Article
The best television of 2011: comedy
This year saw more hits than misses. There were surprises too – Spy, Jack Whitehall's acting and the end of Shooting Stars
Jack Whitehall as JP in Fresh Meat: who knew he could act?
Jack Whitehall as JP in Fresh Meat: who knew he could act?
Without even a sniff of Peep Show, 2011 still managed to be a strong year for comedy. No honestly, it has. Here follow my own choices for the good, the bad and the stinky – feel free to add your own in the comments section. We'll start with Fresh Meat: Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong's take on student living, which made a confident start on Channel 4 and revealed Jack Whitehall to be an actual actor who could act. Who knew?
Spy on Sky1 was for me the surprise sitcom hit of the year. Darren Boyd has been solidly delivering funny best friends and boyfriends for years, so it was great to see him taking the lead in such a brilliantly written show. It makes stunning use of physical comedy and the gags come thick and fast.
I initially feared for Sky's much-trumpeted new comedy output when I saw This is Jinsy, a show that relies entirely on wackiness with little recourse to jokes or plot. But Sky's stable has since produced some comedy thoroughbreds, with Trollied showing promise and Spy really making its mark. Next year will bring a new Alan Partridge series and Charlie Brooker's detective spoof A Touch of Cloth. Watch out terrestrial: Sky is stealing your talent.
An honourable mention must go to Shooting Stars, cruelly axed this year, despite maintaining the high standard set by Reeves and Mortimer over a decade ago. As hoots-per-minute go, the BBC got impressive value for money, and the introduction of Dan Skinner's Angelos Epithemiou more than made up for the departure of Matt Lucas. If BBC2 really did have too many panel shows, I can think of other less imaginative vehicles that should've been first on the chopping block. Mock the Week for one.
On the same channel, Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle continued to divide fans with its second, even more brilliantly sullen series. I like the Dave Allen-style monologues; the time he takes over his punchlines is a mark of his confidence in his own intellect. Not everyone likes a clever dick and his style isn't for everyone, but I'm crossing fingers for a new series in 2012.
And talking of the Olympic year, John Morton's Twenty Twelve on BBC Four was a breath of fresh air, reintroducing that deadpan dialogue Morton perfected in People Like Us. Hugh Bonneville is brilliantly stupid as Olympic deliverance executive Ian Fletcher and Jessica Hynes puts in a stellar performance as ignoramus PR executive Siobhan Sharpe. Olivia Colman continues her steady but inevitable (and well-deserved) rise to super stardom as Fletcher's lovelorn secretary Sally Owen.
She also puts in another intelligent turn as Alex, the frustrated vicar's wife, in BBC2's solidly great Rev with Tom Hollander. It's a show bursting with fine performances including Miles Jupp's priggish verger and Simon McBurney as Archdeacon Robert. This year's second series acquired, if it were possible, an even warmer heart and leant more heavily on gags. A good thing: bring back the jokes in comedy, I say.
Channel 4's Friday Night Dinner, a show writer Robert Popper based heavily on his own Jewish upbringing, gave us a new family sitcom and made a shining star of Paul Ritter, the hard-of-hearing patriarch of the Goodman family. And some much-needed satire was squirted back into our eyes and ears by Channel 4's 10 O'Clock Live – which admittedly drew rather a mixed reception – which is also set to return early next year.
Charlie Brooker's multi-tasking abilities saw him produce the enjoyably thorough How TV Ruined Your Life, spout informed bile on the aforementioned 10 O'Clock Live and turn out two of the three marvellously bleak Black Mirrors on Channel 4 by year's end.
And we must include the online reboots of old comedy favourites The Fast Show, Reeves & Mortimer and Mid-morning Matters with Alan Partridge, providing comedy we otherwise wouldn't have seen this year. Still no sign of an Absolutely return but I live in hope.
But of course there were some stinkers too. Dishonourable mentions must go to Ricky Gervais's Life's Too Short for misjudging the public mood, Frankie Boyle in Tramadol Nights for misjudging every single thing that came out of his mouth and The Comic Strip Presents: The Hunt for Tony Blair for not including one single joke despite the best efforts of an excellent cast. Channel 4's Campus also missed the mark – in my view because commissioning editors refuse to understand that high farce does not work in a one-hour format.
