We all love to laugh. We love to make fun of things and mock them. Be it celebrities, politicians or the royal family, we all love a chuckle at the expense of someone else. But in this age of hyper-sensitivity and Mr. P.C knocking on our doors is this form of the funnys going out of buisness?
It would appear so for prime time television, in Britain at least, when in the prime slot of 9.00 pm on a friday night, BBC1 is handed over to the flimsy "Green Green Grass". Is this what we as a nation have resorted to? A cheap, spin-off, sit-com about the least funny character in Only Fools And Horses? The network that gave us Fawlty Towers, arguably the greatest sit-com ever to grace our screens? It would look that way.
The terrestrial television networks in this country have dug themselves into a dull niche. The BBC is the member of the party who everyone knows and will happily talk to, but no-one really enjoys his company. They produce "Family-Friendly" (that phrase alone is enough to boil the blood) television which seeks to entertain all, only to entertain no-one. ITV is the gate-crasher- nobody wants him to be there, but they don't have the balls to tell him that he's not wanted. They don't do much by the way of comedy, but instead resort to the freak shows of "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!" and "The X-Factor" (If a man says he enjoys watching that program he is lying. He means to say that he enjoys watching Cheryl Cole) as ways of entertainment, but they do little to entertain and more to infuriate. Channel 4 is the binge-drinker- you can guarantee nobody will enjoy his company, but everyone will be talking about him the next day. They rely on reaction, producing the rarely funny but always controversial likes of "Peep Show" and "The Inbetweeners" and have the demographic of 15 to 30 year old male morons who wouldn't understand subtlety if it was standing stark naked in front of them with a bible and a chainsaw. And where would the party go without Channel five? Five is the nervous kid in the corner with lots to offer but with no-one paying attention because Channel 4 is on the other side of the room downing 15 shots of tequila mixed with buffalo urine. The comedy from five is completely unintentional with most humour deriving from the pathetic news presenters.
Now you are going to say, "Hold on a second Jon, you rapscallion. The BBC presents much more by way of comedy than your narrow-minded assessment of their situation comedies." To which I reply, "Of course how could I be so blind. I must address these in a similar fashion."
Now where do I start? The panel shows or the stand up or the sketch shows?
The tired formula of funny people + news/topical analysis= Funny seems to be wearing rather thin. "Have I Got News For You" has just concluded it's 37th series and it is definitely showing its wrinkles with the unfunny pre-scripted gags mixed with the unfunny improvised jokes creating a mess of diabolical unfunniness. And when you say that this program, and others in the same vein, are not funny, people accuse you of being "stupid" and "not getting it" while they ride on their high horses of satire.
The stand up, I can bear, mostly. "Live at the Apollo" is mostly funny, but then there are the occasional stand ups who are only worthy of a cringe. And now, its apparent successor, "Michael McIntrye's Comedy Roadshow" is making me hate the man. My bug-bear with this certain individual is his hypocritical act. He says "I don't do impressions" and proceeds to perform 15 very bad impressions, but I digress. And as these stand-up comedians are on the BBC they have a choice to make; either keep it clean and try to entertain everyone at home with your "Family Friendly" material; or to be as disgustingly horrific with your content as to enrage the censors and bite the hand that feeds you. Either way, go and see a comic, it'll be funnier than this rubbish.
Lastly, and certainly least, come the sketch shows, and the one that surpasses them all on the crap-counter is Little Britain. I'm not going to entertain this one with a rant- it is terrible. Each rotten and immoral episode is the same as every other rotten and immoral episode, with the same sketch each week with the only difference being the terrible dialogue. This is similar in the Armstrong and Miller show, except that is occasionally funny.
The simple factor is that British comedy is not funny nowadays. If you want a laugh watch an episode of "Open All Hours", or "Monty Python's Flying Circus" which is why UKTV GOLD is probably funnier than the mainstream rubbish on mainstream TV.
