Good modern(ish) comedies?
I'm looking for the names of good TV comedies that I haven't seen, so let's start a discussion about good TV comedies so that I and everyone else can learn what programs we might want to track down. I'll start with a list of programs that either I really like, or my mates do. I'll stick to programs from the twenty-first century, but feel free to post older programs too, the only criteria is that the programs not be rubbish. Oh, and that they be in English (or dubbed, or subtitled) for people like me who are too stupid busy to learn a new language.
The Office (The British version, a fantastic fly-on-the-wall mock up, very clever and often hilarious),
The Office (The American version, which is nowhere near as good as the British version, and *completely* ruins the fly-on-the-wall feel, but is still funny, and stars the fantastic Steve Carrell and Raine Wilson),
Extras (Follows an extra on his climb up the TV/film mountain, each episode has a real celebrity playing a flawed version of themselves, series two is much funnier than series one, I thought),
Life's Too Short (A hilarious fly-on-the-wall mock up, starring the very talented Warwick Davis, but playing himself as a horrible, petty, egotistical loser, it's fantastic!),
Coupling (A hilarious program that's been called the British version of Friends, but I think it's much better than Friends ever was),
Time Gentleman Please (A hilarious program based around the brilliant Al Murray's pub landlord character, in a grotty pub whose regulars are a mixture of weirdos and sad losers),
Mrs Brown's Boys (A slightly insane sitcom that's very funny),
Ideal (A very strange and very funny program, with some great characters),
The Big Bang Theory (A funny sitcom that's not as good as it used to be, but still worth watching),
Mock The Week (Not a sitcom, but a very funny, vaguely game-show type program, with the teams consisting of comedians and the idea being to be funny rather than right),
8 Out of 10 Cats (Like Mock The Week, but often with less funny guest stars),
Not Going Out (A variable quality sitcom, worth watching though),
Psychoville (A funny and weird program, not as good as the earlier (and superb) League of Gentlemen, but still very good),
The Smoking Room (A great sitcom that never moves from one single room, the comedy mostly comes from the range of varied people trying to skive off work),
Black Books (A great program, starring the fantastic Bill Baley and Dylan Moran),
The I.T. Crowd (A variable, but often hilarious, program that's especially appealing to us gamers/sci-fi lovers/computer users),
Love Soup (I'll be honest, I don't much like this, even though I love the earlier One Foot in the Grave (which was by the same author, and is utterly super - if you like well written comedy then you *must* watch One Foot in the Grave), but I list it here as I've seen people say that this is writer David Renwick's masterpiece, so maybe I'm missing something here. But I just don't find it funny, and I think that's largely to do with the casting - the bloke (who's only in series one) is two good looking, elegant, and instantly likeable to be the social misfit that he's meant to be, and the actress who plays the woman just isn't funny (she is the weak part of Black Books),
Mongrels (A brilliant comedy based around animals (mostly played by puppets) and their lives in a world ruled by humans. It's very surreal and often hilarious),
Little Britain (A sketch show who's sketches range from almost painfully hilarious to utterly unfunny. The final series especially had some terrible sketches, but overall it's *well* worth watching. The characters are well defined, and even though there's a lot of repetition in some of the sketches, it's often done so well that even when you know what is coming, it's still hilarious. Even with the bad parts (and some are really bad) Little Britain is still one of the best comedies of it's time),
Phoenix Nights (A great program, by far the best thing I've ever seen Peter Kay in),
Man Down (I think it's OK, but I know people who really really like it, but I wish that Rik Mayall's last program had concentrated more on him),
Pulling (A funny program about three women living together),
Toast of London (I don't like it, even though it stars the brilliant Matt Berry, but a couple of my friends do),
Vicious (A funny comedy about two verbally abusive old gay men living together. It's also a progressive program (in a good way) since the joke is not that they are gay, just that they are two married (well, as good as) people locked in never ending slanging matches),
Count Arthur Strong (it's OK, but the radio program is much better, largely because the TV program spends too much time on other characters even though Arthur is the only really funny character),
Big School (A funny sitcom based around the teachers at a British comprehensive school),
Derek (A well written and quite funny sitcom, not hilarious but it's well worth watching for being so good at showing human nature without trying to overstress the point, it can be very moving at times),
Futurama (the best cartoon ever, if you ask me, it's even better than the Simpsons used to be),
Family Guy (A very funny cartoon that will have a go at anyone and anything),
