I spent last night in front of the tv for the first time in ages and ended up watching 5 comedy programmes back to back.
First up was The Mitchell and Webb Look which I thought was very,very weak indeed. Not a single laugh there. This was followed by Reeves and Mortimer's Shooting Stars show; same old same old but I never really did get them. At least it is marginally better without the creepy Matt wotsizzchopps - which brings me to little Britain. Funny the first time you see it but when you watch it next you realise they are just regurgitating the same jokes week in week out (by the way, did you know that Little Britain was an area of Dickensian London referenced in Great Expectations among others?) Following this was 2 pints of lager and a packet of crisps please. Errr, why? Finally we had a programme called Miranda and I thought this wasn't all that bad. No vulgarity, no regional accents, just good humour (though maybe targeted at a non male audience). And what I really liked about the show was that they ended with "you have been watching...".
That just got the memories flooding back of all those old Croft and Perry classics;Dad's Army, Hi Di Hi, Oh Dr. Beeching. Incidentally, one of my colleagues on my Masters course was Michael Holland, son of Geoffrey Holland AKA Spike off Hi Di Hi. He was a very good tap dancer ISTR.
To sum up, I think the blame for the dearth of comic talent can be laid squarely at the door of the demise of variety. Just think of all the giants of comedy of the past; they all plied their trade in dirty northern workimg men's clubs and maybe getting a lucky break on Seaside Special or Opportunity Knocks. Unfortunately it no longer works like this. These days you have to get the approval of a small cabal of trendy self obsessed media toadies who wouldn't know a decent joke if it came up and slapped them in the face.
First up was The Mitchell and Webb Look which I thought was very,very weak indeed. Not a single laugh there. This was followed by Reeves and Mortimer's Shooting Stars show; same old same old but I never really did get them. At least it is marginally better without the creepy Matt wotsizzchopps - which brings me to little Britain. Funny the first time you see it but when you watch it next you realise they are just regurgitating the same jokes week in week out (by the way, did you know that Little Britain was an area of Dickensian London referenced in Great Expectations among others?) Following this was 2 pints of lager and a packet of crisps please. Errr, why? Finally we had a programme called Miranda and I thought this wasn't all that bad. No vulgarity, no regional accents, just good humour (though maybe targeted at a non male audience). And what I really liked about the show was that they ended with "you have been watching...".
That just got the memories flooding back of all those old Croft and Perry classics;Dad's Army, Hi Di Hi, Oh Dr. Beeching. Incidentally, one of my colleagues on my Masters course was Michael Holland, son of Geoffrey Holland AKA Spike off Hi Di Hi. He was a very good tap dancer ISTR.
To sum up, I think the blame for the dearth of comic talent can be laid squarely at the door of the demise of variety. Just think of all the giants of comedy of the past; they all plied their trade in dirty northern workimg men's clubs and maybe getting a lucky break on Seaside Special or Opportunity Knocks. Unfortunately it no longer works like this. These days you have to get the approval of a small cabal of trendy self obsessed media toadies who wouldn't know a decent joke if it came up and slapped them in the face.
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