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

i think QI hit a nadir last night - jason manford and lee mack at the same time? aren't they basically the same person?

and the bit with the dolls, it was like #metoo never happened.

Toksvig revealed recently that she gets 40% the salary that Stephe Fry did.

mack is sour and chippy, but at least quick-witted; manford is a moon-faced oaf who has made a career out of this facial expression

I loved Camping but now there's a US version?

cha-chingg! good for Julia Davis.

Been watching a couple of shows on a whim after watching noting for years.

Pls Like is a vlogging satire on bbc3, it has lots of new ideas, many of them good ones, and has respect for its topic in a way I haven't seen before. The two big problems with it are that the script seems undercooked and it is clearly too scared to get serious or dark at any time because it's for kids. Still, it's ok.

Also seen two episodes of The Bisexual, billed as a 'comedy drama' so I guess it belongs here, even if it's not really at all funny. I like how well-observed it is, the characters really feel like real people in a way they so rarely do, the stories are meandering, but meandering is a good thing, leads to good dialogue, could not care less about the plot. I think it's received some flak from the gammony UK viewers for being too, uh, intersectional, but obv. that's their problem, not the show's. The only reason I'm not enjoying it that much is that even though it's a show about lesbians and bisexuals written and directed by an Iranian-American woman, it's still about successful media/creative people in London, and I really don't want to know anything more about the inner lives of successful media/creative people in London at this point.

-watching nothing for years

Bob Mortimer was wonderful on WILTY tonight.

The last leg was... Strange.

Oh I was wondering if anyone would post about Desiree Akhivan's The Bisexual. I really liked her films Appropriate Behaviour and Miseducation of Cameron Post, so was looking forward to this. But it seems incredibly flimsy and insubstantial, and not that funny - so I was actually having trouble concentrating on it. Probably the best bit was conveying the grimeyness of East London, in the housing and social venues.

pls like s1 was better than it had any right to be. mainly because of the guy playing james wirm. but s2 is doing nothing for me. though i have only watched ep 1.

It isn't funny, the Irish writer character is imo irredeemable, but I am getting quite into it anyway, Desiree is just really good at playing herself.

Xp

James Wirm in Pls Like is Tim Key

Yeah, series 2 starts and ends badly, episodes in the middle were better. I don't like how they made the protagonist more stupid.

The last leg was... Strange.
― koogs,

I think its fair to say that Chris had enjoyed hospitality to the max.

I liked how everyone was totally on board with him being hammered - the dawning realisation of the lack of wisdom when they put the cakes and candles in front of him was good.

Way behind the curve here but a couple of years ago this was posted upthread:

Armando Iannuci's Radio 1 shows from 1994 are back up for a few weeks:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jzbt

still totally holds up imo

― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 7 June 2016 12:03 (two years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

But what shows are these? I went on a mega download spree getting all the AI stuff I could, and the only thing from 94 is his In Excess series. Is that the same thing? His wiki page radio section has Armanndo Iannucci (1994) but no mention of the two 'In Excess' series. Can anyone nerdier than me about AI help out?

here's a list of 24 episodes of Charm Offensive.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007w6x6/episodes/guide

there's also this from 93:

Armando Iannucci (BBC Radio 4 Extra) Sun 28 Sep 2008, 22:00:00 BST
Anarchic humour originally heard on Radio 1 in 1993. Armando Iannucci is joined by David Schneider, Rebecca Front and Peter Baynham. Episode 1 of 2.

Armando Iannucci (BBC Radio 4 Extra) Sun 28 Sep 2008, 22:30:00 BST
More anarchic humour originally heard on Radio 1 in 1993. Armando Iannucci is joined by David Schneider, Rebecca Front and Peter Baynham. Episode 2 of 2.

but there's no other details

i think 'when records began' in this case is 2007 and anything before then may not be on the web pages unless it's been repeated in the meantime

april 19 1994 he says in the second one of those, so not 1993...

on the Radio 1 show he played a lot of records and did bits inbetween, often keyed quite hilariously to what record he was going to play next

he's adding john major samples to the records he's playing in those latter two things...

I don't think it's Charm Offensive, that was a lot later than 94, right?

There's a mention of In Excess here in an article from Dec 94:

You can hear undiluted Armando on Radio4 at 3.30 this afternoon, and for the next three days, in a bijou series called In Excess, filling in at this funny, floating, weightless,timeless part of the year. He will just be himself, thinking aloud on various topics, such as money, and doing a few interviews with money people. Hard to explain, really. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/when-news-satire-is-beyond-a-joke-life-1390697.html

But that doesn't really sound like this sketch show feat Rebecca Front et al, esp when the R4 webpage above says "Anarchic sketches and music, first heard on BBC Radio 1 in March 1994." Seems like this sketch show wasn't recorded by anyone, annoyingly, not even when it was repeated a couple of years ago.

