…is mostly a bit shite, IMO.

been sat at home for the last two days feeling ill and sorry for myself and as such have had some time to peruse iPlayer…

only decent things to have come from BBC Comedy recently is Detectorists and People Just Doing Nothing (which i think the BBC snapped up after seeing the stuff on youtube.

clicked on Crims the other night. nicely stereotyped black man/crim. lame arsed jokes. not funny.

the re-hash of Open All Hours just strikes me as sad and desperate. never found the originals that amusing (not a touch on Porridge) and the rehashed series doesn’t even raise a smile from me.

Count Arthur Strong looks like it belongs on CBBC. who writes this shit? or more to the point who gives it the go-ahead?

and that Miranda bird…. other than her appearance, i find it difficult to find anything funny about it. i put her in the same catergory as that Ruth woman from the Castle prog… that catergory being “woman i want to punch”.

They haven’t made a funny comedy since blackadder.

Detectorists I liked.
Cuckoo only thing I saw that was mildly amusing .
Last thing rick mayall did with big guy from cuckoo I caught an episode of and laughed.

You think thats bad? Have you ever listened to the recent ‘comedy’ on Radio 4? Sweet baby Jesus and the orphans! Its absolutely dire! Its like some ghetto for middle class, middle England, drama graduates, who wouldn’t know genuine humour if it donned a pair of DM’s and kicked the living shit out of them. Which, coincidentally, is what you’ll want to do to them when you listen to it

The Detectorists was ace. As is The Life of Rock with Brian Pern

W1 A I wouldn’t classify as Comedy but they do, it’s quite good in a “Dear God that’s just what it’s like at Work” kinda way..

I did have a giggle at Mrs Browns Boys Christmas specials.
The last series was poor but the specials were funny IMO.

Count Arthur Strong looks like it belongs on CBBC. who writes this shit?

Agreed. Utter tosh. Incredibly (co)written by the same man as Father Ted!

He also did The Walshes recently, which I really enjoyed.

The funniest proper comedy I’ve seen in recent memory was Holy Flying Circus. Quite enjoying Rick and Morty as recommended on here.

Miranda was never comedy, and is now finished innit? so that makes it “not new”

Only funny thing I’ve found recently is 8 out of 10 cats does countdown, but that’s not BBC, and still funny despite the annoying berk whose show it is.

wrecker – Member

They haven’t made a funny comedy since blackadder.

Disagree there.

Fast Show
Catterick
Monkey Dust
Big Train

But mostly I never understood how ‘How Not to Live Your Life’ wasn’t massive. One of the best comedies of the last 20 years IMO.

Uncle was it was ok. Just cos the kid was good

never got the thing about Mrs Brown. never found men dressing up as women that funny, and it seems to me that is what it relies upon to get the gags in.

I did have a giggle at Mrs Browns Boys Christmas specials.

I think somebody needs to go and sit in the corner, and have a long think about what it is they’ve just said

Bring back How not to live your life.

House of fools is ok.

I think somebody needs to go and sit in the corner, and log off the Internetz, look in the mirror then have a long think about what it is they’ve just said

FIFY (for added effect)

😆

House of Fools has had it’s funny moments (if you like Vic and Bob).

I think comedy is very much like music – all the new, fresh, inventive stuff was done in the 70s and 80s. Everything now just seems like a re-hash of what has gone before.

Early Doors was also very good.

i like it when they don’t try and draw out a series for the sake of it. short and sweet is best, IMO.

If you didn’t really like Open all Hours it’s pretty unlikely you’ll like the new ones – I enjoy them, I don’t really laugh at it though – it’s like hearing a joke you’ve heard before told by a really old and dear friend.

I have to admit I struggle with BBC sit-coms – they’re all middle of the road, nicey nicey stuff now – they’ve done some great stuff in the past, Porridge, Only Fools, Bottom, the Young Ones, The Fast Show, The Office, Allo Allo, Two Pints, Yes Minister – these days all the characters seem to have to be boring, middle aged, middle class, middle England.

Russell Howard’s good news is great, but not a sit-com of course and being so topical good great the second time around.

Catterick is Vic and Bob’s ‘sitcom’

It’s on Youtube (with a lot of ‘How Not To Live Your Life’ too)

Harry and Paul is far funnier than The Fast Show. Also liked Lead Balloon.

The majority of BBC comedy is really really bad – both the mainstream stuff like Miranda and the attempted New Wave stuff like Bad Education, which is funny for a couple of episodes but doesn’t go anywhere.

As for R4 comedy, most is rubbish but ‘In and out of the kitchen’ by/with Miles Jupp is brilliant.

In and out of the kitchen

i find i get distracted by Russel Howard’s eyes too much and find his style too OTT and obvious most of the time. although i managed to sit through his 2014 review.

Try W1A if you like the comedy of cringe, as in “The Office”.

They’ve just done a late “Part 4” to the series and re-released the previous 3 on iPlayer catch-up…

Allegedley, it’s a bit close to how things DO actually happen inside the Beeb.

Yeah “Lead Ballon” was bloomin hilarious, however not a peek from Jack as to it’s return, like eva.. 🙁

How not to live your life was utterly brilliant. W1A is good in a cringey sort of way.

The Revolution Will Be Televised seems like it should be on Channel 4. Still quite entertaining though.

