Vote for the best British comedy

[wee haggis]

You could go on all day listing the fantastic quality comedies that were produced in UK.
Never Mind The Quality ,Feel The Width
Hancocks Half Hour
To The Manor Born
It Aint Half Hot Mum
Steptoe And Son
Keeping Up Appearances
Porridge
The Two Ronnies

The best of the lot is definitely Fawlty Towers...Only 12 were made ,everyone a gem!

[gcutler]

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.

Many of those shows have had limited release video tapes in the US . Goto Amazon.com or any good used/out of print VHS Tape seller and you can find a 1 or 2 tape sets of many of the shows, as a matter of fact, the one or two tapes are all you can probably find until the DVDs come up (if ever)

[pablo180]

Only Fools and Horses has to be the best. Brilliant one liners and brilliant situations. Trigger has to be the best comic character ever! He still cracks me up every time he says “Alright Dave!”

CROWD
“Happy Birthday to you, Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Rodney…”
Trigger: “Dave!”

Trigger: “I never really knew my dad, he left about two years before I was born!”

Trigger: “I have had the same brush for 17 years; it’s had 11 new heads and 7 new handles.”

Del: “To impress women you have to talk about money, that gets em going.”
Trigger stands over some women.
Trigger: “I found one of those old five pound notes the other day.”

The scene at the funeral where he is in fancy dress as a chauffeur! Classic! Those three Christmas specials were some of the best ever. After that it would have to be Red Dwarf, grew up watching that and loved it. The teleporter scene is the best. Then Faulty Towers, that is pure genius too, brilliantly written. As was Porridge.

Bottom was good but I can’t remember what was so funny about it, maybe it was because I was a teenager. One Foot in the Grave was brilliant too. Alf Garnett was pretty good but it isn’t shown much anymore.

Monty Python is good but I think that comedy has moved on since then and it seems a bit dated, still watch if it is on though.

Most of the newer comedies just don’t measure up, I liked the second series of Coupling though. The BBC does the best comedies by far.

[Greg12]

I gotta vote for Are you Being Served, Red Dwarf is a close second.

[TBoneit]

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.

Many of those shows have had limited release video tapes in the US . Goto Amazon.com or any good used/out of print VHS Tape seller and you can find a 1 or 2 tape sets of many of the shows, as a matter of fact, the one or two tapes are all you can probably find until the DVDs come up (if ever)

Thanks for the help, despite being on the net all the time it never occurred to me to look on it... Maybe because I have such a bias against buying over the internet or mail order for that matter.

I wonder if Netflix has any of them? Hmmm...

Again Thanks
Roger T

[EddyH]

BBC News24's ClickOnline is a pretty good comedy series, as is Cybernet, despite the last one seeming to be american-made now. (What? What's that? You say they're meant to be *serious* programmes?)

/vows never to watch late night tv again.

Bottom = funny, because of it's reinterpretation of classic slapstick humour through a reverse filter that adds back in all the pain and injury that such violent actions really should have caused. Oliver Hardy gets clocked one in the head by Stan Laurel with a huge swinging lump of wood, and gets away with an "oof" and maybe a band-aid. Richie does it to Eddie and causes a huge bleeding gash and concussion. And somehow makes it funny because of the sheer extremeness of a situation where two flatmates and supposed friends are kicking shit out of each other 24/7.. kinda what would be now known as a South Park style comedy.

"Eddie! You utter, utter BASTARD! Cop this!" - Richie quits nursing his bruised testicles, and starts up a chainsaw..

[gcutler]

Thanks for the help, despite being on the net all the time it never occurred to me to look on it... Maybe because I have such a bias against buying over the internet or mail order for that matter.

http://shopping.yahoo.com/

The stores thru yahoo.com are pretty trustworthy (and they have ratings from previous buyers...)

[baker]

sorry I just have to point out the BEST british comedy is deffenetly onlky fools and horses.

The only problem is that the only people wwho can only really get the comedy is the british.

sorry for the typing, on a crappy keyboard

Baker

[yongkuk]

What the hell is wrong with people on this forum. The office only gets 3%. It is already a classic. Should have had league of gents on there though.

