Vote for the best British comedy

[EddyH]

Prolog: SVCDummy, you have no soul. Pray tell what you class as humour? Maybe you've seen one or two shows you dont like but you can't tar all of them (at least a hundred worthwhile programs) with the same brush.
(hmm.. the Prolog.. how about Up Pompeii?)

Anyway the post proper and other such ramble -

Aaah! You cannot ask such questions! It is like trying to find out which is the best fruit out of apples, oranges, bananas, peaches, and moominberries. Or compiling a "definitive" top 100 songs list...

Just out of instinct i voted Red Dwarf tho (come on BBC, got the first two series already, wheres my goddamn series III DVD?!?!?!.... PS S8 was pants but still totally whipped S7. S5 & S6 = Perfection)
Was "this" close to ticking Blackadder, Fawlty, Python (just been watching it on Paramount - ahem, it's "mont-eee piff-ons fal-ai-ing sirrrcusssss" ), Fools & Horses instead tho. Don't care much for Office, Royle Family, Phoenix Nights, the modern ones dont seem to have the same spark, but they seem popular Bo'Selecta sounds good but as it's very new and on when I'm at work, I havent actually seen any... just heard. Can I get a reeeewind on the broadcasts so i can remember to set the video this time?
(Benny Hill i find passably funny.. mainly for his putty face and the woman chasing an old chubby bloke to silly music. just.)

Respect also due:
Porridge
Young Ones (very much respect - and Bottom, arguably a follow-on)
Ab Fab (just a little... dahling)
Yes Prime/Minister
My Family (50% one of those hidden treasures, 50% train wreck But - Felicity Kendal managed to find work after The Good Life and is still halfway hot after 25 years... yaiee..)
One Foot
Alan Partridge (smell my cheese..)
Father Ted (of course! the small/far away line works well on relatives taking their first plane ride..)
Bean (train wreck )
Dads Army (subtle/slapstick)
Men B.B. (just silly)
AYBS (how did it ever survive on air in the 70s?!)

You forget though: Classic variety/vaudeville/stand up acts, particularly pairings like the Two Ronnies, and of course, Morcombe and Wise. Timeless. And as a solo performer,

And the Fast Show, cliche as that suggestion may be.
(& Spaced? and harry of course..)

Ripping yarns was just a little too art-house and 'out there' to capture wide appeal. It's.... -interesting-... but not really LOL funny. A bit like Comic Strip Presents. The parody of the Famous Five was a great rip on all those tea-and-scones Enid Blyton adventures, but more black than comedy.

What about Drop the Dead Donkey? Sure it's not exactly got it's quick-scripted topical edge anymore after 10-15 years, but can maybe be seen as more of a historical/period comedy, and the character interplay is what really drives it... ditto Not the Nine O Clock News perhaps (and H.I.G.N.F.Y.)
Rex the Runt. The Aardman shorts. And a countless pile of kids shows - Dangermouse, Count Duckula, Trapdoor...

...Dr Who was comedy? Naw, it was just no-budget planet-of-welsh-quarries pulp-sci fi...
(is it legal to enjoy both The Young Ones and The Good Life? does stuff done by jezza clarkson count, for its unintentional (?) humour?)

Who was that camp (later openly gay ) bloke who had his near-solo show with various musical guests in the early 80s? Including that massive-chested movie starlet character who kept crossing and recrossing her legs in front of a LOW camera (yes.. it was still him.. replete with dark brown beard ) and did everything in the best possible taste? Good stuff.

PS To american TV people - what is it with wanting to remake british things so that your audiences supposedly "get it" better? Your Red Dwarf pilot was one of the most sucktacular things I ever downloaded - highly amusing but for all the wrong reasons, one or two good unique jokes but so far out of canon that calling it by the same name could be considered offensive. And pray tell why Queer As Folk needed a re-imagining? Etc... I can't think of one american import that we found reason to Britishify (though I'm sure someone else will).

...