And that was my year in comedy. Now, what have I missed?
Guardian TV writers and bloggers choose their comedies of the year
Sam Wollaston: Him & Her
I so nearly chose Angry Boys which had the funniest moments of the year, but was too patchy. Him & Her works so well not just because of brilliant natural performances from Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani (plus Joe Wilkinson as weird neighbour Dan), but also because they were so totally believable – recognisable even.
Heidi Stephens: The Trip
It's not often two of your favourite comic actors are served up side-by-side, and it's hard to imagine who but Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon could have made it work – The Trip was a joy. But my biggest belly laugh of the year came from Tess Daly's Strictly Come Dancing wardrobe – the comedy gift that kept on giving.
Phelim O'Neill: Psychoville
It arrived with little fanfare, but then how do you promote a show full of clown funerals, reanimated Nazi heads, silent singers, blackmail, kidnapping and zorbing? The second series was stuffed full of bizarre characters, with Mrs Ladybird Face a last-minute show-stealer, and a Tina Turner impression that is the stuff of hilarious nightmares.
Ben Dowell: Rev
The second run of James Wood's series about inner-city vicar Adam Smallbone proved even more wise, heart-warming, tender, witty and brilliantly acted than the first. Paired on Thursday nights with my comedy turkey of 2011 – Ricky Gervais's mean-spirited and off-the-mark Life's Too Short – the contrast could not have been more stark. Tom Hollander also proved that a clever, thoughtful actor can be much funnier than a show-offy comedian.
Daniel Bettridge: Community
Those people who could lay their hands on a copy would no doubt agree that Community has proved to be one of the most entertaining comedies for years. Imaginative, inventive and crammed full of pop-culture gags, the only shame is that more people aren't watching it.
Johnny Dee: Friday Night Dinner
At first, I didn't get it. But by the end of the second episode I felt as if I was squirming with embarrassment watching my own family. I loved the in-jokes (the salt in the drink, the "females" and the non existent girlfriend) but most of all I loved Jim – the neighbour terrified of his own dog but excited at the prospect of flirting with Jackie.
Flic Everett: Outnumbered
Horribly realistic scripts mixed with improvisation still make this show unmissable. The moment when nine-year-old Ben is shown hoovering his own face through boredom particularly stands out, but Karen's desperate attempts to make friends with 10-year-old bully Tania and Jake's utter embarrassment at being a teenager with parents were equally well drawn.
Viv Groskop: Downton Abbey
Nothing is funnier. Especially the man with the bandaged face. But my second favourite comedy this year has come from Cardinal Burns, a double act who have a series coming out on E4 in early 2012. Their shorts for the BBC's online comedy channel are original, demented and hilarious. They do a brilliant sketch as two ridiculously virile, deluded but well-meaning Turkish cab drivers which makes me sob with laughter.
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User Comments
mike65ie
29 December 2011 11:37AM
I'm going to stick up for The Hunt For Tony Blair, I enjoyed its mix of silly gags, blatantly obvious parody and handsome visual design. Another Stephen Mangan
starrer - Episodes with Tamsin Greig and Matt LeBlanc turned out to be rather good after an uncertain start.
Its often the unexpected that sticks in the mind so I'll go with The Trip as my comedy of the year. Relaxed, amusing and scenic with an unexpected, almost
Scandinavian undertow of lament. I dunno if it'll be back but I hope so.
barenib
29 December 2011 11:41AM
I think you're being very unfair to "The Hunt for Tony Blair". The whole thing was a parody of a 1950's detective pot-boiler which, in its well-observed way, made for an amusing backdrop all the way through. Add to that some excellent performances - Stephen Mangan's Tony Blair and Nigel Planer's rather chilling Peter Mandelson in particular - which for for me made for a very entertaining and enjoyable hour. There may not have been many one-liners, but it consistently made me smile.
