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

is this true?

xpost

xp

I would say that though, because I hate women.

Here's a scene. You're looking along your collection of CDs, or shuffling through your playlist, trying to find that new Lady Sovereign album or whatever. But you stumble across something else, something from 10 years ago - the Fugees, say."

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'.

There is no case against Bob Mortimer, surely. The man's a treasure. I'd hate to hear anything bad about him.

I just can't go Lou Sanders' schtick. She's just painful to watch. I understand others' mileage may vary on this, comedy being subjective and all that.

I've loved Lou in this tbh, but all comedians have the potential to be marmite ime

(meant to write Mortimer's autobio there. but yeah saying nice things about cunts ain't the biggest sin)

Finished it now. Just great stuff. Get Acaster on the next series please.

Also, Sean Lock would have been so good on this :(

Oh god, yeah.

I wasn't a fan of Lou before but quite liked her in this - 'naughty taughty' was genuinely hilarous.

I imagine we'll be seeing a lot of these, probably with diminishing returns cast-wise. surely cheap and quick as fuck to knock out, with contestant fees the biggest expense.

Bob winning was a boring result, much as I obviously love him

It turns out I don't enjoy people not laughing when other people are trying to make them laugh, so it wasn't for me... I'm out. /Deborah Meaden voice.

But yes, obviously it's going to run and run because it presumably costs nuppence nuppeny to make.

I'm still confused as to why they took so long to bring it to panel show happy UK tbh!

Ending did up conforming to most versions of the show - winners tend to be veterans, and almost always male.

Naughty taughty was great, yes.

The veterans thing is presumably because a lot of the young bucks have looked up to them their whole lives and are predisposed to finding everything about them hilarious. There's probably a ton of people on the casting team courting Jack Dee or Paul Merton round about now.

Well, and conversely, the veterans are jaded and not amused by the young 'uns. UK far from the worst version in that dynamic tho.

Yeah, I read reviews of the Irish one when it came out and assumed that they were all as bad

I loved this so much that I immediately watched the Irish one and thought it was great. It got so chaotic at the end. Started the Candadian one but it wasn't as good.

The UK one was one of the best things I've seen in ages. Mortimer and Ayodae doing the speed dating absolutely killed me.

Most of the ppl in the Irish one were rubbish imo and there was so much low hanging fruit.

The Canadian one has Tom Green's Carson monologue which is worth the price of admission.

I love Aisling and I liked Deirdre, Catherine, and Jason none of whom I knew before. It wasn't as good as the UK one at all but I enjoyed it.

I stopped the Canadian one part way through so I don't think I saw that but will go back to it.

Whatever about the rest of them, some of whom I know in person and they are nice people, you could not pay me to watch a programme with David McSavage in it. He is the worst.

I know nothing about him (had to look up which one he was just now) but he was def the worst one.

Saturday Night Live is to have its own British version called SNL UK.

It will be made in London with an all-British cast, executive produced by Lorne Michaels and it will air in 2026.

— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) April 10, 2025

I quite like US SNL, there are UK comedians I like, but somehow I can't imagine this being anything other than the worst programme ever made

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

US SNL interesting as an exercise in "how much talent can you pour into a show for decades and decades without ever being funny", don't see any need to repeat the experiment elsewhere tho.

Who's gonna sing "Hallelujah" when Reform gets in?

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/