Go to Brown Alert!
Sir? There is no such thing as Brown Alert..
You won't be saying that in a minute!



edit: dammit, since i started writing this, other people have posted similar words. didnt mean to parrot like that

[Craig Tucker]

Forgot about drop the dead donkey, really enjoyed that show also, very sharp writing. Tried to keep the list to sitcom type shows rather than sketch/standup shows otherwise the list could have gone on forever . Although I realise a couple of them probrably fall into the latter category. You then also have your guest/chat/quiz comedy shows such as Graham Norton, the Kumars, Have I got news for you and They Think its All Over. I had to draw the line somewhere at what to include

[thefox149]

HERE IS SOME MORE

The Goodies.....
Some Mothers do ave em....(ooh betty yhe cat did a whoopsie in my berret)
The Ali G Show ....(not the movie as that was shit house I especially love the borat segments)

[tweedledee]

Maybe he prefers "hee Haw" wait a minute.........isn't that a documentary in some parts of the USA?


Sorry guys........just winding you up.

[tweedledee]

eddyh wrote

Who was that camp (later openly gay ) bloke who had his near-solo show with various musical guests in the early 80s? Including that massive-chested movie starlet character who kept crossing and recrossing her legs in front of a LOW camera (yes.. it was still him.. replete with dark brown beard ) and did everything in the best possible taste? Good stuff.

I think it was DICK EMERY.

[Holden]

Young Ones kicks ass!!!

I freaking learned how to speak with a British accent thanks to this show! (cough: back in the 80's.. I'm getting old...)

"Vivian! Where did you get that Howitzer?"

"Found it, Virgin!"

I'll die with these memories...

Greg

[SVCDummy]

Ah, so sorry for the extended time between posts. My ISP crapped out.

I spent 7 months on the English Channel on the Netherlad side near a littel town called Bergen Op Zoom. The hotel I was in was gracious enough to let me use the sat.dish to watch english speaking tv coming from across the channel.

At the time I was happy to get back home to watch the late night comedy of Howard Stern. The only thing that ever happened in the U.S. that was similar to the lame comedy of the UK was a show from the 70's called "The Rowan and Martin Laugh -In"

IMHO the british comedy was all about simple sight gags and one liners. Not very interesting. Then again my only exposure was off the dish for 7 months several years ago while working there.

This is only an opinion poll. My opinion is just not the same as most of yours. Alas, that is what makes the world funny to begin with.

Peace.

[Zorin]

BTW. I'm missing The Two Ronnies...

"My wife is so detached, that when she writes me a letter she starts with: "To whom it may concern"......"

also, Not the Nine O'Clock News

and Alas Smith and Jones

[rhegedus]

Of the ones on the list, I'd go for Blackadder but IMHO the Yes Minister/Prime Minister series is better.

Though I've not seen a few of those on the list, the humour of those that I have (Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, Red Dwarf) did seem rather forced. A friend of mine recently bought a 'Young Ones' box set and we sat down to watch it, but I remember thinking that it seemed funnier when I first saw it about 20 years ago - until Alexei Sayle came and messed it up!

Anyone else got time for 'Drop The Dead Donkey'?

[Craig Tucker]

eddyh wrote

Who was that camp (later openly gay ) bloke who had his near-solo show with various musical guests in the early 80s? Including that massive-chested movie starlet character who kept crossing and recrossing her legs in front of a LOW camera (yes.. it was still him.. replete with dark brown beard ) and did everything in the best possible taste? Good stuff.

I think it was DICK EMERY.

It was a rhetorical question, he was talking about Kenny Everet.

[tweedledee]

CRAIG TUCKER WROTE

It was a rhetorical question, he was talking about Kenny Everet.

Of course, I remember when he had his radio show on the beeb.
Great stuff.
Hey Craig, what do you think about Tommy Cooper? He could do corny jokes better than anyone.

[Craig Tucker]

Yea, I used to like Tommy Cooper excellent comedic timing (I remember him dying on stage ). There was some good stuff around in that era (was a little before my time caught most of it on repeats) Other I enjoyed include

Morcambe and Wise
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore
Les Dawson
Frankie Howard
Spike Milligan
Cannon and Ball
The Two Ronnies
Norman Wisdom
Steptoe and Son
Cannon and Ball

And many others that I am bound to have missed.