ViolentDelights
29 December 2011 11:52AM
Oh I do like Him & Her. And nice! Steve and Becky, whilst being lazy slobs, are kind to everyone, even people are horrible as Paul and Laura, or as weird as Dan. Kerry Howard, as Laura, gets some brilliant lines too.
And Horrible Histories, I love Horrible Histories.
Scurra
29 December 2011 12:19PM
The frustrating thing about LIfe's Too Short is that bits of it were better than almost anything else going, but there weren't enough of those bits to carry the whole thing.
Twenty Twelve was the only show I watched in its entirety more than once. Episodes , Rev and Fresh Meat were my other highspots.
BlackElvis2012
29 December 2011 12:20PM
I know the Guardian like to slag off Frankie Boyle as often as possible but Tramadol Nights was 2010.
Best comedy of the year - Life's Too Short. Warwick Davies was truly excellent and Johnny Depp's Ricky Gervais jokes were hysterical as was Liam Neeson's turn.
Don't see how the show misjudged the public mood. Most of my pals loved it and it's been given a second series.
uktvb
29 December 2011 12:21PM
Campus was shit. But I believe it was the production which insisted it was to be that long, not the channel.
Worth checking?
babytiger
29 December 2011 12:42PM
Fresh Meat was surprisingly good, I must admit. And Community is as ever excellent.
Rev got better and better, but Life's Too Short was dreadful. And I've never quite managed to get Him & Her, to be honest - just one of these shows where I can't quite see how it's supposed to be funny. It's so subjective though, innit?
SocialProof
29 December 2011 1:01PM
Fresh Meat was technically a drama, as it was funded by the drama department. And Black Mirror was technically a comedy, as it was funded by the comedy department. Anyone else think they got these the wrong way round? Black Mirror was interesting as a drama but had no laughs. And Fresh Meat was a succession of gags delivered by sitcom characters. Confusing times.
yetanotherusername
29 December 2011 1:02PM
I was the only one to like Sirens then? I thought it was a much more interesting premise than Fresh Meat and I'm not sure why it didn't get more praise.
No mention of the last series of Ideal? I've just finished rewatching the entire box set and it has to be one of the funniest and most inventive sitcoms of the past few years with some superb performances and wonderful music choices. Be interesting to see what Graham Duff does next.
By far the best sketch show was the second series of Limmy's Show. I'm amazed the BBC still haven't shown it outside Scotland.
cavelier5
29 December 2011 1:19PM
Fresh Meat treads similar tracks to Spaced and obviously Peep Show but was mostly ace - it also made me feel oddly nostalgic for my own uni years. The self styled fierce girls like Vod who thought they knew it all but were really just lost little girls like the rest, toffs like JP who could fund the hedonism with regular calls to mummy and daddy. Howard and Brian's homoerotically charged geek relationship was also a highlight.
Anything Harry Hill is in is funny.
Not Going Out was funny ha ha.
Psychoville 2 was shamefully ignored, by the BBC in particular.
ArielManto
29 December 2011 1:27PM
Horrible Histories series 3 made me laugh more than any other show this year. I wish they'd repeat the regular show (instead of the mixed-up Stephen Fry version) in a prime-time comedy slot. Funniest thing the Beeb have made in at least a decade.
GCday
29 December 2011 2:14PM
I know we have only had one episode so far, but surely The Royal Bodyguard has to be up there as a contender for stinker of the year?
suziebee
29 December 2011 2:29PM
Harry Hill, Horrible Histories and Psychoville were ace - not now silent singer!. Liam Neeson on Life's Too Short - best ever cameo? Didn't get through the whole series though, or of Fresh Meat, or Episodes...Twenty Twelve was ok.
mrguffman
29 December 2011 2:44PM
Anyone with even an ounce of interest in decent comedy should watch Community. It's carrying the torch for early Simpsons greatness. Puts British comedy to shame.
woton
29 December 2011 2:57PM
Would have to disagree that it's been a strong year for comedy. The thought Shooting Stars was easily the funniest thing on and that's been around for about 15 years.
Psychoville was brilliant. The psychotic librarian was an amazing character.
