British Comedy
 

Inspired by Crimsontide's posting of Father Jack on a unrealted thread I decided to browse through my favourites of British comedy...

My favourite four shows are:

Yes, Minister & Yes, Prime Minister: bitting political satire/commentary, still suprising fresh.
Blackadder 1 thru 4: a classic comedy if any with the 2nd and 4th being my favourites - except for the final epsiode of the 4th.
Father Ted: stomach splitting comdey, made all the more funny if Catholic... and I'm sure some of us can name a "Father Ted" within our chapters.
The Young Ones: the disastorous student rooming house with mismatched roomies.

Anyone else have any fond favourites?

Good choices thus far!!

I love Keeping Up Appearances!! It's a shame that there were only 39 episodes, because Hyacinth Bucket ("that's boo-kay!") is a scream. For Hyacinth's fans, Patricia Routledge was also in "To Sir With Love"!

And of course, Fawlty Towers and Monty Python's Flying Circus. "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" :D

All good shows.

I'm a big fan of "Black Adder", "Fawlty Towers", "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and "Keeping Up Appearances" myself.

I'm also a fan of "Absolutely Fabulous", "French and Saunders", "Chef", "Are You Being Served?" and of course "The Office".

There are so many good ones.

Coupling.

I LOVE that show!

I like "Are You Being Served?" , "Keeping Up Appearances", "Vicar of Dibley", and of course Monty Python and "Fawlty Towers."

Interesting side note on Chef: actress Pui Fan Lee, who played one of the kitchen workers, became famous for being the Teletubby PO!

Call me an old-timer when it comes to British comedies:

Monty Python
The Benny Hill Show
Doctor In The House
Absolutely Fabulous

OH -- I forgot about Benny Hill! I think he is one of the funniest people evar!

I absolutely Love Absolutely Fabulous & the Young Ones. THey were so funny and so gross. You know one of the guys from the Young ones is married to Eddie from Absolutely Fabulous. He also wrote "Wheels on Fire" the theme to AbFab.

"The Office", "The Young Ones", "Chef" and "Red Dwarf".

Mr. honeychile can quote large portions of Benny Hill. :rolleyes:

I also like "Waiting for God" but I think that's because of what I do.

Rumpole of the Bailey, To The Manor Born, The Good Neighbors, and Kavanagh QC (which was shot as a drama but was often so far off the mark regarding what a Queen's Counsel is and does and how Barristers really work that it was really funny).
And of course, let us not forget Captain Pugwash!

The whole BlackAdder Series
Father Ted
Coupling
The Harry Enfield Show
Yes Minister, Yes Prime Minister
Chef
The Vicar of Dibley

Some of my favorites are:

Yes, Minister/Yes, Prime Minister
To The Manor Born
Red Dwarf
'Allo 'Allo

This isn't British comedy per se, but did anyone catch the "British porn" bits during Family Guy last night? Too funny!

love britcoms!! fawlty towers, vicar of dibley, ab fab, as time goes by,black adder, thin blue line, 'allo,'allo,waiting for god,monty python,keepng up appearances, to the manor born, and more and more!!

Man... I can't believe I left Red Dwarf off my list.... or The Office (hated the US version).

Do most of these shows mention come on only on BBC America? I saw AbFab on Comedy Central and Young ones on MTV, is there any other outlets besides PBS that you can catch some if BBC isn't available in your area?

My favorite thing ever is the episode of Fawlty Towers where there is a big moose head on the counter and Manuel is back there saying "I can speak Eeeengleeesh. I learned it from a boooook" and the drunk Major dude thinks the moose is talking.

I'd have to say that Comedy Central, BBC-America, and PBS would be your best bets in the US for catching them.... ideally though you'd have to find someone with DVDs (or another medium ;) ) of the shows... there hard to find on TV even in Canada and the UK (half the ones mentioned are 20+ years old now).

Hah, that is one of my favorite episodes from that show. Rarely have I ever laughed so much in one episode.

My favorites have already been named, but there are many british comedies that I like. My grandmother was always watching them when I was younger, I think thats where I got it from.

BBC Canada is not bad for some of the older comedies. I think TVO and PBS also show some. I know YTV shows some Brit coms late at night.

I am so all over this thread! I think I could darn near list every British show ever made. LOL Here are my favourites:

- Red Dwarf: mmmeeeooowwrwrrwooowww!!!! Ow!

- The Office: Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are BRILLIANT!!

- Keeping Up Appearances: I swear I laugh *every* time Hyacinth falls into the bushes when confronted by Daisy's dog popping out of the car window

- The Young Ones: "Guys....dinner's on the floor if you want it." What's scary is that, when my boyfriend (who is English!) was much younger, he looked just like Rik Mayall!!! Creepy man!

