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British Comedy
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Hands Up, Who Likes Me?: High Spirits With Shirley Ghostman

by | January 4th, 2011

In this weekly column, I’ll introduce you to the world of British comedy in the chronology of how I, an American anglophile, discovered it in my life. This week: High Spirits With Shirley Ghostman.

I am an absolute junkie for shitty paranormal reality shows. As a kid, I obsessed over any program that offered even a whiff of “real” occult incidents. I particularly remember watching Maury Povich or some other day-time chat show host interviewing a, “haunted” family from Connecticut (where I grew up!), who had demons tormenting them day and night. If it could happen to them, it could happen to me!

Ghosts fascinated me. Tarot, Ouija, automatic writing…I did all that stuff as a kid, just so I could ask departed souls important questions like, “Will I ever have sex?” and, “Will you help me get a SEGA Master System?”

As I got older, I realized just how crap these shows were and how fake their so-called psychics were. But I kept watching…ironically, of course. The modern wave of Ghosthunting and Psychic Medium programs are so ludicrous, it’s almost difficult to parody them. I mean, you’d have to go pretty big to out-flamboy someone like Chip Coffey. (Chip, if you’re reading this, no offense…I’m a big fan, for realz.) Could a parody of these already unintentionally hilarious shows work? READ MORE

British Comedy
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Hands Up, Who Likes Me?: The Bad Education of Look Around You

by | December 21st, 2010

In this weekly column, I’ll introduce you to the world of British comedy in the chronology of how I, an American anglophile, discovered it in my life. This week: Look Around You.

The great crop of British comedic voices that popped up in the late 90’s and early 2000’s are now fast becoming household names here in the states: Simon Pegg, Ricky Gervais, Steve Coogan, Chris Morris, Armando Ianucci and now Peter Serafinowicz.

American audiences might recognize Peter Serafinowicz as Fa’ad Shaoulian from the now defunct FOX series, Running Wilde. Or perhaps Sctanley, from the Vince Vaughan/Jon Favreau vehicle, Couples Retreat. Or maybe even as the voice of Darth Maul. In any case, that would be a grave disservice to Mr. Serafinowicz.

I recommend audiences go back to watch the full body of his work from the BBC and I’d start with the cult classic, Look Around You. READ MORE

British Comedy
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Hands Up, Who Likes Me?: Nathan Barley and the Rise of the Idiots

by | December 16th, 2010

In this weekly column, I’ll introduce you to the world of British comedy in the chronology of how I, an American anglophile, discovered it in my life. This week: Nathan Barley.

There used to be a time when the word, “hipster,” evoked the image of that lovable Seinfeld doofus, Kramer. But somewhere between the late 90’s and the mid aughts, the term, “hipster,” became the catch-all description for alternative minded young people.

And when I say, “alternative minded,” what I actually mean is obnoxiously self-centered, irony-steeped, trust-fund reliant, aggressively apathetic, faux-intellectual jerks. NYC’s East Village and Williamsburg, Brooklyn seemed to be its epicenter. However, those scenes more often than not took their cues from the real fertile crescent of hipsterdom, London.

Enter Nathan Barley, the brilliant hate-letter to the post 9/11, nhilist, hipster scene. READ MORE

British Comedy
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Hands Up, Who Likes Me?: Rockin' the Suburbs with Steve Coogan's Saxondale

by | December 7th, 2010

In this weekly column, I’ll introduce you to the world of British comedy in the chronology of how I, an American anglophile, discovered it in my life. This week: Saxondale.

I’m sort of breaking my own rules this week. I’m skipping over a couple of shows (The Office and The Mighty Boosh) because they’re so popular and so well known, I feel a little silly covering them. I promise to double back and chat about them when it seems less obvious.

When it comes to Steve Coogan, I’ve sort of reverse engineered my my appreciation for his work. The way it’s supposed to go is, you watch Knowing Me, Knowing You With Alan Partridge, fall in love with Coogan’s smug hilarity, then move on to its follow up series, I’m Alan Partridge, catch a glimpse of him in Curb Your Enthusiasm or Night at the Museum, then one fine golden day, discover his brilliant and woefully underrated series, Saxondale.