A new series of Lead Balloon and How Not To Live Your Life to go with the new series of Detectorists would be wonderful. Please?

I’ve given up listening to Radio 4 at the half 6 slot. Even the Friday night stuff other than the Now Show seems fairly dire. The only thing of note that really stood out in the past year was Cabin pressure and The Castle.

PJDN is closer to the style of the Office, IMO. and funnier, too! very creative and proper laugh out loud for me.

The problem with all of this, and I agree with the majority of the comments, stems from Commissioners at a Producer level or above.

There is plenty of talent around, but the main gripe is from writers who are not given enough of a platform, in order to hone their craft before being released into a larger format. This has been the case for a while.

Example : The Mighty Boosh ( love it or hate it ) was first put on in a late night slot, on a minor digital channel. When it started to pick up a following, and after about 2 seasons became hot property, THEN it was put into a prime time slot where it could shine. In other words, it was given a chance to fail, and also a chance to succeed.

Other comedies were the same. Red Dwarf and Blackadder immediately spring to mind, as they both took a little while to find their audience.

Many comedies are not given the chance, and they are pushed out straight onto the main stage, where if they don’t IMMEDIATELY get ratings, then they are axed. The execs are hungry for numbers, not talent, and are not prepared to take any risks, which may result in a few turkeys, before they find gold.

The same is true of Hollywood. Don’t like the same types of films playing in your local cinema, same problem.

Here’s an Interview with John Lloyd, who produced Blackadder, Not The Nine O’Clock News and Spitting Image.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/10803185/John-Lloyd-TV-comedy-is-a-disaster-which-could-sink-the-BBC.html

Anybody remember Happiness with Paul Whitehouse, that was good.

Aye plenty on TV and R4 that’s is puuuuuuure sheeeeeeite, including Dave-Lamb (come dine with me)-written stuff!

In and out of the kitchen S1 v good, S2 not so much.

Having watched Mrs Browns Boys Christmas Special – It would have been too rude to leave the room it didn’t even manage a smile, not one, there was no joke in there….

In my current experience of comedy output it’s designed not to offend people, or upset them, or challenge them. It’s only offensive to those with a sense of humour.

It’s symptomatic of the age we live in, which has spawned ball-less commissioning editors. Almost all of it is watered down asinine sh1te. Nothing edgy, challenging, satirical or just plan funny. I’m still waiting for a return to the halcyon days of The League of Gentleman, I’m Alan Partridge, Yes Minister, Black Adder, Red Dwarf and the like. What we have now is bilge like Citizen Khan and Mrs. Brown’s Boys. Even shows like Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You are shadows of their former selves … on that note has Paul Merton every said anything remotely amusing?

Count Arthur Strong is odd. The stage show from years ago was bloody brilliant, it then got toned down for radio and is utter shite on the telly.

Even shows like Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You are shadows of their former selves … on that note has Paul Merton every said anything remotely amusing?

Mock the week is still funny, but I think it only has a series or 2 left in it. HIGNFY died years ago, and you can just see that they don’t get the guests anymore. QI has also run for too long now. The comments by Lloyd are interesting, especially about the female comedians, because everytime I see them on these panel quiz shows they are generally outclassed by their male counterparts, I wonder if instead of tokenism they need to have a majority women some weeks, change the focus so there not just stuck on the sidelines of a male conversation between a bunch of lads.

Everything I see either seems sanitised or purile attempts at shocking, there just doesn’t seem a middle ground, little inteligence, no politics and nothing challenging. I wonder if changing viewing habits aren’t helping, where we used to “graze” on television for an evening, now we tend to pick shows to watch when we want. Shows need to hit big right from the start and get good reviews or chances are nobody will see them, they don’t get the same chance to grow an audience.

Most shows I watch now I tend to wait till a series has finished then download and mainline it over a weekend, gone are the days when 9pm thursday night on BBC2 was the comedy time, not helped by BBC scheduling, even hit shows like mock the week just seem all over the schedule and get dropped for weeks.

There are still some gems out there:

[video]http://youtube.com/watch?v=xUswv9I1Lzg[/video]

American comedy is quite good right now, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Rick and Morty and Brooklyn Nine Nine are all pretty good.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZuOKUrwoys[/video]

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6egiLH_ag8k[/video]

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWWNkQeOM9I[/video]

Funniest program on the Beeb…

“All at Sea” on CBeebies.
Storey lines are just brilliant.

Hebburn is pretty good as is the madcap House of Fools but yes overall it’s very poor.

Mrs Browns Boys shouldn’t be in the thread as it’s not even comedy.

South Park is still funny as well.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxzSK7-lmqo[/video]

There was an Irish comedy on BBC2 just before Christmas that was really funny (comparitively speaking, I suppose. It was no Blackadder!) Can’t remember the name of it though ” The Byrnes” something like that – proper comedy actors.Worth finding on iPlayer for the want of anything decent.
(How is SouthPark a “BBC comedy”?)

On R4 6.30 slot: John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme (similar kind of sketch comedy as Mitchell and Webb)

I can hardly wait for the new series of Bluestone 42
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2znQP5RQEM[/video]
What’s the first rule?

Well, seeing as BBC comedy is shit at the moment and actually thinking about it…. most UK comedy is currently shit, I thought I’d post a few alternatives.