Sketch of the Week

This sketch called the phobias workshop. It's really funny. Enjoy!

Clatterford or Jam&Jerusalem

This is a surprisingly poignant, but still outrageous comedy. It's more of a chick flick comedy but it's really good and well written. I think American audiences will like this show because it's funny but with a lot of meaning and loveable characters. I love it because Jennifer Saunders wrote it and you would never know that she did because it's nothing like what she usually writes. So let's all journey down to Clatterford, don't stop off at Hole. They're boring there. Enjoy!

Benidorm

It's been so cold here lately....I just want to go to Benidorm....or at least curl up and watch a most hilarious show about a group of insane holiday makers that always end up in the same horrible resort for the same horrible, yet, very funny vacation. I love this show because although one of the characters fit together, they do, and the have this magical cast chemistry that makes this show seamless and even funnier to me. Americans will love this show because well..it's like watching Jersey Shore, but without the shame because it's not real. Below is a small clip of series one. The show is around online, but I won't tell you where...just search about for a bit... Enjoy!

Interview:The Avengers

 Do you know of a place with almost 2,000 DVDs of almost every movie and TV show worth seeing or knowing about? Blockbuster? Video Warehouse? Try Robin Robinson's den. Yep, she rocks. She knows all things TV and is especially fond of The Avengers. I was lucky enough to sneak in a very short interview with this very busy lady (She's a cop by night, and usually asleep at the time of this interview; do excuse the brevity but she can't protect the city if she's asleep on the job can she?). Let's talk about John Steed and his famous bowler and brolly. Enjoy!

Me: What first drew you to The Avengers? 

RR: I have always been intrigued with spy shows.

Me: Do you have a favorite character and why are they your favorite?

RR: Emma Peel; She's smart, strong, independent, with a kick-ass attitude.

Me: What makes Steed so great?  

RR: He's just so darn smart and sharp.

Me: Did you see the feature film? Did you like it? 

RR: Yes; It did have some of the old school feel with a modern touch.

Me: What is the most iconic part of the show to you?

RR: How well the two main characters worked together.

Below is a most iconic episode of this funny spy classic:

Sketch of the Week!

The sketches of the week are from Ruby Wax's hilarious talk show, The Full Wax, and a more current clip from Tracy Ullman's State of the Union. I'm actually spoiling you with full episodes today so you....Enjoy!

Guest Blogger!

I have a guest blogger here to talk to you about that classic Brit show, Steptoe and Son. So I present to some and introduce to most the talented, the beautiful, the well groomed and linen fresh, Ms. Torva McClure!!! Enjoy!

American versions of British hits is not a recent phenomenon, although fans of "The Office" or "Shameless" may think otherwise. Thirty odd years ago, American television viewers enjoyed a slew of remixed Britcoms including one of my faves "Sanford and son". This Cult classic ran from 1972-1977 starring Redd Foxx as Fred Sanford, a disgruntled old junk dealer who spewed snappy one liners and insults to a live studio audience for half an hour. And as much as I'd like to give producer Norman Lear credit for an original concept, the truth is this classic tv show is a remake of "Steptoe and Son", a British sitcom that aired a decade before its American brother from another mother. "Steptoe and Son" had its beginnings as a sketch for "Comedy Playhouse" an anthology series that ran on BBC from 1967-1975. Unique in its time for presenting somewhat of a comedy/drama hybrid, the series used grim humor verses the slapstick style of comedy prevalent in British comedy that was the norm. Check out some of Steptoe's gritty humor here:

Absolutely Fabulous!

"You can't buy happiness, but you can bloody well charge it." Famous words from that iconic show, yes, it had to be-the one, the only....ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!!! Please darlings hold your much appreciated applause until the end of the lecture, thank you. This is my favorite 90's show. Some misguided souls have Friends, others have Roseanne, some more fortunate people have Will&Grace, I have AbFab. I love this show because nobody doesn't like Sara Lee! But seriously everybody loves watching girls behaving badly, but we love watching English society women behaving badly more than that (yes, I'm talking about you too Fergie). Americans will love this show because, even though it's British, it's really universal as far as comedy and content goes. They tackle regular problems, i.e. getting fat, how to stay relevant as you age, motherhood, but in a heart stopping, hilarious way. I love watching Joanna Lumely, possibly the classiest person on the face of the earth, act so completely uncouth (she's the U.K. AOL "you've got mail" voice by the way, pretty cool huh), and to watch Jennifer Saunders who is so often very quiet and put together be so loud and neurotic is priceless. If you don't love this show you are one of the many mentally stable human beings that the world, quite frankly, could do without. If you do love it, then welcome home brothers and sisters, it's been a long winter without you here! So watch the show, down below. And as always...Enjoy! (that's actually an order this time...you had better watch and love this show...seriously...stop reading this empty threat right now and go watch it)

Let Them Eat Cake!

