News of the comedian's death saw me mentally ticking off all the TV comedy shows I used to look forward to. I was once a regular viewer of Have I Got News for You, which I now find repellently smug. I'll even admit to having enjoyed the first few series of QI - yes, I actually used to watch a programme presented by Stephen Fry without wanting to throw up! And Never Mind the Buzzcocks was, at worst, mildly diverting. I even (God help me) watched the first few series of the "comedy" sports panel show They Think It's All Over when it began airing in the mid-'90s, with Gary Lineker and David Gower as team captains, and the rather annoying Nick Hancock as presenter (another "whatever happened to...?" candidate).
I did watch one episode of the HIGNFY clone, Mock the Week. It had Frankie Boyle on it. I never returned. The same with the Sky They Think It's All Over rip-off, A League of Their Own, which, until it finished its lengthy run last year, was fronted by the fat pseudo-comedian James Corden: it was nauseating. There's apparently something called 8 out of 10 Cats, hosted by tax-dodging smut-meister, Jimmy Carr, but I'd rather boil and eat my own testicles than watch it. Others come and go, but I really can't be bothered.
I suspect readers of a similar age either never watched this sort of programme to start with, or have, like me, given up bothering? Please correct me if I'm wrong.
As for comedy sketch-shows, the only ones I've genuinely enjoyed since the demise of The Fast Show have been Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse's Harry and Paul, which started on BBC1, moved to BBC2, and eems to have disappeared altogether following a fourth series in 2012 - and The Armstrong and Miller Show, which ended in December 2010. The last sitcom I truly roared with laughter at was The IT Crowd, which also ended in 2010...but I'll admit to having initially enjoyed the cosy comedy of Miranda, which had well and truly run out of steam by the time of its demise in January 2015, and I still occasionally enjoy the very traditional Not Going Out, because the jokes come thick and fast and Lee Mack's a hoot (but I wish they could persuade Tim Vine to return). I suppose there's always Mitchell and Webb, who have produced some very funny sketches - but they don't make me laugh enough for me to overcome my aversion to them as people.
Has TV comedy changed - or is it me? I turn 65 next month, so I'm evidently no longer part of the target audience for hip young TV comedy scriptwriters and performers. Fair enough - that certainly appears to be the case with modern comedy films, which seem to be aimed at educationally subnormal 17-year olds, and with stand-up comedy acts, which simply mystify me when I catch them on those dreadful BBC showcase programmes ("Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the incredibly funny...etc."). I also presume that, as with TV drama, comedy has fragmented across a range of digital platforms - maybe there's a wealth of funtastic material out there on the web or available on TV via Netflix or Amazon Prime. But I doubt it.
As for the sort of TV comedy panel shows I used to be able to tolerate, perhaps my political attitudes have hardened to such a degree that the occasional mildly amusing jest is no longer sufficient recompense for being hectored by smug left-wing virtue-signallers who evidently despise my values and attitudes. Perhaps I can no longer stand their badinage because they're views are so boringly, terminally mainstream - after all, Ian Hislop and Sandi Toksvig are about as safe and Establishment as it gets, sneering and poking fun at the unenlightened hoi polloi. What's remotely funny about that?
I did see something genuinely funny on TV last night - an advert for Wharburton's by a truly great comic writer and performer, Peter Kay:
Well, you know why, Scott, don't you. We are the Oldies. Humour has moved on, and we don't Get It. They are not writing for us any more. In the same way, M & S are not making clothes for me and my ilk any more. And why do they persist in putting elastane in their vests? I won't continue with this rant though I could. At length.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, Helen, I wouldn't watch or listen to any comedy written specifically for my age-group, just as I wouldn't willingly watch any modern American comedy film, because they mostly seem to be aimed at the 12-21 age group, as well as adults who are educationally subnormal and emotionally retarded. We just watched Airplane! en famille - a 40-year age span - and all laughed like drains. And, given that they feature many of the same performers now as they did when they started, I should find the likes of HIGNFY and QI as enjoyable as I did in their early days - I'm not aware that my sense of humour has changed. Since I posted this, I've consulted a random selection of young people (well, one to be exact) who reported that, with a few exceptions, comedy isn't exactly experiencing a Golden Age.
DeleteI need to add "The Thick Of It" to the list of successful comedy programmes of relatively recent vintage - despite the presence of Chris Addison - and that ended five long years ago.
I hadn't seem the warburton commercial before, first class. Thank you. Peter Kay is tip-top, just look at Car Share.
ReplyDeleteDamn - how could I forget "Car Share", one of the greatest sitcoms ever? Kay's a genius.
DeleteI used to thoroughly enjoy Have I Got News For You, but it's now so bloody predictable, endlessly left wing and, as you say, smug.
ReplyDeleteI don't tune into a comedy to be lectured, I would occasionally like to laugh.
If you think the Beeb's TV comedy is dire you should have a listen to the pc tosh on Radio 4.
Jeremy bloody Hardy, Marcus, Sandi; all of 'em so right on and self satisfied; and about as much fun as a prostate examination.
Still, there's always Dad's Army.
I try to avoid Radio 4 "comedy". Whenever I catch snippets of scripted comedy shows, it all sounds so desperate, so forced, it's all rather sad. As for your list, please add Mark Thomas ("comedian and activist" as the BBC describes him - as if there's any difference in their mind), and the truly execrable Mark Steel (another left-wing bore masquerading as a comic). AND WE PAY FOR THEM!!!
DeleteAt least the Eskimo Dwarf has decamped from Radio 4 with her little baby legs and irritating shrieks and constant references to her sexuality. Susan Calman is being groomed to fill the vacuum with her irritating Scottish vowels. They are both 4'11" apparently. It's all too cosy for words. Well, as long as they are having a good time....
ReplyDeleteThe 1830-1900 slot on R4 has been a disaster zone for years and shows no sign of getting better.
Susan Calman ticks so many politically correct boxes, I initially suspected she was an invented character, like Alan Partridge. But no - Daddy, Sir Kenneth, was chancellor of Glasgow University, where she studied law after a private school education, and she practiced law (Freedom of Information and Data Protection) for seven years. She has appeared on 11 TV shows - mainly as presenter, chairman or team captain - in the last five years: 10 of those were BBC programmes, so, again, WE PAY FOR HER.
DeleteHave you tried Catastrophe?
ReplyDeletetack sharp dialogue, humour that takes no prisoners and (something you will like) very sweary.
all episodes available on All4, the channel 4 OTT.
No - thanks for the suggestion. I'll definitely give it a go.
DeleteCatastrophe definitely worth watching...very well written plus added bonus of Sharon Horgan.
DeleteHIGNFY went off the menu years ago...repetitive lefty smugness as did Qi but Mock the week used to be ok ...but even that has now gone to the dogs with deeply unfunny “comedians” like Nish Kumar.
Also try Man Down with Greg Davies.