British Comedy Guide

Help with name of show?

Dear Internet Peers

Can you help me identify the programme that the following scene might be from? It's probably from a British post-1990 sitcom, but I could be wrong.

As far as I remember, the scene goes something like this; a woman is on a date (at a wine bar/restaurant?) with a closeted man. The set up is something along the lines of the woman asking if the man is laddish/masculine/an alpha male when with his guy friends? The man replies with something like "No, not at all" which is a relief to the woman. The closeted man then goes on to deliver the punchline, being something like "In fact, I haven't got any male friends at all..." thus hinting at his closetedness, the source of the humour.

The aspect of my attempted description that is probably closest to the actual scene is the punchline. It stands out as a succinct and economical encapsulation of the insecurities of men and women, gay and straight.

The show doesn't seem to be Coupling, Black Books, IT Crowd, Not Going Out, My Family, Game On, Little Britain, Catherine Tate, 2 Pints of Lager (or Cheers, Frasier, Friends), although all these shows do feature similar situations - variations on straight people interacting with closeted people make for a strong sub-trope.

Please help if you can
Kind regards
Many thanks

Is it definitely a sitcom not a sketch show? Sounds vaguely Smack The Pony-ish.

Honestly, I can only be 55% percent sure that it is a sitcom. Thanks, you've given me a prompt to revisit Smack the Pony.

Quote: zooo @ 31st March 2024, 6:18 PM

Is it definitely a sitcom not a sketch show? Sounds vaguely Smack The Pony-ish.

It seems not to be Smack the Pony. Plenty of hopeless, awkward dating sketches there though.

Any other suggestion?

Do you have any recollection of what the actors looked like?

To the minds eye, the woman seems like Fran from Black Books or Jane from Coupling and the man seems somewhere Fran's gay date from Black Books or IT Crowd Jen's gay musical date.

Frustratingly, none of those tick the box for the dialogue.

Have you tried the sitcom Dressing For Breakfast?

How about the sketch show Spoons?

It does feel a lot more sketch-like than a sitcom scene in the way you describe it. Man Stroke Woman, perhaps?

Quote: Aaron @ 7th April 2024, 9:16 PM

t. Man Stroke Woman, perhaps?

I always love it on here when Aaron shares his chat up lines

Well, I've not seen Dressing For Breakfast before, so that would be a surprise.

Spoons and Man Stroke Woman feature a handful of dating sketches, but not mine.

Thanks for your contributions.

Now it feels like I'm running out of options and I've hit the wall in terms of comedy watching. It is a shame, as it is clearly the greatest piece of comedy ever devised and the most sociologically insightful dialogue ever written.

It could even be the joke of a guest on a chat show or game show.

The other person I can picture the punchline being delivered by is Karl Theobald from Green Wing, maybe because it's said a little hesitantly with naïve sincerity, but I'm sure that can't be the answer.

Onwards with this purgatorial quest.

Quote: Aaron @ 7th April 2024, 9:16 PM

It does feel a lot more sketch-like than a sitcom scene in the way you describe it. Man Stroke Woman, perhaps?

It does seem to need a narrative structure to arrive at the punchline, having introduced the character, even if they only appears in one episode/scene/flashback/cutaway, so I'm leaning towards sitcom.

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