The Sketch Show

To be honest, I'd pretty much written off British comedy in recent years. After producing comedy classics one after another for so many years (as well as numerous pointless timeslot fillers), the BBC & Channel 4 seem to have had all comedy and creativity and independent thought drained from them by the humourless PC Marxists who succeeded in infiltrating and ultimately taking over. After seeing programs like "The Fast Show", "The Office", "Brass Eye" and "The League of Gentlemen" hyped, and then trying to force a laugh when watching them, I'd pretty much assumed that the last of Britain's comic talent (apart from Borat) must have either retired or moved across the Atlantic. The sudden eruption of outstanding comedy TV programs from the USA starting in the 1990's, after decades of canned laughter abortions, made me think the latter.

After seeing the, promos for "the Sketch Show", and considering that it was on commercial TV on first run, I held out little hope for it. I thought it would be like the aptly named Skithouse. Then I accidentally saw an episode. Wow! A genuinely funny sketch! and then another! And then another!!! Granted, I haven't seen every episode, but what amazed me was how many of the sketches were genuine belly laugh sketches - more than 50%, an outstanding ratio. The production values were high, the acting was good, and even the women were funny. There is a pleasant absence of tedious political hectoring - Ben Elton take note. It lacks the surreal elements, stylistic gimmicks & recurring themes that make for cult comedies but can also be used to mask a lack of funny ideas. Instead it's just good unpretentious sketch comedy that delivers laughs. What more can you ask for?

I don't know what it is about the Sketch Show that appeals to me. IT has all the elements that I usually hate and will usually turn me off a show forever; a lot of the sketches are either really bad puns or are highly predictable, and the cast, all made from British stand-up comedians of varying fame, are all incredibly smug and very sure of themselves without really being brilliant at acting. But having said all this, it works, and really well.

The show is hilarious at best and grimace-forming at worst but it still always makes you smile. Perhaps it's because it doesn't always try to be funny, and when it isn't being funny, it knows it, and so do the cast. I first saw Jim Tavare doing a piece at the Montreal comedy festival some 15 years ago with his double bass, and the humour is very much the same. I love it.

Lee Mack is especially good, he has some very good routines that he accomplishes with a smarmy and very unlikeable air but the fact is he is more often than not playing very smarmy and unlikeable characters and in the process is poking fun at them.

And with all those comments also said, occasionally they will come up with an absolute pearler of a sketch that stands out in the history of sketch comedy. The one in the men's toilets, for example, or the sign language sketch- neither of them particularly clever or witty but both just make you fall about laughing. I thoroughly recommend this, particularly to my fellow countrymen who are bored as I am with the tired and hopelessly predictable comedy of Skithouse and Comedy Inc. 4 stars out of 5.

UK's version of Comedy Inc- The Late Shift. Of course this is better, way way better. To have a thirty minute show, of non stop short skits, that are inventively side splitting, is no easy task. But this show manages that. I watch this show, every time, I come across it, and I just crack up. I'll have top buy DVD's of the show. Here's just another reason Londoners know comedy, and do it best, although the actors are of much greater ilk in Comedy Inc. Tim Vine, the genius of one liners, who you could watch 24/7, and Lee Mack, put the excitement into the show. If you haven't seen this show, you must, especially if a fan of Brit comedy. This show delivers sketches in constant and plenteous supply with it's dedicated writers, and performers. Too close to perfect. Almost tempted to give it ten.

Re: Transparency of jokes.

The Sketch Show is the sort of comedy that is hilarious without trying to be too clever. That's what I like about it - its simplicity. The humour comes from the way its acted and delivered - without needing to resort to excessive crudeness or political impersonations which you find in a lot of comedy shows these days. It's light entertainment that is a good filler for half an hour every Monday night.

but thats not coz i think its not good, it's coz i think it's too good! I have nearly died laughing at every episode! Whenever my mum and dad come upstairs while i'm watchin it in my bedroom, they think i'm a bit mad coz they can always hear me going crazy laughing at it! I once made the mistake of eating a packet of crisps while watchin it! I was laughing so much i nearly choked on them! Some sketches aren't as funny as others but they are all very funny and very clever! When the show starts the first five minutes might not be as funny, they seem to save the best sketches til the end in most episodes! But give it a chance! Don't just switch off after five minutes! You don't know what British comedy is all about until you've seen this! The new series is due to start on ITV1 very soon(should be sometime in february i think!) so my advice to you is watch it! If you don't like this, you don't like comedy!