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| André in Zuid-Afrika |
British comedyI strongly believe that the British produce the best comedy television in the world.Some of my favourites... Keeping up Appearances (with the brilliant Patricia Routledge) 
Absolutely Fabulous 
Fawlty Towers 
Allo Allo 
These are just a few of my favourites. Sadly, we don't see much of them on free-on-air channels here, and we missed out on the older ones due to a British televion boycott of South Africa from around 1977 to 1994. But luckily I have satellite, so I can watch BBC Prme!  And I have these and several others on DVD.
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| Pauline |
We've BBC1, BBC2, BBC Prime, BBC World and on flemish /dutch TV they have many british programmes as well.
The programme about Mrs Bucket is famous in Belgium, especially in Flanders I think. It's called another thing, not the title you've written. Maybe it's called Schone Schijn but I'm not sure. Probably Akoni will know it. |
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| André in Zuid-Afrika |
You're right, it's called Schone Schijn in Belgium. Is it dubbed into Flemish? |
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| Deborah |
I think British TV comedy has been, for the most part, pretty great for a lot of years. I don't have cable, so I can't get BBC America, but a number of programs are shown on PBS stations. These days, Ricky Gervais is my God of Comedy, and one of my local PBS stations is showing The Office. It's on the station that I don't get a very clear picture on, but it doesn't matter, as I've already seen both series and the Christmas specials on DVD. Since I don't get HBO, I can't watch Extras, but I've seen as much of it as is out on DVD (the first 6 episodes) and have seen lots of clips on youtube.
For anyone who hasn't seen this program, the title refers to people who work as extras in movies. Here are two of my favorite scenes from Extras: How do chat up a woman Darren's dinner date with Maggie |
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| Fredrik |
Mmmm, add "Little Britain" and "The League of Gentlemen" to the list of fantastic British comedy. It's so brilliant, how do they do it? | ||||||
| Pauline |
You've many channels!! Have you digital TV from the internet?
I know about this programme and the funny people on it like the man in love with the Prime Minister and the only gay in the village when all the other peple are gay as well. My sister is a fan of them  and sometimes for annoy us she answer something : yes, but no, but yes, but no ....
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| Loic |
Oh, you mean Sebastian! It is hilarious how the PM seems to be totally oblivious to his aide's infatuation. |
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| André in Zuid-Afrika |
And Men behaving badly. 
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| Loic |
How about the Blackadder Series? The chemistry between the ever more intelligent Blackadder and his increasingly stupid sidekick, Baldrick, never fails to generate mirth from the audiences. | ||||||
| Joanne |
Ooh, 'Allo 'Allo! I started watching that show when I was only 11. Good times!  I have series one, two, and three on DVD. The other series should have come out by now, right?
Well, I'm off to Amazon.com ... 
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| Lazar |
Blackadder is one of my favorites - I watched all four series a few years ago. In the first one, Blackadder was more of a Bean-esque fool, but I enjoyed how he became more intelligent later on. | ||||||
| Loic |
Which epoch of the Blackadder Series was your favourite? Mine was Blackadder as an army lieutenant during the Great War. I fondly remember an episode in which LTA Blackadder was asked to meet CPT Darling for a briefing. The lieutenant strode into the office and greeted the captain -perhaps too intimately- as 'Hullo, darling!', to which Captain Darling brusquely corrected, 'It's CAPTAIN Darling'. I didn't like Blackadder when he was a prince in the first series. He was a snivelling and cowardly specimen that does no justice to his character. I wonder if anyone has watched Indian-British productions such as Goodness Gracious Me as well as the Kumars at NO. 42. Sanjeev as the bachelor MC of his own talkshow at the Kumars is a particularly good laugh. Possibly the worst British comedy has to be Mind Your Language. Some of the jokes cracked were really lame. |
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| André in Zuid-Afrika |
Yep, series 4 and 5 are out! |
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| Lazar |
I think my favorite would be the fourth one, because it managed to be emotionally compelling as well as really funny. The last episode actually had me holding back tears. 
I agree - I prefer it when he's more intelligent and cynical. By the way, has anybody here seen One Foot in the Grave? 
I don't belieeeve it! |
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| André in Zuid-Afrika |
One foot in the grave is another of my favourites.
It actually reminds me of Waiting for God. 
Click to see full size image |
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| Lazar |
Yeah, that was a good one too. |
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| Julian |
I don't think the PBS stations around LA and OC show The Office.  The ones I always come across whenever I'm flipping channels is Keeping Up Appearances (funny), Fawlty Towers (hilarious), Are You Being Served? (haven't seen too much of this, but what I've seen were hilarious), and As Time Goes By (which I can't seem to sit through).