[flaninacupboard]

IMHO the british comedy was all about simple sight gags and one liners.

Really? This from the nation that bought us "clueless"

ok, well, what you saw you didn't like. fine. have you watched any of the programs we are talking about? if not then you can't really comment.

[flaninacupboard]

of course, steptoe and son!
i always remember when they split the house in two, and had one of those little spinning barricades you get at football grounds, and the firemen had to put a penny in to put out the fire!

[tweedledee]

In 1969-70 I was driving for Twickenham film studios and was assigned to a film director who was friends with Peter Cooke. He(Pete) often came around at lunch time and the three of us would spend hours drinking red wine and thinking up routines for him and Dud. He was a very funny man, who also loved a drink.

[TOMMO]

All of the shows listed in the poll are very funny, and as many have said, more could have been added, BUT, the one sitcom epsisode that still has me rolling around crying with laughter is the ALLO ALLO epsisode with the Italian paratroops:-

Picture the scene. Plane full of Italian soldiers, all sat on the floor with parachutes on. The silly Italian colonel at the front. Camera shot from the rear of plane, can only see the rear of the soldiers heads. All speech with stupid anglo/italian accent as per ALLO ALLO

Colonel:" you are now to jump outa the plane"

Quiet mummering of dissaproval and shaking of heads.

Colonel: " Are you the men or da mice"

Silence from the soldiers, the in unison " the mice"

Colonel:" Wrong - you are the flying mice" - trap door opens, soldiers drop out.

[Craig Tucker]

In 1969-70 I was driving for Twickenham film studios

In 1970 I was being born

[tweedledee]

Craig Tucker wrote

In 1970 I was being born

Nothing to do with me........honest.

[mkelley]

Craig,

At least here in the States British comedy is an acquired taste. Many of my friends just don't get what I like so much about the many many British shows I've got on tape.

For those of us Anglophiles, however, we never get enough -- someone was right on about Python in terms of being overrated (although there has never been a more perfect movie than "Grail"), but you Brits have to remember that for a lot of us here it was our first exposure to British comedy. Our ABC (not yours) was carrying it during the summer months in the 70's and suddenly we were confronted with this wacky humor which was so far beyond what a lot of us had seen before it was a breath of fresh air.

I, however, had become hooked on British comedy long before that. In the 60's the equivilent of what is now Public Broadcasting radio was playing episodes of The Goon Show every weekend, and I remember trying to tape them (this was back in the days when tape recorders were an esoteric item -- much rarer than a DVD burner is nowadays :>). And, of course, I grew up watching British movie comedies like the "Carry On" series, the brilliant early Peter Sellers (also on Goon), etc. etc.

Is "Jeeves and Wooster" a BBC production? That's also another incredibly funny series. Ah, and I would even classify "Rumpole" (really my all time favorite show) as a comedy, although there were certainly enough serious moments to make it one of the best dramas around as well.

You guys in the Mother Country just know how to do it right when it comes to humor (although I'd stack "The Simpsons" up there with the best of the British shows, it's an exception that proves the rule that Americans have no particular comedic sense).

[Craig Tucker]

Jeeves and Wooster is a Granada Production for ITV (Independant Television). And I agree with you about the Simpsons, I think it is the best program to come out of the states. Their are others that I really enjoy, Friends and Seinfield stand out as my other favourites.

[EddyH]

It wasn't a rhetorical question - i honestly couldnt remember. Out of the two it was Kenny Everett, definately the more boundary pushing guy (oh yeah.. and the world's one and only funny mime). Dick Emery was the guy who did the vicar with big teeth, and a lot more convincing in drag.
Oooh.. you are awful.. but I like you.

"You can't clean the toilet Neil - it'll lose all of it's character!"

