What’s Happened to British Comedy?

The Ealing Comedies, Carry On’s and Monty Python put a smile on the face of the world, more recently we’ve had Mr Bean and various alter-egos of Sacha Baron-Cohen. While Hollywood studios cracked on winning the Wild West, Cold War, even the boxing with Rocky, our James Bond was busy with his tongue in his – or some femme fatale’s – cheek.  We’ve contrived to be more subtle and nuanced than Americans in deference to Oscar Wilde’s legacy, a man unlikely to  have been caught chomping a Big Mac, had they been around at the time.

Our best sit coms top the ratings. When Del Boy leant against the bar, after the barman had lifted the flap, a mini-earthquake hit Middle England, viewers rolled with laughter, guffaws could be heard in the outer reaches of the solar system. They’d have made it further, but a celestial body closed the flap, lest a black hole of mirth should appear, swirling around the universe for eternity, eventually reaching the Tardis, turning it into Peckham Police Station.

We laughed because it was Del Boy, an unknown character doing the same, would not have raised a titter. Character is everything in comedy, sadly commercial channels and to a lesser extent the BBC, don’t give enough time for character development, lest audiences start flipping.

It’s not so much we have lost our sense of humour – rather, broadcasters don’t provide sufficient ammunition or amusement to keep us laughing. Sure, attitudes have changed and attention-span diminished. But even the You Tube generation know it takes a few minutes to turn an egg into an omelette, don’t worry, no running yokes here!

We need to show appropriate reverence to saints of British comedy such as Galton & Simpson, Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais, etc., geniuses who galvanised and inspired us. Few, if any, pilots are made, with the honourable exception of Channel 4’s excellent Comedy Lab. Even broken comedy – sketch shows – have problems getting aired. And woe betide a commissioner if a first show doesn’t become immediate Comedy Gold.

Despite vast number of channels, most great comedy is regurgitated from the archives. The undemocratic nature of the BBC with an unelected Trust and a relationship to contemporary culture and social mores such as that between a vegetarian and a kosher or halal butcher, needs to be transformed, its’ chair should be elected by viewers – at non-premium rates!

Students at Cambridge are still witty, farce can be farcical, we still have a funnybone; Peter Cook can Not Only to be admired, But Also needs to be succeeded by others in his footsteps or Footlights, as at Cambridge.

Let the revolution start here on the internet. Don’t man the barricades, person them, we live in a new age of digital equality. Let’s sweep aside the notion that we’ve lost our sense of humour. We’re fed up with self-serving panels of judges, underwhelming talent shows, wall to wall reality. Broadcasters need to give us something to laugh at.

And not themselves.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 25th, 2010 at 11:04 am. Both comments and pings are currently closed.