What do people think of modern britsh comedies

[SpartakRB]

I was very supprised I liked come fly with me. I despised little britain with a passion, come fly with me is way funnier to me.

EDIT: Im also supprised at the hate the inbetweeners gets, I thought it was great. As a 25 year old it depicts exactly what i remember school being like, I can relate to it. Whereas when i see shiney happy rich high school kids on americain TV its like looking through a window into a strange and unknowable world.

So so true - Inbetweeners is about the only show of its type that actually comes close to depicting what life is like for a 16-18 year old guy. In fact sometimes it gets very close to resembling my teenage years! Oh, and its absolutely laugh-out-loud hilarious.

Other than that, Peep Show is a must-watch along with The Thick of It, The Office and a mention for Come Fly With Me.

There's probably more that I'm missing for sure. Have to say, in my opinion, modern British comedy tops most of the stuff from previous generations. I honestly just don't find some of the older stuff that funny at all.

 

[Jazoni89]

Well, instead of doing work I'm two weeks behind on, I've been watching Black Books all day.

That is my input, I feel no need to go further.

ahhhh...Black Books

My favourite comedy

Everyone who hasn't seen it seriously needs to...NOW!

 

[Evilpigeon]

There's some great british comedy, people have mentioned a lot of them for me, yet despite all that stuff like Catherine Tate and Little britain are still popular, there is a point where humour by repetition ceases to be funny and both programs passed it quite a while ago...

 

[VaudevillianVeteran]

I adore the older comedies as they pretty much never get old. But I'm also very fond of The IT Crowd and the Inbetweeners.

 

[Realitycrash]

I'll sum what I feel in two words. "Not Blackadder".

I may be misinterpreting this but, did you just say that you didn't like Blackadder?
You know, there's a special place in hell for folks like you.

If I ask you a question what you think about a topic, say "Halo 3" and you respond "Not Gears of War", how do you then feel about Halo 3?

Alright, I'll stop being cryptic. It means GoW > Halo 3. I.e "This is not Blackadder, and thus I don't give a rats-rear-end, because any British humor that came after Blackadder can suck an exhaust-pipe and die from asphyxiation".

Ah, then we are almost in perfect agreement then, Spaced came after Blackadder and it was pretty damn good, there was also Black Books, though Blackadder is near impossible to top.

EDIT: ooh and Coupling.

The only thing that can top Blackadder would be The Young Ones. I was going to say Monty Python, but they have done some shit and has a real hard time staying consistent. It's either AKoA (All Kinds of Awesome) or...Well, shit.

Meh, I liked The Young Ones but I think Blackadder is a clear winner there, but let's not go in to that cause we'll be here all day.
I assume we can at least agree that (with a rare exception or two) American Sitcoms are shit and that the American version of Red Dwarf not happening is positive proof that not only does Dod exsist but he is also a wise and merciful lord

There are some pretty decent US-sitcoms. None I can think of right now that are running, though. Big Bang Theory might be an exception, but I am starting to get annoyed by the characters, which is never a good sign.
Drew Carey Show, now that stuff was gold.

Hence the (rare exception) disclaimer, there are a good few American sitcom that I like (none are still running though) but you can't deny that the ratio of good to bad is better for "Britcoms" than Ameri...coms, one thing that bugs me though, why do americans feel the need to make their own version of everything?
They pretty much always miss the point of the origional, case in point the American version of Red Dwarf the very nearly happened.

Also another post-Blackadder sitcom that is fucking brilliant, One Foot in the Grave.

Haha, the US version of Doctor Who. I dread watching that. And as for the ratio..Might be speaking out of my ass now, but isn't it because there are far fewer britcoms?

There may be, but that doesn't change the fact that 8/10 "britcoms" are good while about 6/10 are p[assable at best with only about 2 - 3 out of those six being actually good and less than one opf the remainder won't be milked dry and ran long after it's lost what m,ade it good to begin with.

British comedies are like Gourmet quizine, small portions of something truly decadant, Americoms on the other hand are like fast food, you can eat it and even enjoy it, but you'll soon get sick of it.

I just checked out One foot in the Grave. It's decent, from the first glance, but sort of lacks what made Blackadder so funny: That everyone in the world is a complete moron except Blackadder himself.

