Quote: Lazzard @ 20th September 2014, 1:19 PM BST

What they really like is old ideas that look like new ideas...

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Words of wisdom from Lazzard! And it doesn't only apply to writing.

After this thread I watched an episode of On The Buses. Useful to know what to avoid doing, but I now feel dirty.

Lesson learnt: If your jokes are weak, getting a character to laugh loudly at them doesn't help.

It was shit.

Yup Tiggy every very successful sitcom that has been on TV is shit. For goodness sake don't pollute your mind. Don't watch TV, in fact throw it away! live like a lonely goatherd in another shit film with shit acting and songs and send in your genius untainted by the cesspool of popularity. Somebody did reinvent the wheel because the first one wasn't quite round. And for Gods sake never watch your stuff when it comes on the telly. Those f**kers can sometimes make shit out of spun gold! And that is a fact!

Much like the spelling of your name, it was probably popular a long time ago, but some things date badly and should be forgotten.

Don't look for what you find shit when analysing popular sitcoms, look for structure and craft and how it works. That doesn't change my little hedgehog, ask Aristotle.

'On the Buses' suffered terribly with the advent of political correctness but it was, at its best, a very funny sitcom. It was adored by millions and I'd rate Blakey as one the funniest sitcom characters I've ever seen.

At its worst, it was banal and somewhat crude but that can happen to any sitcom that simply refuses to die a natural death. John Cleese knew that when he euthanased the vibrantly healthy Fawlty Towers.

For a would-be or even an actual comedy writer, the importance of watching comedies lies in what it teaches you about writing comedies - not least that you should think twice before handing over that writing job to the cast.