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| Deborah |
[Disclaimer: I haven't even seen half of the episodes.] I liked Blackadder II and Blackadder the Third more than the other two, but I think I also saw more of those two series. I loved Hugh Laurie in the third series. 
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| Loic |
Hugh Laurie is a regular feature in Rowan Atkinson's sketch shows. Quite a number of them have been posted on youtube, in fact. Have you watched Fatal Beatings? Good lord, it's bloody hiliarious! | ||||||
| André in Zuid-Afrika |
Just watched a few episodes of Keeping up Appearences which reminded me of the dishy vicar in the series... 
Going to church with me, Uriel?
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| Uriel |
You'll have to show me a pic of the vic. I haven't heard of most of these shows, I'm afraid!
Are You being Served is freakin' hilarious, Julian, and what's even funnier is that most Brits can't put enough distance between themselves and that show -- they find it appallingly dated. But I piss my pants everytime the gay guy opens his mouth!
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| André in Zuid-Afrika |
Er..... I did.... 
Now concentrate.... 
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| Elaine |
Jeremy Gittins-- not bad. Looks better in man-of-the-cloth drag.
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| Uriel |
Hmm, not my type. 'Fraid you'll have to, uh, genuflect alone! | ||||||
| Walker |
Ricky Gervais is absolutely brilliant! I almost had a similar incident to his with my glass of beer when I watched that first clip. Slightly off-topic, but have you seen the American version of The Office? It's pretty far from the original but it's not that bad. Anyway, one of things that makes The Office so brilliant is that it's so human and real. Sometimes it almost gets uncomfortable to watch it. One thing I immediately recall from the American version that made me chuckle is when, The boss is alone in the lunch break room to get a cup of coffee. He hears that somebody's coming and freezes just as he's about to lift the kettle, puts on a smile and waits. When the door opens he unfreezes and lifts the kettle and says something like "hi, what's up!". Little details like that does quite a bit.
In your dreams! Both shows were aired here I watched them. Hilarious! Especially Goodness Gracious Me.
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| Deborah |
Oh, you poor thing!
I only saw half of one episode; I laughed a couple of times.
Sometimes it's almost unbearably uncomfortable. I had the same response when I saw "This Is Spinal Tap", when the band started having such rotten luck. I had to keep reminding myself that it was fiction. I asked a woman from England what she thought of "The Office" (the British one) and she said the cringe factor was too powerful, so she didn't like it. Walker, have you seen any of the podcasts with Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Carl (Karl?) Pilkington? I love the fact that Ricky Gervais is so open about being amused -- some comics seem to think they because they're funny, they shouldn't appear too entertained by other comics. |
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| Walker |
No, I haven't, I'm afraid. What a silly idea that you shouldn't appear too entertained by other people in your profession just because you are funny. Fame and recognition do rise above some people's heads. One should try not to let that happen, even if one is an insecure person who's finally received acknowledgent and is afraid that somebody'll take it away. |
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| Deborah |
Speaking of Hugh Laurie, last night I started watching the DVD of the first season of A Bit of Fry and Laurie, which I believe you recommended once, loic. I was only moderately entertained by the pilot, but the first and second shows of the regular season were very funny. I've always liked Hugh Laurie, but hadn't seen much of Stephen Fry. He's a master of innuendo. I only wish I always knew which British celebrities they were spoofing. Their style shows some Monty Python influences, but they remind me more of the early '60s satirical stage revue Beyond the Fringe, the album of which was one of my family's favorites. Here's one of my favorite bits so far (I've only just started the third show of the first season), and the theme is even appropriate to the forum: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZFD01r6ersw You can see lots of clips if you search for "fry and laurie" on youtube. |
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| Liz |
Katherine Tate Show forever! I love it! I know that she's not everyone's cup of tea, but I find her show brilliant. She does a great job in capturing a wide range of accents and types of people. I know it's ever so stereotypical here and there but what can we do? That's comedy after all.
I also like Monty Python, Faulty Towers, 'Allo, 'allo and so on. There's a long list of my favourites.[/b] |
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| Liz |
Katherine Tate Show forever! I love it! I know that she's not everyone's cup of tea, but I find her show brilliant. She does a great job in capturing a wide range of accents and types of people. I know it's ever so stereotypical here and there but what can we do? That's comedy after all.
I also like Monty Python, Faulty Towers, 'Allo, 'allo and so on. There's a long list of my favourites. |
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