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

Well, it would excuse them from having "lol, our guest host's been a naughty boy" hypocritical ridiculousness every other week, I s'pose.

xpost, obv

There's a big article about it in today's Daily Mail.

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"Not Going Out"

crummy situation comedy as per the seventies, lame scenarios but oh it's actually got funny lines and stuff! What were the chances?

British comedy 'is bigoted'
Racism 'as rife as in the Seventies'
British comedy 'is bigoted'
BBC

British comedy is as bigoted and racist today as it was in the Seventies, academics have claimed.

Experts at a comedy conference yesterday said that after a wave of political correctness in the days of alternative comedy, jokes are again targeting minority groups.

And they dismissed arguments that postmodern irony makes the gags acceptable.

‘Pleasure is derived from the expression of aggression against a target,’ Guy Redden of Lincoln University told the seminar in Salford.

He said that Britain had moved from a ‘stereotype comedy with unflattering gags about social types where the white nation was working through the meaning of immigration’ to a new era of ‘post-PC comedy’ where the targets may have changed, but the sentiment is the same.

The cruel humour of Little Britain came under attack; in particular the character of mail order Thai bride Ting Tong was considered an example of the insidious racism.

Presenting a joint paper, Susan Becker of the University of Teeside and Lloyd Peters of Salford University argued that stereotypes are perpetuated and compounded by comedy.

‘Comedy is utilising stigma,’ they said. ‘A sign or mark which designates the bearer as less than normal people lies at the heart of the joke.’

Redden accepted that ‘unlike the discriminatory humour of the Seventies, today’s performers are aware of the power and meaning of the taboos they choose to break’, but argued that did not make the humour acceptable

However, Nigel Mather of the University of Kent suggested that when Ting Tong turns her husband Dudley’s flat into a Thai restaurant at the end of the series, it could be seen as empowering. ‘It could be seen as positive in terms of her characterisation,’ he said.

The conference continues at Salford University today.

However, Nigel Mather of the University of Kent suggested that when Ting Tong turns her husband Dudley’s flat into a Thai restaurant at the end of the series, it could be seen as empowering. ‘It could be seen as positive in terms of her characterisation,’ he said.

wah??

anyone catch the dreadful documentary on Hitler on telly on more4 last night? moronic, pointless, offensive, straight-facedly calls 'allo allo' genius, with a narration by some gormless bloke who sounded like he was trying to be one of the peep show characters.

er, no...

that was jacques peretti wasn't it

it was horrendous.

Has anyone caught Pulling yet?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/programmes/pulling/

I keep bumping into it by accident and I think it's got real potential in a "loser girls version of Peep Show" sort of way.

BiffoVision hasn't been commissioned for a series, apparently, on account of it being "not youth enough". Husss.

I watched the trailer for this on BBC3 a few months ago and it was, and i do not say this lightly , an absolute load of rubbish.

Lots of the material was also _influenced_ by other shows.

If this gets a series the BBC can say goodbye to my fees

Maybe you should put your foot through the TV and send them the bill

And when the cheque comes, put your foot through that and send them the bill again

Pulling looked terrible in the trailers but was actually really really good. I love Sharon Horgan at the moment. Just the bit about Miss Congeniality 2 had me cracking up. And it's hard to make me laugh (esp BBC3).

As with other BBC Three pilots of late, this was pretty crap.
Though much better than the "Yoof sitcom" one a few weeks ago.

Complete rip-off of a series a couple of years ago which was made to look like a retro-Tomorrows World style show.

It was much better though, even if it wasn'[t that great.

PS, was the "presenter" the guy who used to be in Doctors?