Trollied (A variable program based in a supermarket, sometimes it's really funny, but the fourth series was very weak since most of the good characters had left. The fifth series is currently being shown, but I've not seen it yet),
The Office (The British version, a fantastic fly-on-the-wall mock up, very clever and often hilarious),
The Office (The American version, which is nowhere near as good as the British version, and *completely* ruins the fly-on-the-wall feel, but is still funny, and stars the fantastic Steve Carrell and Raine Wilson),
Extras (Follows an extra on his climb up the TV/film mountain, each episode has a real celebrity playing a flawed version of themselves, series two is much funnier than series one, I thought),
Life's Too Short (A hilarious fly-on-the-wall mock up, starring the very talented Warwick Davis, but playing himself as a horrible, petty, egotistical loser, it's fantastic!),
Coupling (A hilarious program that's been called the British version of Friends, but I think it's much better than Friends ever was),
Time Gentleman Please (A hilarious program based around the brilliant Al Murray's pub landlord character, in a grotty pub whose regulars are a mixture of weirdos and sad losers),
Mrs Brown's Boys (A slightly insane sitcom that's very funny),
Ideal (A very strange and very funny program, with some great characters),
The Big Bang Theory (A funny sitcom that's not as good as it used to be, but still worth watching),
Mock The Week (Not a sitcom, but a very funny, vaguely game-show type program, with the teams consisting of comedians and the idea being to be funny rather than right),
8 Out of 10 Cats (Like Mock The Week, but often with less funny guest stars),
Not Going Out (A variable quality sitcom, worth watching though),
Psychoville (A funny and weird program, not as good as the earlier (and superb) League of Gentlemen, but still very good),
The Smoking Room (A great sitcom that never moves from one single room, the comedy mostly comes from the range of varied people trying to skive off work),
Black Books (A great program, starring the fantastic Bill Baley and Dylan Moran),
The I.T. Crowd (A variable, but often hilarious, program that's especially appealing to us gamers/sci-fi lovers/computer users),
Love Soup (I'll be honest, I don't much like this, even though I love the earlier One Foot in the Grave (which was by the same author, and is utterly super - if you like well written comedy then you *must* watch One Foot in the Grave), but I list it here as I've seen people say that this is writer David Renwick's masterpiece, so maybe I'm missing something here. But I just don't find it funny, and I think that's largely to do with the casting - the bloke (who's only in series one) is two good looking, elegant, and instantly likeable to be the social misfit that he's meant to be, and the actress who plays the woman just isn't funny (she is the weak part of Black Books),
Mongrels (A brilliant comedy based around animals (mostly played by puppets) and their lives in a world ruled by humans. It's very surreal and often hilarious),
Little Britain (A sketch show who's sketches range from almost painfully hilarious to utterly unfunny. The final series especially had some terrible sketches, but overall it's *well* worth watching. The characters are well defined, and even though there's a lot of repetition in some of the sketches, it's often done so well that even when you know what is coming, it's still hilarious. Even with the bad parts (and some are really bad) Little Britain is still one of the best comedies of it's time),
Phoenix Nights (A great program, by far the best thing I've ever seen Peter Kay in),
Man Down (I think it's OK, but I know people who really really like it, but I wish that Rik Mayall's last program had concentrated more on him),
Pulling (A funny program about three women living together),
Toast of London (I don't like it, even though it stars the brilliant Matt Berry, but a couple of my friends do),
Vicious (A funny comedy about two verbally abusive old gay men living together. It's also a progressive program (in a good way) since the joke is not that they are gay, just that they are two married (well, as good as) people locked in never ending slanging matches),
Count Arthur Strong (it's OK, but the radio program is much better, largely because the TV program spends too much time on other characters even though Arthur is the only really funny character),
Big School (A funny sitcom based around the teachers at a British comprehensive school),
Derek (A well written and quite funny sitcom, not hilarious but it's well worth watching for being so good at showing human nature without trying to overstress the point, it can be very moving at times),
Futurama (the best cartoon ever, if you ask me, it's even better than the Simpsons used to be),
Family Guy (A very funny cartoon that will have a go at anyone and anything),
Trollied (A variable program based in a supermarket, sometimes it's really funny, but the fourth series was very weak since most of the good characters had left. The fifth series is currently being shown, but I've not seen it yet),
Comments
tbh the only one in there I really rated was The Office (our version) which is up there as one of the funniest things ever IMO. couldn't stand the US version except for Steve Carell who was pretty funny as their David Brent. Everything else about it was horrific.