Fresh Meat could have been so good if only they resisted the temptation to turn it into a teenage drama. Does anyone really care about Kingsley and Josie? Really? If only they'd have stuck with the likes of Howard, Vod and JP. Hilarious characters.
Alarming
29 December 2011 2:58PM
Which public mood was Life's Too Short misjudging? It didn't do much for me but given the current drift to the right of public thinking anything which misjudges that is to be commended surely?
good to see the Guardian still trying to spin a success from the supremely disappointing Fresh Meat. If it didn't have 2 gifted writers at its helm it would never have got onto the screen. A less funny version of Mike Leigh's first film Bleak Moments.
hermionegingold
29 December 2011 3:25PM
loved psychoville espesh the 'tina turner' moment & rev but 'the mercedes' episode of friday night dinner was the comedy moment of the year for me.
why isn't frances barber bigger than canada? she's bloody brilliant.
x
philshepp
29 December 2011 3:29PM
'Whites' was a highlight for me... I can't believe Episodes was recommissioned and it wasn't. The Psychoville finale is up there too!
Theskysgoneout
29 December 2011 3:59PM
The second Series of Psychoville was a work of twisted genius yet the BBC, as is their want with anything which isn't anodyne rubbish, pissed around with it in the schedule so it seemed to be on randomly late at night. Tossers. Mr Jelly deserves a show all to himself.
Stewart Lee's comedy vehicle was also pretty excellent, his crisp obsessed Chelsea pensioner Grandad refusing help from Godzilla because he was Japanese routine was brilliant.
A couple of episodes of Life's too short was all I could manage, it was utter crap. How long is that one trick pony Gervais going to keep being paid for writing the same shit over and over again?
iman17
29 December 2011 4:14PM
No shout outs for Mongrels? Can only assume not many are watching it as it's fresh in the mind and undoubtedly funny as xxxx. Grab an episode now on iplayer before it disappears!!
Of those mentioned, I didn't rate Fresh Meat or Rev, all of Charlie Brooker's stuff was supurb and Him & Her is genius - like royal family at its peak.
Lalwende
29 December 2011 4:25PM
Outnumbered, I'm sorry to say, has now got boring. The kids are just too old. Karen's tussles with another girl at school weren't funny, they were depressing, and as for Jake dating a lap dancer? Please. The only person in it who is consistently funny is Ben - him terrorising everyone on the school camping trip was brilliant. A show just about Ben at school should be their next step.
MillionSpheres
29 December 2011 5:10PM
I'm with you iman17, Mongrels hits my funny bone full on.
And Misfits is proper funny (in a very dark way).
Him and her? WTF? Sorry, I tried but not a snigger.
tiredgiraffe
29 December 2011 5:20PM
Finest comedy of the year was undoubtedly Horrible Histories - the sketches are wonderful but the songs are pure genius. Anyone who hasn't seen them yet should go and look on YouTube. Nothing better this year in terms of laugh-out-loud comedy.
Enjoyed Rev, Outnumbered and Friday Night Dinner very much too, and The News Quiz has been so consistently good that any week has been duller without it. Guilty pleasure of the year was Russell Kane on the ITV2 I'm A Celebrity aftershow; hit and miss at times, but he is an excellent comedian as well as a great mimic, and delivered quality new material every night. Oh, what am I like.
tiredgiraffe
29 December 2011 5:39PM
p.s. I forgot Shooting Stars (especially the Henry VIII song) and John Stape re-kidnapping Rosie Webster. The scenes with him trying to get her to retain the necessary information (complete with chart and red pen for marking her answers to a written test) were genuinely funny. Kudos to Corrie's production team (and Graeme Hawley) for making Stape such a unique character after an unpromising start.
HK1234
29 December 2011 5:46PM
tbh most of the British comedy i watched this year was crap. Life's too short was awful so was Fresh Meat. I gave up on both shows midway through the second episode of each show. Rev which has had a lot of love from the Guardian didn't seem to have a laugh in it so i gave up on that. Maybe it's just me but so much of the comedy these days seems to be laugh free. I always thought Shooting Stars was shit btw.
