12-03-2006, 11:04 AM
We're avid consumers of ordering new British comedies from Amazon UK with a slight tilt towards what I suppose was once called alternative comedy. I thought I'd share a couple with you.
We really liked two shows that both feature Robert Webb, Peep Show and The Smoking Room.
We're on the third season of Peep Show, following the misfortunes of two male 20-something flat-sharers in an anonymous looking tower-block in Croydon.
http//www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/P/peep_show/
One of the flat-mates is Jeremy, irresponsible, flaky, treacherous, fancies himself a bit of a musician, hangs out with other disreputable characters (such as a guy who finds crack cocaine "quite moreish") and chases after, usually equally flaky young women.
His flatmate Mark is conservative, overly-interested in the Second World War, likes nothing better than watching Newsnight or a day in with The Sunday Times, but is painfully aware of his own stuffiness and fancies the hell out of his co-worker Sophie.
Both flatmates need each other in a wierd way. Jeremy needs Mark to pay the rent and occasionally keep him grounded. Mark needs Jeremy to help loosen him up occasionally.
This is much more than an Odd Couple for the new millenium. For one thing Peep Show is quite ribald, exploring areas few comedies would go to. It's also very contemporary and often creates quite bizarre scenarios.
It also uses the interesting technique where you hear constantly hear the characters thoughts, often with the sort of funny honesty many of of us think but would never dare say.
I know that Peep Show also available on N American DVD.
Smoking Room,
http//www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/smokingroom/
which has now also shown up on BBC Canada, features regular characters and workmates popping in and out of a smoking room in a company where we never quite determine its purpose.
The characters are not friends and barely put up with one another, for the common goal of smoking or shirking. There's a wide range of characters from a foul-mouthed, rough ageing security guard who nevertheless has a soft spot for all things Disney, to the middle-aged office harpy (played brilliant by Paula 'Man About The House' Wilcox) to a young shirker in denial about his bi-sexuality etc. What could be a pedestrian concept is brought to life by great scripts, believable characters and superb acting. It shows that you can still do great comedy with very little flash.
Smoking Room apparently had encountered controversy at the BBC because the characters smoke, which shows what an increasingly politically correct place the UK is becoming. As a result it languished in the BBC 3 ghetto for awhile but is now being also shown on BBC 2.
Despite strong reccommendations from like-minded comedy friends in Britain, we were less impressed with The Green Wing - sit com in a hospital (speaking of overly flashy, the fast-slow filming techniques really grated on me after awhile) and The Catherine Tate Show - sketch comedy that ranges from the not-bad to simply awful.
Both are apparently hugely popular however, so it's all a matter of personal taste I suppose.
We've also been really getting into the Australian comedy Kath And Kim. Mother and daughter aspiring middle class white trash in a suburb of Melbourne. Sort of a Royle Family in a big house with lots of sunshine, except the characters constantly have lots of money and no taste. We couldn't wait for new DVDs from the UK and ordered the third series from Oz.
We really liked two shows that both feature Robert Webb, Peep Show and The Smoking Room.
We're on the third season of Peep Show, following the misfortunes of two male 20-something flat-sharers in an anonymous looking tower-block in Croydon.
http//www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/P/peep_show/
One of the flat-mates is Jeremy, irresponsible, flaky, treacherous, fancies himself a bit of a musician, hangs out with other disreputable characters (such as a guy who finds crack cocaine "quite moreish") and chases after, usually equally flaky young women.
His flatmate Mark is conservative, overly-interested in the Second World War, likes nothing better than watching Newsnight or a day in with The Sunday Times, but is painfully aware of his own stuffiness and fancies the hell out of his co-worker Sophie.
Both flatmates need each other in a wierd way. Jeremy needs Mark to pay the rent and occasionally keep him grounded. Mark needs Jeremy to help loosen him up occasionally.
This is much more than an Odd Couple for the new millenium. For one thing Peep Show is quite ribald, exploring areas few comedies would go to. It's also very contemporary and often creates quite bizarre scenarios.
It also uses the interesting technique where you hear constantly hear the characters thoughts, often with the sort of funny honesty many of of us think but would never dare say.
I know that Peep Show also available on N American DVD.
Smoking Room,
http//www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/smokingroom/
which has now also shown up on BBC Canada, features regular characters and workmates popping in and out of a smoking room in a company where we never quite determine its purpose.
The characters are not friends and barely put up with one another, for the common goal of smoking or shirking. There's a wide range of characters from a foul-mouthed, rough ageing security guard who nevertheless has a soft spot for all things Disney, to the middle-aged office harpy (played brilliant by Paula 'Man About The House' Wilcox) to a young shirker in denial about his bi-sexuality etc. What could be a pedestrian concept is brought to life by great scripts, believable characters and superb acting. It shows that you can still do great comedy with very little flash.
Smoking Room apparently had encountered controversy at the BBC because the characters smoke, which shows what an increasingly politically correct place the UK is becoming. As a result it languished in the BBC 3 ghetto for awhile but is now being also shown on BBC 2.
Despite strong reccommendations from like-minded comedy friends in Britain, we were less impressed with The Green Wing - sit com in a hospital (speaking of overly flashy, the fast-slow filming techniques really grated on me after awhile) and The Catherine Tate Show - sketch comedy that ranges from the not-bad to simply awful.
Both are apparently hugely popular however, so it's all a matter of personal taste I suppose.
We've also been really getting into the Australian comedy Kath And Kim. Mother and daughter aspiring middle class white trash in a suburb of Melbourne. Sort of a Royle Family in a big house with lots of sunshine, except the characters constantly have lots of money and no taste. We couldn't wait for new DVDs from the UK and ordered the third series from Oz.