- Mr. Bean: I just find his quirkiness to be very amusing.

- Blackadder: The snarkiness is what makes this show so endearing.

- Vicar of Dibley: Dawn French's sense of comedy timing is excellent....and that flaky Alice character can't be beat. I also adore that perverted farmer guy...too funny!

- Only Fools and Horses: Dell Boy and Rodney - You plonkers!

- The Kumars at No. 42: It's part "sitcom", part talk-show and 100% funny!

- Alan Partridge: Am I the only one who has seen this show?!?! Steve Coogan is hilarious! Knowing you, GreekChat - a ha; Knowing me, Navane - a ha.

- Fawlty Towers: The Rat episode is by far the funniest FT ever!!!! "It's a Siberian Hampster!" I regularly visit the forum for my favourite English soccer team - here is the avatar I use over there:

http://members.ispwest.com/navane/manuel2.jpg
¿Que?


I only like certain sketches from Monty Python. Sorry, but I never thought AbFab was funny, nor do I care for Coupling. Benny Hill is....uhm....I'm not sure what Benny Hill is! I don't really go for that 1970's dirty humour. :p I watch Britcoms everyday (if you couldn't tell!) and I think I would hyperventilate if my cable company took away BBC America. If that ever happened, I'd have to force Neil to send me tapes of stuff every week. Never fear, I have a worldwide VCR which plays and records in PAL! Booyahkasha!

Dude, RACooper, I don't get me started. :p

.....Kelly :)

Favorite Vicar of Dibley moment:
When Alice got married and had 2 Teletubbies for her attendants!

....and the light-up headpiece!


.....Kelly :)

I like Absolutely Fabulous and Are You Being Served

Bumping this old-ass thread

a) to share my joy that my local PBS station has finally brought back the Britcoms after a month of fundraising, and

b) to share my favorite scene from The Vicar of Dibley:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MsbvGmLaU4

:D

I love The Vicar of Dibley.

My current favorite Britcom is Outnumbered.

And here are some of my favorite moments from one of the episodes.

Has anyone ever seen Green Wing? Was only on for 2 seasons, and the first one was ridiculously hilarious.

And the best Fawlty Towers episode was the one where Basil hit his head and kept talking about WWII with German guests in his hotels.

Germans: "Stop talking about the war, please!"
Basil: "Well, you started it."
Germans: "No we didn't!"
Basil: "Yes you did, you invaded Poland!"

And I thought I was the only American that though Hyacinth "Bouquet" was funny!

FECK!

DR WHO!!!
 

When hubby and I first started dating, our Saturday night consisted of

"Z's" pizza
Good Neighbors
Dr. Who
As Time Goes Bye (or maybe that was later)

Since then

The Vicar of Dibley
Waiting for God (Is that one one set in the nursing home?) Can't remember the female lead character's name but lead male was Tom.
Chef

Monty Python!
Benny Hill
AbFab
and my all-time fave, Keeping up Appearances! My family and I jokingly referred to my aunt and uncle as Hyacinth and Richard for the longest time. She's a bit fussy like Hyacinth, and my would just roll with her antics just like poor Richard.

Great bump!

Oh, Good Neighbors (The Good Life in Britain)-- I haven't thought of that in a long time, but I used to love it. I particularly liked Penelope Keith, who was also in one of my other favorite BritComs, To the Manor Born.

Has anyone ever heard of Heil Honey, I'm Home? I've only seen a tiny bit of one episode, but I'd like to see more. It's so impossibly non-PC it almost had to be good, but was pulled for the lack of good taste. You think? Needless to say, my guy loves to say that when he comes in. :rolleyes:

i haven't. do you remember where you saw it?

This is the best show ever.

Diana is the female lead. Then there is also Harvey (the home's director) and Jane (his assistant).

I always liked Good Neighbours, As Time Goes By, and my ultimate favorite is Coupling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6iksNg9IdQ

From my favorite episode of Coupling.

While not specifically comedy (sort of comedy and drama mixed), I thoroughly enjoy Monarch of the Glen, especially the first three seasons. One of my all time favorite series anywhere. :D

Hands down Fawlty Towers.. sooooo funny. And I love The Office but I have a hard time understanding what they're saying haha

DON'T MENTION THE WAR!
http://sanseverything.files.wordpres...pg?w=300&h=274

IT Crowd is my favorite.

There's also some sketch shows I like a lot. Catherine Tate is hysterical, Mitchel & Webb, and of course the Little Britain series. Saxondale makes me laugh, but Extras was amazing and I still laugh at some episodes I rewatch.

I had heard of it before, but I saw part of a show on a montage of Britcoms.

Found it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWjCkcAmzDc!