Lee however crap it is I'll praise, however good I'll slate it.

It's only fair.

Quote: Lee Henman @ March 6 2012, 1:25 PM GMT

and despite the wealth of jolly guffaws, the atmosphere when a gag goes tits up is horrible. EVERYONE feels uncomfortable, especially the poor writer who's sat there, sinking slowly beneath his script, wondering why nobody laughed. It's awful, the same feeling you get when someone tells a joke at the pub and it fails to raise a titter, only magnified x10.

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Oh God, that's almost unbearable to read, let alone experience!

Quote: zooo @ March 6 2012, 1:37 PM GMT

Oh God, that's almost unbearable to read, let alone experience!

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I dunno LCW had a hell of a lot of meetings like that.

It's a weird alchemy that makes people laugh.

Quote: zooo @ March 6 2012, 12:34 PM GMT

As ever, it's amazing how passionately angry some people can get over a TV comedy.

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It is, I can't say I ever get furious because I see a comedy show I don't like. It also suggests that making good comedy is easy, which it's obviously not. Even people who know what they're doing don't always know what they're doing. If ever. Sort of thing. Yeah. It's all just taking a punt and crossing your fingers.

I think some of the time when you watch a sketch show with the same sketch repeated half a dozen times. Or a decent stand-up lumbered with an awkward unfunny poorly thought-through sketch vehicle. Or a sitcom that's just like 2 others and is there for easy warmedy laughs. Then it doesn't make me angry, but on a deep level it irritates me.

Because that air time, funding and talent could have gone into so much more. Really great comedy is the synthesis of people of great passion, talent and vision pulling together. So every duffer is a missed oportunity.

That's not so say simple minded comedy is in anyway inherently bad. I mean Mrs Brown did the job it set out to do in an unflashy and workmanlike manner.

Yes it's the show's you know no-one ever really believed in and that just got made to fill a quota that strain my patience, not the heroic failures. Bleak may not have quite come off, but you can see the love on screen.

Well I really enjoyed it, not so many laugh out louds last night as maybe in the others - not sure. But the three central parts put in great performances particularly backed up with stellar support all round. The son was a bit of a star for the future I reckon - he could act and his comic timing and sensibilities were spot on! And calling somebody Smalcolm deserves a three part run just on that alone.

I think with comedy as much as with drama you have to do the Coleridge thing, and if you don't do it and buy in then no amount of anything really is going to make you find it funny for sitcom or engaging for drama, or both for both.

I think your man Bobby Webb for the next Doctor Who meanwhile! In fact let's have the whole family!

Has anyone else noticed that thingy from The Inbetweeners is doing the exact voice of the pink head from The Mighty Boosh?

Didn't think much of the special but really enjoyed this. Plus as has been mentioned, it's always a pleasure to see Derek Griffiths.

Just watched episode three and as others have said by far the best of the bunch.

I laughed out loud numerous times to the final installment. So much lovely attention to detail, absolutely gorgeous ideas, and bizarre gags.

A slightly peculiar series however, in that you had to go into it rather knowing that it was going to be silly. For Bleak Expectations, one sits down and is immersed in the silliness, the sheer obvious madness of the world. With Shop I almost had to force myself to go into and stay into that mindset.

My theory is that it was a gross, gross error to produce this without an audience. I totally see why they did it stylistically, but it was a mistake for the type of humour. The outrageous, silly comedy of Bleak works so well on the radio because a) the picture your mind paints is so wild that it near cannot fail to be funny, and b) the audience laughter reinforces that it is funny and not just weird. In Shop there was not that frame of reference to confirm and say "yes, this is purposely silly". As a result, perfectly good jokes fall flat.

So I didn't laugh as much as I'd have liked to or know I should have done. But I still enjoyed it very much.

Any psychology types around who know what the group laughter thing is called?

Quote: Aaron @ March 6 2012, 10:35 PM GMT

Any psychology types around who know what the group laughter thing is called?

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For me, it's called the gym changing room.