[mkelley]

The Office is great -- the clueless boss is almost exactly like most of the upper management types we get here in the States. I've been enjoying it even though I only understand about every third word (it's the classic English comedy gag for Americans -- "If I were any more British I wouldn't be able to speak!"

Over here they only seem to show about six different episodes, though, on BBC America. I assume there *are* more, right? (Although with English "series" you never know).

[pablo180]

I have only seen a couple of episodes of The Office only got into it at the end of the last series but I can’t understand how you only understand every third word. It’s not like Only Fools and Horse or League of Gentleman where it has quite a strong dialect. Is it really that bad? Seems quite a normal accent to me. But I have heard that American’s have problems with British accents, wasn’t Train Spotting dubbed or subtitled or something. Maybe it is the slang words?

I suppose that it is the same with American dialects but because of all the American films we watch and the TV series that we get used to it.

I think that there are two series of the Office and I think that there is only six episodes to each series (can’t be sure though as I have only seen two). Is there going to be a third series? I heard the Ricky Gervais had said that there wasn’t going to be one.

Out of all the current comedies The Office has to be the best but there isn’t much competition really. My Family and My Hero are both pretty poor. Compared to Only Fools and Horses and even Red Dwarf The Office isn’t all that great though. I think that the Glory Days of BBC comedy are over.

[yongkuk]

There are only 2 seasons (12 episodes) of The Office. They are making a 1 hour Christmas special and then they will call it a day. I am glad they will not flog it. There are only 2 seasons of Fawlty Towers which means every episode is a mini classic. I heard that Taggert was subtitled in the US. They should have bloody subtitled it here as well. It is funny but I know many Americans have problems with Brit accents, when I was in Alabama and Mississippi I couldn't understand anyone.

[flaninacupboard]

heh, i hope the christmas special is a christmas party
I loved the red nose day episode, with gareth hopping, and tim hiding his stuff
"ahhhh! how do you hide a chair?!"

[mkelley]

Guys, I don't mean to sound like an old fogey American -- I truly am an Anglophile and where my friends say they can't understand a line of dialog (in, let's say, Fawlty) I shake my head and don't see what the problem is.

But The Office is hard for my wife and I -- they tend to swallow their words and the audio isn't particularly clear, so combined with the dialect (which, as I said, we're mostly used to) it makes it very tough to catch all that's going on. We have TiVo and quite often go back to catch something, but that tends to interrupt the flow and as they say, the important thing in comedy is... um.... (wait for it)... ah... timing.

Anyway, glad to know we are probably seeing all the episodes in one of the seasons (the first one? It has The Quiz and Training among the episodes) and hope they show the other six episodes.

It is kind of axiomatic that American television does flog to death nearly every kind of series that's had even a modicum of success, but I would have hated to think of The Simpsons as only lasting 13 episodes. Or only to have had two seasons of "Rumpole". Sometimes I think the BBC goes way opposite and doesn't quite keep a good thing going.

[edsmith77]

awright,
what ever happened to "Keeping Up Appearances" and "The Vicar" ???

[pablo180]

I used to like 'Keeping Up Appearances' that was pretty good. Another one of those that make you cringe, like the Office and Alf Garnett. I watched some of the repeats of Keeping up Appearences though recently and it didn't seem as good as I remember. Maybe because I have seen them all.

The Vicar is that the one with Dawn French? It is called the Vicar of Dibley here and I have never really found that funny. To be honest I have never found French and Saunders funny at all. I always wondered how they got there own show. Absolutely Fabulous was ok though but not an all time classic.

[yongkuk]

Maybe the Office is a little difficult to understand. My wife is American and she loves The Office, League of Gentlemen, Ali G and Father Ted without a problem, and she lives in the North East of England, I don't even understand people here and I was born here.

[gcutler]

What the hell is wrong with people on this forum. The office only gets 3%. It is already a classic. Should have had league of gents on there though.

"The Office" is so "on the mark" that it actually depresses me at times, having lived thru that stuff. So it is funny when I'm watching it, but during the commercial I think back to all the jobs I've had with similar idiots and I'm sad again (my Ex-Boss looks like the boss on the show to add insult to injury). Fault inherent in its perfect execution.

