British Comedy Guide

3 things I'm tired of seeing/hearing in Comedy

1. Eccentric Posh men with loud voices. You know the ones, Tom Baker in Little Britain (and in the old Lee and Herring radio show that he also did the voice-overs for, which has been repeated recently, on BBC7); Chris Morris' character in The I.T. Crowd, and his supposed nephew, who took over his business, after he committed suicide; a couple of the characters from Roman's Empire; and, of course, the voice-over bloke, from the E4 adverts.

2. Smart-arse, young, American fat blokes, who have a snappy answer for everything. Jack Black is the prototype, but there have been many since he first found fame. The two that have been on T.V. recently, are the main character's friend, on that new show Reaper, and the one sitting in the office cubicle, on that advert for godaddy.com

3. Comedy Raps. The latest is on an advert for Pot Noodles. Surely they've been done enough, already. Talk about lazy writing.

*phew* I haven't got any of them in any of my sitcoms.

Quote: catskillz @ May 2 2008, 12:07 AM BST

1. Eccentric Posh men who shout a lot. You know the ones, Tom Baker in Little Britain (and the old Lee and Herring radio show that's been repeated recently), Chris Morris' character in The I.T. Crowd, and his supposed nephew, who took over his business, after he committed suicide, a couple of the characters from Roman's Empire, and, of course, the voice-over bloke, from the E4 adverts.

Eccentric men, granted. But how ANY of those characters could be considered 'posh' is beyond me. Just where do you live?! :S

Quote: Aaron @ May 2 2008, 12:15 AM BST

Eccentric men, granted. But how ANY of those characters could be considered 'posh' is beyond me. Just where do you live?! :S

How would you describe their voices/accents?

I'm not sure. Certainly not posh though!

I just wish people would hold a cup of tea as if it really has got hot tea in it. No-one wraps their hand around the cup without using the handle, that would burn.

I know this isn't necessarily a comedy thing, but it's probably happened in lots of comedies over the years.

Annoys the hell out of me for some reason.

I also think the E4 guy is getting annoying. That voice was best used in the Smell of Reeves and Mortimer. It wasn't tired at that point.

And not watching E4, I have no idea what any of you are on about. :D

Young people in comedy - teenagers and that. What's the point? They're not funny and they'd probably be happier out getting drunk on cider and stamping goths to death.

1) Standup material that consists of jokes about: paedophilia, how dumb Americans are, political correctness 'going mad'.

2) Anything that is even remotely catchphrase based.

3) Snide humour that is passed off as irony - little britain.

Snide is a wonderful word. It's an old Yiddish word for cutting, and comes from tailoring.

Quote: Griff @ May 2 2008, 8:05 AM BST

I'm glad someone has brought up the E4 announcer. I hate him with a passion. It's been on my list to write a sketch ripping the shit out of him for ages.

The E4 announcer - if its the one I'm thinking of - is copying Patrick Allen who died a couple of years ago.

At the time he had a unique voice and precence. He was a very square jawed bloke who was in a BBC crama a few years ago. Then he did the Barratt Homes adverts from the helicopter.

Then he died a few years ago and they thought it would be clever to use someone who sounded like him.
(Or am I thinking of the wrong bloke???)

Quote: David Chapman @ May 2 2008, 8:17 PM BST

The E4 announcer - if its the one I'm thinking of - is copying Patrick Allen who died a couple of years ago.

At the time he had a unique voice and precence. He was a very square jawed bloke who was in a BBC crama a few years ago. Then he did the Barratt Homes adverts from the helicopter.

Then he died a few years ago and they thought it would be clever to use someone who sounded like him.
(Or am I thinking of the wrong bloke???)

No that's the one, the guy who has to say "ruddy" in every trailer voiceover.

It seems to me the comedy announcer bit is basically saying:

'Our shows are shit; but it's okay because we know they're shit, so you can watch them ironically.'

Which I can't help thinking isn't the best way to promote your channel.

Quote: manchester's trendy chorlton @ May 2 2008, 1:05 PM BST

1) Standup material that consists of jokes about: paedophilia, how dumb Americans are, political correctness 'going mad'.

Well it was nice knowing you anyway.

Dude. Make the effort, it'll be worth it in the long run.

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