 

Bonjour, as we say here in eighteenth century France! Let them eat cake is one of my all time favorite shows. It is sick, offensive, degrading, unsettling-basically everything I look for in a good comedy! I laugh at this show every time I watch it, and I watch it a lot.  Americans will love this show for the same reasons the British do-it makes fun of the French....haha but seriously it is really funny and it makes fun of pre-revolutionary France. I like this show because it shows off Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders as actresses. They did not write this show they were just cast to play a role and they did so fantastically. This was sadly only meant to be one series, so there are only a few episodes, but they are all pure comedy gold and you will laugh until cake is coming out of every orifice. Below is my favorite episode, and I feel the need to say "Don't judge me!" before you watch this. Enjoy!

Sketch of the Week!

This week's sketch is a Tracy Ullman classic-Mrs. Noh Nah Ning! Enjoy! 

Girls On Top!

I wanted to Girls on Top because this is the show where a lot of great British comediennes got their start. Ruby Wax is an American, but she is most famous in the U.K.Tracy Ullman has become a cult classic in America and  England. And of course my favorites, Dawn French, and Jennifer Saunders! This is a really crazy show a bout four roommates sharing a flat and the MANY misadventures they have together. I love this show because I have had a roommate before and it makes me think of all the crazy stuff we did together. The American audiences will appreciate it because it is crazy girls doing crazy things. Americans always love cray girls being crazy (cough, cough Two Broke Girls). This is a loveable show and I hope you...Enjoy!

Sketch of the Week!

These are two of my favorite sketches from then and now. Hope you like them. Enjoy!

French and Saunders Today

Today, French and Saunders is set more around the people that Dawn and Jen actually are, with Dawn being silly and Jen being quietly hilarious. It provides for a more interesting and realistic dynamic and, to me, makes it easier to transition into sketches. I love the white room sketches that they do and the crazy recurring characters. I think Americans will like this more up to date version because it transcends the continental barriers. They talk about everything happening in the world and any person up on world pop culture will appreciate them making fun of it. I love the fact that if you've seen all of the stages of French and Saunders you can really see the growth of these ladies as comediennes, actresses, and writers. So check out a newer episode of the show, why don't you! Down below...Enjoy!

Early Fench and Saunders

When French and Saunders first started they presented their show as a struggling variety show with hardly any audience and even fewer at home viewers, and they are always surprised when their show gets renewed for another series. Jennifer Saunders is presented as the self absorbed star who hates that her bumbling partner, Dawn French, has to share her spotlight. She also dislikes Dawn because she is nicer and people like her more. Their show was more like a vaudeville variety show than a sketch show with sketches in between their variety acts. Jennifer is in charge and Dawn is the unappreciated side kick who's willing to do anything to get in the show. They also worked with a comedy music group called Raw Sex. I love the dynamic between them back then and seeing how much it has changed. I think Americans liked this show in the early stages or would like it because it was a lot like "In Living Color". It's funny for me watching it now because seeing how much they make fun of the 80's while in the 80's is so hilarious because it's so spot on. They made fun of everything from the fashion, the way people spoke, and the crazy shows they had on TV. I love this surprisingly relevant, now retro early comedy of what is now a British classic. And you can watch the very first episode, EVER. Right now! Down below...Enjoy!

Theme of the Week - Then and Now

THEN:

This week I'm going to do a "Then and Now" look at one of my favorite sketch shows, French and Saunders. I love sketch shows because as easy as they look to do, they are actually hard to pull off. French and Sunders went for over 20 years and left at the height of their career only to pursue other separate interests. What I really like about this show is that you can feel the very real friendship between Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders in whatever it is they do. I think Americans will love this show because they make fun of everything and everyone, they know no boundaries, and they are not afraid to shock with their crazy characters! Enjoy!