 

[Cerdog]

Peep Show is arguably funnier than programmes like Fawlty Towers (and I say that as a big fan of the latter). Other shows like The Inbetweeners, Misfits (if you can call it a comedy), How Not To Live Your Life, The IT Crowd and Gavin And Stacey are great too. However, there are a decent few mediocre ones as well (as you would expect from anything really.

 

[moretimethansense]

I'll sum what I feel in two words. "Not Blackadder".

I may be misinterpreting this but, did you just say that you didn't like Blackadder?
You know, there's a special place in hell for folks like you.

If I ask you a question what you think about a topic, say "Halo 3" and you respond "Not Gears of War", how do you then feel about Halo 3?

Alright, I'll stop being cryptic. It means GoW > Halo 3. I.e "This is not Blackadder, and thus I don't give a rats-rear-end, because any British humor that came after Blackadder can suck an exhaust-pipe and die from asphyxiation".

Ah, then we are almost in perfect agreement then, Spaced came after Blackadder and it was pretty damn good, there was also Black Books, though Blackadder is near impossible to top.

EDIT: ooh and Coupling.

The only thing that can top Blackadder would be The Young Ones. I was going to say Monty Python, but they have done some shit and has a real hard time staying consistent. It's either AKoA (All Kinds of Awesome) or...Well, shit.

Meh, I liked The Young Ones but I think Blackadder is a clear winner there, but let's not go in to that cause we'll be here all day.
I assume we can at least agree that (with a rare exception or two) American Sitcoms are shit and that the American version of Red Dwarf not happening is positive proof that not only does Dod exsist but he is also a wise and merciful lord

There are some pretty decent US-sitcoms. None I can think of right now that are running, though. Big Bang Theory might be an exception, but I am starting to get annoyed by the characters, which is never a good sign.
Drew Carey Show, now that stuff was gold.

Hence the (rare exception) disclaimer, there are a good few American sitcom that I like (none are still running though) but you can't deny that the ratio of good to bad is better for "Britcoms" than Ameri...coms, one thing that bugs me though, why do americans feel the need to make their own version of everything?
They pretty much always miss the point of the origional, case in point the American version of Red Dwarf the very nearly happened.

Also another post-Blackadder sitcom that is fucking brilliant, One Foot in the Grave.

Haha, the US version of Doctor Who. I dread watching that. And as for the ratio..Might be speaking out of my ass now, but isn't it because there are far fewer britcoms?

There may be, but that doesn't change the fact that 8/10 "britcoms" are good while about 6/10 are p[assable at best with only about 2 - 3 out of those six being actually good and less than one opf the remainder won't be milked dry and ran long after it's lost what m,ade it good to begin with.

British comedies are like Gourmet quizine, small portions of something truly decadant, Americoms on the other hand are like fast food, you can eat it and even enjoy it, but you'll soon get sick of it.

I just checked out One foot in the Grave. It's decent, from the first glance, but sort of lacks what made Blackadder so funny: That everyone in the world is a complete moron except Blackadder himself.

Give it a little more time, that basicly sums up One Foot, Everybody is absoulutly insane, rude AND stupid and they are all semmingly out to get old Victor.
If you watch for a while, it becomes obvious that Victor is a perfectly nice reasonable guy, at least till the universe decides to dump on him.
Granted you gon't get the magnificent bastardry of Bladders but it's a damn good series, pluis keep an eye out for the brick jokes and Checkoffs guns, they are executed masterfully.

 

[Realitycrash]

I'll sum what I feel in two words. "Not Blackadder".

I may be misinterpreting this but, did you just say that you didn't like Blackadder?
You know, there's a special place in hell for folks like you.

If I ask you a question what you think about a topic, say "Halo 3" and you respond "Not Gears of War", how do you then feel about Halo 3?

Alright, I'll stop being cryptic. It means GoW > Halo 3. I.e "This is not Blackadder, and thus I don't give a rats-rear-end, because any British humor that came after Blackadder can suck an exhaust-pipe and die from asphyxiation".

Ah, then we are almost in perfect agreement then, Spaced came after Blackadder and it was pretty damn good, there was also Black Books, though Blackadder is near impossible to top.

EDIT: ooh and Coupling.

The only thing that can top Blackadder would be The Young Ones. I was going to say Monty Python, but they have done some shit and has a real hard time staying consistent. It's either AKoA (All Kinds of Awesome) or...Well, shit.

