Monty Python, A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster, League of Gentlemen, Royle Family, Phoenix Nights, Peep Show, Extras, Brass Eye, The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer, Bang Bang It’s Reeves and Mortimer, Shooting Stars, Spaced, Mighty Boosh, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, One Foot in the Grave, Ali G, Whose Line is it Anyway, HIGNFY, Idiot Abroad, Life’s Too Short, Fast Show, Black Books, Porridge…
We could do this forever, I’m sure there’s a load still missing!
A Touch of Cloth. Probably the highest density jokes per second in UK comedy.
Lol didnt know that one - marvelous!!!
Me neither. Me too. We were surely cut from the same ...
It's crazy isn't it? American sitcoms/comedy doesn't even come close and is almost universally derivative of the British greats, despite having 5-6x the population and far bigger budgets.
I think that is comes from the fact that Americans take themselves too seriously and have a very strong and an even stronger censorship model than the British (thanks to well-funded religious organisations who make fun illegal).
(British OP)
I agree that British sitcoms (not comedy generally) were superior for a couple of decades, but think we need to give modern American comedy much more credit; Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry Sanders, various animation series, etc, etc have established them back at the top. I can't see the UK as that competitive these days.
That's not considering American standup, movies etc which leave us in the dust.
What We Do in the Shadows, except it's NZ really.
Oh there are certainly some excellent American comedy shows..
Seinfeld, Curb, Arrested Development, Modern Family, The Office (US), South Park, Parks and Rec, 30 Rock, Frasier, Fresh Prince, Friends, How I Met Your Month, Futurama, Simpsons (OG) and then there's not a lot more on the bench unless you include the lesser remakes of British shows.
A lot of them aren't funny or aren't satire.. just look at the Shameless remake - they turned that into a character drama when it was a sitcom.
America has more of a stand-up culture I feel.
I wonder if it's because the news in America is pretty much fiction that they basically don't have political satire as a genre outside of the topical news shows (Daily Show / John Oliver) which are honestly more like real news shows than comedy at this point.
Some American comedy is pretty good especially the cartoons like Simpsons and South Park.
It's notable just how many of the shows called out in this thread have links to the Cambridge Footlights. Certainly not all, but perhaps a third have cast who came through that club.
Snuff box, Mitchell and Webb Look, Toast of London, Spaced...
Slowing down, but let’s add Friday Night Dinner and Green Wing.
This Morning With Richard Not Judy, Look Around You, Absolutely*, Ghosts, Not Only... But Also.
*The sketch show, not Ab Fab. Alright, Ab Fab too.
Horrible Histories and Murder So Horrid.
The Tory Party, that was the biggest long running joke ever, I never thought that they'd be able to top the hilarious Boris Johnson but then Liz Truss came out of nowhere and PORK MARKETS'd her way into infamy!
I've heard that Liz Truss is upset that a lettuce is launching a rival social media site to hers
You sound like a Matt Berry fan, yet you missed Year of the Rabbit and Man to Man With Dean Learner
I'm shocked that no one has mentioned the Mrs Merton Show though you did at least mention The Royle Family. Caroline Aherne was amazing at understated comedy.
"So, what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?" she asked Debbie McGee.
The Royal Family was amazing. Caroline is dearly missed :(