Anglophiles Anonymous

Captain Giraffe BAR · May 31, 2012

So, in 10 days I'll be going over to England for a bit, and I'm a little apprehensive. In the back of my mind, there's an ominous thought that perhaps my rosy colored dream of what England is will be shattered by the humdrum reality of it all. In my mind, I love almost everything about England: the culture, the sport, even the weather (I'm a rainy-day kind of guy). But I worry that this might be the product of watching way too many British sitcoms/talk shows/football and that it might not be everything I think it is. I haven't been there since I was 12, but I loved every minute then.

Anyway, I originally wanted to make a thread about British shows I love, to see if anybody else out there likes them too.

1. Green Wing - Probably my favorite show of all time, it's an absurdist parody of the Hospital soap, very out there but also the most I've laughed at a show in a very long time. Check it out if you like Scrubs, but feel guilty about it. Here if you're in the U.S.

or here if you're anywhere else.

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2. Spaced - Best known in the U.S. for launching Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Star Trek) into the limelight, Spaced is a sitcom about two flatmates in London, a comic artist and a writer, who have to pretend to be married to keep their flat. Like all Edgar Wright projects (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz), it's characterized by flashy edits, fast paced wit, and plenty of nerd-culture. Here or here

3. The Mighty Boosh - A very surreal, fantastic comedy about two zookeepers, played by Noel Fielding and Julian Baratt, who go on adventures with a shaman (witch doctor) named Naboo and Bollo the talking gorilla. Really weird, but very funny, the show has a cult following and most of the episodes are on youtube.

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4. Peep Show - Following the pattern of shows that feature a comic duo playing off each other, Peep Show is a sitcom about two extremely different flatmates and their comic misadventures, slogging through the dull reality of middle class life. Mitchell and Webb, who also have their own sketch show, are both extremely funny individuals, and work together hilariously. Here or here.

5. The inbetweeners - A coming-of-age comedy of sorts, the Inbetweeners follows four socially awkward teenagers as they try to sort out the ups and downs of being young adult men in the 21st century. They manage to fuck up basically everything they do and it's relentlessly funny. Most of it's on

, but they also came out with a movie.

Those are my top 5, off the top of my head. Some others that are good are:

The IT Crowd (SO GOOD)

Black Books

The Office (slower paced, more poignant, and often funnier than the US version)

Doctor Who (not a comedy, strictly speaking)

Big Train

Coupling

**Fujiwara** · May 31, 2012

I like seasons 3 and 4 of Skins.

I like any TV scenes with Gemma Atkinson in them.

And I like Top Gear, and the guys at 5th Gear are ok too.

Graham Norton is funny but sometime his questions are a bit out there.

That's about it for me.

Oh and Brainiac when it was hosted by Richard Hammond.

Captain Giraffe BAR · June 1, 2012

Top Gear is fantastic, and Graham Norton's great too. I used to love Jonathan Ross before they took him off, and I've never watched Skins for whatever reason. Another good talk/game show is Never Mind the Buzzcocks

**Peaker** · June 1, 2012

I'm not too much into British TV, but I did like Black Adder and I absolutely love the debates in the house of Commons. You'll see, England is great. It's not what one expects, but then again I knew not to expect what I expected, if that makes sense. But the history, architecture, the lifestyle is great. Food is great, don't listen to anyone who tells you otherwise, ale is amazing and the girls aren't ugly at all (though a bit reserved I found). Go to as many museums as possible, they are free (Though leave a donation!) and amazing, especially the British Museum, I could have spent my life in there and it wouldn't have been enough. If you need some more pointers as to what to visit where, i'll be happy to oblige.

**Cutts** · June 1, 2012

Heheh... yes, some good stuff there. I particularly like Green Wing and Peep Show

May I recommend the following comedy:

Black Books is great... heres is the first episode! (a drunk Irishman runs an independent book store, angrily)(first episode linked)

Yeah, IT Crowd, The Office (I particularly like it because Slough is only 30 minutes away from me... although the US version is really good aswell)

Here is a very amusing poem about Slough

Here's a list of stuff from a group of comedians I really like. It's pretty out there, in many ways.

Warning, 1,2 and 5 have all been made by a guy who tends to be as offensive as he can be. He's almost unemployable these days, because he winds up

TV executives. He hid a subliminal message about Michael Grade, controller of Channel 4 at the time, saying "Grade is a cunt". And then he phoned the

Daily Mail (a newspaper that loves to hate him) and 'anonymously' informed them, just in case no-one noticed!

1) The Day Today (the original spoof news)

In this clip, presenter Chris Morris manages to turn an historic trade agreement into war, in 3 minutes!

2) Brass Eye (sort-of follow up to The Day Today)

3) Knowing Me, Knowing You, with Alan Partridge (a spoof chat show, with a completely inept and inane host)

4) I'm Alan Partridge (a sitcom featuring Partidge after he's lost his TV job and is blundering through his pathetic life)

In this episode, Alan greviously insults a South African, before greiviously injuring himself.

5) Jam, or Jaaaaaam (totally fucked up sketches... Jaaaaam is the same as Jam, but broadcast later, with slightly more trippy visual effects and slow motion)