Meh, I liked The Young Ones but I think Blackadder is a clear winner there, but let's not go in to that cause we'll be here all day.
I assume we can at least agree that (with a rare exception or two) American Sitcoms are shit and that the American version of Red Dwarf not happening is positive proof that not only does Dod exsist but he is also a wise and merciful lord

There are some pretty decent US-sitcoms. None I can think of right now that are running, though. Big Bang Theory might be an exception, but I am starting to get annoyed by the characters, which is never a good sign.
Drew Carey Show, now that stuff was gold.

Hence the (rare exception) disclaimer, there are a good few American sitcom that I like (none are still running though) but you can't deny that the ratio of good to bad is better for "Britcoms" than Ameri...coms, one thing that bugs me though, why do americans feel the need to make their own version of everything?
They pretty much always miss the point of the origional, case in point the American version of Red Dwarf the very nearly happened.

Also another post-Blackadder sitcom that is fucking brilliant, One Foot in the Grave.

Haha, the US version of Doctor Who. I dread watching that. And as for the ratio..Might be speaking out of my ass now, but isn't it because there are far fewer britcoms?

There may be, but that doesn't change the fact that 8/10 "britcoms" are good while about 6/10 are p[assable at best with only about 2 - 3 out of those six being actually good and less than one opf the remainder won't be milked dry and ran long after it's lost what m,ade it good to begin with.

British comedies are like Gourmet quizine, small portions of something truly decadant, Americoms on the other hand are like fast food, you can eat it and even enjoy it, but you'll soon get sick of it.

I just checked out One foot in the Grave. It's decent, from the first glance, but sort of lacks what made Blackadder so funny: That everyone in the world is a complete moron except Blackadder himself.

Give it a little more time, that basicly sums up One Foot, Everybody is absoulutly insane, rude AND stupid and they are all semmingly out to get old Victor.
If you watch for a while, it becomes obvious that Victor is a perfectly nice reasonable guy, at least till the universe decides to dump on him.
Granted you gon't get the magnificent bastardry of Bladders but it's a damn good series, pluis keep an eye out for the brick jokes and Checkoffs guns, they are executed masterfully.

Brick jokes?

 

[Optional Opinion]

I wouldn't class Inbetweeners as 'British Comedy', it's basically American Pie comes to England. I like it but it shouldn't be compared with Faulty Towers or The Monty Python Crew.
Inbetweeners and Misfits are aimed at teenagers and are more like dramas not sitcoms.

Black Books, IT Crowd, Peep Show would be more comparable to the old stuff.

I also like Mock the Week, Fast and Loose, Never Mind The Buzzwords, Have I Got News For You.

Lead Balloon was good as well, along with Outnumbered.

I can't really compare it to American comedies as they're not shown over here but I do watch American comedians and to be honest I can't understand this British and American humour everyone bangs on about, I just see them as funny.

Although I have been told Americans favour slapstick humour but as I said I don't know personally.

 

[D.C.]

The only britcom I follow since the likes of black books, spaced, and League of gentlemen were about is The IT crowd.
Most modern britcoms just seem to take normal stuff and label it as funny or overblow what is actually quite normal and try to shove it in your face too much. Though Peep show isnt half bad.

 

[Raziel_Likes_Souls]

It'll never get better than this.

 

[Spacewolf]

Brick jokes?

Somerthing set up at the start that later comes back, the joke version of checkovs gun

 

[DuctTapeJedi]

The IT Crowd is pretty funny, I really enjoy it, especially the anti-piracy ad:

You can't forget the epic saga that is FriendFace, either.

 

[moretimethansense]

I'll sum what I feel in two words. "Not Blackadder".

I may be misinterpreting this but, did you just say that you didn't like Blackadder?
You know, there's a special place in hell for folks like you.

If I ask you a question what you think about a topic, say "Halo 3" and you respond "Not Gears of War", how do you then feel about Halo 3?

Alright, I'll stop being cryptic. It means GoW > Halo 3. I.e "This is not Blackadder, and thus I don't give a rats-rear-end, because any British humor that came after Blackadder can suck an exhaust-pipe and die from asphyxiation".

Ah, then we are almost in perfect agreement then, Spaced came after Blackadder and it was pretty damn good, there was also Black Books, though Blackadder is near impossible to top.

