Best of British: Part 7

In my last Best of British post I started to share some of my favourite British comedy shows which have aired more recently.

The Office

Today I’d like to talk about a show with which most residents of the United States will be familiar, “The Office”. However, not all Americans will know that this was originally a British TV show which played its final episode long before there ever was a Michael Scott or a Dwight Schrute.

I’ll admit that, when I first heard that they were making an American version of “The Office”, I became extremely indignant (“Why can’t these Americans handle British comedy?!” etc.). However, after watching the first season of the American version, I was converted. Whereas the British version limited itself to two brilliant seasons, the American version still continues when it should have been put out of its misery several seasons ago…

The original British show’s humour is far drier. You will spend far more time watching the British version through your fingers, trying to shield your eyes from the awkwardness produced by the boss from Hell, David Brent. The clip below is one of the more light-hearted moments though, where David performs the activity dreaded in every office, the performance reviews…

Extras

As I said above, the British version of “The Office” only lasted two seasons. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant then went on to write the show “Extras”, following the characters David and Maggie as they “star” as extras in movies and TV shows. I think it probably nicely captures the boredom of the job which would involve a lot of standing around.

Each week, some celebrity would make a guest appearance, such as Kate Winslet and Patrick Stewart. My favourite though was probably when Orlando Bloom made his guest appearance shortly after “Pirates Of The Caribbean” had been released:

Wounds in Heaven?

Today I’d like to talk about one of the songs from a recent album of my favourite contemporary Christian band, Casting Crowns. The song is entitled “Wedding Day” and describes the wedding feast of Heaven when Christ’s Bride, the Church, is finally presented to the Him:

Towards the end of the song there’s a lyric which speaks of the scarred hands of Christ wiping away every tear:

When the hand that bears the only scars and heaven touch her face
And the last tears she’ll ever cried are finally wiped away
And the clouds roll back as He takes her hand and walks her through the gates
Forever we will reign

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Maybe

Just a quick micro-rant today concerning one of my pet hates…

You may think that “Maybe” is a fairly innocent word…

…but it’s not, not at all.

When someone sends you a Facebook invite, please don’t choose “Maybe”.

Check your calendar.

Make a decision.

Be decisive.

Thank you, that is all.

Things that make me happy

The other day I was thinking about things which make me happy. It’s actually quite a difficult exercise – if you don’t believe me, give it a go. What are the things which make you really, truly happy? Where are the places you can always find joy?

After sitting down and writing the list I’ve concluded that I’m actually quite easy to please. Although in many ways I’m extremely demanding of myself and others, it doesn’t actually take a whole lot to make me happy:

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Best of British: Part 6

In my last post I moved on to talking about some of the newer British comedy shows I love. However, soon after posting, I realized that I had missed a few more of the classic shows which are dear to my heart. So, today I’m going to remedy this by talking a little bit more about some older shows, before returning to contemporary British comedy next time…

Drop The Dead Donkey

Before there was The Daily Show, there was Drop The Dead Donkey, a sit-com set in the fictitious GlobeLink News newsroom. What was wonderful about this show was that, since it was recorded close to transmission, it commented upon contemporary issues in society and politics.

It had some really great characters such as the two news anchors, Henry Davenport and Sally Smedley, who shared a passionate mutual disdain for one another. However, my favourite character was without a doubt the field reporter, the sometimes overzealous Damien Day…

Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em

Many know Michael Crawford from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “The Phantom of the Opera”. However, not so many people know him from the show Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em where he played the hapless and accident-prone Frank Spencer. Here some great physical comedy:

Waiting For God

Then there was Waiting For God, a comedy set in the rather surprising location of a retirement home. The two main characters are simply terrific – Diana is cynical and mean, while Tom is jovial and a little loopy. They strike up an unlikely friendship while “waiting for God”…

Only Fools and Horses

Finally, no discussion of my childhood comedy shows could possibly be complete without mentioning Only Fools and Horses, a show which has won a huge number of comedy awards over the years. I think it was very much inspired by another classic comedy, Steptoe and Son. Anyway, the show followed the shenanigans of Del and Rodney Trotter. These brothers make up Trotter’s Independent Traders (TIT), a company which buys and sells all kinds of merchandise, some of which include smoke-damaged fire alarms and raincoats marked “Dry clean only”.

In the clip below the brothers try their hand at chandelier repair…

Next time we’ll be back at looking at newer British comedy…

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