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British Comedies

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I love to watch As Time Goes By...the humor is very different from American comedies. There aren't a lot of episodes of this one, but I think Judy Denche (spelling?) is a fantastic actress and is very fun to watch.

I like that show as well. The actor who plays Nigel (I think that's his name, it's been a while since I've watched it) is also very good.

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my husband, who's british, introduced me to Monty Python...my favorite is "life of brian". i also like "keeping up appearances" and watch it when i can. hyacynth reminds me of an aunt i have. someone highly recommended "The Office" as the funniest show on tv...but i havent watched it as i dont have BBC America. one of my favorite movies is Trainspotting. from all the british shows/movies i've seen...and from knowing my husband...british humor is certainly more witty and sarcastic. as he likes to say "sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, but the highest form of intelligence".

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someone highly recommended "The Office" as the funniest show on tv...but i havent watched it as i dont have BBC America.

The Office is hilarious, it is probably my favorite show on TV. Both the first and second seasons were recently released on DVD and I know BlockBuster carries them, so, no need for BBC America. If you like British Comedies these are a must see.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, it was written by Kubrick, but Peter Sellers really makes the film fantastic; I honestly think "Dr. Strangelove" beats anything previously mentioned.

Best double-feature I ever saw:

First feature: Fail-Safe

Second feature: Dr. Strangelove

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Just an observation: has anyone noticed that American shows which are based on British shows tend to be some of the most popular shows in television history? For example, Sanford and Son, All in the Family, Three's Company, and Cosby were all based on shows imported from England.

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  • 1 year later...
My favourite British comedies are The Fast Show . . .

If memory serves, it's called "Brilliant!" in the U.S. for anyone interested. I haven't seen it in a while, but I vaguely remember it being pretty funny.

Others I haven't seen in a while but remember being quite funny are "The Young Ones" and "Are You Dave Gorman?". TYO was good ol' Brit sketch comedy from a chunk of years back. AYDG is more recent, and I remember it being a damn riot. Basically, this guy Dave Gorman made a bet with his flatmate that he could go meet 52 other guys in the world named Dave Gorman. The show only lasts a few episodes and it's just DG putting on a presentation about his trip. I could see some people, even Britcom fans, not liking this, but I loved it. The guy's a stitch.

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Blackadder is perhaps one of the funniest shows ever produced. Coupling is great. I also love those Brit crime dramas and I'm sure I've mention Spooks before. Also Top Gear, a car show is pretty damn cool. If you get a chance to check out the new Doctor Who I recommend that. I think despite the fact that the BBC is gov funded and controls tv in the UK they have had some gems over there (I wonder how that happened). Someone on this board brought up (as a hypothetical) jamming BBC's feed-- I was like, well hell I kind of like their broadcasting. Do you think once they get cable the public TV will get worse? Is there already some private television broadcasting in Britain?

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Others I haven't seen in a while but remember being quite funny are "The Young Ones" and "Are You Dave Gorman?".  TYO was good ol' Brit sketch comedy from a chunk of years back.  AYDG is more recent, and I remember it being a damn riot.  Basically, this guy Dave Gorman made a bet with his flatmate that he could go meet 52 other guys in the world named Dave Gorman.  The show only lasts a few episodes and it's just DG putting on a presentation about his trip.  I could see some people, even Britcom fans, not liking this, but I loved it.  The guy's a stitch.

Don't forget, Dave had a self-imposed mileage to prevent him from flying all over the world to do it. So he had to be very judicious in his travels which is what made the series so oddly compelling. Especially considering how many times he made the front pages of small countries official state newspapers. Though my favorite was when he found the Tel Aviv (?) phone book and found a listing for like 30 Dave Gormans and it turns out to be just one guy with 30 phone lines much to his chagrin.

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If you get a chance to check out the new Doctor Who I recommend that.

...There's a new Doctor Who? As in post-Sylvester-McCoy? (and I don't mean that damn movie...)

Speaking as someone who's seen almost every episode of that show not including the first doctor (and that's saying something!), I would really like to know.

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Has anyone ever seen Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights? I thought it was really funny, and interesting from an Objectivist point of view now that I think about it- a struggling businessman fighting for his livelihood despite being disabled and putting up with repeated arson attacks. :)

Ricky Gervais' stand ups are also very humorous but his latest show "Extras" wasn't up to his usual standard.

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...There's a new Doctor Who? As in post-Sylvester-McCoy? (and I don't mean that damn movie...)

Speaking as someone who's seen almost every episode of that show not including the first doctor (and that's saying something!), I would really like to know.

You haven't heard? The newest season with Christopher Eccleston as the Doc just finished airing on the BBC like a month ago. The writing on most episodes was great. Chris was a hilarious dr. but sadly he will not be around for the next series which is filming already--david tennant is replacing him. Billie Piper played his companion and to my surprise did an amazing job.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/characters/

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You haven't heard?  The newest season with Christopher Eccleston as the Doc just finished airing on the BBC like a month ago.  The writing on most episodes was great.  Chris was a hilarious dr. but sadly he will not be around for the next series which is filming already--david tennant is replacing him.  Billie Piper played his companion and to my surprise did an amazing job.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/characters/

Neat. Will it be aired on BBC america? Or anything I could conceivably watch here in America?

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Only Fools and Horses is good, it's about a market trader in London and all the problems and adventrues he encounters (in the end he becomes a millionaire). The problem with the BBC (as well as being state owned) is that it is still showing comedies made in the 1970s at prime time. They need to come up with more comedies.

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