zompist bboard

Qwynegold wrote:Does Queer as Folk count as a sitcom? I remember there being some bits in it that were kinda like a sitcom.

No, it's considered a drama. I think Davies' successor show Cucumber qualifies as "sitcom" though.

linguoboy wrote:

Qwynegold wrote:Does Queer as Folk count as a sitcom? I remember there being some bits in it that were kinda like a sitcom.

No, it's considered a drama.

Ah, I think it's like a mixture of drama and sitcom. Or maybe I'm just misremembering the show.

linguoboy wrote:I think Davies' successor show Cucumber qualifies as "sitcom" though.

Oh yeah, I've watched that one and Banana.

Qwynegold wrote:

linguoboy wrote:

Qwynegold wrote:Does Queer as Folk count as a sitcom? I remember there being some bits in it that were kinda like a sitcom.

No, it's considered a drama.

Ah, I think it's like a mixture of drama and sitcom. Or maybe I'm just misremembering the show.

It takes more than jokes to make something a "sitcom".

I grew up on a steady diet of British sitcoms. Red Dwarf, Are You Being Served?, Fawlty Towers, and several others. I'm pretty sure it's what contributed to my comparatively dry sense of humor that many of my peers have misunderstood over the years. I also loved many Canadian shows as a teen, most notably Kids in the Hall.

BTW, anyone who thinks The IT Crowd is "boring" is obviously suffering from a head injury.

linguoboy wrote:It takes more than jokes to make something a "sitcom".

I recall them getting in all sorts of weird, comedic situations all the time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Father Ted was a favourite of mine. I liked the absurdness of it all. It has been said on the Board before now, that I look a bit like Father Ted, which kind of figures.

The Office was another favourite. It was innovative in the way it resembled a reality show and in the way it made things funny and cringeworthy at the same time.

Car share (a.k.a Peter Kay's Car share) is my favourite of the current crop. This might not be available in other countries yet, but it's worth looking out for. Kay generally works as a stand-up comedian so this is new ground for him. It works though, as he looks very much like the supermarket manager he's meant to be. Co-star Sian Gibson looks like the promotions rep she's meant to be as well. There's some spot-on observational comedy too, that reminds me of my own car-sharing experiences.

Kay's a talented performer, but I haven't looked at him the same since Rufus Hound savaged him (and Northern comedians generally) on NMtB with the line, "If you like that sort of thing [i.e. gentle observational comedy], go and watch Peter Kay; he's brilliant at remembering." (In fact, Kay had worked as a stocker at Netto before he hit it big.)

I didn't know Kay had a supermarket background - that explain's a lot about the show.

I take Hound's point a bit - remembering is easier than creating from scratch, but there's still a lot of editing to be done. The writer need to pick out experiences from their memory that they can exaggerate for comic effect and then work them into the plot.

linguoboy wrote:Kay's a talented performer, but I haven't looked at him the same since Rufus Hound savaged him (and Northern comedians generally) on NMtB with the line, "If you like that sort of thing [i.e. gentle observational comedy], go and watch Peter Kay; he's brilliant at remembering." (In fact, Kay had worked as a stocker at Netto before he hit it big.)

He also worked at what used to be called the Manchester Evening News (M.E.N.) arena (now just called the Manchester Arena) as an usher, the place where his best-selling stand-up DVD was recorded.

masako wrote:I grew up on a steady diet of British sitcoms. Red Dwarf, Are You Being Served?, Fawlty Towers, and several others. I'm pretty sure it's what contributed to my comparatively dry sense of humor that many of my peers have misunderstood over the years. I also loved many Canadian shows as a teen, most notably Kids in the Hall.

BTW, anyone who thinks The IT Crowd is "boring" is obviously suffering from a head injury.

None of those have remotely dry humour. They're basically all slapstick! Not that they aren't good, but they're about as dry as a glass of water.

Nighty Night is a classic and darker than dark. It's about an awful woman defrauding people with cancer and it's beautiful.

Chewing Gum is quite recent and about a woman who gives up a life of evangelical Christianity because she wants to get laid and is the only sex comedy I can think of written by a woman in her twenties. It's fantastic and everyone should watch it. You may need subtitles if you're not tuned in to London accents.

Green Wing flip-flops between surreal sketch show and sitcom and is absolute perfection.

Gulliver wrote:

masako wrote:I grew up on a steady diet of British sitcoms. Red Dwarf, Are You Being Served?, Fawlty Towers, and several others. I'm pretty sure it's what contributed to my comparatively dry sense of humor that many of my peers have misunderstood over the years. I also loved many Canadian shows as a teen, most notably Kids in the Hall.

BTW, anyone who thinks The IT Crowd is "boring" is obviously suffering from a head injury.

None of those have remotely dry humour. They're basically all slapstick! Not that they aren't good, but they're about as dry as a glass of water.

Red Dwarf often has dry humour, particularly in the early seasons (when they had Lovett), and the slapstick elements are usually limited.

the only sex comedy I can think of written by a woman in her twenties.

C.f. Fleabag