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Favorite British
Television Comedies
In the past
year or so I have discovered many great comedy programs from the
UK. Unfortunately, all my favorites are either only available
in PAL format (the UK standard) or only available for off-air
taping. But, if you have a multi-region DVD player such as the
Odyssey that I have, you are in business. My list of shows
I can watch over and over again follow this display of my current
three favorites:
Chewin'
The Fat
Take
the anarcic approach to sketch comedy of Monty Python,
throw in some aspects of the less refined years of SNL,
give it a very heavy Scotish accent and you've come about
half way to understanding what Chewin'
The Fat is about. This is a sketch series with recurring
characters and themes, but it goes far beyond that. Broadcast
late at night, it features mothers bragging about their
14 year old son's starting to masterbate, an old woman
obsessed with memories of being constantly shagged while
her husband was away at World War II, the crew of The
Perl Necklace — a small boat sailing the gizm seas
— and many others. It is rude, crude, and the most
fun I have had watching television for a long time.
There
are currently three 6-episode series available and two
live shows, all on DVD.
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Father
Ted
Father
Ted Crilly has been exiled to Craggy Island because of
some missing — I swear the money was just resting
in my personal account — church funds. Along with
Father Jack (Feck... Arse... Girls... Drink!) and the
clueless Father Dougal, they live in the parochial house
attended to by Mrs. Doyle.
This
is a series from BBC Ireland but is brilliantly written
so that anyone, especially Catholics, can recognize the
characters and situations. This is a truly gentle and
funny show, sadly only three series long (about 20 episodes)
due to the death of the star the day after filming the
third series.
These
areavailable in the US on DVD from Amazon.com as well
as the PAL version.
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Men Behaving
Badly
No,
this isn't that horribly tamed and bastardized show back
a few years with Rob Shneider. This is the original that
ran throughoutthe '90s. It is unashamedly low brow about
two very uncouth 30 something guys living together and
their trials and romances.
This
is a great comedy, and unlike some of the British comedies,
there are actually quite a lot of episodes to see.
To
describe the humor as juvenile is doing this a disservice.
It is, but it is so much more clever than that. Tony,
Neil Morressey, is wonderful. His attempts to woo the
new upstairs neighbor are great. This is a well scripted
show. That means that you need to pay attention to it
it order to understand it.
All
the shows are available in PAL except the 2000 miniseries.
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 There
have been several recent series that have made it over here via
BBC America, some on local PBS stations, and a small number on
Comedy Central.
One that I
poo-pooed when I first saw it (and now regret not seeing every
episode) is Last of the Summer Wine. This is the original
show about nothing. Forget Seinfield. He copied the format of
just following aroung three or four main characters as they live
their daily lives. It has been on steadily for about 30 years.
And since
the majority of the cast started out in their 50s, they have even
had to work in the deaths of several characters, including one
of the main characters, Compo (the scruffy one on the left), during
the 2000 season. Find it and watch it.
 Another
funny show is the sketch comedy program, Goodness Gracious
Me. The all Asian cast (meaning Asian Indian, not Asian Pacific)
is hilarious in their un-PC slams at British life and living as
an Asian in Britain pieces. They find humor in a lot of situations
that might not be funny except for the makeup of the cast(e).
The cable
channel Trio showed a few of their shows in June 2003 prompting
me to order all three series from Amazon.co.ulk.
Assuming that
you don't need to have everything totally politically correct,
and that you can accept people of any ethnicity making fun of
themselves as wll as others, then you should really enjoy this
show.
I am also
very fond of the following shows. Some are more recent and some
are from as much as 20+ years ago:
- Black
Books
- Coupling
- Red
Dwarf
- Waiting
For God
- The
League of Gentlemen
- The
Goodies
- Bless
Me, Father
- Thin
Blue Line
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- The
Fast Show (known as
"Brilliant!" in the US)
-
Harry Enfield and Chums
- Absolutely
Fabulous
- The
Young Ones
- Black
Adder (all of them)
- Mulberry
- Dad's
Army
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- 'Allo,
'Allo
- Dave
Allen At Large
- Butterflies
- One
Foot in the Grave
- The
Good Life
- To
The Manor Born
- The
Brittas Empire
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Want to
see an even bigger list of British comedy
television programmes?
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