One liners and sight gags.. yeah.. theres certainly a lot of them (the bread and butter of the comedy world) and good ones too. But by no way exclusive. Pray tell what else is the word sitcom for other than a comedic situation
At least it's not something like Married With Children which is based on all of... ooh... one joke, and has about three sets. (still funny, but only in single servings)

[energy80s]

@energy80s - Actually, there was a heavy lesbian overtone to the show. The bulldykes were trying to have their way with the lipsticks Entertaining Stuff!

Of course there was ... that's what I was joking about! God it is true about American's having no sense of irony.

The show was actually called Prisoner in Australia and Prisoner Cell Block H in the UK.

It seems odd that Monty Python is getting all the votes as it is rarely seen on TV here. I suppose that it would be the most famous British comedy to be shown in the US so that's why it's so well known. Also it should be noted that virtually all the best comedies are from the BBC, with very little from ITV - apart from Benny Hill which was all but banned in the UK in the mid 80's for being sexist and really led to Benny's untimely death.

[mkelley]

apart from Benny Hill which was all but banned in the UK in the mid 80's for being sexist and really led to Benny's untimely death.

Now you guys from "over there" just have to explain this -- I thought Benny was an overweight older man who died of natural causes (and this is not to be offensive in any way -- I liked his show and thought he was funny, but never thought of his death as "untimely").

[Craig Tucker]

It wasn't a rhetorical question - i honestly couldnt remember.

Sorry, that will teach me to make assumptions

Another good one I just remembered, The New Statesman, with Rick Mayal as Alan B'Stard. What a bastard.

[energy80s]

apart from Benny Hill which was all but banned in the UK in the mid 80's for being sexist and really led to Benny's untimely death.

Now you guys from "over there" just have to explain this -- I thought Benny was an overweight older man who died of natural causes (and this is not to be offensive in any way -- I liked his show and thought he was funny, but never thought of his death as "untimely").

The show was his life, and when it was cancelled because of all the sexist remarks, it really broke his heart and he never recovered from it.

[EddyH]

OK, a showdown...

London Fascist Party with Hitler's right nut in a cryogenic flask, vs Nellie Seagoon and his nickel-plated bagpipes ??

[oldfart13]

Some of the old series have turned up of late on the boob tube over here with the large increase in channels:

Til Death Do Us Part (Alf Garnet was way more bigoted than Archie Bunker)
Steptoe and Son (though I still liked Red Foxx better in Sanford and Son)
Hot Metal
Max Headroom (the original movie and the talk show, not the TV series)
Chef
and a ton of one-offs and specials. If Rowan Atkinson is looking for a winner at the box office, then he should do a Black Adder movie! That would do $100 Million USD no problem!

[booyah]

I'm a huge Fools/Horses fan but was dismayed to learn that Netflix does not carry any of the DVD's.

If anyone here is a Netflix subber please go ahead and request the title using the link on their webpage.

This time next year....we might be able to rent em.

[gcutler]

Sub Poll

How bad will the new US (NBC) version of "Coupling" be, compared to the Original British Version (which was a better version of the US/NBC Series "Friends")

It will stink because only one Person on the planet can play "Jeff" so perfectly and he's been doing it for the past few years...

[TBoneit]

Even though I'm here in New Jersey, USA we have gotten quite a few...

Some I liked Rising Damp, Father Dear Father, Are You Being Served, Last of the Summer Wine, To the Manor Born, Yes (Prime) Minister, The Two Ronnies, Benny Hill, My Hero, Keeping Up Appearances, Red Dwarf, Dad's Army, Allo Allo...

They all made me laugh, However the last three really made me laugh so much. French people talking english with a fake french accent!

Some I've forgotten the names of but I can still see the characters and plot line in my mind, And some I'd like to see but haven't such as: Steptoe & Sons (made here as Sanford & Son) and Man about the House (Made here as Three's Company).

Off Topic Alert: Anyone know Where to get Legal versions of these in the USA? Not the whole series, just an episode or two to see what they are like by way of comparison to the USA remakes.

Cheers
Roger T