Greatest comedy writer

JOhn sullivan(citizen smith.ofah)
John cleese(fawlty towers)
Steve coogan(everthing he has written is classic)
Ricky gervais(office,extras)

So, do you want us to pick our own choices, and dissown you for your own? Or what?

I think that he wants us to pick our own, in which case...

Cleese/Booth - Fawlty Towers
Lloyd/Croft - 'Allo 'Allo!
Croft/Perry - Dad's Army
Braben et al. - Morecambe & Wise shows
Driscoll/Curtis/Atkinson - Mr. Bean
Curtis/Elton/Atkinson - Blackadder
Elton - The Thin Blue Line
Jay/Lynn - Yes[, Prime] Minister
Rothwell/Colin - Up Pompeii!
Lane/Taylor/Powell/Driver et al. - Bless This House
Nobbs - The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
Galton/Simpson - Steptoe and Son, Hancock, etc.

And so many more...

Okay, then. Well...

Simon Pegg & Jessica Stevenson - Spaced
Ben Elton - Thin Blue Line
Richard Curtis/Elton/Rowan Atkinson - Blackadder
Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais - Porridge/Rotters Club/Likely Lads
John Cleese - Fawlty Towers
Chris Morris - The Day Today/Brass Eye
Graham Linehan - Father Ted/Black Books/Big Train
Ricky Gervais - The Office
Steve Coogan - All the Partridge stuff/Saxondale
Steven Moffatt - Coupling

Lol - HotZappa, nice comment

John Cleese / Connie Booth - Fawlty Towers - possibly the most perfect sitcom

Ben Elton for Filthy Rich And Catflap (way above his best and liberally stolen from by Rik and Ade in every Bottom episode after that (Example: the identical Gasman / Milkman plots))

Ben elton for rescuing a patchy BlackAdder 1 and turning subsequent series into a true classic, deserving a seperate mention

Grant / Naylor for the better of the Red Dwarf series

Pegg / Stevenson - Spaced Series One (Series Two - way too derivative but still good)

Linehan/Mathews - Father Ted - possible the best sitcom since Fawlty Towers

Also agree with Aaaron's Yes [prime] minister and Steptoe inclusions.

I don't rate him but I'm surprised the Gervais votes didn't mention Merchant, are they deliberate ommissions?

Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson
Gervais and MERCHANT. (happy?)
Reeves and Mortimer
Stewart Lee and Richard Herring
The League of Gentlemen
Barratt and Fielding
Fry and Laurie

This is just turning into a favourite comedians list.

Nobody has mentioned the two writing Ronnies.Ronald Chesney and Ronald Wolfe wrote:-

The Rag Trade
On The Buses
Yus My Dear

Amonst a stack of other stuff.Ronald Wolfe has apparently written over 500 TV episodes of comedy material.

armando iannucci - i really like his style he seems really smart and his use of language is amazing,

chris morris - again i really like his style of writing its not stock or plain or predictable but at the same time its not trying to hard to be 'unpredictable' or over done it always seems clinical and just right really are teacher of a level english made us study a chris morris sketch because of its use of language and i think he was right in doing so

i remember reading a 9/11 satire they both wrote in the observer it was really funny some of the lines were amazing but at the same time it seemed like it hadn't taken a long time to write i dunno i just think they've got the best way of writing i love hearing or reading anything by them

*gasps for breath*

dyningtolive, good to have you here, but please use some punctuation! The odd comma, full stop, and capital letter wouldn't have gone amiss!

(It is in the message board rules, after all.)

Thanks.

Quote: dyingtolive @ November 12, 2006, 9:42 PM

chris morris - again i really like his style of writing its not stock or plain or predictable but at the same time its not trying to hard to be 'unpredictable' or over done it always seems clinical and just right really are teacher of a level english made us study a chris morris sketch because of its use of language and i think he was right in doing so

View original

He apparently posts on various forums under the pseudonym Boing!, posting inane comments and surreal questions. Just a shame that he hasn't surfaced on here.

Quote: Aaron @ November 13, 2006, 6:20 AM

*gasps for breath*

dyningtolive, good to have you here, but please use some punctuation! The odd comma, full stop, and capital letter wouldn't have gone amiss!

(It is in the message board rules, after all.)

Thanks.

View original

sorry man, i just read back my posts and i know what you mean it is annoying

No problem. Just try and keep more to the board rules.

Anyway, we can only wait in hope, Wheeler!

I was wondering why no one had mentioned the great David Lloyd, the single best writer of episodic comedy in the World, then I remembered this is the British Sitcom Guide and he isn't. Lloyd wrote some of the classic episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Golden Girls, Cheers and Frasier and started out writing gags for Carson and others. I say he wrote the classic episodes and I know on US shows you get the writing credit when it's your week and you may not have written a word of the programme as broadcastbut I watched him do warm-ups and he is very funny. Galton and Simpson for UK sitcoms best, after all that.

i think Craig cash has to be up there aswell as sullivan,simon nye(men behaving badly)and Merchant/Gervais

For me - and please stick with this - I reckon one of the most prolific British writers is Barry Cryer. To my mind he's a quality writer who has learnt his craft and is someone who should be given loads of respect for being so naturally funny and incredibly talented.