Hated characters in otherwise great comedies? Page 5

Quote: Michael Monkhouse @ 27th September 2018, 12:32 PM

Rick Mayall is a legend. I hate it when a comic dies and everyone goes, 'OH NO: (s)he was what got me into comedy in the first place' - how many epiphanies can you have in one lifetime? - but in this case, it's true. I loved Laurel and Hardy but they're universal (compliment), and then it was Python, but I was too young to understand it and I just liked the idea of whackiness (back then, Python were regarded as cutting edge and not a national institution). The Young Ones was the first show that really grabbed me, and Rik was the undoubted star.

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I prefer Bottom myself, it's a lot funnier and Rik and Ade I prefer them in Bottom. But for me I prefered Viv as my favourite character in The Young Ones, I found him hilarious, even though I prefer Bottom. Still a very good show though.

I've had this conversation 7432 times, always on this forum... TYO remains my ultimate sitcom, and when I got used to Happy Families' more sobre approach I loved that too. With FilthyRichAndCatflap and then Bottom, there was a steady deterioration and I genuinely lost interest.

Quote: Michael Monkhouse @ 27th September 2018, 12:40 PM

I've had this conversation 7432 times, always on this forum... TYO remains my ultimate sitcom, and when I got used to Happy Families' more sobre approach I loved that too. With FilthyRichAndCatflap and then Bottom, there was a steady deterioration and I genuinely lost interest.

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I've watched Filthy, Rich and Catflap and I think it's worse than The Young Ones and Bottom. Never seen Happy Families, so I can't say anything about that. I ended up watching Bottom first, before The Young Ones, that shouldn't make a difference? I just prefer Bottom, there is only 2 episodes I hate in Bottom, the one with the robber and the camping one. But apart from them 2 episodes, I love all of the others.

Happy Families is a gem and well worth seeking out, but be warned: it's far more trad than their usual.
The Nolans and Mel Smith episodes of FRC get the occasional revisit, but otherwise... It truly was the beginning of the end.
I haven't seen any post-first Bottom stuff, unless it happened to be on. Just unfocussed, forced and formulaic.

Quote: Michael Monkhouse @ 27th September 2018, 12:52 PM

Happy Families is a gem and well worth seeking out, but be warned: it's far more trad than their usual.
The Nolans and Mel Smith episodes of FRC get the occasional revisit, but otherwise... It truly was the beginning of the end.
I haven't seen any post-first Bottom stuff, unless it happened to be on. Just unfocussed, forced and formulaic.

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I do prefer Christopher Ryan's character in Bottom. He is hilarious in Bottom as Hedgehog. I don't get the same from his character in The Young Ones to be perfectly honest.

Mike in TYO is another oldie but goldie topic.., People say he was a crap actor but that's unfair. He's fine in his own right, but the wrong kind of performer for this show. All the others had extensive experience of the live circuit, and the great thing about T'Young Ones was that they introduced the excitement and unpredictability of live performance to the sitcom. Chris was different: a classically-trained actor with a background in traditional theatre.
The other problem is that he was the only one to have a character foisted onto him. They weren't all writers, but they had developed personae they were happy with - check vintage Rick in The Dangerous Brothers or The Comic Strip or stand-up and it's pretty much the same character. Chris had a personality imposed on him from outside - far harder to play.
He's still the shit one though.

Proves it's all subjective yet again as I saw Mike as the key character in TYO, the leader and the smart one who usually came off best. His little asides to camera were great I thought. Favourite character and the star was Rik but it always looked to me like most things were resolved by Mike, a cool cockney wide boy. It used to puzzle me what each of them were studying at uni apart from Rik who was obviously a politics or sociology student. Be interested to know what Vyvian's degree was in, medicine?

Technically I thought TYO was creatively brilliant but shambolic while Bottom was yes quite contrived but well formulated and almost Hancock like with some great episodes. Both as good as each other while being quite different but I'd rather watch Bottom.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 30th September 2018, 8:49 AM

Proves it's all subjective yet again as I saw Mike as the key character in TYO, the leader and the smart one who usually came off best. His little asides to camera were great I thought. Favourite character and the star was Rik but it always looked to me like most things were resolved by Mike, a cool cockney wide boy. It used to puzzle me what each of them were studying at uni apart from Rik who was obviously a politics or sociology student. Be interested to know what Vyvian's degree was in, medicine?

Technically I thought TYO was creatively brilliant but shambolic while Bottom was yes quite contrived but well formulated and almost Hancock like with some great episodes. Both as good as each other while being quite different but I'd rather watch Bottom.

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I believe there was hints in the series that Ade was studying medicine. Although Mike, only got his degree by bribes and cons.

Ade, medicine.
Rik, sociology.
Mike, university of life.
The uni thing was just a pretext to get the characters together - something 'Did You See...'? hilariously missed.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 30th September 2018, 8:49 AM

Bottom was yes quite contrived but well formulated and almost Hancock like.

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It surprises me people get so much out of Bottom. For me, it's just a piece of crap they could've knocked out in a weekend.

What did Neil study? I can't remember if it's ever mentioned. Looking at the opening sequence for series one it shows him in a library but it's too blurry to see what area of the library he's in. Looks like English literature.

Bottom series one and two were good but the last series was repeating gags and getting old and tired. Same as the early live shows. When I saw them live I was disappointed to notice how they would pretend to improvise around something going wrong but in fact it was all carefully scripted because they did it at every live show. Maybe that's a norm in the industry but it felt a bit misguiding.

Quote: Definitely Tarby @ 1st October 2018, 4:41 PM

What did Neil study?

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I believe Neil's degree subject was "Peace Studies".

Quote: Michael Monkhouse @ 1st October 2018, 12:25 PM

Ade, medicine.
Rik, sociology.
Mike, university of life.
The uni thing was just a pretext to get the characters together - something 'Did You See...'? hilariously missed.

It surprises me people get so much out of Bottom. For me, it's just a piece of crap they could've knocked out in a weekend.

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Bottom is hilarious. Best out of the 3. The acting and the timing between the two is fantastic. Love the episode with the exception of the 2 I mentioned before. However, I don't really like the live shows and the movie is average.

Personal taste.
Mike works well as a straight(ish) man for the audience to relate to, and a foil for the others to play off against. It's hilarious that Vyv will kick the crap out of anything that moves (sorry, doesn't have to move) but is almost deferential to Mike, even calling him Michael. When I was a kid, it annoyed me that in Sick, the house is in chaos, while he calmly makes a date over the phone - now I realisae the contrast is an essential ingredient. But as a comic performer, Ryan is ligt years behind the others, even the cameos.

Quote: Michael Monkhouse @ 10th February 2017, 11:08 AM

Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter, Rodney Trotter, Trigger, Uncle Albert Trotter, Boycie, Mike Fisher, Grandad, Cassandra Trotter, Marlene, Mickey Pearce, Raquel Turne and Denzil in OFAH.

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Michael, this isn't the 'Name the characters of a comedy who trigger my confused state-like mind as I don't understand quality comedy' thread.

I'll start that one up.
Ginge from Happy Days. Do-gooder.