TV Burp

This is one of the few jewels in the ITV schedule. Not known for doing anything other than a total banker this little gem popped onto ITV screens several years ago and has quickly become a weekly staple of people who are fans of all types of comedy.

The format of mostly, just Harry sitting and giving glib comments of the weeks T.V. showing the clips concerned is simple enough, but the delivery and timing makes the interaction between viewer and presenter into a 'conversation in the pub' arrangement. This appears effortless but must take huge preparation.

Harry Hill's ability to get a bizarre angle on something which passed everyone else by is key to the comedy.

Most of all it is truly funny family entertainment, and let's face it, family comedy is usually only funny for the younger generation.

On ITV there is almost no comedy output. That is except a few 30 min latenight comedies. One of which is this gem. Each week Harry Hill casts a eye over what has been on TV. By using his unique brand of humor he does it in a very funny manner. Highlights include comparing everyday objects to the appearance of a TV star and fights to decide topical issues. This has caused me laugh out loud a number of times. Though this is not for everybody's taste if you like comedies, which tend not to be mainstream then this is worth a gander.

Once a rich source of popular television comedy, I.T.V. seems to have thrown in the towel. The jewel in its crown in recent years has been 'Harry Hill's T.V. Burp' in which the eccentrically attired Mr.Hill pokes fun at the week's television. He would not be the first person to do this; the B.B.C.'s 'Saturday Night Clive' had Clive James up to the same kind of mischief in the early '90's.

Harry Hill is the nearest we have right now to a Spike Milligan or a Kenny Everett in that he also uses surrealism as the basis for his humour. Of course he is helped by the sad fact that British television in the Noughties is a bad joke, and thus a perfect target for comedy. Try watching a soap opera with the sound off ( the grimaces and leers of the cast are hilarious ) and you'll see what I mean! Quiz shows and documentaries also come in for similar ribbing.

One of my favourite moments was when Harry did 'If...British television continues to get worse' in which he led an assault force against the television studios where much of the pap we have to endure is made. There's an unmistakable anger lurking behind the gags. Rather than get mad, Harry has decided to get even. He has fashioned a good show simply by laughing at the bad ones.

Harry Hill came back in a great series in which he takes a funny and surreal look at the past week's TV. Just one image from Casualty or one scene in Emmerdale can be a comedy gem. It does seem he's making fun of certain people's acting and the scripts but everyone notices that about TV dramas. It will make you laugh out loud, something an ITV show doesn't usually make you do but ITV is getting better at comedy now with Hardware, Ant and Dec and Harry. So watch it, it's a great show.

I was pretty fond of this at the time. I think a large part of the humour depended on your knowledge of UK Soaps, especially ITV ones. Like a lot of Harry Hill's stuff this was (largely) family friendly, slightly surreal and very silly. The TV series had a large team of talented writers including Stand-up comedians John Moloney and Chris Addison and David Quantick (who provided additional material for Brass Eye, On The Hour, Spitting Image). I think largely what killed it off was the tight deadlines (if I remember rightly this was broadcast weekly) and the fact the writers would need to sift through hours of TV to find a 20 second funny clip. For something like Emmerdale you are looking at 2 hours worth footage a week, now imagine that across multiple channels, then there's issues of licensing the clips, getting special guests etc. Frankly it must have been the equivalent of pointing your house to work on. All that said I got some big laughs out of most episodes and thought it was good twist on the overused clips show format.

For anyone curious the compilation TV Burp Gold DVDs are a good place to start and very cheap often costing less than £1 each. But be warned some it is a bit dated given they are referencing TV and pop culture from nearly 10 years ago.