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Favorite British humor tv shows
- Thread starter crazycat
- Start date
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I might have missed it, but I didn't see anyone mention Jeeves and Wooster. It's a little different from the Wodehouse books, but still HILARIOUS. Those of you who only know Hugh Laurie as House are in for a bit of a surprise (or in my case, I have a hard time seeing him in a more serious role). Hard to pick a favorite episode, but at the moment, I'm leaning towards the one about the stolen cow creamer...
But that is one of teh reasons why Fawlty Towers was so excellent - it stopped on a high - only 12 classic episodes ever made. We did not get bored with Basil and Sybil, and the others.
It's an interesting phenomenon - something that never happens in the US. Shows always run too long here.
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Hale & Pace yet. I watched the show when it aired on Arte in France back in the early 90s. The heavy metal Morris dancer skit was priceless.
Very true...it's not a comedy so I didn't mention it here, but one of my favorite shows of all time is The Prisoner. Yet another British show that was short-lived (only 17 episodes).
To be fair despite the predominantly Irish cast and the Irish writing team it was produced by a British company (Hat Trick) for a British network (Channel Four), so it can be justified to include it in a list of British comedies.
By the way, am I the only person here who finds Only Fools and Horses desperately unfunny?
Since I was aware that as others have said, it was UK financed and produced, then I'll return the favour
Nope. I've never found it very funny either.
Sometimes its good and sometimes its bad...like maybe the fantastic Only Fools and Horses should have stopped soon after Albert came onto the show, but then we would have missed out on the fantastic specials much later on...
No, I find it unfunny too, although not as unfunny as Last Of The Summer Wine.
Or too short. Many excellent programs never made it past the first season. Some didn't make it even that far. If it's a hit right off, they run it into the ground. If it doesn't find an audience right away, they pull the plug before it can. A few wise producers have decided to end a good show before it gets threadbare, but not many.
On Fawlty Towers, John Cleese had just so many themes he wanted to explore with the series. When he was done, it was done.
I completely forgot about Nathan Barley, shame they only made one series. It was about a twenty something gullible/stupid guerilla video maker slash DJ with a website called www.trashbat.co.ck (note the .co.ck!)
It was made by Chris Morris... same guy who did The Day Today another classic parody of Britains news, full of ridiculous news stories that some still some people watching somehow thought were real!.
It was made by Chris Morris... same guy who did The Day Today another classic parody of Britains news, full of ridiculous news stories that some still some people watching somehow thought were real!.
This thread inspired me and my wife to rent the Coupling DVD's. Saw season 1 last night, Brilliant stuff. I read that Steven Moffat (the writer) is currently writing the Tintin films for Speilburg. He did try and make a US version but the themes are a little edgy and risquey for puritanical mainstream US consumption so NBC canceled it after 4 un-shown episodes. Moffat said the interferance from the Network was un bearable
For anyone who doesn't mind adult themed humour, brilliant witty scripts delivered by first rate actors go and find the 4 coupling DVD's you will not be disappointed,
For anyone who doesn't mind adult themed humour, brilliant witty scripts delivered by first rate actors go and find the 4 coupling DVD's you will not be disappointed,
I like Last of the Summer Wine, but it really isn't funny, or at least it doesn't stay that way after you've seen a few episodes. They're all pretty similar, after all. And it probably has gone on far too long. I doubt anyone's watched it every week for all the years it's been running. But it's sweet, and the Yorkshire accents and countryside are lovely.
It's really hard to make a list of favourite British comedies because there are so many fine ones to choose from. A list of my favourite American comedies would be much simpler (M.A.S.H). But here we go. These are the ones that bear a lot of re-watching (I find that Fawlty Towers and The Young Ones don't):
Men Behaving Badly
Whose Line is it Anyway? (the US Drew Carrey version simply doesn't hold a candle. It looks rehearsed, and it's toothless because of the censorship. And the lack of Tony Slattery.)
Yes Minister
Yes Prime Minister
Do Goodnight Sweetheart and May to December count as comedies?
Red Dwarf
Black Books gets a vote just for the episode "Manny's First Day"
Game On (Matthew's speech about the evils of the outside!)
Chef (They had Lenny Henry do some adverts in character for New Zealand butter which were pretty good too.)
'Allo 'Allo (one of my best friends in high school used to do a great impression of the Englishman Who Thinks He Can Speak French. It always began "I was passing by the window ... " with the wrong vowel on "pass".
Oh, and I'll confess to a bit of a soft spot for To the Manor Born.
I find it a mixed bag. Some bits are good but I could never sit down and watch it for too long.
Also a big fan of;
Mighty Boosh [First series only, how on earth did they break the other series?]
Brasseye
Father Ted
How do you want me?
Office [UK only]
The Armando Iannucci Show
