So far I've blogged largely about football, music and food - probably 3 of my biggest passions in life. But I'm also a lover of comedy. Obviously there's a huge amount of hit and miss in terms of what hits our screens, but down the years there have been many programmes which have had me in stitches - some clever, some obvious, some slapstick, some crude. Frasier, Friends, and others are the obvious ones which I could watch over and over again. But here are some other shows which perhaps had a shorter shelf-life, but were nonetheless funny.
1. 'The Day Today'
The Day Today was essentially a spoof news programme, parodying the ever-increasingly serious and uber-professional world of news broadcasting. Created by Chris Morris and Armando Ianucci in 1994, it contained a whole gamut of mini-characters - including a certain Alan Partridge, who would go on to much bigger and better things. Each episode would contain all sorts of crazy news stories - such as the Queen and Prime-Minister getting into a punch up - and each story was brought to life by the brilliant cast of reporters. One character who really tickled me every time was the hapless economics reporter, Peter O'Hanrahanrahan, played by Patrick Marber. His relationship with the news anchor - played by Chris Morris - was obviously very fractured, with Morris regularly lambasting his reported for factual inaccuracies in his pieces to camera. Watching him squirm was always great fun! Here's one of his best bits:
2. This Morning With Richard Not Judy
TMWRNJ was a project which lasted for two series, fronted by comedians Stewart Lee and Richard Herring. The show comprised of sketches and studio based material, and contained some fantastic mini-characters, such as The Curious Orange, Nostradamus and his horse David Collins, and Histor - the history teaching pirate crow! The dynamic of the hosts really worked, and I used to rush home from church to catch each Sunday lunch-time show with my brother! Here are couple of my favourite clips:
3. Garth Marenghi's Darkplace
I discovered this show quite by accident whilst at a friend's house for a bit of a gathering. We were just channel hopping really while other people were chatting away, and we stumbled across this show and were transfixed, confused, and very, very amused. It's very hard to explain - it's probably easiest if you just read the wiki entry at the link above, and then enjoy the clip below!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pQXGId_Oe4&has_verified=1
4. People Like Us
This is my favourite I think. Brilliant, brilliant tv. A subtle mockumentary which followed 'ordinary' people around in several key professions (one per episode) in order to give a flavour of what it's like to live a day in their shoes. The hapless, bumbling interviewer, Roy Mallard, almost never appears on camera, adding to the genius of the show. The rather sad thing about this though is that the show's invisible star, Chris Langham, went on to be locked up in real life for some rather unsavoury business. Nevertheless, it seems he's moved on now, and it shouldn't detract from the absolute genius of this programme. All of the shows are available to watch on youtube, I'm delighted to say! I've linked one below...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yibo8iB7VEM&has_verified=1
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