Whats up with comedy these days???

[crazyfrog86]

This subject has kind of been addressed before in the thread 'Trounced by Mrs Bucket and Mr Meldrew?' But I thought I'd start a new thread about it anyway.

I agree the great British sitcom is indeed dead.

My parents are big comedy fans and my brother and me have been brought up on British classic comedy.

We have a huge collection of comedy videos and DVDs at home which spans 5 decades, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s. They include:

60s:
Steptoe and Son
Dad's Army
Hancocks Half Hour
On The Buses

70s:
Some Mothers do Ave Em
Rising Damp
George and Mildred
Doctor in the House
Are You Being Served

80s:
Yes Prime minister
Allo Allo
Open All Hours
Only Fools and Horses
Black Adder
Hi De Hi

90s:
The Brittas Empire
2 Point 4 Children
Goodnight Sweetheart
Men Behaving Badly
Keeping Up Appearances
One Foot in the Grave

2000:
My Family
The Worst Week Of My Life
Little Britain
Dinnerladies

We have quite a few others as well but those are some of them.

Moving away from the 2000 ones for a minute. In my opinion all of the other ones are very funny. Obviously some of them I like better than others but all of them are funny.

They are a lot better than most of the stuff we get these days. I think there are a few exceptions to this. Like the ones I have mentioned above such as My Family which I find very funny. I also quite like Not Going Out with Lee Mack in it.

There is also Outnumbered. Has anyone seen that? It's pure genius and the kids are so cute and funny ;D I really reccomend it.

But those older comedies are much better than most of the ones now days.

I don't see why they don't repeat some of them rather than showing some of the stuff they have now. I'm sure that people would find them much funnier.

Take that recent sitcom, for example, Parents of the Band. Did anyone see that? I thought it was terrible! For one thing I thought some of the acting was terrible and I just didn't see how any of it was funny. It had the occasional good line, that was about all.

Also I read a review about My Family before and it said something about the show not being very popular because it is more like a 70s sitcom.

But I don't think that's right, I think that people still want that kind of 70s style sitcom. Plus My Family must be popular because although the series have got shorter, the BBC does keep bringing it back.

So its either that or that the British public have just got an incredibly weird sense of humour these days.

I think British people have forgotten what a proper laugh is these days and how to have one.

So there you go, thanks for letting me rant about it.

P.S. I know I sound old with all my talk about 'these days' but I'm really not, I'm 22, lol. But I am a child of the 90s and like I said I was brought up on classic comedy. Thats what that'll do to you, lol.

P.P.S. I think I got the comedy decades right. But on some of them I wasn't completely sure and I did not check my facts. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

P.P.P.S. I also like some American comedies. I like M*A*S*H and I love Friends! Anyone else?

[sev29]

I'm trying to think if there's anything on TV the moment that really makes me laugh, & do you know what, there's only the re-run of The High Life, which is absolutely hysterical (if you haven't seen it you really must - it's another '90s comedy, on BBC4 on a Tuesday evening at 9pm).
Out of your list, I was only ever a Blackadder (& Brittas, obviously) fan. But a huge one - when we were teenagers my sister & I could word for word reenact some of the best scenes. Ooo, there was another good one with Penelope Keith, can't remember what it was called where she really reluctantly had to look after her grandchildren (theme tune was Tea for Two, if any one can remember what it was called?).

[sazzy]

I think there are still a few good comedies out there. My favourites at the moment are:
- The Green Green Grass
- Last Of The Summer Wine
- Outnumbered
- Not Going Out
- After You've Gone
- My Family
- Gavin and Stacey
- The IT Crowd
- The Big Bang Theory (not British I know but it is very funny)
- 2 Pints Of Larger And A Packet Of Crisps

Of course there are some really awful ones too and I agree with you Crazyfrog that Parents Of The Band is one series that I won't be buying the DVD box set of lol.
I agree with what was said above and think the 70s-90s were a golden era for British comedy with programmes such as Fawlty Towers, Only Fools and Horses and of course The Brittas Empire. But maybe there were also some truly awful sitcoms in the 70s-90s that we also chose to forget??
With the multi channel choice I do wonder if some of these new comedies that we are treated to on BBC3 would have made it to air when we just had 5 channels? Maybe we are just living in an era where money speaks louder than quality TV, where a few good comedies and dramas are crammed in between many more hours of cheaper big brother/redecorate my house and sell the contents of my attic in an auction/spy camera/celebrity fitness in the jungle and on ice type of programme.

Personally I think British comedy isn't dead... we just need to look a little harder to find it!

(Is the Penelope Keith sitcom that you were thinking about Sev29 called Next of Kin?? She also did another equally hilarious one called No Job For A Lady which was a favourite of mine)

[sev29]

Feb 11, 2009 15:10:01 GMT sazzy said:

(Is the Penelope Keith sitcom that you were thinking about Sev29 called Next of Kin?? She also did another equally hilarious one called No Job For A Lady which was a favourite of mine)

Yes! That's it. Thank you. I've never seen No Job for a Lady, but I'll look out for it - Penelope Keith was my favourite when I was a child, so I still have a fondness for anything she's in.

[catriona]

I TOTALLY agree with everything being said here, modern comedy (I mean after 2000) is just rubbish. Mostly crude stuff, toilet humour. I liked "dinnerladies" & "Gavin & Stacey" though, & "After You've Gone"'s alright as well. But my favourites are things like "Are You Being Served", "Waiting For God", "As Time Goes By", "A Fine Romance", "Just Good Friends" (wish they'd hurry up & bring out Series 3, been waiting for YEARS to find out what happened) & "Allo Allo". And this, of course, lol.

Sev, Penelope Keith's one of my favourites too, & "To The Manor Born" is my all-time favourite sitcom. I vaguely remember "Next of Kin", but I've looked it up on Amazon & it's not even mentioned. I've bought several older sitcoms recommended on other sites that aren't mentioned often ("Brush Strokes", "Three Up, Two Down" & "You Rang, M'Lord") & enjoyed them all. Modern comedy is total rubbish compared to the older things.

[mikey2001]

Yes, I also agree with the above - there doesn't seem to be any good sitcoms around at the moment (I think the only comedy show, if you can can it that, I watch these days is 'Have I Got News For You') 'Outnumbered' is very funny, I loved the 1st series especially! Also, I wish they would bring back 'Spitting Image' - with Chris Barrie's voice repertoire!