Comedy

[natalie_1982]

Following on from the question below, I watched some of the top 50 comedy sketches the other night. Now it''s probably my age but I just don't see the attraction with Blackadder or Monty Python. Anyone else agree or am I the only one who doesn't find them that funny? Yet, at every comedy award, show or list they are always near the top.

Which comedy shows / comedians do you just comeplety not see the attraction?

[lynbrown]

Monty Python, charlie chaplin and marx bros.

[LazyGun]

Age can definitely be a factor in what you consider funny, although for myself I think the Blackadder series were very funny indeed (with the possible exception of series 1).

Monty Python was always considered a bit hit and miss, even when it was originally shown...some sketches were extremely good, but in most shows, there were some parts that just werent very funny.

For myself, I could never see the funny side of "Brass Eye" (was the guys name Chris Morrison?), nor do I laugh much at Harry Hill. There was a recent trailer on for a new show by Armando Ianucci called Time Trumpet which I also thought looked pretty dire... I dont really think much to his comedy either :)

[Catso]

As in post below: Catherine Tate. And Jimmy Carr, that sitcom with Robert Lindsay, Little Britain (waits for boos...), The Office (ditto), Vicar of Dibley (ditto), I could go on, but I'd better not.

Whereas I do find Blackadder funny (even after 142 repeats on UK Gold) and some bits of Python funny (seems a bit dated and immature, somehow, now). But I can tell you, in its day, Python was a never-miss-it show and was always taked about the day after.

[CLOWN TICKLE]

love monty python and blackadder but cant stand any of the following

the office
alan partridge
the royle family
anything with ricky gervais
anything with steve coogan

[rhona_j]

Agree with Lazy Gun, some of the Monty Python sketches, are terrible, but others are sooo funny.

Can't stand Catherine Tate, I saw a few minutes of her last night while flicking channels, and I just couldn't see anything funny about it, maybe I've just not seen the funny sketches, but don't think I coould sit through half an hour of that!

[buttchester]

I don't understand The League of Gentlement. I've tried watching it several times but there was only one sketch that ever made me laugh (one where somebody was asking for a bottle of orange juice in an audition).

The rest of it creeps me out too much.

[chazza]

I never got Morcambe and Wise!
OR:
Last of the Summer Wine
Third Rock from the Sun
Catherine Tate

[Catso]

Was The League of Gentlemen supposed to be funny?Never found it funny, myself, but I did like watching it for the really wierd characters and stories.

Oh yes, Last of The Summer Wine: used to be quirkily funny, perhaps 20-30 years ago. It's just a drudge, now. How long can the living dead keep walking?

[Backdrifter]

Ah come on now Catso, you know League was supposed to be funny! I loved it but it has a lot to answer for - almost every other comedy show afterwards thought they too could do "dark" (but couldn't).

To answer natalie, yes I always found Python funny but it's a particular kind of humour that's a specific taste. Also, the reason it's always at or near the top of these polls is because, daft though this may seem to you and others now, it was literally groundbreaking at the time. No kidding - when it first came out in 1969, nothing remotely like it had been seen before. It broke almost every rule of accepted programme-making and quickly gained a huge reputation among people who either loved or hated it in equal measure. And programmes like that are often remembered and honoured partly for having that sort of impact.

I can't stand Little Britain, which is so derivative of League of Gentlemen and Reeves & Mortimer (but not in a good way); Two Pints of Lager; Titty Bang Bang; Nighty Night; Scrubs - all crap.

[Backdrifter]

Oh yeah, and that bloke in a neck brace - he's rotten. The definition of a one-trick pony.

[Mortartube]

I have to agree with CLOWN TICKLE's dislikes as being my own. Monty Python was hit & miss. I liked Blackadder, Two Ronnies etc. Of today I prefer standups to "Comedy shows". I don't think that there has really been any genuinely funny stuff on TV in the last decade or more.

The shows I have mentioned such as Blackadder or Two Ronnies used to produce genuine belly laughs when they were first shown, both at home and at friends houses. I can honestly say that I haven't heard belly laughs coming from anyone watching modern comedy shows.

The only exception was an audience with Harry Hill, who I normally don't think is that great, but that particular programme had me literally in tears of laughter.

Must be my advancing years.

[kev100]

The only funny shows for me are:

blackadder
only fools and horses
american series Cheers
two ronnies (but not the tedious stories like the phantom raspberry blower of london town)
laurel and hardy

the cringe making so called "comedies" I would list as

the royle family
are you being served
harry hill
anything with joe pasquale in it
alan partridge
anything with ricky gervais
anything with steve coogan

[NJOK]

90% of the Fast Show
Goodness Gracious Me
Nighty Night
Titty Bang Bang

Brass Eye was utter utter genius.

[Backdrifter]

NJOK assuming that's your sh*tlist - apart from the Fast Show, most of which I didn't mind, I'm with you. GGM was overrated tosh, Nighty Night hid behind this pathetic charade of being supposedly "so dark" (while not being even slightly funny), and as for Titty Bang Bang... one of the very worst programmes of ANY kind, comedy or otherwise, ever made - no question.

And again, I agree - Brass Eye was superb. Fancy some Clarky Cat?

[natalie_1982]

The others that spring to mind that make me want to turn the TV off are:
Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan generally actually, didn't even like him on Top Gear this week)
Bo Selecta
Sacha Baron-Cohen
Pub Landlord Al somebody
Lee Evans
Joe Pasquale
Eddie Izzard

Could sit and watch for hours:
Bill Bailey
Jimmy Carr
Catherine Tate
Ricky Gervais (stand up)
Robin Williams (stand up)
My name is Earl

[sp1814]

Jimmy Carr annoys me

I think that Steve Coogan is a one trick pony.

Jim Davidson however, makes me want to be violent.

Never understood the attraction of One Foot In The Grave, but then I have to admit that for a while I liked 'Keeping Up Appearances'.

Yeah...I know, I know.

[Shipstabber]

Vic Reeves - have never found anything he's done even remotely amusing.

Catherine Tate - Funny the first time but it's just the same jokes every week.

Little Britain - see above.

Monty Python - while I don't find it especially funny I can see that it must have been very original and funny in it's day.

Blackadder - funnier than a hyena that's just been appointed Professor of Hilarity at Oxford University on National Laugh Like a Drain Day. In a funny hat.

[Supernick]

Here's the controversial one.

I've never remotely liked, or found in the slightest bit funny

Fawlty Towers
Only Fools and Horses

don't ban me ;-)

[Ethel]

I can't stand Jimmy Carr or Ricky Gervais.

[rugeleyboy]

ones i hate..

my family
oooh betty.....whats his name??(frank spencer??)
brass eye
who's line is it anyway?? does that count
they think it's all over presenter nick hancock!
ben bloody elton
julian clairy
hugh and lawrie
catherine tate


as i have got older i am now laughing at but used to hate...

newman and baddiel...thats you that is!! classic
tony hancock
dudley moore and peter cook

these are just brill

morcambe and wise
2 ronnies....but not the drivel that was on last year!!
bernard manning
les dawson
open all hours
only fools