Right...

Why hello there! Well, isn't it nice in here? All comfy, you even have heated pillows! Dead snazzy. Right, I am here to ask your assistance. I am currently investigating a question for a school project. In particular, the Extended Project where one has to write a dissertation looking in to whatever subject one likes. My question is this: Is British Comedy today the best it has ever been?' Now, as this is THE British Comedy site, I thought it would be jolly good to ask you lot. There would be varying opinions and you could give me lots of wonderful information. I was wondering if you could submit your ideas and feelings about the question.

Thank you for reading,
Much love xxx

Is British Comedy today the best it has ever been?

It's a good subject for a dissertation but the essential point to bear in mind is that what's deemed 'good' and what's deemed 'bad' (be it comedy or anything else) is very much dependent upon the time and the place in which it exists and the time and the place in which the question is answered, not to mention the person(s) doing the answering.

Before you get down to answering the question in earnest, you'll need to define 'good' comedy and you'll have to define the criteria by which one piece of comedy might be deemed better than another.

Bussell, you big meanie.

I'm with Ronnie here, in that it's such a subjective discussion that it is best to define the criteria for 'best'. You might want to argue that best is proliferation and variation, but you may want to define best as 'quality', which is a totally different argument.

Quote: British Alien @ December 7 2010, 12:25 PM GMT

.... the Extended Project where one has to write a dissertation looking in to whatever subject one likes. My question is this: Is British Comedy today the best it has ever been?'

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Not even contingent on how narrowly you define 'today'. The answer is no. Next question.

Righty ho. Maybe I should have made this clearer. My apologies. Had a minute to write everything and didn't quite get the opportunity to.
Firstly, Bussell: I do not want the BCG to do my essay for me. What's the point in that? I am only after varying opinions, as they in turn help to answer the frankly mammoth question that I am posed with. Almost like a survey.
The whole idea of the Extended Project is that there is a possibility for there to be both a yes or a no answer, and then I have to research hundreds of sources and make a judgement that is in no way influenced by my own personal opinion (which is that British comedy is a product of what has come before it. It may not be the best in terms of purity, but the past has a direct infleunce on its present.)

Now I do realise that the question is hard to determine considering that everyone finds different things funny and as some have said it depends about the era and all that kind of thing. Obviously parts of the question can be taken in many different ways. This is another part of the project where I have to explain certain elements of the question itself so that I can find the right information to explain or analyse my parameters.
Again, what I neglected to say earlier was that I am mainly concentrating on what was 'popular in the public eye' of the time. My observations start in the 40s and work towards today. These are rough questions that I have to attempt to answer.

How far has Britain's perception of comedy changed of what has been funny and what has not been funny since the 1940s?
How much has the British comedy scene changed due to influences from abroad?
How much has the world's political climate changed our perception of comedy?
Is anything in comedy ever new?
What are the different types of comedy that have become especially prominent in the public view?
Is it right to emulate the comedy of the past by doing remakes of classics?
Can there ever be such thing as a 'timeless comedy'?
How closely can the darker side of humour be linked to the British Comedy landscape?

My love for classic comedy drew me to choose this particular topic and I wish to learn more about it. All I ask from you is whether you have any opinions so that I could possibly use them in my essay to justify certain points. All I want is your ideas and feelings.

Thankyou for reading x

All of these questions have been answered (quite thoroughly) in other threads.

I suggest you have a good hunt through the BCG archives, young shaver.

Quote: don rushmore @ December 7 2010, 5:04 PM GMT

All of these questions have been answered (quite thoroughly) in other threads.

I suggest you have a good hunt through the BCG archives, young shaver.

View original

Ah righty ho. Thank you very much. Just thought this was a more direct route. x

Well to answer this question, what so damned good about the 21st century comedy?

How about the anarchic radio comedy that grew out of armed forces shows during the 1950s?
Shows like Round The Horne and The Goon Show were genuinely funny anarchic and original. Then leading into the massive comedy beasts of That Was The Week That Was and then Monty Python.

An era of comedy originals unfettered by focus groups and a 1000 digital competitors. An era where if you were a Ronnie Barker or a Galton and Simpson you went off and wrote your damned comedy.

Or how about the Elizabethan age of comedy. When the theatre allowed social satire and bawdy humour as a mass media for the first time?

How about the alternative comedy movement of the 1980s? The Comic Strip Presents, Spitting Image and Not The 9 O'clock News. Punchy, relevant and impassioned.

Or the glory days of 60/70s sitcoms. When Porridge or Rising Damp or even Love Thy Neighbour could be funny, nuanced and acerbic social commentaries. In a way that modern dramatists only can wish after.

The current crop of comedy seems to be deeply mediocre. Good stand-ups tied to half-arsed sketch shows, toothless topical satire and endless sitcoms about wankers in flatshares or cheery middle class families.

The Office was some years ago.

Great warm welcome ah....

I think there might be a problem with such a wide question, it is a recent development that Comedians have become almost Pop stars, playing to stadium audiences (which I think started with Newman and Badiel?) If "good" means , seem by more people live and on telly, then possibly....

I think there's as much good comedy around as there ever was, however I think it's much more fractured and balkanised nowadays. Twenty or thirty years ago, sitcoms played to huge audiences. Nowadays shows appeal to increasingly narrow demographics. Probably due to the changing way in which we consume shows - internet, DVD, etc - and the growth in minority channels such as BBC3 and BBC4.

Oh I dunno maybe in the UK but Steve Martin played stadiums

Besides is a slick rockstar performance for 2 hours to a howling crowd of 1000s. So much better than still perfecting your craft on the road.

Actual saw Ben Elton in front of a crowds of 1ooos in the 80s

Quote: sootyj @ December 7 2010, 5:55 PM GMT

Actual saw Ben Elton in front of a crowds of 1ooos in the 80s

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A lynch mob doesn't count....

"good" is a problem word in a quality context. Bernard Manning filled clubs and so does Chubby Brown. Maybe they are "good" if numbers are the level of "goodness".

No that is absolutely true. Manning and Brown represent a very specific niche and both are supremely accomplished comics, but desperately shallow. Gag after gag that goes no where isn't much of an acheivment.