It will star Stephen Mangan as both brother and sister.
Taboos in sitcom Page 2
Quote: Badge @ December 27 2011, 2:53 AM GMTGary and Tony used taboos all the time in Men Behaving Badly.
This is sounding more and more like a GREAT idea. I may delete my posts as everyone will be copying.
Ross wasn't supposed to have a hotplate in his office.
Taboos: you don't ever see dwarfs in decent sitcoms. 
Don't tar Psychoville with your brush!
Hi, I am fresh meat on this site so haven't really had time to look through the forums much.
I am currently typing up my first sitcom idea and I think I can safely say it contains a few taboos not covered in other sitcoms, such as cannibalism, implied necrophilia and theft of body parts. Anyone think that's taking it too far and I'm wasting my time?
Cheers guys
Andy
There's a distinct lack of porn in sitcoms.
I recall watching a reality-type show about an American porn star 'Seymour Butts' and it was quite funny although it probably wasn't meant to be. It was called Porn, A Family Business on the Showtime channel.
Quote: andy hardaker @ December 28 2011, 9:28 AM GMTHi, I am fresh meat on this site so haven't really had time to look through the forums much.
I am currently typing up my first sitcom idea and I think I can safely say it contains a few taboos not covered in other sitcoms, such as cannibalism, implied necrophilia and theft of body parts. Anyone think that's taking it too far and I'm wasting my time?
Cheers guys
Andy
Not at all. It sounds potentially excellent, in fact.
But two things to remember:
1) If you're entirely new to the industry, people won't so much be looking to commission the script you send them, as see within that script your potential. It could be years, if ever, before someone becomes interested in developing this particular script. Take that into account, and it'll become clear that no writing is a waste of time.
2) Nothing is off-limits in comedy - as long as it's funny enough. When people talk about being offended by comedy, what they really mean is "I didn't find it funny". Jimmy Carr proves that even if something is distasteful and makes you gasp, if it also makes you laugh, you'll be fine with it.
Quote: Matthew Stott @ December 27 2011, 2:45 PM GMTIf that was an option over here, Sooty would be organising his killing spree right now.
*hides from Sooty*
Quote: andy hardaker @ December 28 2011, 9:28 AM GMTHi, I am fresh meat on this site so haven't really had time to look through the forums much.
I am currently typing up my first sitcom idea and I think I can safely say it contains a few taboos not covered in other sitcoms, such as cannibalism, implied necrophilia and theft of body parts. Anyone think that's taking it too far and I'm wasting my time?
Cheers guys
Andy
Ten years ago I'd have said you are wasting your time, but now, slightly sadly I think it may be just a matter of time, and not much, before we get the full range of taboo busting, PC challenging material into sitcoms. There seems to me more post watershed sitcoms than peak-time sitcoms airing now, due to increasingly adult themes and language, so maybe your sitcom may actually happen, if not by you by someone else. 
Quote: Aaron @ December 28 2011, 12:43 PM GMT2) Nothing is off-limits in comedy - as long as it's funny enough. When people talk about being offended by comedy, what they really mean is "I didn't find it funny". Jimmy Carr proves that even if something is distasteful and makes you gasp, if it also makes you laugh, you'll be fine with it.
Not too sure I'm in full agreement here. Give a Jimmy Carr joke to Jim Davidson, and will the usual Carr audience be even tempted to titter, I wonder? I can't see it, myself. I think Frankie Boyle has proved that by really trying to offend, you can, whether some other 'hardened' type of comedy fans laugh at the same joke or not. Many people still love Chubby Brown and Bernard Manning, but just as many find them both offensive and unfunny, and neither make it onto TV anymore, while Boyle gets a mainstream show, with just as foul language and sometimes dodgier jokes. I think it depends if you're meant to be cool or not, and can hide behind 'irony' as a fake cover for being offensive and blue.
Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ December 28 2011, 1:47 PM GMTNot too sure I'm in full agreement here. Give a Jimmy Carr joke to Jim Davidson, and will the usual Carr audience be even tempted to titter, I wonder? I can't see it, myself.
Well, delivery comes into it too, of course.
On the subject of Davidson specifically, he could write something that makes Fawlty Towers look the runt brother of My Family and there would be significant numbers of people who don't laugh, such is the prejudice against him rather than his material.
Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ December 28 2011, 1:47 PM GMTI think Frankie Boyle has proved that by really trying to offend, you can, whether some other 'hardened' type of comedy fans laugh at the same joke or not. Many people still love Chubby Brown and Bernard Manning, but just as many find them both offensive and unfunny, and neither make it onto TV anymore, while Boyle gets a mainstream show, with just as foul language and sometimes dodgier jokes. I think it depends if you're meant to be cool or not, and can hide behind 'irony' as a fake cover for being offensive and blue.
I don't recall ever being offended by a Boyle joke, but I do recall laughing.
To take your the further RCB/BM point, again, they're comics whose material does not appeal to many, who many are prejudiced against, and who have never failed to delight those people that do like them. So you're sort of reinforcing my point that "offended" = "I don't find this funny".
Quote: Nigel Kelly @ December 28 2011, 11:58 AM GMTThere's a distinct lack of porn in sitcoms.
I recall watching a reality-type show about an American porn star 'Seymour Butts' and it was quite funny although it probably wasn't meant to be. It was called Porn, A Family Business on the Showtime channel.
Cousin Stevie! "Real life" Larry David.
Quote: Aaron @ December 28 2011, 2:26 PM GMTTo take your the further RCB/BM point, again, they're comics whose material does not appeal to many, who many are prejudiced against, and who have never failed to delight those people that do like them. So you're sort of reinforcing my point that "offended" = "I don't find this funny".
This is well said.
Kipper you are insane BTW.
Quote: andy hardaker @ December 28 2011, 9:28 AM GMTHi, I am fresh meat on this site so haven't really had time to look through the forums much.
I am currently typing up my first sitcom idea and I think I can safely say it contains a few taboos not covered in other sitcoms, such as cannibalism, implied necrophilia and theft of body parts. Anyone think that's taking it too far and I'm wasting my time?
Cheers guys
Andy
You might want to look at the work of Joe Orton. He has written a comedies about the theft of body parts (well, false teeth and a glass eye) and mother/son, father/daughter incest - shown on TV without complaint or furore.
Quote: andy hardaker @ December 28 2011, 9:28 AM GMTHi, I am fresh meat on this site so haven't really had time to look through the forums much.
I am currently typing up my first sitcom idea and I think I can safely say it contains a few taboos not covered in other sitcoms, such as cannibalism, implied necrophilia and theft of body parts. Anyone think that's taking it too far and I'm wasting my time?
Cheers guys
Andy
In terms of cannibalism, you could argue that it is covered in The League of Gentlemen, if Hilary Briss's "Special Stuff" is human meat. I recall a necrophilia joke in One Foot in the Grave as well, but I can't recall a sitcom that depicts the practice.
There's a necrophiliac called Judith in Ideal