British Comedy Guide

Films and TV Shows about comedy?

Does anybody know of any films or television shows that are about either the comedy business, or comedians in general. I can't think of many. On the film front there's the very good Auto Focus, about Bob Crane (star of American sitcom, Hogans Heroes). There's also the mighty King Of Comedy, about a Johnny Carson style chatshow host. It's my all time favourite Martin Scorcese film, and probably De Niro's best performance. I can't think of too many other films on the subject, though.

On the TV front, I can't think of a single show, except the upcoming Aaron Sorkin show starring Mathew Perry (I forget what it's called, but I'm looking forward to one of Channel 4's digital channels showing it).

Any other suggestions? And opinions as to whether they're worth watching or not?

The Aristocrats - Not sure it's worth a feature film, no I'm defiantly sure it's not worth a feature film.

Comedy Map of Britain - It's o.k, but boring sometimes though.

Comedy Connections - It's a good show, but I only tend to watch the ones I know.

Can't think of anything else...

The Player is about Hollywood and is a very funny film in general. I'm not sure if that will help.

Quote: Leevil @ March 12, 2007, 12:57 PM

The Aristocrats - Not sure it's worth a feature film, no I'm defiantly sure it's not worth a feature film.

Comedy Map of Britain - It's o.k, but boring sometimes though.

Comedy Connections - It's a good show, but I only tend to watch the ones I know.

Can't think of anything else...

There's been a number of very interesting documentaries over the past year or so, including:
Is Benny Hill Still Funny?
Crumpet
Who Killed The British Sitcom?
The Unforgettable... (more individuals really I guess)

It's called Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

Theres also Larry Sanders, Punchline (film), Festival (film), and on Youtube there a Matthew Holness/Richard Ayoade spoof on the Cambridge footlights, i would link to it but youtube is down at the moment.

Theres a 100 top comedians on channel 4 soon, if Sarah Silverman isn't in there i'm going stop using the number 4 in protest.

I once worked with a man who wouldn't use the number 13 because his dad died on Friday the 13th. Any time he had to write it in paperwork, he would write 12+1 or 14-1. Although the best I saw from him was 1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1 (Don't count them, I've double checked it and there are 13, shit sorry 12+1 of them)

Does he live in a padded room now? :)

On the film front there's also Punchline, starring a pre- mega stardon Tom Hanks as a stand up comedian. And Man On The Moon, the Milos Foreman film starring Jim Carrey as the loony actor who was in Taxi.

On the TV front, there was that thing about Peter Cook a couple of christmasses ago. I can't remember what it was called but it wasn't bad. And didn't Alfred Molina play Tony Hancock in a BBC drama quite a while ago?

Seinfeld was originally going to be about how a stand-up comic finds inspiration in his everyday life, but moved away from that when they came to put it together in production.

I quite liked the Seinfeld storyline which saw Jerry and George developing a sitcom called Jerry, a show in which nothing happened.

They did that in Curb as well.

Don't know about doing it IN Curb - isn't IT Curb?!

Quote: ajp29 @ March 13, 2007, 3:09 AM

Theres a 100 top comedians on channel 4 soon, if Sarah Silverman isn't in there i'm going stop using the number 4 in protest.

She wasn't in it, protest underway I assume? :D

She should have been in it though.

Quote: Aaron @ March 23, 2007, 1:50 AM

Don't know about doing it IN Curb - isn't IT Curb?!

Yeah Larry comes up with the Curb idea, but it would star George but he wouldn't do it because they couldn't agree who's office to meet at, I think? So then he tried it with Elaine.

Yep, i'm no longer using that number, only problem is that its the same number i use in my pin number so looks like i'll be on hunger strike aswell.

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