot/Nina Wadia thing was called.

What about that thing with Johnny Vegas, "Ideal"? It's not funny mind you

15 Storeys High is really really underrated.

How many people have ever seen it?

I prefer Ideal to 15 Storeys High, but I do appreciate that makes me wrong.

I only saw a few episodes of 15 S H but it was v good, laid back suburban surrealism. Also Spaced, Black Books, Big Train (best sketch show of last 10 years?) yes yes yes, LoG and Little Britain no no no no no.

15 Storeys was often very funny, but was more like a sketch show than a sitcom. I like my sitcoms to be fairly tight narratively, it tends to make the payoffs funnier (and you can have a strong story and still be surreal and whimsical, just look at Black Books or Father Ted).

Blimey, The Office won.

lol americans

yeah, i was going to say...and I like the office, too.

I like the office as well, but I was thinking the Gervais backlash would've put it out of the running. I suppose 'lol americans' as Dom says.

Do people really hate Ricky Gervais now or is just Dom and NRQ?

The fairly shoddy second series of Extras didn't help his cred, certainly. But evidently people don't hate him.

Oh, I thought that second series was a VAST improvement on the first, you see.

who is my royle family brohirrim

Who voted for Help? I'm curious.

Fuck the office, there was so much better on that list than the office.

What did/would you vote for, Ed?

I assumed Chris Morris bores would carry the day, I must say.

I'm not boring! Or, I try!

Sorry, I didn't mean that liking Chris Morris makes you boring. I just have a type in mind.

I dislike Gervais' comedic style, although I appreciate that he has a good ear for a line. I'm trying to work out which is the bigger travesty, The Office with 13 or Little Britain with 2. I do believe it might be LB.

"Chris Morris bores", what are you on about, we're practically the enemies of boredom! Heh, but seriously, what sort of 'type' did you mean?

Alan Partridge. Putting the chat amongst the pigeons.

Do people really hate Ricky Gervais now or is just Dom and NRQ?

I think that lots of people having always hated Ricky Gervais, even when they know he's producing good work. He's kind of a dislikable character. And before The Office, nothing he did was any good, as far as I know, so it was even more straightforward not to like him.

Heh, but seriously, what sort of 'type' did you mean?

Oh, I guess the kind of stereotype of the frustrated, keyboard-bashing comedy geek who thinks most people are stupid and use the word "genius" in relation to Chris Morris more often than not. I thought this was a well-recognised type!

A difficult toss up between spaced, brass eye, boosh, phoenix nights and monkey dust (possibly black books as well)

Does anyone not like Black Books? It may not be innovative to top this poll but I have yet to see anyone say anything bad about it!

I find Spaced and Boosh have high peaks of hilarity every now and then (the paintball scene in Spaced being massively hilarious for example), but over all they're a bit eh.


xp black books is great, i agree.

SRSLY tho, WHO VOTED LITTLE BRITAIN, this is important information.

Why wasn't there more love for Monkey Dust? I can answer this, actually: it's a bit heavy-handed, a bit self-important, and it's animated (therefore very stylised). It isn't meek and unassuming, it isn't particularly subtle. This is going to turn a lot of people off. The reason I love it, however, is precisely because of this flashiness. I can't help but fall for its desperation, its eagerness to astonish me.

A more interesting thing would be to see how people RANK the ones they've seen.

p.s. Black Books is candyfloss, but, I agree, very funny candyfloss. Not quite on the same level as the king of candyfloss, Father Ted, however. Same writer, same spirit, not quite the same magic.

I probably do not like black books

Spaced would have been joint first if I'd read this thread before the poll closed.

definitive ranking:

adore:
Brass Eye
Monkey Dust
Peep Show

like a lot:
Nathan Barley
Phoenix Nights
The Thick of It
Black Books
Green Wing

like with reservations:
Spaced
Jam

like with very strong reservations:
The Mighty Boosh
The League of Gentlemen
The Office

no thanks:
That Mitchell and Webb Look
Extras

i thought i told you to fuck off:
Little Britain

i really, really need to see 'i'm alan partridge'.

I'll admit to having quite enjoyed the first series of Little Britain, mainly due to Lucas' performances, but my esteem for it just fucking nosedived with each subsequent outing, and it by no strecth of the imagination is the best britcom of the last ten years. So yes, Offed's question needs to be answered.

I like Brass Eye.

Oh yeah, and Garth Marenghi's Darkplace.

Shockingly.

Does anyone not like Black Books?

I've never seen it because I can't stand Dylan Moran.

"I'm Alan Partridge" (1st series) should have won.

