British comedy is no longer funny Page 16

In 2001, Martin Creed won the Turner Prize for exhibiting an empty room with the lights going on and off every five seconds.

I'm sure just about everybody who saw this work of 'art' must have thought 'I could have done this' which leads to the question 'So why is Martin £20,000 better off and not us?'

I'm starting to think the same way about recent comedy. Absolutely anybody could come up with Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy (Though it helps to use a random word generator...)

http://watchout4snakes.com/CreativityTools/RandomWord/RandomWordPlus.aspx

'Mad Paper', 'Uncoiled Cavalryman', 'Sweepable Seahorse', etc....

And absolutely anybody who has spunked a few hundred quid on a writing course could churn out The Royal Bodyguard. So why them? With conceptual artists it's 0% talent, 0% hard work and 100% networking. And a private income in order to starve off the competition. Is this the same way comedy is going?

The thing about people saying 'I could've done that' is that they didn't. Therein lies the difference.

Quote: AJGO @ February 3 2012, 5:11 PM GMT

The thing about people saying 'I could've done that' is that they didn't. Therein lies the difference.

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Everybody has turned lights on and off. Martin won a prize for doing it. I don't think he won it for being the best at turning lights on and off...so what did he win it for?

Someone once took Marcel Duchamp to task for his readymades, saying "I could have done that". His reply was something along the lines of "Yes, but why would you?" I think the same applies here.

Quote: AJGO @ February 3 2012, 5:11 PM GMT

The thing about people saying 'I could've done that' is that they didn't. Therein lies the difference.

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It's not so much they didn't, it's that they couldn't. No mere mortal just gets to wander into the hallowed halls of the decision makers.

It's rare that I agree with Godot Taxi, but he has hit upon the same point as Tim Walker earlier - commissions are being handed out based on familiarity rather then talent. A 'star' name has to be attached otherwise it's not going to happen.

Try sending the script for the first episode of Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy to someone (anyone) and take away the name Noel Fielding. The only laughs you'd hear would be the commissioning editor laughing you out of the room.

Television is eating itself.

Oh dear, what a bunch of drama queens. THE END IS NIGH!

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ February 3 2012, 5:22 PM GMT

It's not so much they didn't, it's that they couldn't. No mere mortal just gets to wander into the hallowed halls of the decision makers.

It's rare that I agree with Godot Taxi, but he has hit upon the same point as Tim Walker earlier - commissions are being handed out based on familiarity rather then talent. A 'star' name has to be attached otherwise it's not going to happen.

Try sending the script for the first episode of Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy to someone (anyone) and take away the name Noel Fielding. The only laughs you'd hear would be the commissioning editor laughing you out of the room.

Television is eating itself.

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Not necessarily disagreeing, but I don't think there was a golden time when all writers got to see their work on telly and get paid for it.

Loads of people are watching Luxury Comedy even just to slag it off, I don't think anywhere near as many would have watched it if it didn't have a known name attached.
TV companies are businesses; the more people watch something even to hate it, the higher they can charge for advert space. It's what X-Factor does, just not as blatant.
Same with BBC; they need to justify their existence and so get viewers in for a big name- I'm surprised that very few people liked Royal Bodyguard and yet it's an incredibly long thread!

So it's not really commissioners fault, because they're doing their job and creating interest and revenue. It's not producers fault, because they have to present shows that appeal to commissioners. It's not writers fault, because we have to try and hope to make a living and get experience and contacts.

Um...down with capitalism?

Quote: zooo @ February 3 2012, 5:31 PM GMT

Oh dear, what a bunch of drama queens. THE END IS NIGH!

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They do just as much moaning on 'The British Drama guide' too.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ February 3 2012, 5:22 PM GMT

It's not so much they didn't, it's that they couldn't. No mere mortal just gets to wander into the hallowed halls of the decision makers.

It's rare that I agree with Godot Taxi, but he has hit upon the same point as Tim Walker earlier - commissions are being handed out based on familiarity rather then talent. A 'star' name has to be attached otherwise it's not going to happen.

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You're just stating the obvious here. TV's a business and businesses tend to go with people who have a track record. Like it or not, Noel Fielding has a track record. He's been involved in a succesful show and has a name. And to be honest, the people who commissioned Luxury Comedy must be pretty happy because it's pretty much exactly what I expected it to be before watching it.

Quote: AJGO @ February 3 2012, 5:35 PM GMT

TV companies are businesses; the more people watch something even to hate it, the higher they can charge for advert space. It's what X-Factor does, just not as blatant.
Same with BBC; they need to justify their existence and so get viewers in for a big name- I'm surprised that very few people liked Royal Bodyguard and yet it's an incredibly long thread!

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The whole point of us paying a license fee is that we're supposed to be given programming that isn't reliant upon the approval of the lowest common denomenator.

Now, for your prime time, family audience, Saturday night viewing fare, I can understand why the commissioners are forced to show unrelenting retarded garbage - the British populace is seemingly very thick and undemanding as a collective entity, too vapid and lazy to change the channel or even utter an opinion.

Yet, even in this most heavily controlled strata of broadcast mediocrity, Harry Hill's TV Burp was able to emerge. But wait, was that on the BBC? No, it wasn't.

Perhaps if the BBC spent £1 billion on programming rather than moving their operations to Manchester (for no reason), we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Quote: chipolata @ February 3 2012, 5:40 PM GMT

You're just stating the obvious here. TV's a business and businesses tend to go with people who have a track record.

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The BBC is a state funded public broadcaster.

Quote: Jinky @ February 3 2012, 5:14 PM GMT

Everybody has turned lights on and off. Martin won a prize for doing it. I don't think he won it for being the best at turning lights on and off...so what did he win it for?

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For having the gall to try to pass it off as something interesting or special.

Quote: Jinky @ February 3 2012, 5:09 PM GMT

In 2001, Martin Creed won the Turner Prize for exhibiting an empty room with the lights going on and off every five seconds.

I'm sure just about everybody who saw this work of 'art' must have thought 'I could have done this' which leads to the question 'So why is Martin £20,000 better off and not us?'

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This isn't a thread about art so I won't go too deeply into this, but one of the biggest problems is that the 'man in the street' doesn't understand either good or bad modern art. People who claim that their 3 year old could have done a Hirst spin painting will often happily say the same about a painting by Max Beckmann or even Picasso.

This essentially entirely devalues lay criticism of art.

Martin Creed is talentless, but his piece 'The Lights Going On and Off' is not shit because ordinary people imagine they could have made it.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ February 3 2012, 5:48 PM GMT

The BBC is a state funded public broadcaster.

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Yeah..? I was talking about Noel Fieling's Luxury Comedy, made by Channel 4, and responding to a point you made about it.

I don't think anyone actually disagrees with you, Renegade, British comedy isn't working at the moment. It is a bit wank.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ February 3 2012, 5:22 PM GMT

It's rare that I agree with Godot Taxi, but he has hit upon the same point as Tim Walker earlier - commissions are being handed out based on familiarity rather then talent. A 'star' name has to be attached otherwise it's not going to happen.

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It's not that rare. I don't want to bum Sherlock like you and I like Noel Fielding but I'm sure we hate a lot of the same things. I hate almost everything - there has to be some crossover.

Quote: rwayne @ February 3 2012, 5:37 PM GMT

They do just as much moaning on 'The British Drama guide' too.

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