I, however, discovered Saxondale first. READ MORE

British Comedy
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Hands Up, Who Likes Me?: Chris Morris' Twisted Jam

by | November 30th, 2010

In this weekly column, I’ll introduce you to the world of British comedy in the chronology of how I, an American anglophile, discovered it in my life. This week: Jam.

I make my living in comedy, but often I wonder if I should have gone into drama, violent thrillers or snuff-porn. Maybe I’m an irredeemably bent person, but I get a lot of joy out of the perverse, ugly and brutal.

That, my dear friends, is why comedic provocateur extraordinaire Chris Morris’s grim sketch show Jam is one of my favorite programs of all time.

Disturbing. Vulgar. Self Indulgent. Anti-Comedy. Mind-Bending. Hilarious. Brilliant. Hateful. Cutting edge. Jam has been labeled all of these things, and with good reason! READ MORE

British Comedy
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Hands Up, Who Likes Me?: The Comfort of The Thin Blue Line

by | November 23rd, 2010

In this weekly column, I’ll introduce you to the world of British comedy in the chronology of how I, an American anglophile, discovered it in my life. This week: The Thin Blue Line.

Many of my entries in this column have focused on shows that were cutting edge or in some way subversive. This week, however, I’m shedding light on the 2 season, barely remembered police station sitcom The Thin Blue Line, a show which lived comfortably within the confines of the traditional sitcom format.

Written by the legendary Ben Elton and starring comedy mastermind Rowan Atkinson, The Thin Blue Line ran from 1995 to 1996 without much fanfare (at least stateside). The show’s various plots revolved around police inspector Raymond C. Fowler (Atkinson) and his squad of bumbling and lackadasical uniformed officers as they fought against boring, small-town, local crime. (Though much of the comedy comes from their infighting with each other, and their arch enemy, Detective Inspector Derek Grimm and his plain-clothes detectives.) READ MORE

British Comedy
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Hands Up, Who Likes Me?: Chris Morris and the Subversive Comedy of Brass Eye

by | November 16th, 2010

In this weekly column, I’ll introduce you to the world of British comedy in the chronology of how I, an American anglophile, discovered it in my life. This week: Brass Eye.

Chris Morris is one of the U.K.’s absolute best, brightest, weirdest and most darkly hilarious comedic impresarios. He’s responsible for some of the greatest comedy to come out of Britain over the past 10 plus years.

Recently, he’s gotten a (relatively) lot of press for his feature film writing/directing debut, Four Lions, which follows the misadventures of a radical Islamic terrorist cell in London. And it’s a comedy. READ MORE

British Comedy
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Hands Up, Who Likes Me?: The Godmothers of Modern Comedy

by | November 9th, 2010

In this weekly column, I’ll introduce you to the world of British comedy in the chronology of how I, an American anglophile, discovered it in my life. This week: Absolutely Fabulous.

Back in the Dark Ages, when I was but a young boy, the observation “women aren’t funny” could still be bandied about with very little irony, or argument.

It wasn’t that women weren’t actually funny, it’s just that everyone seemed to collectively decide to ignore any evidence to the contrary. Lucille Ball? She needed Desi. Mary Tyler Moore? An exception to the rule. Lilly Tomlin? She’s obnoxious. Gilda Radner? Sure, but John Belushi is “really” funny.

The prevailing attitude of the general public was that men were funny, and women should watch them.

The small-mindedness of that thinking built up a pressure so high that in the late 80’s and early 90’s a veritable boom of feminine-hilarity burst forth in to the world. And no woman (or person for that matter) was so funny, so consistently as the incomparable Jennifer Saunders in her hit series Absolutely Fabulous. READ MORE

British Comedy
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Hands Up, Who Likes Me?: The Stomach-Churning Puppets of Spitting Image

by | November 3rd, 2010

In this weekly column, I’ll introduce you to the world of British comedy in the chronology of how I, an American anglophile, discovered it in my life. This week: Spitting Image.

I discovered Spitting Image one summer when friends of mine from Ireland showed me a warbly VHS tape of the show. I was met by a disturbingly creepy puppet of Reagan being awoken by his advisor, “Don,” at the White House. And I was immediately confused, queasy and hooked.

There are several shows that I watched when I was growing up, that for some reason or another made me feel, for lack of a better word, “ooky,” inside. And yet, there was something about them that I just couldn’t resist.