Tell a lie, just found these episodes in my archives:

Armando Iannucci R1 Show S1E1 (27393).mp3
Armando Iannucci R1 Show S1E2 (4493).mp3
Armando Iannucci R1 Show S2E1 (7394).mp3
Armando Iannucci R1 Show S2E2 (14394).mp3
Armando Iannucci R1 Show S2E3 (21394).mp3
Armando Iannucci R1 Show S2E4 (28394).mp3

Which all tallies up, Mystery solved. Think I got them off Soulseek if anyone's interested.

In other UK comedy news, I wax lyrical about Limmy's recent audiobook over at: Limmy's Show

Those two stories I mention (three including Benidorm finale epic) are up there as the best and most surprising things he's ever done.

Did anyone watch the Inside No.9 Hallowe'en special? Hmm. Moments were good, but mostly it felt a bit 'will this do?'. It was almost worth it for the Bobby Davro clip.

there were ~3 comments in the dedicated LoG thread. but yes. apparently that clip is now used inside the BBC as a Health and Safety lesson. i thought they'd faked it, specifically because the people in it were so quintessentially 80s light entertainment.

i need to watch the whole thing again.

it was clever but it wasn't great.

have been watching The Office (UK) since it kind of passed me by at the time. and it's underwhelming, really. i prefer the US version, a lot of which comes down to the time of broadcast, i think, the intended audience. in the UK one there's a lot of crude sexual references that are missing from the US one and that make everyone, including the Jim/Tim character less likeable.

i still have the two xmas specials to watch, maybe that'll salvage things.

odd seeing mackenzie as the 'baddy' though given his later role in Detectorists

also, cameos by garth marenghi (IT guy) and olivia colman (reporter). both look very young.

dvd extras make no mention of the US version despite being from 2011.

It wasn't underwhelming at the time. Crude sexual references often make people more likeable to me FWIW!

no-one in the uk version of the office is supposed to be likeable in the same way their american counterparts are, tbf

I find Dawn and Tim miles more likable than their American counterparts.

Like Tim's smugness is undercut with self deprication and vulnerability, whereas often Jim just comes across as smug and nothing else.

the thing i found the oddest is that Tim is also sharing the pornography, hiding the doldoes etc, things that would be o_O in any 2018 office = he's a dick. jim's practical jokes only ever get as bad as replacing dwight's desk with cardboard...

Loved the UK Office when it first ran, but find it unwatchable now. Partly its the surfeit of cringe comedy since, partly its Gervais-malaise. I definitely prefer the warmth and redemption of the US series.

Everyone's likeable in US sitcoms, that's one of the problems with US sitcoms.

*cough* Seinfeld, It's Always Sunny, Larry Sanders, etc etc

Generalization. I don't know what It's Always Sunny is tbh.

Comedy of douchebaggery

I know it now I've seen the full title but if it's not on Freeview I've never seen it. Who's hidden my Werthers?

I just couldn't be bothered typing out the whole title. It's good, inasmuch as I ever comment on or care about stuff

Gervais is unwatchable now for me but I thought the cruelty and pettiness of the 2 proper seasons of the Office, before he disappeared up Freeman's colon, were horribly real

That kind of comedy of cruelty feels anachronistic in this day and age, in that its a more overtly cruel era for the world and British comedy seems to have got gentler. The humour in Detectorists or People Just Do Nothing is more in a sort of quiet desperation but everyone is essentially likeable.

Same goes for This Country as well. I'm probably the first person to have ever described PJDN as 'quiet' but I think you get what I mean.

It's not unaffectionate towards its hapless characters, yeah. It's near impossible for a writer to really hate their characters and not come across as a nob a la Gervais

I think The Xmas special 2-parter is the best thing anyone involved will ever be in, easily one of the best things I’ve ever seen. The rest of it is funny but much more often grim and sad but it kinda felt that way back then too.

And things like this still crack me up

https://youtu.be/13Bn-PT9TKE

everyone is essentially likeable.

Well apart from Grindah.

Speaking of hateable characters, has anyone watched Julia Davis's new thing? Caught the first episode and wasn't particularly moved to continue

I never watch anything she's done, oh so transgressive misanthropy seems like her entire shtick

OTM.