Life's Too Short was good for one episode but got too samey.
Despite all the praise they get I can't find any trace of humour in IT Crowd, Big Bang Theory, Black Books, Toast Of London or Derek.
A couple not in your list I loved are Spaced (especially the 2nd series) and Garth Marenghi's Darkplace.
Modern Family
My Name is Earl
Malcolm in the Middle
Arrested Development
The Middle
Outnumbered
The Inbetweeners
Scrubs before they changed the cast.
I suppose I could throw out Game On, and Peepshow.
I guess since Futurama got mentioned I guess I'll throw in the rather distasteful House of Rock :D
Just good friends.
Don't underestimate either, there is some great writing in both.
In which case:
Cabin Pressure - excellent character driven sitcom about a small airline, with a single knackered plane, a recovering alcoholic and smuggler First Officer, a Captain who isn't very good at flying planes, a CEO/Flight Attendant who hates all passengers, and her 30-old flight attendant son who thinks everything is brilliant and always carries a party-blower in case of emergencies.
Hut 33 - sitcom set at Bletchley Park during WW2 (also includes just enough computer science jokes to attract a suitably nerdy demographic)
Everyone has a crap game inside them, let yours out!
yeah I figured I may be going a little far back with that one, but erm couldn't really think of owt else :D
Car Share - Brillient
Cradle to the grave has it's moments
The middle was good for a while.
I hate the panel shows like 8 of 10 cats etc so all those I won't even watch.
Others I've liked:
Early Doors - set in a pub. Similar in some ways to The Royle Family (Craig Cash was one of the writers) in that nothing much happens. It's kinda gentle, nice comedy.
Grandma's House - sorta dependent on how annoying you find Simon Amstell. I really liked it. A bit surreal and it's got Glenn from The Thick of It who is ace.
The Thick of It - spiritual follow-up to Yes Prime Minster with more swearing!
Lead Balloon - Jack Dee's sitcom. It didn't get much press but I liked it. Jack's character (Rick Spleen)'s relationship with his Eastern European housekeeper is very funny.
Detectorists - McKenzie Crook and Toby Jones as two inept wannabe archaeologists. Gentle but brilliant, well-observed comedy.
Nobody's mentioned Saxondale!?
If we're talking radio comedy I'd add:
Old Harry's Game - Andy Hamilton's comedy where he plays Satan. It turns lots of 'perceived wisdom' about religion on its head and often plays with how so called 'good' people like Florence Nightingale (sexual predator) and Jane Austen (very violent) weren't all that good after all.
In the same way now there's Would I Lie To You where Lee Mack and David Mitchell never fail to put me in hysterics on that, but I dont find their sitcoms funny at all (not going out and peepshow)
or alan partridge! Both series of that are classic. Thought saxondale had its moments but didnt really compare to partridge.
It reminds me of a bit of The Wonder Years, as it has bits of narration from the "present day" Adam Goldberg commenting on what was happening to his younger self at the time.
+1 for still game .a series with comedic situations and a story rather than a nominal star lining up funny one liners then moving on to the next scene for more of the same. Such a shame they fell out and brought it to an end.Also Absolutely and naked video from north of the border and not forgetting Rab too.
made in sheffield, mostly an online and some weird local tv channel thing
the first episode
cue Boozy and a rant about hipsters
Look at the hair! Looks at the bloody beards! Do they like to hang out at the cereal bar as well the bloody nobs!
At least the theme tune isn't by "I Wrestled a Bear Once" Or I'd have kicked my screen through!
The Mighty Boosh
That Peter Kay Thing Six episodes each featuring different characters and situations and in the same way that 'Seven of One' gave us 'Porridge', the first episode 'In the Club' gave us 'Phoenix Nights'.
Nighty Night Brilliant dark comedy with Julia Davies who becomes obsessed with a doctor played by Angus Deaton.
yeah this was great. If anything the phoenix/nightclub episode was the weakest out of the 6 IMO. The ice cream man one, the pop star one and 'Leonard' were quality
Only 2 series but it was excellent. Watched the first on DVD this week.
Not one bad episode.
The first 2 series were good but the new series is almost unwatchable, but he does have 2 hot daughters! :D
the last episode was funny as ****, specially when hes going on about supporting england in the cricket, gets asked thought youd support pakistan, he says well they will all be pakistani by the time he grows up lol