Man Like Mobeen

Very funny stuff. Anyone else seen this?

I loved the first series, and Series 2 has got off to a great start too. I like it a lot. Very funny sitcom.

It basically appears to be a Muslim version of People Just Do Nothing?

They're not that similar

Very different shows. PJDN is a mock-doc. This is a more traditional (albeit still single-cam) sitcom.

Really? They both celebrate the non activities of UK's underclass and crims! Is it supposed to make the viewer feel better about their own plight?

Historically, whenever a writer has approached a production company with a good Asian sitcom, the response has tended to be along the lines of "It's all very funny but it's not going to go down well in south-west London. Can't we have the characters waving their hands about and making sounds like motorboats?"

The reason, of course, is that television (commercial or otherwise) is all about bums on seats and most of the bums in Britain are white. Accordingly, television programmes tend to be made for white people and non-white characters in comedies have tended to be written in such a way that they conform with white people's expectations.

"Man like Mobeen" and Asim Chaudhry's Chabuddy G in "People Just Do Nothing", in stark contrast, give every impression of having been written by Asians for Asians. In short, they both give us authentic Asian character comedy.

There are similarities, of course, but the two programs are sufficiently different to make each one worth its place on our TV screens.

They're also both online (BBC Three) rather than TV shows.

Keep forgetting about BBC 3, thanks for the heads up on this, well worth watching. Can't see the link with people doing nothing, it felt like a sit com.

We seem to be catching America up with stand ups that can act, as Mobee was pretty good. Tez plays a different persona, he's very sharp on stage. Last time I saw him, a rowdy table of Police were shouting out all the time, which fazed the other two acts, Tez turned it into a feature.

I like Guz very much.

The story can be a bit much, but it's still very good. Some excellent character acting all round.