                                                                                     NOW:

Sketch Of the Week!

Hello Campers! The sketches of the week involve the leading ladies of the shows I've featured this week. The first one is Dawn French's famous impression of Catherine Zeta Jones, the Queen of Wales. The second is an excerpt of the six part short, Up in Town, that Joanna Lumely starred in, which was also written by Hugo Blick. Enjoy!

Roger and Val...have just got in

Roger and Val Have Just Got In is a very poignant black comedy in that it profiles a married couple, Roger and Val, years after they have suffered a personal tragedy. I like this show because it's shot in real time; when Val makes the tea, we see her make the tea. This might not matter to a lot of people, but it really plays a part in drawing me into not only the show, but their lives as well. I also like this show because it shows the serious side of Dawn French. She created this show and you can see that it was partially inspired by her personal life.I think Americans will like this show if they want to see something really different. There are only two cast members in this, Alfred Melina, and Dawn French, as Roger and Val, which really helps the audience feel the isolation that the characters feel. I also love how unexpectedly hilarious it is. You think it's going to be very depressing but then there's a joke about pubic hair to brighten your day. And then of course it's witty and insightful again. Anyone who watches this show will feel more sensitive and much smarter for having done so. And you can watch right now! Down below...Enjoy!

Sensitive Skin

I love this show! This show made me want to write scripts. It  is about life situations that should not be funny at all, but it makes them so hilarious! Joanna Lumley stars in it as Davina who is going through a late mid-life crisis at sixty. I love this show because it's about waking up one day and saying to yourself "This can't be all that there was in my life- this can't be how I go out." I think Americans will like this show because it is about people in their sixties-and they're proud of it! America has become so ageist on TV and now people are rebelling with the popularity of shows like Hot in Cleveland, and Happily Divorced rising. This show was fearless to me. Davina asks the questions most people ask when they reach their mid life wonder lust periods, and usually finds out the answers in very humorous and out of the box ways. I actually found myself relating directly to her because her questions were mine at the time I started watching this show-Where do I go from here? This show is written by one of my favorite screenwriters, Hugo Blick, so I encourage you all to watch this funny, yet dark and poignant show. Below is a funny snippet of the show. Enjoy!

Theme of the Week - Black Comedy

This week my focus will be on black comedies. A lot of people think that a black comedy is a comedy show about black people....these people take things too literally and you probably shouldn't use a lot of idioms around them. A black comedy, or gallows humor,  is actually, and I quote via thefreedictionary.com (feel free to visit and extend your vocabulary, lest you become one of those people that uses 'like' before every other word.)

"a comedy that treats of morbid, tragic, gloomy, or grotesque situations as a major element of the plot."

In my own words black comedies are just darkly humored shows that find the funny in all the places it shouldn't be. I'm a very darkly humored person so I'm always excited to find a show that makes me feel like I'm not alone in my sick and twisted sense of humor. Above is picture that sums up my view of the black comedy movement and some of the backlash some shows in the genre have gotten for being inappropriate. We'll be looking at two gloomy but really funny shows this week that I hope all will......Enjoy!

Sketch of the Week!

This is a great parody of the movie Mamma Mia done by French&Saunders (Dawn French, and Jennifer Saunders) with Joanna Lumley for Comic Relief/Red Nose Day. I love this sketch because I saw the movie and really liked it but there is no doubt that they left plenty of room for a lot of people to make fun of it. I also like this because a lot of people don't know that Jennifer Saunders (Absolutely Fabulous, Clatterford) can actually sing. She played the Fairy Godmother in Shrek 2 sang "Holding Out For a Hero". But basically this is a sketch about a slut that sleeps with three men, gets pregnant, and doesn't know who the father. It also answers that age old question, Can Pierce Brosnan sing? Above is the first part, watch the rest on YouTube, and, as always- Enjoy!

Great Extras!

 

Today I want to talk about two shows that I love that have ended but they are really funny. The first one is Extras (it's a show about extras if you haven't caught on yet) starring, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais. I like this show because it bounces from traditional sitcom to mockumentary and it has all these serious actors in it, like Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, making fun of themselves. This show takes icons and turns them into twisted and crazy versions of themselves. Patrick Stewart, for instance, is almost exactly like Stan's crazy boss that he plays on American Dad. And Sir Ian.....just watch the clip. 'Cause that's called acting...apparently.

