British Comedy Guide

Frankie Boyle's Tramadol Nights Page 3

Mixed bag I thought. The standup was pretty savage but brilliant at times as you'd expect from Boyle, but the sketches were a mixture of hilarious and just plain odd. The mentally-ill Knight Rider sketch was a good idea but Christ almighty - 4 and a half minutes long? Really? Quite liked Untitled Street - Boyle's swipe at the BBC's fear of causing offence in its programming, but then came the Loose Women Iran sketch which actually made me gasp in a "They can't do that!" way, and then came the laughter. Seriously-bold comedy.
Other sketches like the spoof show trailer "Help Me, I've Killed A Kid!" left me a bit cold, but the George Micheal Highway Code was hilarious and really well done. The Green Mile parody where John Coffee says "I f**ked you boss, I f**ked the bad outcha", was another winner for me. Again I thought it was overly-long but I loved the way they went to great pains to recreate the set from the original movie, and it was just very rude and very funny. Can anyone tell me what all the black liquid was that exploded over everyone at the end of the sketch though? Was that supposed to be rancid sperm with all the "badness" in it? Eurgh.

Anyway, as I said - a mixed bag for me, but more than enough to make me want to watch the rest of the series.

Quote: Nat Wicks @ December 1 2010, 12:34 PM GMT

The first George Michael sketch was piss yourself funny,

It was quite amusing, but I assure you that my trousers remained urine free.

Quote: Nat Wicks @ December 1 2010, 12:34 PM GMT

We were saying this too. His focus has certainly shifted from strong punchlines, to using an offensive word as the punchline. It's hardly subverting our expectations when you fully expect him to say it. I think he used 'mentally ill' ina punchlines for three short jokes within the same minute- and I don't think it was done in a knowing callback sort of way, I think it was just lazy. Might be wrong though, obviously.

The first George Michael sketch was piss yourself funny, but got a little older as they went along. I think having multiple version in the same episode is too much.

I disagree, I thought they got funnier. Would have loved more. Maybe spin-off into its own show, The Adventures Of George Michael.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ December 1 2010, 12:49 PM GMT

It was quite amusing, but I assure you that my trousers remained urine free.

It's a good job hyperbolic metaphors aren't true really, isn't it? What a mess we'd all be in :(

If you give Frankie Boyle his own show, this is what you'll get.

I laughed out loud through out, personally I thought the Knight Rider sketch was the best. So bizarre, but funny. Cowboy/Brokeback sketch was terrible though.

Yes, it's offensive and brash, but it's Frankie Boyle - what did we expect?

He might be on his way out and the last we see of him after this, but he's cashing in, fair play to him.

"WHAT'S THAT KID?"

Quote: Scottidog @ December 1 2010, 1:11 PM GMT

Yes, it's offensive

Is it? Nothing shocked or offended me.

Quote: Matthew Stott @ December 1 2010, 1:16 PM GMT

Is it? Nothing shocked or offended me.

Wow, you take some shocking Stotty! Burkha-clad women being hanged and shot, retarded black prison inmates ejaculating gallons of black sperm, drug abuse, George Michael wanking in a burning car, references to infanticide, a ton of gay sex gags and repeated use of the term "Father-F**ker"!

Quote: Lee Henman @ December 1 2010, 1:33 PM GMT

Wow, you take some shocking Stotty! Burkha-clad women being hanged and shot, retarded black prison inmates ejaculating gallons of black sperm, drug abuse, George Michael wanking in a burning car, references to infanticide, a ton of gay sex gags and repeated use of the term "Father-F**ker"!

Nah, tuning in to a show by Frankie Boyle, it's exactly what I'd expect to see. And we've seen most of it, if not worse, in other shows.

Or maybe I'm just a double hard bastard. Cool

I can honestly say I was neither shocked or offended either. In fact I'm genuinely not sure what some of the criticisms I've seen levelled at the show (elsewhere) are actually in regard to. If you're touchy then you could have found anything in it to be too much.

Quote: Lee Henman @ December 1 2010, 1:33 PM GMT

Wow, you take some shocking Stotty! Burkha-clad women being hanged and shot, retarded black prison inmates ejaculating gallons of black sperm, drug abuse, George Michael wanking in a burning car, references to infanticide, a ton of gay sex gags and repeated use of the term "Father-F**ker"!

That's just a Tuesday night in Stott's attic.

I'm glad this thread cleared up the "what's Tramadol" question as I could only guess it was a drug. Terrible title for a series in any case.

You're all mental.

This was glorious! I literally didn't stop laughing for the first fifteen minutes or so. The Green Mile thing went on a bit, and the gay cowboy was a bit wtf, but on the whole I thought this was the bestest, funniest new comedy in for aaaaages.

Can't wait for episode two.

And I disagree that the Knight Rider sketch was too long.

"One in each tit, send a message" -- f**king awesome.

The part about grunting during tennis, then doing it during snooker has been done several times on MTW, I think Russell Howard came up with it first.

The same with the Iranian Loose Women idea, Russell Howard said it first. "There's about as much chance of that happening as Loose Women does of being sold to Iran."

Did anyone else notice Robert Florence from Burnistoun in it? Not a fan of either.

To be honest I thought this was absolutely terrible. Most of his jokes I don't find funny, they're just trying to be as un-PC and as offensive as possible. I think his audience must be people that are on the border of being offended, which isnt me. There's very little that I get offended by unless its pointed towards me directly. The loose women Iran sketch just left me starring blankly at the TV; it didnt shock me, I didnt find it witty, I didnt catch me by suprise, it wasnt 'oh can he do that' moment - it was just nothing to me.

That's probably why I don't really find Boyle funny, none of his jokes have the desired effect of shocking me. The Knight Rider sketch was just simply awful. It went on for far too long and was bizzarely unstructured. The 'punchline' that he was mentally ill was also the set up. It just didnt work. Again just another effort to be anti-PC. Boyle should just stick to stand-up. His jokes are fast and aggressive. His sketches were slow and dull.

I've just watched it again (the first half anyway) and pissed myself again.

I've seriously never been as surprised by a BCG reaction to a new show as I am today.

Tramadol Nights is a terrible as it is wonderful.

To the people who hate it, I can see why.

To the people who love it, I can see why.

To anybody else who has any opinion about it, I can see why you feel that way.

This is the most original TV comedy show since . . . something highly original I saw a very long time ago.

It brings a new literal meaning to 'awfully good'.

I'll be watching next week.

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