Tag: Best of British

Best of British/Irish: Part 3

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Last week I began a series of posts about comedy shows from back home. I have found that American exposure to these comedians and shows is rather limited. I’ll sometimes meet people who have seen Monty Python, Absolutely Fabulous or Benny Hill [rolls eyes], but there’s so much more on offer!

Since I usually write about subjects related to religion, today I’d like to focus on one show in particular that concerns Catholicism: the very excellent “Fr Ted”.

Fr. Ted is a priest who lives on a tiny island off the coast of Ireland with two other priests: an idiot and an angry drunk who has a fear of nuns, together with a housekeeper who has an obsessive need to serve people tea…

Despite the fact that this show deals with the subject of religion (a touchy area when it comes to comedy), it really pulls it off brilliantly because it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Speaking of which, have you ever wondered what would happen if a group of priests got trapped in the lingerie section of a department store? Well, thanks to Fr Ted, wonder no more…

Best of British: Part 2

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Yesterday I began talking about some of the British comedy shows I enjoyed growing up.

It would be almost impossible to mention all of the shows that I loved; there are simply too many! When I first wrote out a list of my favourite British comedy shows I noticed that a large number of the comedians had careers which spanned several successful shows.

For example Ronnie Barker played both a prison inmate in Porridge and a miserly shop keeper in Open All Hours. Geoffrey Palmer stared in both Butterflies, as well as opposite Judi Dench in the wonderful As Time Goes By. Penelope Keith is another great example, being cast in both The Good Life and To The Manor Born. Lenny Henry has starred in many shows but I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight his role as the perfectionist/evil chief in Chef!, a show that I think fairly few people have seen, even though it was, in my opinion, some of his best work.

A lot of people know Rowan Atkinson from Mr. Bean, but not so many have seen his other shows such as The Thin Blue Line. Probably my favourite series of his was Blackadder. That show was genius. It ran for four seasons, with each season being set in a different historical period: The Middle Ages, Elizabethan England, the Regency and the First World War. For those of you who only know Hugh Laurie as the broody Dr. House, you really need to also see him play the idiot Prince George:

More “suggestions” on Saturday (all suggestions are mandatory)…

Best Of British

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Everyone knows that, when it comes to comedy, it doesn’t get any better than British. Unfortunately, I regularly meet Americans who have not been exposed to the veritable treasure trove of chortles that my country has to offer.

This makes me sad. Instead of enjoying classic shows such as Hancock’s Half Hour, Fawlty Towers (“Don’t mention the war!”) and Rising Damp, they just sit watching the billionth season of The Office (the American version), waiting for it to finally get funny again. I have therefore decided to compile over a series of posts a list of British comedy shows that simply must be watched…

I was fortunate to grow up in an era of great British comedy. Every Saturday night my family would gather together in the living room. We would eat dinner on our laps, which was considered a huge treat, since eating was not typically allowed in the living room. We would then settle in for an evening of great TV. We would receive Yorkshire wisdom from Last of the Summer Wine and listen to the grumpy rants from Victor Meldrew in One Foot In the Grave.

I’ve started watching many of these shows again as an adult. Now when I watch old episodes of Hi-De-Hi! I’m stunned by how many of the jokes went over my head as a child (probably a good thing!). Another show like this was ‘Allo ‘Allo, a comedy set in the unlikely location of France during the Second World War. Actually, it’s quite surprising how many British comedies used wars as their backdrop, the most famous of which is probably Dad’s Army, which tells the story of the men in England’s “Home Guard”:

More ramblings and recommendations tomorrow!

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