Kevin's Watch

Father Ted. One of the few that can rival Blackadder, IMO, along with Red Dwarf at it's best.

Mr. Bean!!!

www.benovsky.com/bean/private.htm

Bean? Dear God No.

Cant believe no one mentioned The Office yet.. must be the Fawlty Towers of our generation.. have also heard Spaced is inspired stuff but not got around to it yet

The Office? You can't seriously think that's good. Occassionally amusing, yes; funny, no.

I can and I do. It's inspired stuff, with or without it's awards.

Well, extending the topic to comedies (because I can't pick just one):

Coupling - sophisticated and very funny. Captain Subtext rules.

Black Books - surreal and has Bill Bailey in it.

The League Of Gentlemen - very, very dark but an extraordinary range of characters performed by only 3 men.

The Royale Family - very 'council' and what the majority of the British are really like.

The Pub Landlord - only shown on Sky before we moved to NZ, but was very blokish. Al Murray is very funny.

One Foot In The Grave - aren't old people strange.

Dinnerladies - I have to mention this as Julie (my wife) wouldn't forgive me if I didn't.

I can't watch The Office. It's way too realistic. I find myself making excuses to leave the room rather than laughing.

Tom

The Pub Landlord - only shown on Sky before we moved to NZ, but was very blokish. Al Murray is very funny.

He's in Hells Kitchen at the moment, now that is turning out to be quite the comedy lol

How? How the hell did I forget Yes, Minister?! Sooo good!

Only one mention of Absolutely fabulous, the repeats on Comedy Central cable, IMO, redeemed CC's existance. And if you liked AF, you have to see The Vicar of Dibley another Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders collaboration.

CovenantJr wrote:How? How the hell did I forget Yes, Minister?! Sooo good!

...which then turned into Yes, Prime Minister. Jim Hacker, ruler of the UK!

can't forget his sidekick either: the inimitable Humphrey Appleby.

I'm not sure if it's poor form on my part to bump such an old thread, but I've just found this one and couldn't believe that no-one else mentioned "People Like Us".

For the uninitiated it's a mockumentary where a reporter, Roy Mallard, interviews members of a different profession in each episode, showing that they are indeed "People Like Us."

What makes the show work is that Mallard is at least as big a freak as the people he is interviewing, and you never see him as the camera is always focused on the interviewee. You just see their discomfort, condescending amusement, irritation, and sometimes anger as they look at him.

Sample voiceovers by Roy Mallard:

(Banker episode) "...by the coming of the Railway, which inevitably foreshadowed the arrival of the Train."

(Banker) "In the meantime thoughts of marriage and children can wait, which puts extra pressure on her husband David, and Alex their two year old son or daughter."

(Airline Pilot): "Each flight is required to include at least the minimum of one take-off and one landing in each direction, as laid down by the International Laws of Physics."

****************************

Sample discussions with subjects:

(Airline pilot): These tires are full of nitrogen. They're inflated to a pressure of something like 150 lbs per square inch. About 6 times the pressure of the tires on your car.

RM: Right. Presumably that's why they're so big!

AP: Another interesting thing about them is that they're designed to melt.

RM: (with forced heartiness, as it turns out later in the episode that he's petrified of flying) Good!

-----------------------

RM: Do you feel that you have to be "all things to all men"?

Air Hostess: No, I think that's a bit of a male fantasy.


I also loved "Human Remains."

CovenantJr wrote:

Father Ted. One of the few that can rival Blackadder, IMO, along with Red Dwarf at it's best.

I wholeheartedly agree! Father Ted was brilliant.

Not a British comedy though!

Doctor in the House
Fawlty Towers
The Two Ronnies
Who's Line is it Anyway?
The Young Ones

ur-monkey wrote:CovenantJr wrote:

Father Ted. One of the few that can rival Blackadder, IMO, along with Red Dwarf at it's best.

I wholeheartedly agree! Father Ted was brilliant.

Not a British comedy though!

You've got me there!

I don't know how I missed this thread before Trapper bumped it. (GOOD form, indeed!!) Nor can I imagine how so much time went by before MPFC was mentioned, or why they are getting so little attention. Holy crap, are you all nuts?? If it's not the funniest show ever, anywhere, it's damned close!

Cheval wrote:There used to be a show called "The Goodies".
It had 3 British "hippies" with a Benny Hill flair.
Has enybody else ever heard or seen it?
It aired on American Television back in the early - mid '70's.

Yes, I remember this one! I remember them getting accidentally cemented into an apartment building for about 70 years. With not much else to do, two of them were playing "I spy with my eye..." The problem being the only thing available to spy was the chair between the two standing men. The game went something like this:
1: I spy with my eye something beginning with a C.
2: Is it a chair?
1: Yes. Your turn.
2: I spy with my eye something beginning with a C.
1: Is it a chair?
2: Absolutely correct! Your turn.
1: I spy with my eye something beginning with... *pauses to look around, his eyes landing back on the chair* Ah! With a C.
2: Is it a chair.
1: Indeed, it is! Your turn.

I thought it was implied that MPFC was beyond this thread...if not it tops my list!

p.s. Fist my new av is the French version of The Broken God

#1. Monty Python
#2. Fawlty Towers
#3. Blackadder

I have seen a nuber of the English "Who's Line..." and although enjoyed it, did not find it as overall funny as the US one. The best episode I saw was one where Colin Mockery and Ryan Stiles were guesting on the show! ...
Oh, that Colin ...

Those two were regulars; indeed, they appeared almost every week. There weren't really that many Brits on it. The best of the Brits who did appear, in my opinion, was Tony Slattery.

As for Monty Python...meh. I've never found it particularly amusing.