   

The next show is called Spy and it is about a divorced man who is really trying to be a good dad to his son but just comes off as an idiot. He takes what he thinks a job placement test but it is really the entrance exam for MI6 agents and passes! So begins his quest to being a parent his son respects. I like this show because it was an unexpected journey. I found this show by accident, I read the description, saw a trailer, I knew the title should've given the plot away, but...I was still not sure how it was going to play out and be funny. But it does and you should definitely check it out my darlings. Enjoy!

Don't Mention the War!

Fawlty Towers is classic comedy gold. John Cleese was inspired to write this show after staying at the Gleneagles Hotel and witnessing the hotel manager, Donald Sinclair, being what Cleese described as "the most marvelously rude man he'd ever met." Sinclair threw bus schedules at people, hid luggage he suspected held bombs, and with criticizing the guests table manners. Basil Fawlty, the owner of Fawlty Towers, is every bit a "marvelously rude" hotel manager, especially in the episode "The Germans" which is my favorite episode of the series and also the most iconic episode of Fawlty Towers. The first part of the episode is above, you can find the rest and more Fawlty Towers on YouTube, just don't mention the war. Enjoy!

Sketch Of the Week!

Okay everyone I have a confession to make....I FREAKIN' LOVE SKETCH SHOWS!!!! So I am going to start sharing some of my favorite sketches with you once a week! This one is the Argument Clinic with John Cleese and the Monty Python Team.

The Mother of Comedy

The show of the day is a current show that I've recently come across. It's called Mrs. Brown's Boys and it is hysterical! What I like about this show besides the sassy Mrs. Brown, who's is played by the very funny MR. Brendan O'Carroll, is that the fourth wall is broken so it really brings the audience into the show. Mrs Brown's Boys has an interesting history. It started out on an Irish radio show in 1992 and then became a series of books written by Brendan O'Carroll(now the shows creator and title character). The popularity of the books (The Mammy, The chisellers, The Granny, And the Young Wan)  sparked a movie called Agnes Browne in 1999 that stars Anjelica Huston. O'Carroll also started a series of stage plays arond the U.K. and Ireland starring himself after the success of the film. In 2010 O'Carroll was asked to turn his beloved Agnes Brown into a television series. It went on the air in 2011 and has been a roaring success ever since. The fan base of the show has been described as "ever growing army."  Mrs Brown gets a Bikini wax - Video Dailymotion This is my  favorite clip of the show so far, and here is a link to the full length movie. Enjoy!

Jesus Is Her Homeboy!

The first show I want to talk about is a show that has ended, but it is a classic! The Vicar of Dibley is about Geraldine "Geri" Granger is the first female reverend of an old church in the small village of Dibley, which happens to be a village of idiots and "the inbreeding capitol of the world" according to Geri. She is a self described "babe with a bob cut and a magnificent bosom" and has many misadventures with her parishioners. The show stars Dawn French, of the popular comedy duo French&Saunders, Gary Waldhorn, Emma Chambers, and James fleet.  This is a great show for those new to the British comedy scene because this show is a healthy mixture of English wit and American slapstick, and besides all that it's pure humor at its best. The Vicar of Dibley is guaranteed to make you laugh until you're crying, gasping for air, and trying desperately not to pee on yourself. Enjoy!

Welcome!

Hello lovers of British comedy and international thrill seekers! I am Lauren Great and it is the goal of my blog to rediscover, find, and review British situation comedies. I want start off with some of the classics like Fawlty Towers, move into some canceled shows we wish had stuck around for just one more series, *cough, cough* Clatterford, talk about shows we can not get enough of (did someone just yell Absolutely Fabulous from the rooftops?), and of course talk about the new shows and discover some I do not yet know exist! Join me in an exciting trip into UK tele. Just remember to be cool, do not have a nervy B, and learn to love chocolate hob nobs and the Brits will not even notice you are not one of them. But if they do notice shout “God save the Queen” as loud as you can and keep moving. Seriously though, I really love British comedy and have not come across one that I just truly hated yet in all my years of watching and researching the backgrounds of each show that I come across. I even enjoyed the Spice Girls movie! I really want to discover more shows that I have not seen, and I am sure there are quite a bit, so please get your passports and join me on my trip!