[Craig Tucker]

Thankfully I have never had to work with anyone as remotely idiotic or repulsive as David, Gareth or Finchey. Finchey is no where near as bad as the other two but can still be a complete arse. Thinking that throwing a shoe over a roof somehow won him the quiz night

[mats.hogberg]

I voted Python. They where ground breaking in a way that no other show has been. Fawlty Towers has given me more "LOL"s, but...

/Mats

[Metaluna]

Where is Benny Hill?!?

Dale

Does anyone actually still find Benny Hill funny ?

It's hard to say...the only episodes I can find on DVD are the really lame later ones. I haven't seen some of the earlier episodes in probably 20 years so I can't judge if they are still funny to my adult mind.

A British friend of mine is always telling me about an old show called 'Allo 'Allo which I'm also trying to find on tape/DVD.

[Will Hay]

Had to go for Red Dwarf, i've a lot of happy memories and warm feelings about that program

I'm with you, although I found it too hard a choice.
I simple went with the most consistently funny show.

EXCEPT FOR SERIES 8 WHICH WAS UTTER PANTS!

Was that the one which had that new feel to it?
The one which started with the assination of Kennedy?
If so, I see you're point. The gloss of the filming was all wrong and didn't work, although it was a shame as the writing was superb.
If you mean the one after (the one with cassandra etc.) YOU HAVE TO BE JOKING?
I thought it was great!!!!!!!!!!
Have you read 'Colony' yet?
By Rob Grabt?
If not, DO!!!!!
I have an autographed 1st edition copy of 'backwards' BTW although no, I'm not a geek, I pre-ordered it signed, I wasn't going to queue with all those geeks with 'better smeg than dead' on their chests!!!!!!
I can't wait for the movie, you heard anything yet?
Will

[Will Hay]

"Are You Being Served" was egregiously not mentioned. It is among the top Brit coms on TV.

You're an American, right?
It's not so popular over here in the UK like it is in the UK.
Will

[dwill123]

It's not so popular over here in the UK like it is in the UK.
Will

Doesn't matter 'Are You Being Served' rules, closely followed by 'Monty Python' and 'Mr. Bean'.

[CPimaging]

This thread is too long to read, but I vote for MR BEAN.

[boss]

the best british sitcoms were done years ago. there was only fools and horses, fawlty towers and MR. Bean oh, and Blackadder. now you have crap like gentleman time please, two pints of larger.... and rips offs of friends like game on and coupling. actually there are still some good shows like the office(yes, i know i said i hated it a few months ago on this site but my my brother bought the dvd and i found i actually i liked it.) but apart from that what else is there? the problem with british sitcoms is that they usually only have two writers, who can only come up with enough material for a few episodes. the bbc(dont even mention itv!) should hire more writers, because the talent is out there... How many writers have worked on friends over the years? a lot i bet!

and as for benny hill he's very popular in france is'nt he?

[flaninacupboard]

Debatable whether Game On is a rip off of friends, Game on first aired in '95, probably the same time we saw Friends for the first time in this country.

Coupling definitely -isn't- a rip off of friends, and anyone who says so has obviosuly never looked further than the blurb on the back of the box. Atually go and watch some, you'll see it's nothing like. Captain subtext, or "Let's see that again, and this time pretend you're Israeli" are good examples of things that would never happen in Friends, because Friends is too "real".

Also, check out The League of Gentelemen, Spaced and Black Books. all very good indeed.

[boss]

actually while we're talking about british comedy what about rory bremner? i only started watching his show a few months ago but then it ended.... it came back a few months later but then big brother started and of course everything on channel 4 stops for big brother. why can't they repeat bremner's old shows on E4 instead of showing friends and more big bloody brother?

[EddyH]

Bremner Bird and Fortune is a great bit of political parody, especially considering at least one of them is an actual politics reporter / interviewer

Along similar lines Newsnight can make for some great unintentional comedy when they're interviewing some dodgy govt figure and suddenly they're asking questions mr/mrs shady doesn't want to answer... and they won't stop asking...

[energy80s]

Ahhh, the Paxman approach!