Anyone watched this Karen Taylor woman trying to funny? She got a rave review in the Guide, which I completely know is no guarentee of quality, but fuck me the gap between the review and the actual progamme was astronomical. Sample sketch: A man chats up a woman in a club, and finds out that her hobby is birdwatching. He asks what birds she get round here, and she says she gets a little thrush. And just as she shouts it the music happens to stop and everyone looks at her. Really, really tired shit.

nb the music playing at the club was a very lame approximation of drum n bass, possibly used in attempt to lend the rotten material the faintest hint of edginess.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/comment/0,,2123547,00.html

yeah yeah welcome to 2003, pal.

being asked to subscribe is very 2003 yes

Not everyone will agree with this incendiary column by Daily Mirror TV critic Jim Shelley, but it is one of the best pieces on Guardian Unlimited today.

Gervais has always been what you call a Marmite character. People love him or hate him. But his recent behaviour at the Diana concert and Live Earth have prompted even more extreme reactions from fans and foes alike.

Here is the Shelley's column in full:

It's hard to say exactly when Ricky Gervais stopped being the endearing, ingenious wit behind The Office and became the tiresome embarrassment he is today. There were the endless, nauseatingly matey, appearances on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross; his mediocre episode of The Simpsons; his mutual appreciation society with overrated US comics Ben Stiller and Larry David.

Fawning anecdotes in which he would call Extras' guest Robert De Niro "Bob" were another giveaway. His cameo in A Night At the Museum (with Stiller) was sub-sitcom standard and, like The Simpsons, another example of him re-hashing Brent. After years refusing to "do" The David Brent Dance, these days you can hardly stop him.

He was at it again during The Concert for Diana, where the sight of Gervais dying on his feet confirmed his demise. Having been introduced by, you've guessed it, Ben Stiller, Gervais performed the never-knowingly-funny Brent number Free Love On the Free Love Freeway, before making a gag about global warming we've all made: "at least we're going to have brilliant summers from now on". Asked to wing it until Elton John was ready, the acclaimed stand-up floundered.

His appearance at Saturday's Live Earth concert only compounded his humiliation. He opened with a lame remark about the show's eco-conscious stars flying in by private jet - an irony already commented on by that acclaimed comic genius Simon Le Bon. Then it was a case of he doth protest too much, as he insisted he'd done Live Earth as a favour to Spinal Tap creators "Christopher" (Guest) and "Rob" (Reiner), and that he couldn't say no to the Diana concert because he'd been asked personally - by Wills and Harry.

And with that, Gervais and David Brent, whose capacity for ingratiating, excruciating embarrassment he made famous, finally became indistinguishable.

move on, britain

I was with him until he called Larry David overrated. The dickwit.

Emergency Shelley Ward 10

But Gervais is a cunt, so OTM.

no jokes, bruv

Gervais's "lol black/lol jew/lol homo" schtick would work better if he added a "jokes bruv" at the end of each sentence.

yeah unreasoned zinging of stiller and larry d is what turned me against. i bet when 'the office' was first on he was all over it.

this thread can trundle along with a few posts every week or so but someone mentions gervais or nathan barley and 100 odd posts. that the real jokes, bruvs.

there will not be 100 odd posts on the issue.

*cracks knuckles*

UK Comedy Thread: Knuck If Ya Buck

We really need a US Gervais defender in here. Maybe one of the same ones that have a hard-on for Jeremy Clarkson?

I'll happily defend The Office. Some of the stand-up routines are funny too. Everything after that has been Gervais spunking people's goodwill up the wall.

TS: The Office vs The Thick of It vs 15 Stories High

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TS: The Office vs The Thick of It vs 15 Stories High

is 15SH any good?

we always do this. hardly anyone has seen it. i'm boycotting it on "sean lock was involved" grounds.

it's really funny!

It's not as good as Ideal.

Better than that James Lance Is A Drug Dealer sitcom, tho

yr boy whitehouse has spoilt his copy book with that last enfield series no?

The special Blair-era-ending "Down the Line" wasn't that great either, tbh. Although "Ted 'eath was a pearly", was funny.

It's not as good as Ideal.

zinggggg

knowing dom i don't think that's actually a zing.

I liked Ideal! What's wrong with Ideal!

i didn't actually see it, i'm going by the 30-second advertising clips

if it's on bbc3, i'm not repping for it.

the big elephant in the room is monkey dust

(200 posts minimum?)