The first series of Black Books, as written by (either Linehan or Matthews I forget) is really good. The latter ones written by Dylan Moran, where the plots are "lol asylum seekers have different customs to me", are fucking awful.

That's 'cos he's rubbish

I probably do not like black books

-- RJG, Thursday, May 10, 2007 2:57 AM (9 hours ago)

otm

even though i don't like it, am surprised at jam's poor showing. i voted 'thick of it' -- the xmas spesh of which the bbc should totally broadcast today -- but it could easily have been morris/partridge.

The Office 13: Seemed great at the time, seems more "good" now. The Office worked as an ensemble piece, Freeman and Crook and Jasper Carrot's daughter and the fat guy and the weird woman and that guy from the yoghurt advert all worked well "together". Gervais has made his career before and since as string of "I am star" vehicles, which is why they've all sucked beyond reason.

I'm Alan Partridge 12: First series of IAP may be the most perfect three hours of TV ever. Underrated character: Kevin Eldon's racist kitchen salesman.

Spaced 12: Simon Pegg ennui has long since set in, mainly due to his love of talking in a funny voice about Star Wars. Spaced is more "heartwarming" than it is "funny", I suppose. It's quite a traditional sitcom in that way in that it has a string of sympathetic characters and their relationships are more important than making with the lolz. The only pre-Friends sitcom on this list?

Brass Eye 10: I think this needs to be reshown in its original schedule, ie: directly after Fortean TV. Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe ftw.

The League of Gentlemen 6: Shit, faux-dark, faux-edgy, string of catchphrases with no comic timing.

Peep Show 5: Olivia Coleman: she'd get it.

The Mighty Boosh 4: Bent-faced pederast and non-entity comedy partner do "random" "comedy" for 13-year-old girls. Look, it's a monkey made out of cheese that likes Spandau Ballet.

Black Books 3: See above

The Thick of It 3: Well, R Kelly's career did OK...

The Royle Family 2: Yeah, I fall in and out of love with this show every time I watch it. It's good, it's "accurate", it's just a little too... self-conscious? I don't like it when people set out to create great TV, I prefer it when it happens organically.

Little Britain 2: Light-hearted racism for a Friday night.

Phoenix Nights 1: Actually better than The Office, in retrospect. Kay more loathsome than Gervais, though.

Monkey Dust 1: Shit, faux-dark, faux-edgy, string of catchphrases with no comic timing.

15 Storeys High 1: Not as good as Ideal, be honest.

the Armando Iannucci Shows 1: Second best thing on this list behind IAP. "We went to see... Newman and Baddiel"

Big Train 1: Weird how so much comedy these days is sprung directly from this show. Most influential programme on the list?

Help 1: Third best thing on the list. Wife-beating Italian a personal favourite.

Green Wing 1: Fuck Stephen Mangan.

Jam 0: "Welcome to Goiter"

Saxondale 0: How the mighty have fallen, part 1.

Catterick 0: How the mighty have fallen, part 2.

Rock Profile 0: The Blur profile was the highpoint. "Justine Frischmann...my ex girlfriend... who was in Elastica..."

Extras 0: lol americans

Happiness 0: Never saw the second series. Is this on DVD?

Nathan Barley 0: Appears to be developing a cult following. Saints preserve us.

The IT Crowd 0: Look, it's Richard Ayoade in a wig doing a funny voice. Fantastic.

Marion and Geoff 0: Fourth best thing on the list. Brydon has to be the best comic "actor" in the country, surely?


That Mitchell and Webb Look 0: Man those snooker commentators got old fast.

ii]even though i don't like it, am surprised at jam's poor showing. i voted 'thick of it' -- the xmas spesh of which the bbc should totally broadcast today[/i]

Paedo factor kicking in

'thick of it' is awesome, and 'tittytwat' is probably the funniest compound profanity ever created, but i only ever saw the initial 3-episode run. is that all there is?

the evidence for me needing to see 'i'm alan partridge' series one is reaching total conclusivity.

Underrated character: Kevin Eldon's racist kitchen salesman

Underrated by who! Partridge in the lift with him = genius

would have voted I'm alan partridge

if I were sad enough to participate in these things

The DVD has a really good Ianucci/Baynam/someone else (Coogan? Henry Normal?) commentary.

xxxp

Curiously, I agree with most of Dom's comments

pre-Friends sitcom?

Friends shifted the impetus in a sitcom from caring about the characters to using them as a cipher for gags, to simplify as far down as possible.

Ie, compare Only Fools and Horses to Phoenix Nights.