The Kumars at No. 42

Before Indians became mainstream in British politics and achieved high office, The Kumars at No. 42 started to break the race barriers for sure with a more mainstream look at Indians (not native american indians, but ones from India) making it big in the UK.

The Kumars at No. 42 was funny at times, and it meant the audience could laugh with Indians rather than at them.

It is a decent show with decent comedy, but the concept of family interviewing a guest with each member of the family having a comic style, kapil sharma show copied this entire concept !

An informal chat show style comedy from a revitalised British comedy scene. Much more intelligent than some of the racially stereotyped humor emerging from the States. The guests are interesting, ranging from Charlotte Church, various tier 2 actors and political guests.

The guests in the first series don't know that the show is a send up and often take the comments at face value. Their confusion is amusing as the "family" play jokes on each other and the guests.

Some guests won't be recognisable to viewers outside Britain.

The same actors had another comedy show. I can't remember the name of it at the moment. Some similarity in style to Ali G, but without the drug references or the bling bling.

Highly recommended for the intelligent viewer.

The success of this show is very variable and depends on the ability of the guests to join in the concept. Basically a middle-class Asian family have spent their money building a TV studio for their son who wants to be a chat show host. The son hosts the show but his parents and grandmother are on the sidelines and embarrass him by asking the guests very personal questions or relating irrelevant anecdotes.

The first ever guest was Richard E Grant and he was brilliant at falling in with the fake family and playing along with the son's obviously doomed ambitions and the family's put-downs. Unfortunately not all the guests can do this and some are obviously quite bewildered at the comments of the 'parents' on the sofa. This can lead to awkward silences on the part of guests and audience. Meera Syal as the plain-speaking, sex and incontinence-obsessed 'Ummi' is the most obviously 'funny' character on the show, perhaps because she is a caricature. The parents, by contrast, appear 'normal' although they are supposed to represent a stereotypical Asian mother and father.

For some reason this show has now run for five years. In my view it is another example of humour which has to be seen to be clever by having some kind of sub-text. Will we ever get back to the days when things are funny for their own sake?

Reruns of this show just started playing in the US on BBC America and I think this show is a hoot to watch. Half the show is a send-up of British middle-class values, and the fact that the family is also Indian is treated so matter-of-factly that it doesn't seem exceptional at all. It's an interesting illustration of how western and eastern cultural mores can co-exist. Furthermore, the non-sequitor type questions asked by the Kumar family members reveal how our interest in celebrities is partly a self-absorbed wish to see ourselves reflected back. However, the primary thing about this show is that it's witty and entertaining.

I especially like that the celebrity guests aren't the sole focus. The show's unusual format seems to draw a genuine and candid reaction from the guests, most of whom are bemused but are clearly willing to join into the spirit of the show. This tells us more about who they are than all those canned anecdotes one hears on the typical late night talk shows.