The League of Gentlemen - C/D? (now with added Psychoville)

"Mum, I've done another bad murder"

Only seen one episode of this so far, but i intend to see the others asap. seriously looks like it could be the best show i've ever seen on telly. Even Dawn French manages to be excellent in it!

Still watching, still loving. I've actually been annoyingly evangelical about it.

Even Dawn French manages to be excellent in it!

Ha, yes! That was my one slight stumbling point to begin with, but she -- and the writing -- are so good that you forget it's her.

I've actually been annoyingly evangelical about it

I've not been evangelical enough; I wish I'd gone on more about it at work. It does seem to have been a little low-key, doesn't it?

Dawn French is a very good comedy performer who is largely given piss-poor material to work with.

Clever that her sidekick from Vicar of Dibley is her rival in this.

I think the latest episode was the least funny so far, due to having to squeeze quite a bit of plot in. Still some beautifully macabre bits though, like the Freddie Fruitcake blood transfusion.

Yeh, that was compellingly horrific. I kind of got the impression it was an idea they'd had some time ago - the whole setup, right down to the tears of blood -- and had been looking for a story within which to make it work.

Dawn French is a very good comedy performer who is largely given piss-poor material to work with

This might be true, but it doesn't stop her making my teeth itch with annoyance most times I see her on TV.

Just seen the final one. Wtf?

"Weakest link goodbye" had me in stitches!

it was all about the clown in the cubicle for me.

best telly of 2009 so far.

I would recommend Catterick if you liked psychoville. it was really underrated as well.

Guess they're making a second series then.

David in the citizen's advice bureau was top notch.

David in the citizen's advice bureau was top notch.

yuh easily the funniest bit of the episode.

Also lold when tea leaf bailed on the old guy when he revealed his schemes.

'could you move the body?... He's saying no'

"Who's this clown?": biggest laugh of the year.

That was magnificent -- both the final episode and the series in general. The fact it wasn't perfect -- I got the impression they were trying to squeeze way more ideas into it than they really had space for, particularly towards the end -- only makes me love it more.

I think if I'd have been watching it for the plot rather than for the lolz I'd have been really fucked off with the ending as virtually everything turned out to be a gigantic red herring with some ridiculous deus ex machina at the end of it. Pretty sure they were well aware of this and taking the piss though.

Yeah, a second series... in 2011. With a one-off special next winter.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/psychoville/appointment/

halloween special on sunday (which i guess is the one-off special mentioned in last post):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vw45s

They're also doing a thing on radio where they go to a haunted pub for a real life paranormal adventure.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vhfjn

I am irrationally excited about this. Psychoville's the best thing I've seen on British telly in years.

Really excited for series 2 now.

This was okay, very well done on the creepiness front, could have done with a few more laughs.

I haven't watch it yet - waiting till I actually have a proper moment.

I hear a lot of people complain that League Of Gents/Psychoville could do with more laughs - this is often directed at things like LOG S3. But I preferred S3 for its intricate plotlines and studied acting more than S1 for its shock-gags. LOG are definitely unique in that the humour comes as much from horror as it does traditional comedy.

Did anyone listen to the radio thing though? I was really disappointed. I wasn't expecting the gents to actually meet any ghosts, but it seemed way too short to cover what they wanted, and very thin on content at that.

No I'm a big fan but there were several moments in this that they got so engrossed in the horror that they forgot to actually try and be funny in the first place. Some good one liners but the situations weren't quite there. It was similar to the majestic LoG Christmas special but not as good.

LOG Christmas is, I think, my favourite thing they've done (Psychoville episode 4 close runner up)

Finally watched this last night... Matt, you're right, there were very few gags but I still thought it was excellent. It's more like watching one of those camped-up '70s Tales From The Crypt-style portmanteau movies than a comedy, but I'm now well and truly psyched for series two!

I've started rewatching series 1, forgotten quite how good it is. "The killer has written 'fuck pig' on the wall in his or her own excrement!"

