More of the Worst British TV Comedy Shows

From Love Thy Neighbour to Max and Paddy to Coming of Age

May 1, 2009

Another list of British comedy shows that should be seen here and then never spoken of again. WARNING - contains strong opinion some people may find offensive.

A continuation of sorts from the previous run down of British TV Comedy Show to Avoid, this new list proves with no facts whatsoever that not all stand-ups make a smooth transition to the small screen, patronising “yoof” comedy is the televisual equivalent of Chinese water torture and barefaced racism simply isn’t funny.

Clearly not the worst sitcom spin-off ever made but certainly one of the most disappointing. Peter Kay has taken the concept of recycling material and turned it into a career; first repackaging the same DVDs every Christmas, then flogging endless merchandise with annoyingly over-spouted catchphrases and finally taking two peripheral characters from a well written sitcom to repeat the same jokes over and over again.

The parent show Phoenix Nights worked because the ridiculous situations and strange inhabitants went against the grain of modern comedy’s realism, but more importantly had many laughs throughout. Once bouncers Max (Kay) and Paddy (Patrick McGuinness) were given their own series to drive around in a mobile home you realise they are irritating, two-dimensional and tedious.

People who are comedians by trade suffer an unfortunate setback in that everyone assumes they will be funny in everything they do. If they go on chat shows the host laughs enthusiastically even when they're serious, on reality TV they are expected to be quick witted in mundane circumstances and for writing a successful yet overplayed sitcom means they should be touted at the greatest thing to ever happen in British comedy.

Then there’s Lee Evans, a stand-up known more for his flailing limbs and “Monkey Boy” face than any actual routines. Evans is great on stage but in So, What Now? the style of physical humour comes across as a poor imitation of Frank Spencer minus the laughs. The BBC had the foresight to call it a day after one series.

The following is a made up and fictionalised account of how Best of the Worst was commissioned: Here’s an idea for one of those popular panel show thingies. Great, who’s the host? Alexander Armstrong. Yeah, he’s been good on HIGNFY. Who have you got to be the captains? David Mitchell is one. Fantastic, who’s the other? Johnny Vaughan. Johnny Vaughan? Yes. Not Bill Bailey or Lee Mack or Jo Brand or anyone who's funny? No, Johnny Vaughan. Right...let’s see what happens then.

The comedy panel market is hugely saturated and only the strong survive. Never Mind The Buzzcocks was a shadow of its former self after Mark Lemarr quit but at least it serves a purpose, Best of the Worst was unmemorable regardless the names attached. Still, it’s not as poor as the US version of Whose Line Is It Anyway? with Drew “this will be neither amusing nor enjoyable” Carey.

Okay, maybe BBC Three is so bad after all. Auntie’s “yoof” channel does offer repeats of Doctor Who, new episodes of Family Guy, the surreal animation Monkey Dust and the surprisingly superb Being Human. Then there’s the dark side of it where sane viewers are treated with utter contempt like with Coming of Age, which is Two Pints... starring idiotic teenagers that doesn’t appear to have been written by humans more spat straight from Hell.

Coming of Age isn’t a bad comedy, it’s not a comedy in any shape or form. It’s Skins for vacuous morons who don’t understand the concept of irony, and what’s worse is that there’s more to come with another series. This is probably the point to complain about the licence fee.

Stephen K Amos refers to this show saying that due to Love Thy Neighbour “I didn’t I was a nig-nog until my classmates told me I was”. Love Thy Neighbour was a one joke sitcom based entirely on race where a white working class guy (Jack Smethurst) would constantly berate his new neighbour in his own bigoted manner, then tried to defend that by having the black man (Rudolph Walker) be just as racist and usually get the upper hand. There was possibly a message about stereotypes in there but it really wasn't funny despite getting good ratings.

There’s a lot of negativity in the media these days about political correctness and how you can’t say certain words anymore because of offending people. But the fact that sitcoms like Love Thy Neighbour wouldn’t be able to exist in modern Britain is actually something to celebrate.

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