I cannot believe that someone doesn't find them funny.
― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 23:08 (twenty-one years ago) link
― kirsten k (kirsten), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 23:13 (twenty-one years ago) link
― chaki (chaki), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 23:36 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Lara (Lara), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 23:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
― I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 23:42 (twenty-one years ago) link
what was to dislike about them? i thought they were all pretty cute. i'd admit there's a slight tweeness to them all that tries to display them all as intensely loveable that may have been overbearing (kinda like Belle & Sebastian or Lemon Jelly perhaps), but the surreal quirks and/or ultimately human aspects of their characters prevailed
I mean, come on it's not a new or funny revelation that people working in creative media are often bums or egotistical slackers (like me) so why point it out as if it's the funniest thing in the world?
i dont think they were dragging it out that badly, i dont recall seeing a realsitic depiction of creative types struggling to get motivated and get work anywhere else in a British sitcom in recent times...its not even meant to be 'funny' as in 'look, you must laugh now' - just a well observed, well executed half-comment to me
That bit where the modern artist is explaining how he paints "aggression, pain, frustration" and it's presented as if it's a joke. Very funny - "modern art is, like, really weird man! Look, people covered in paint - they must be mad!". or "Wow! Clubbing is funny. Look people on drugs - they're really funny."
the "pain, fear, aggression" (or whatever it was) thing is funny because its a swift, well executed montage and because of Mark heap's facial expressions (his 'fear' face cracked me up).
the clubbing episode was VERY cliched, but still funny to see Mike in a tight pink leotard and Tracks (the Irish courier) having a flashback and buzzing his tits off to the sounds of roadworks, the telephone and a boiling kettle - yes VERY Human Traffic, but again well executed and just something to make you smile if not roll around on the floor like an epileptic having a fight with a 6ft feather duster
apologies to everyone for getting into another Spaced: Good/Bad thing, i'm sure there have been loads before and opinion is divided probably 50/50
anyone else think My Family is funny tho?!
― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 23:44 (twenty-one years ago) link
― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 23:48 (twenty-one years ago) link
― estela, Tuesday, 28 January 2003 23:59 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Lara (Lara), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:03 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Lara (Lara), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:04 (twenty-one years ago) link
I can feel my lip starting to curl again.
― estela, Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:14 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Lara (Lara), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:15 (twenty-one years ago) link
― estela, Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:19 (twenty-one years ago) link
― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
no-one liked the Alexei Sayle bits tho admittedly, probably not even Alexei Sayle
― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:22 (twenty-one years ago) link
― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:23 (twenty-one years ago) link
― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:24 (twenty-one years ago) link
― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
i dont think they were dragging it out that badly, i dont recall seeing a realsitic depiction of creative types struggling to get motivated and get work anywhere else in a British sitcom in recent times...its not even meant to be 'funny' as in 'look, you must laugh now' - just a well observed, well executed half-comment to meAnyone who's ever made fun of students has done this. Squaddies aren't funny.
Normally I'm a big fan of this kind of expressive comedy, and I think things like League of Gents has this down to a fine art but soz, it didn't float my boat - just made me cringe.
Okay, I must admit that the show did make me smile once in a while. There's one outtake of them singing "This Beat is Technotronic" which made me titter and some of the clubbing episode was fairly heartwarming. Just not enough in there to make me think of it as anything more than a lukewarm attempt at simplistic observational humour.
Cor I can't half rant about this programme can I? Apologies as well for the repetitiveness of the "Spaced" subject, but I'm just confused at myself for not getting it considering it gets so much good press and has a lot of actors whom I normally enjoy seeing in other programs. I do WANT to like it, really - I bought the DVD for chrissakes. Maybe series two is better?
― dog latin (dog latin), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dan I. (Dan I.), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
its hard to appreciate Dad's Army but i'd accept it was a good British sitcom even i probably never laughed at it once - same goes for Porridge, one of the best Uk sitcoms ever really, and i think i did laugh at it once or twice in the past...working under the view that british sitcoms in their traditional format are just utterly redundant these days
― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:34 (twenty-one years ago) link
NB their dimness was a constant whether they had just smoked pot or not.
― estela, Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
our reading of the characters remains quite different tho - i think they're all great, perhaps more cariactures than characters indeed, but this is not a problem
you might prefer series 2 altho i'm not sure i do (so maybe you would ;)
― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:40 (twenty-one years ago) link
I suppose you could call Blue Jam etc. creepy and unpleasant too but that impressed me in other ways.
― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:40 (twenty-one years ago) link
― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:43 (twenty-one years ago) link
― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:46 (twenty-one years ago) link
― dog latin (dog latin), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:48 (twenty-one years ago) link
― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:56 (twenty-one years ago) link
― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 00:57 (twenty-one years ago) link
PS I was well under 25 and an unemployed socialist drunkard so I can see no sociological basis for my dislike.
