Has anyone been following STV's new online sketch show Forward Slash Comedy? What do we think? Personally I think it should just be the Mr McSnuffy show - you'll see what I mean when you watch it.
It's on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/show/slashcomedy) and at http://programmes.stv.tv/comedy/.
ps. Why's it so difficult to make a really good sketch show? I can't think of any recently that have been stand out...
'Forward Slash Comedy' is cheap and cheerful but nevertheless quite amusing.
'Harry and Paul' have come up with some wonderful sketches in recent times - top quality writing, top quality acting, top quality production.
'Mitchell and Webb' appeal to a less-sophisticated audience than do H & P but some of their sketches are excellent too.
Good sketch shows aren't cheap to make for TV : I think that's why we see so few of them these days.
Agree with Mitchell and Webb, and Harry and Paul. Armstrong and Miller are still pretty good. I personally would like to see more ensemble comedy sketch shows in the sort of Absolutely/Monty Python mould. I just feel it gives a greater potential pool of talent and abilities and styles to draw from.
Quote: Veronica Vestibule @ November 24 2010, 11:14 PM GMT'Mitchell and Webb' appeal to a less-sophisticated audience than do H & P
Are you sure?
Quote: Matthew Stott @ November 25 2010, 1:02 PM GMTAre you sure?
About as sure as I am that darts appeals to a less-sophisticated audience than does chess.
Quote: Veronica Vestibule @ November 25 2010, 1:15 PM GMTAbout as sure as I am that darts appeals to a less-sophisticated audience than does chess.
Then how do you explain people who actively enjoy both shows?
Quote: Matthew Stott @ November 25 2010, 1:26 PM GMTThen how do you explain people who actively enjoy both shows?
The same way I explain people who actively enjoy darts and chess.
Quote: Veronica Vestibule @ November 25 2010, 1:40 PM GMTThe same way I explain people who actively enjoy darts and chess.
You are a smart.
I don't really agree though, H&P had some good sketches, but I don't see why their old Beatles sketches, or Psycho Bean, are any more sophisticated than the sort of material we'd get in M&W. Mentioning Radio 4 in a sketch runner doesn't make it sophisticated.
I don't say the Harry & Paul sketches are invariably more sophisticated than those of Mitchell & Webb. I'm saying the audience for H & P is (generally speaking) more sophisticated than that for M & W.
I'm sure many sophisticated people enjoy both shows but I'm equally sure that if the whole country were forced the watch both shows, the hoi-polloi would be happier with M & W than they would be with H & P.
If you say so, Madam.
I am not sure 'sophisitcated' is a helpful term when discussing either comedy or audiences, but if you mean 'appeals to people with a higher opinion of their own intellect', I am not sure that your analysis holds up.
I am myself a frightful intellectual snob and I much prefer Mitchell & Webb. Harry & Paul I have always considered rather proletarian. I mean all those dreadful catchphrases, and Whitehouse never even went to Cambridge!
Quote: Veronica Vestibule @ November 25 2010, 2:06 PM GMTI don't say the Harry & Paul sketches are invariably more sophisticated than those of Mitchell & Webb. I'm saying the audience for H & P is (generally speaking) more sophisticated than that for M & W. I'm sure many sophisticated people enjoy both shows but I'm equally sure that if the whole country were forced the watch both shows, the hoi-polloi would be happier with M & W than they would be with H & P.
It's the other way round, if anything. H & P do a nice line in catchphrases and recurring characters, which naturally appeal to commoners. Even when they are often the target of the comedy.
Quote: Matthew Stott @ November 25 2010, 2:10 PM GMTIf you say so, Madam.
It's not so because I say it's so.
I say it's so because it IS so.
For 'sophisticated', read 'older'.
Quote: Timbo @ November 25 2010, 2:11 PM GMTif you mean 'appeals to people with a higher opinion of their own intellect', I am not sure that your analysis holds up.
I don't mean 'appeals to people with a higher opinion of their own intellect', so my analysis is unaffected by your argument.
Quote: Nat Wicks @ November 25 2010, 2:14 PM GMTFor 'sophisticated', read 'older'.
That's very perceptive , Wicksy.
I'm sure Harry & Paul's fans ARE older, on average, than Mitchell & Webb's.
They're also more sophisticated.
So we're both right.