Interview: Greg McHugh, comedian (Gary: Tank Commander)

Cheesy pasta. Two words that this time last year meant nothing more than just plain old macaroni cheese. Fast forward 12 months and one series of Gary: Tank Commander and suddenly "cheesy pasta" has become a national catchphrase, vying with Rab C Nesbitt's "I'll tell you this, boy" and The Rev IM Jolly's mournful "Ah've had a helluva year".

Now in its second series, Gary: Tank Commander marks - along with Limmy's Show and Burnistoun - an unprecedented upswing in the standard of Scottish TV comedy.

Mostly set on the Afghanistan frontline, this likeable sitcom stars Greg McHugh (who also writes) as a cheerful, naive soldier mainly concerned with having a laugh and getting home.

It's refreshing that Gary's campness isn't a laboured joke. Rather than sneer at the incongruity of his blithe personality in a macho world, he's presented as a popular - albeit exasperating - member of the team. The humour is well observed, not cruel or overplayed.

Given its setting, however, it's oddly apolitical. McHugh is more interested in humanising "our boys" than in making any larger satirical statement: maybe their petty banter is a statement in itself. But whereas wartime comedies such as M*A*S*H (a topical comment on Vietnam, despite its Korean setting) never shirked from the horrors of combat, McHugh pretends they don't exist.

Nevertheless, it works on its own agreeable terms. But I'd like to see some genuinely angry comedy in 2011.

The camp commander

Despite the cult success of the first series of Greg McHugh's comedy sitcom, Gary: Tank Commander, on BBC2 Scotland last year, which he wrote and starred in, he isn't taking anything for granted.

Interview: Greg McHugh

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