EDIT: ooh and Coupling.

The only thing that can top Blackadder would be The Young Ones. I was going to say Monty Python, but they have done some shit and has a real hard time staying consistent. It's either AKoA (All Kinds of Awesome) or...Well, shit.

Meh, I liked The Young Ones but I think Blackadder is a clear winner there, but let's not go in to that cause we'll be here all day.
I assume we can at least agree that (with a rare exception or two) American Sitcoms are shit and that the American version of Red Dwarf not happening is positive proof that not only does Dod exsist but he is also a wise and merciful lord

There are some pretty decent US-sitcoms. None I can think of right now that are running, though. Big Bang Theory might be an exception, but I am starting to get annoyed by the characters, which is never a good sign.
Drew Carey Show, now that stuff was gold.

Hence the (rare exception) disclaimer, there are a good few American sitcom that I like (none are still running though) but you can't deny that the ratio of good to bad is better for "Britcoms" than Ameri...coms, one thing that bugs me though, why do americans feel the need to make their own version of everything?
They pretty much always miss the point of the origional, case in point the American version of Red Dwarf the very nearly happened.

Also another post-Blackadder sitcom that is fucking brilliant, One Foot in the Grave.

Haha, the US version of Doctor Who. I dread watching that. And as for the ratio..Might be speaking out of my ass now, but isn't it because there are far fewer britcoms?

There may be, but that doesn't change the fact that 8/10 "britcoms" are good while about 6/10 are p[assable at best with only about 2 - 3 out of those six being actually good and less than one opf the remainder won't be milked dry and ran long after it's lost what m,ade it good to begin with.

British comedies are like Gourmet quizine, small portions of something truly decadant, Americoms on the other hand are like fast food, you can eat it and even enjoy it, but you'll soon get sick of it.

I just checked out One foot in the Grave. It's decent, from the first glance, but sort of lacks what made Blackadder so funny: That everyone in the world is a complete moron except Blackadder himself.

Give it a little more time, that basicly sums up One Foot, Everybody is absoulutly insane, rude AND stupid and they are all semmingly out to get old Victor.
If you watch for a while, it becomes obvious that Victor is a perfectly nice reasonable guy, at least till the universe decides to dump on him.
Granted you gon't get the magnificent bastardry of Bladders but it's a damn good series, pluis keep an eye out for the brick jokes and Checkoffs guns, they are executed masterfully.

Brick jokes?

The...

Brick jokes?

Somerthing set up at the start that later comes back, the joke version of checkovs gun

Beaten to it.

 

[loc978]

Arrogant bullshit like this:

Is the reason British comedy is going stale.

Well... the BBC can just smeg right off then.

...the IT Crowd is pretty awesome, though.

 

[ultimateownage]

Why are you people saying something that is close to documentary levels of accuracy about teenagers is funny? It's not, it's just stupid idiots swearing a lot and talking about sex because 14 year olds think that stuff is cool.
O.T. British Comedy is brilliant. I see quite a few people on this thread who haven't watched any and just dismiss it for no good reason, which is silly because American Comedy is shite.

 

[Yankeedoodles]

I don't really know. My only experience with British comedy is Monty Python, half an episode of The Office and a few old episodes of Look Around You and Have You Been Served. I liked those shows so maybe I'll check the more modern stuff in the future.

 

[Yankeedoodles]

... because American Comedy is shite.

Says the person with a Sponge Bob avatar.

Edit: Though you're certainly right about being dismissive. People shouldn't be dismissing something that they haven't experienced. British comedy isn't all cross dressing and bungling cops (the popular perception of British humor in America). Though that was pretty awesome too.

 

[MRMIdAS2k]

I don't really know. My only experience with British comedy is Monty Python, half an episode of The Office and a few old episodes of Look Around You and Have You Been Served. I liked those shows so maybe I'll check the more modern stuff in the future.

 

[hutchy27]

So people always talk fondly of oldies like fawlty towers and blackadder but what do people think of the more modern ones like misfits and the inbetweeners? Especially americans as its closer to their sitcoms than the older comedies.

I like Misfits, Come fly with me, IT Crowd and a lot more. I find them funny and enjoyable plus I'm British! I don't really watch american comedy as they normally have cheap jokes. I do like Family Guy, American Dad and the Cleveland Show however.