The perfect Xmas gift:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Reece-Shearsmith-League-Gentleman-Stars-Canvas-/180592257142?pt=UK_Art_CanvasGiclee_RL&hash=item2a0c232876#ht_508wt_936

the tivo is listing a new episode on 5/5

NOT NOW, SILENT SINGER

Silent Singer is by far the best and most intriguing (and possibly funniest in it's own twisted way) thing about the new series. According to Reece Shearsmith's Twitter there are supposed to be number clues dotted throughout all the episodes. Enjoying these, but the episodes feel VERY short. Could do with being 45 minutes long.

Tina Turner wasn't quite as funny as a lot of people are making out, although apparently it was next-to unfilmable as the crew and actors couldn't stop laughing.

Watched the first episode and yes very creepy but, clown funeral aside, it just wasn't very funny.

i'm willing to forgive Psychoville for not being very funny. In fact it falls flat when they start relying on groansome jokes etc. LoG's best bits is when they introduce jokes over a wider narrative.

Does it have to be loaded with jokes? Can comedy just be dark or satirical? Does it even need to be called "comedy"?

The first series was funny though, the Halloween special and the first ep weren't particularly. Might just be a blip admittedly.

I see it as a new direction. They like it being less about jokes and have gone straight to the core of their idea imo.

OTM - I think they're slowly easing us into the idea that TV comedy can be deeper than quickfire gags.

It's not just there. Chris Lilley's new show has just started going out here and the single biggest criticism is that it lacks gags.

what's that called? I love Summer Heights High.

Angry Boys.

It doesn't have to be about gags but for it to be comedy is still actually has to be funny.

"you're right, it is funny - but it doesn't make us laugh" /bizarronathanbarley

Hmmm... this series isn't quite as brilliant as the first, but I did laugh at the Mr Jelly/Tealeaf phone conversation:

"Eh Teabags, 'ows it dangling?"
"Yer what?"
"Y'know - the.. shizzle?"
"Can you speak normally please"
"Oh, thanks"

It lost half its audience in three weeks.

I still think it's pretty awesome. Creepy librarian and creepy Carrie rip-off are entertaining me. Why do you think people are switching off?

Not sure, but I lost interest after the first episode this year. It wasn't any worse or any less interesting, it just... I don't know.

It's certainly a slow burner, and the plot is all over the place, but this last week it seemed that the various strands are being tied together in a rewarding way.

Also, cosign on what was said upthread about comedy without any jokes. I always end up watching this back to back with that Stewart Lee show in iplayer, so I guess I'm primed for comedy without jokes.

The problem is less that it's "comedy without jokes" and more that it's comedy that isn't funny.

I think this might be the factor that isn't endearing me to this series as much as the last one. I know I was trying to defend it earlier, but there was a considerable lack of funny in the last episode.

I love how, even since LOG S1, their sketches and characters all seem like the premises to potential horror/shocker movies - a man who is kept as a scarecrow for cheating with the farmer's wife, a young fella who is kept against his will in a house by a cleanliness-obsessed couple.

I also liked in the last episode how they had a gay character unwillingly kissing a straight woman, but it was actually a drag scene. Same as LOG were the first to do a naked cross-dressing scene, and also the time they go to a gender-bending party, so you had men dressed as women dressed as men in a sex scene.

Yeh, it wasn't as funny, but as I say, I'm still enjoying it, and I'm still finding it interesting, but I don't think I find it especially funny, even when they drop in a terrible pun to remind you that its a comedy - "nazi-bay".

I guess it's what you're talking about, that weird intersection between normality and irrationality, which I suppose is why there's all these Lynchian nods everywhere, most explicitly in the silent singer. The drag adds to this sense of things not being quite right, of characters hiding a whole fucked-up identity behind their everyday existance. See also Lomax=Tony Hancock, Librarian being a bit gone-wrong, that woman marrying someone but not marrying them etc.