Rolling UK Comedy Thread - "Ricky Don't Lose Larry David's Number

That senile dribbling cunt with his own column in the Guardian weekend magazine.

That senile dribbling cunt with his own column in the Guardian weekend magazine.

Cue stock that's no way to talk about Zoe Williams gag.

I don't have a Wikipedia entry either.

Includes News Summary at 9.00pm.

like swimming in a cool sea and passing through a warm current, etc...

Where are the standards of today, I ask you.
I don't have a Wikipedia entry either.

-- Marcello Carlin (marcellocarli...)

Oh, have I got one?

Whew.

also on the bad can someone please put Have I Got News For You out of its misery.

At the risk of, on this reviewer's logic, inviting lynch-mobs to my door, I'd argue that Extras was shite.

xpost

To put things into context: Harry Hill aside, all British TV Comedy right now is total shit.

-- Ruairi Wirewool (horseproduction...), January 15th, 2007. (Ruairi Wirewool) (later)

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what were the chances of that happening?
-- mark grout (mark.grou...), January 15th, 2007. (mark grout) (later)

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If you can put CT and Green Wing on a par, you truly show a lack of discernment IMO.
Frankly, now that GW has been and gone, I'm inclined to agree with Ruairi, minus the bit about Harry Hill.

-- You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (papiermachealamphibia...), January 15th, 2007. (Haberdager) (later)

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If you can put CT and Green Wing on a par, you truly show a lack of discernment IMO.
no it's just a 'higher' (or rather 'stricter') level of discernment.

-- vita susicivus (n...), January 15th, 2007. (blueski) (later)

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'the thick of it' will be back, later in the year, and so will 'peep show'.
-- the original hauntology blogging crew (miltonpinsk...), January 15th, 2007. (Enrique) (later)

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but in a another more accurate sense...
-- mark s (mar...), January 15th, 2007. (mark s) (later)

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but then i do like Harry Hill so it's apples and roundabouts.
-- vita susicivus (n...), January 15th, 2007. (blueski) (later)

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rubbish
-- RJG (RJ...), January 15th, 2007. (RJG) (later)

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so you keep saying
-- vita susicivus (n...), January 15th, 2007. (blueski) (later)

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RJG's TV Burp
-- Dom Passantino (juror...), January 15th, 2007. (Dom Passantino) (later)

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Hmm. I was only talking about currently-running comedy shows. If Peep Show returns for a fourth bite at the cherry (and TTOI for a second), I will only be too delighted. Of course, the one I'm really looking out for is Nathan Barley II.
-- You've Got Scourage On Your Breath (papiermachealamphibia...), January 15th, 2007. (Haberdager) (later)

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i think it would be a big ask for there to be a 'great' uk comedy series to be running all 52 weeks of the year. i have low standards perhaps; but i don't ask for a 'great' film each month either.
-- the original hauntology blogging crew (miltonpinsk...), January 15th, 2007. (Enrique) (later)

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of course i too want 'nathan barley' back.
-- the original hauntology blogging crew (miltonpinsk...), January 15th, 2007. (Enrique) (later)

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They could drop scissors on a dog's head this time.
-- Dom Passantino (juror...), January 15th, 2007. (Dom Passantino) (later)

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uh, rose-tinted view there i reckon - but at least it was generating interesting discussion.
one episode of Screen Wipe a month would be good. ditto TV Burp.

-- vita susicivus (n...), January 15th, 2007. (blueski) (later)

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ha ha Dom OTM
-- vita susicivus (n...), January 15th, 2007. (blueski) (later)

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Unread Messages
as with 'green wing', take away the hype and the expectation it'll live up to 'the day today' and 'nathan barley' was 23 minutes well-spent. i lolled anyway.
-- the original hauntology blogging crew (miltonpinsk...), January 15th, 2007. (Enrique) (later)

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i didn't laugh more than i did laugh etc.
-- vita susicivus (n...), January 15th, 2007. (blueski) (later)

And Screen Wipe rocks.

it was good, but not 300 times better than 'nathan barley'.

xpost

steve otm

this happened in the show except he thought she turned out not be under-age (at which point NB thinking it now okay to pretend she WAS under-age was actually quite a clever little point about...something or other).

i did hate NB but yes no less than anyone else around him.

Actually, scratch that, that's not the idea at all. It's funny caricatures falling into situations and scrambling to return to the status quo whilst simultaneously being trapped; a very old-fashioned sitcom thread. I certainly didn't feel that is was trying to make a big insightful statement about something, at least, nothing larger than "it's better to like something than to dislike something."

'THIR-FUCKING-TEEN'.