American programs like, Sigmund and the Sea Monster, The Great Space Coaster and Zoobilie Zoo all had this effect on me. But the British satirical masterpiece Spitting Image was far and away the “ookiest” show I remember from my youth. READ MORE

British Comedy
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Hands up, Who Likes Me?: Filling the Void With Some Good Smeg!

by | October 26th, 2010

In this weekly column, I’ll introduce you to the world of British comedy in the chronology of how I, an American anglophile, discovered it in my life. This week: Red Dwarf.

Shortly after devouring all things Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy around age 14, I was overcome by a terrible ennui. Where would I get my fix of absurdist British science fiction now? Dr. Who was great and all, but it didn’t lean on the funny nearly enough for my taste.

Luckily, fate intervened.

I spent the night at a friend’s house one weekend, and his father happened to be a huge sci-fi and comedy nerd. We bonded over our love of H2G2, and when I told him how sad I was that I had nothing to take its place, he immediately lent me VHS bootlegs of a show called Red Dwarf.

I got home, watched the tapes and my mind was blown. READ MORE

British Comedy
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Hands Up, Who Likes Me?: Don’t Panic

by | October 12th, 2010

In this weekly column, I’ll introduce you to the world of British comedy in the chronology of how I, an American anglophile, discovered it in my life. This week: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is great. Really great. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly great it is.

It’s been so incredibly popular, for so many years, across so many mediums it’s become sort of an alternative comedy Star Wars and Star Trek all rolled up into one…but better.

A science-fiction and comedy masterpiece, its many incarnations have included; novels (a 6 part, “trilogy”), comic books, radio series, video games, stage plays, a feature film and of course, a BBC mini-series for television. READ MORE

British Comedy
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Hands Up, Who Likes Me?: Edmund Blackadder, the Greatest Sitcom Anti-Hero of All Time

by | October 5th, 2010

In this weekly column, I’ll introduce you to the world of British comedy in the chronology of how I, an American anglophile, discovered it in my life. This week: Blackadder.

I’ve mentioned it in previous editions of this column, but I’ll say it again: nobody does anti-heroes like the British. From Basil Fawlty to David Brent, the best of UK television has revolved around some of the most awful people imaginable.

Which takes me to maybe the greatest sitcom anti-hero of all time, Blackadder. Starring Rowan Atkinson in the titular role, and co-created by the legendary Richard Curtis, Blackadder follows the oft ill-fated adventures of Edmund Blackadder, a conniving, self-centered egotist.

The show has a twist, though. READ MORE

British Comedy
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Hands Up, Who Likes Me?: Cuz We Might Not Be the Young Ones For Very Long…

by | September 28th, 2010

In this weekly column, I’ll introduce you to the world of British comedy in the chronology of how I, an American anglophile, discovered it in my life. This week: The Young Ones.

I had my first cigarette when I was 13. I also snuck my first beer that same year. But way more formative, and certainly more badass, is the fact I was 13 when I saw my first Young Ones episode. It couldn’t have happened at a better time.

As the wooly-minded innocence of youth was being shorn away by the impinging horrors of adulthood, I was primed and ready to embrace something radical. Something ugly, foul, chaotic and brilliant. And that’s exactly what I found in The Young Ones, a show that has had more influence on me than almost any other piece of entertainment. In fact, the name of this very column is a reference to the show itself. READ MORE

British Comedy
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Hands Up Who Likes Me?: Living it Up at the Hotel Fawlty Towers

by | September 21st, 2010

In this weekly column, I’ll introduce you to the world of British comedy in the chronology of how I, an American anglophile, discovered it in my life. This week: Fawlty Towers.

When legendary rock groups break up, the members often go on to put out less than legendary solo work (I’m looking at you, Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds, Slash’s Snake-Pit, Duff and Chinese Democracy era Axl Rose). It’s hard for lightening to strike twice, to have multiple phases of brilliance in any creative career.

There are exceptions though. True geniuses that reinvent themselves with seeming ease. Lennon and McCartney, Bill Murray, Vern Troyer…you know, the masters.

Well, if Monty Python were the Beatles of sketch comedy, John Cleese was their Paul McCartney, rolling out a post-sketch career of innovative and landmark work. For my money, the greatest of his solo efforts was the pitch perfect farcical sitcom Fawlty Towers. READ MORE

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