BF2S Forums Your Funniest (not so main-stream) Comedy TV Shows

OK so I like some main-stream comedies and I find myself getting a chuckle out of the odd repeat of friends and other shows with a laughter track, but none of these shows really make me laugh out loud.
There are however a lot of comedies out there that don't get the media and advertising because they don't try and cater to everyones taste. I much prefer it when a comedy targets a direct audience and going for longer more indirect jokes, rather than the quick gags all the time followed by the inevitable "canned laughter".
The aim of this thread is for all of us to find out about new shows that we might like and that you don't always see advertised on the main channels etc.



Curb Your Enthusiasm (Wiki entry) - Basically it's a lot more popular now than when it first came out and if you have not seen this, this should be your starting point. The show is created by Larry David (one of the Seinfeld writers) who plays a fictionalized version of himself who always ends up in an unlucky situation, or says something that comes back to bite him.

Wikipedia on Curb wrote:

Concept
Set in Los Angeles and loosely based on David's life as a semi-retired multi-millionaire in the world after Seinfeld, the series is often described as a more subversive take on that hit program's "show about nothing" motif.

Shot on location with hand-held cameras, Curb Your Enthusiasm is produced unconventionally, eschewing traditional scripts in favor of detailed scene outlines from which actors improvise dialogue retroscripting. Curb Your Enthusiasm develops ongoing story lines and in-jokes set around David's interaction with his patient but put-upon wife (played by Cheryl Hines). Larry's loyal manager Jeff Greene (played by Jeff Garlin) is always by his side through thick and thin. Jeff's outburst-prone wife Susie (played by Susie Essman) has a tendency to see right through Larry and Jeff's plans.

The show is punctuated between scenes with music orchestrated by Wendall J. Yuponce (first season), and from a music library company called Killer Tracks (seasons two to five). The bouncy opening and closing theme song (not mentioned in the credits) is "Frolic" by Luciano Michelini.

Though many scenarios are drawn from his own experiences, the real-life David has downplayed the notion that he is like the character portrayed onscreen. In a Bob Costas interview, he said that the Larry David of the show was the one he can't be in real life due to his sensitivity to others and to social conventions.

Lead Balloon (Wiki entry) Defiantly influenced by Curb this is a British comedy I first saw last year on BBC Four, not many people I have talked to have even heard of this show. Luckily you can watch Series 1 here. If you enjoy Curb you should like this.

Wiki on Lead Balloon wrote:

Plot
The central character is Rick Spleen. Similarly to Jack Dee, he is a successful middle-aged comedian with elements of cynicism and misanthropy in his humour. Although wealthy, respected and generally well-meaning, Rick's life is still plagued by petty annoyances, disappointments and embarrassments, many of them resulting from his own stubbornness and his incompetence as a liar.

Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive (Wiki entry) Series Two has just started on BBC Three so make sure you keep an eye out for it. This show's really clever the way it's made to parody a typical comedy quiz show puts a spin on the show.

Wiki on Annually retentive wrote:

Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive is a BBC Three television show, which first aired in the UK in July 2006. It concerns the making of a comedy panel game show called Annually Retentive, themed around historical events, and hosted by Rob Brydon. The show is deliberately parodic, as Brydon plays a hyper-realised, (and exaggeratedly nasty), version of himself, while the game show blatantly steals ideas from other, similar shows such as Have I Got News For You and Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

Its "show within a show" format is reminiscent of The Larry Sanders Show which explored the blurring of reality and fantasy in a similar way. The show cuts between fictionalized scenes that see Brydon and the producers making the panel game, and scenes from the game show itself. These latter segments were filmed in full, as if Annually Retentive were a real show, in front of live audiences at BBC Television Centre who, initially, were not made aware of its intentionally derivative and uninspired nature. A good portion of the game show segments were scripted; however, the panellists were allowed to 'play out' the game as if it were real, and occasionally improvise.

I do love programmes like The Office (UK & US (not including the pilot)) and Extras Series 1 & 2
but I feel they've became really mainstream but they still get the biggest laughs out of me.

Spaced (Wiki entry) All of you should know Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, the guys behind Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz I love this show especially the improvised gun battles . You can watch Spaced  here.

Wiki on Spaced wrote:

Tim Bisley (Pegg) and Daisy Steiner (Stevenson) are two London twenty-somethings who meet by chance in a cafe whilst both are flat-hunting. Despite barely knowing each other, they conspire to pose as a young "professional" couple in order to meet the requisites of an advertisement for a relatively cheap flat in the distinctive building at 23 Meteor Street, which is owned by and also houses the landlady, Marsha Klein (Julia Deakin). Also living in the building is Brian Topp (Mark Heap), an eccentric conceptual artist. Frequent visitors are Tim's best friend, Mike Watt (Nick Frost) and Daisy's best friend, Twist Morgan (Katy Carmichael). The series largely concerns the colourful and surreal adventures of Tim and Daisy as they navigate through life, decide on what they want to do with their lives, come to terms with affairs of the heart, and try to figure out new ways of killing time in largely unproductive ways. Tim and Daisy repeatedly stress that they aren't a couple to everyone but Marsha, but despite (or because of) this, romantic tension develops between them, particularly during the second series.

Finally my all time favourite is....

Peep Show (Wiki entry) I first saw this show 3-4 years ago late one night on Channel 4 and instantly became hooked. It was something completely different and fresh and funny, exactly the comedy Channel 4 is good at putting on. Watch it online here

Wiki on Peep Show wrote:

The show is unusual in that the events of the two main characters' lives are seen almost exclusively from their own points of view (and those of other characters they interact with) to the extent that a working title for the programme was 'POV'. Scenes in the show are often filmed using cameras strapped to the actors' heads[2], to give the viewer a point of view identical to that of the protagonists, and the two main characters' internal monologues (or interior thoughts) are presented to the audience as voice overs. On occasion, this viewing style is dropped in favour of a more traditional third person view, usually for establishing shots and flashbacks. It is worthwhile to note that even in such events the third person view is shot from the point of view of an actual third person (a passer by, bystander, or a marginal character) making it to a point still faithful to the initial first person point of view formula.

Now everyone post your favourite comedies that not everybody likes!

Edit: Updated to add Spaced

Last edited by Milk.org (2007-05-01 15:16:31)