In fairness, I guess originally Barley wasn't really a character, just a cipher, and in making him human Morriss and Brooker made him more, er, human. I just don't think that made for great comedy. It wasn't sharp enough to be genuine satire and it wasn't silly enough to be knockabout comedy. It was just 'dark'.

have there been any good UK sketch shows in recent years? The only one I can think of is Ellie & Natasia

Burnistoun is the only one I can think of.

i've watched the first 3 eps of LOL. Bob Mortimer would have me in stitches.
switched over to watch a bit of The Martian I'd recorded for another day and Mr Swallow pops right up as a NASA JPL guy, freaked me out a bit!

mitchell and webb are back, with a sketch show. which is quite rare in 2025...

Surprised no mention of Such Brave Girls on this thread...

is swearing as funny as Mitchell and Webb think it is?

Stevie Martin as the blonde one from abba was spooky though

(xp) No it isn't, but typically it seems like they've decided to make the worst sketch and the worst idea for a sketch a regular feature - I don't even understand it, are Australian dramas famous for their swearing? First I've heard. The ABBA sketch was good though.

Watched the first half of the first episode, thought it was fairly dire.

I don't even understand it, are Australian dramas famous for their swearing?

Australians in general swear a lot I guess

Actually I was sitting outside at a bar the other day and there were two guys (in their 40s/50s) at a table in front of and the guy with his back to me swore more in general conversation than I think I've ever heard anyone in my life - and I'm from the West of Scotland! It took me a whole - in between all effin' and blindin' - to work out that he was South African.

... a while rather than a whole.

Maybe M&W can't do the Saffer accent.

Well I think this week's episode ensures there will not be a second series.

It just isn't funny. Most of my favourite comedy isn't funny, but this isn't funny for the opposite reason.

Yes, absolutely fucking dire.

the Walliams reckoning has finally arrived then

All the posts I've seen pretty much say this was an open secret -- how widespread exactly was the knowledge about him?

David Walliams has been dropped by his publisher following an investigation by The Telegraph into inappropriate behaviour towards young women.

Walliams, one of the country's best-selling children's authors, faced accusations that he had "harassed" junior female employees at Harper Collins.

One woman who raised concerns was given a five-figure payoff by the publisher and left the business.
This newspaper began investigating allegations of inappropriate behaviour by Walliams last year.

The decision to drop Walliams comes after the sudden departure of the publisher's former chief executive, Charlie Redmayne, who left in October. Kate Elton succeeded him as interim boss. It is understood that Walliams did not know about the Harper Collins investigation and that its conclusions were not put to him.

Saw someone who is a former popbitch editor on bluesky talk about how they got sued by H-C for publishing accusations about him:

https://bsky.app/profile/chrislochery.bsky.social/post/3maeany7ta22u

weren't there accusations against matt lucas too?

Not that I've heard of - and I've heard plenty about Walliams over the years, they even joked about it on stage at the British Comedy Awards.

someone I work with went to school with walliams, he said he's pretty much what you'd expect and that he used to get bullied by some kids 3 years below him.

All the posts I've seen pretty much say this was an open secret -- how widespread exactly was the knowledge about him?

Friend of mine works in publishing says two different publishers had measures in place to ensure no female employees ever be left alone with Walliams.

You'd think dropping the creep would be an easier fix but you can't get just anyone to write Gangsta Granny Laughs At A Fat Person or whatever his latest one is.

Didn’t realise he had a new shit children’s book out for Christmas, real profiles in courage for HC to drop him when the majority of sales will have come in.

apart from everything else, he used to do this on stage regularly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0IjrFeYoQY&

The tweet I saw first about it said "every time that there's news of someone being let go for being a sex pest, the whole of UK publishing asks 'Is it Walliams?' and now it finally is"

Not that I've heard of - and I've heard plenty about Walliams over the years, they even joked about it on stage at the British Comedy Awards.

21 years ago! Oddly, exactly 21 years ago!

https://www.thecustardtv.com/the-british-comedy-awards-2004-itv1-22/

mock the week is back! (on tlc which seems to be a channel that shows various Sheldon Cooper related shows during the day, human interest stuff after 9, if said human is interested in skin conditions or morbid obesity. or transformers films. or mock the week).

Sunday seems an odd day for a topical news quiz. did they film it on Saturday? Friday?

I've been enjoying Harry Hill's youtube renaissance, he's got a bunch of his old stuff up and a fun new chat show.

Koogs, I think Friday.

Daniel, yes, the new lo-fi Harry Hill show is pretty great. Although I object to the fact that I can no longer say I won't watch a visual podcast, because I think that's basically what it is.

True, though there are at least some visual gimmicks and characters.

from Andrew’s Walliams link:

LL Cool J, a minor rapper with his best days almost 20 years ago

Anyone checked in on how Luke took The FORCE, almost 20 years later? (His elevation of Mr Smith to the top of Todd’s canon suggests a fascinating critical idiosyncrasy)

neu Mock the Week is AN HOUR LONG. but there are adverts so probably about 12 minutes longer. they've dug out some of the older formats, introduced an audience participation round.

the sound and picture noticeably worse.

no Hugh Dennis, comedy-b appears to have that role this episode. some good jokes about tlc.