― estela, Wednesday, 29 January 2003 01:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
When I was 10 I didn't really understand that they were students, or at least I didn't understand anything about student life. I don't really know what I thought they were doing in that house.
As a burlesque parody of 80s students I think Rik was pretty good.
And then the was.. Mike.
― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 01:28 (twenty-one years ago) link
i suppose i was obssessed with the Young Ones as a kid, and Blackadder also. Vyv was my favourite character in the Young Ones - didnt find Mike funny at all as with Sayle's skits tho. perhaps its so embedded deep in my humour psyche that i refuse to consider the possibility its crap...i mean i could watch it now and not laugh or smile at all because i know it so well, but that dont make it a dud in my book.
i also loved Bottom up until the middle of the third series where it went beyond formulaic, beyond self-parody and into...nothing. by that point i'd realised Mayall and Edmondson together were one trick ponies and didnt care, but from then on, it just stopped being remotely funny.
― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 01:35 (twenty-one years ago) link
― David (David), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 01:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 01:39 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 09:18 (twenty-one years ago) link
― chaki (chaki), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 09:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
Sadly Eddie Murphy - i blame the ladyboys
― james (james), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 14:52 (twenty-one years ago) link
The Young Ones still holds up mostly, I think. A lot of people say it's dated, which is true in certain points (the references to Thatcher, etc) but there are loads of moments that are just plain silliness which continue to be enjoyable today - as Chaki said. Vyv going to Narnia, the whole thing in "Bambi" where the entire cast are amoebas or something which get eaten by an elephant, Rik writing to the lead singer of Echo & The Bunnymen because he thinks MPs are facists... and there are character-based lines which are just fantastic (Neil: "Open uuup, it's the piigs"). I love the exchanges between Rik, Vyv and Neil. But it's true those Alexei Sayle bits are pretty awful, except certain times when he's sticking to the script ("Oh no, some bastard broke your chair!" - the delivery of that is hilarious to me, for some reason).
Blackadder IV, though, is terrible drivel. They were repeating themselves by that point. The whole thing is just really lame.
― Chriddof (Chriddof), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 19:15 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 19:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 19:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
― chaki (chaki), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 20:22 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 21:15 (twenty-one years ago) link
-- Martin Skidmore"
Surely a keeper for the DVD boxed-set cover blurb?
― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 30 January 2003 00:24 (twenty-one years ago) link
― M Matos (M Matos), Thursday, 30 January 2003 00:49 (twenty-one years ago) link
― cozen (Cozen), Sunday, 16 January 2005 22:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― MY FAVOURITE LIGHTER IS CHEESEBURGER (trigonalmayhem), Sunday, 16 January 2005 22:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 27 September 2006 01:48 (seventeen years ago) link
― chaki (chaki), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 01:52 (seventeen years ago) link
― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 01:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― jim wentworth (wench), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 01:59 (seventeen years ago) link
resoundingly otm
― It Is Dangerous to Meme Inside (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 14 April 2021 15:16 (three years ago) link
Perhaps cheap to put her in this discussion since I May Destroy You is kind of a different thing, but Michaela Coel's Chewing Gum series is from the past ten years and very good.
I think a big problem tho is stand-up comedians, who are good at that, getting crammed into sitcoms or sketch shows, which are different things. Love Sarah Kendall but her show was terrible. Love James Acaster but the one episode he guested on for Josh Widdicombe's sitcom (nb I don't rate that guy as a stand up either) was horrible.
Re: panel shows, I always have to mention that these are far worse in every other European country whose tv I've been acquainted with. Like House of Games level lineups on prime time.
― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, 14 April 2021 15:28 (three years ago) link
I think a big problem tho is stand-up comedians, who are good at that, getting crammed into sitcoms or sketch shows,
And the rest. I got so used to seeing Romesh Ranganathan's face everywhere I almost expected to find him staring back at me from the mirror in the morning.
― Duncan Disorderly (Tom D.), Wednesday, 14 April 2021 18:16 (three years ago) link
Dr Oz going into "Wegner's" for a head of broccoli, some whole carrots, asparagus, fresh salsa and guac for his wife to make a "crudite" platter is legit pretty funny, however the click economy had completely smothered and stomped the joke before I even got to see the original.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Wednesday, 17 August 2022 17:32 (one year ago) link
It plays on a pretty tired trope for a start, while not really doing anything original with it.
This is the problem with so much sketch comedy. I suppose there was a germ of a funny idea in there somewhere. The clip takes that germ and rather than developing it just repeats it over and over for much too long (about 1:30 too long, in fact). It's the same dynamic that has drained much of the humor from sketch shows like SNL.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Wednesday, 17 August 2022 17:45 (one year ago) link
I saw a clip of Jimmy Fallon "interviewing" "Ron Burgundy" and it was some really bad "comedy"
― omar little, Friday, 1 September 2023 16:28 (nine months ago) link