On a more positive not i liked psychoville and The Trip.
ClaretandBlueMeanie
29 December 2011 6:29PM
I'm at least a decade behind the rest of the Western World but thanks to Sky Atlantic I finally watched Curb Your Enthusiam this year. Ended up watching all 8 series. It is absolute genius from start to end. Except the episode in series 8 (airing for the first time) that included Ricky Gervais!
I managed to last 10 mins of the new Ab Fab. It is still bewilderingly awful.
silentbazz
29 December 2011 6:50PM
Just glad someone else watched Spy.
Was amazed that more wasn't made about that show, as it was genuinely hilarious (and Robert Lyndsey stealing every scene he was in was a joy to watch).
Hope there's more of this to come..
tiredgiraffe
29 December 2011 7:04PM
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KbXyALq7uA
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkzxXLRjojM&NR=1&feature=endscreen
tiredgiraffe
29 December 2011 7:05PM
Apologies if links are rubbish - I am technologically incompetent and am going back to work. This has been the pattern for the whole year. Ah well.
Lushattic
29 December 2011 7:07PM
Monglrels definitely won it for me.
The catchy songs, the filth, great stuff.
bamber
29 December 2011 7:13PM
Gran from Angry Boys was the best comedy character by a mile, even with added alzheimers.
Him and Her is painfully funny.
Fresh Meat has got it all.
Sky's Christmas Crackers deserve a merit badge for trying very hard. Not as good as last year but Shappi Korzandy did well. Still not really used to Sky One doing quality home-grown comedy. Still remember the Harry Enfield Sky One sketch show *shudders*.
davidabsalom
29 December 2011 7:13PM
It died a slow death five or ten years ago, but the resurrection of Rab C Nesbitt has been awesome.
SirBevois
29 December 2011 7:14PM
It's been a shit year for comedy.
"Trollied showing promise"
It's been a really shit year for comedy.
mike65ie
29 December 2011 7:31PM
Re Psychoville - I missed series 2 due to the incompetent scheduling and am starting to wonder if they are ever going to repeat it.
candylilacs
29 December 2011 8:21PM
I must really not get Brits and British humor. It seems to me there must be some underlying thread of pain and humiliation to make it funny for many British people -- at least on these threads.
Really? "Outnumbered"? I found it slow and most everyone so unappealing, I could spend time with random people and be more entertained. Same with "Friday Night Dinner." "Psychoville" was just so not working for me, I only made it 30 minutes into the first episode before I gave up.
I do watch "Community," although it's now on hiatus and I can't say the last two episodes were very good and probably didn't help with ratings. The alternate reality show, though.....so good (third to last.)
rowingrob
29 December 2011 8:51PM
Rev isn't way beyond being just a 'comedy'.
It doesn't have many laugh out loud moments
but it's excellent and the cast are superb
Kogvos2
29 December 2011 8:58PM
'Fresh Meat' gets my vote for series and Jack Whitehall as JP was outstandingly good.
'The Trip' I thought was a brilliantly entertaining and amusing homage to the (usually unsung) beauty of the North.
'Friday Night Dinner' was very funny too, a little gem.
Not a bad year at all for UK TV comedy.
Nothing there to trouble Larry David's 'Curb Your Enthusiasm', of course, but that's a tough ask (Palestinian Chicken anyone?)
DonkeyLogic
29 December 2011 9:57PM
An honourable mention must go to Shooting Stars,...
More than a mention.
R and M have supplied some truly super-daft funny moments - all the way since Vic Reeves Big Night Out. They're total magic on a good day.
"Dan Skinner's Angelos Epithemiou more than made up for the departure of Matt Lucas"
No he didn't - you can't get true oddity out of a painting by numbers book - weak.
"Friday Night Dinner, a show writer Robert Popper based..."
Fucking awful. Maudlin, ping-pong tired old bollx. No more please.
"and The Comic Strip Presents: The Hunt for Tony Blair"
You forgot to mention it was about as funny as a broken hip. More tripe from the middle-aged, comfy white middle class comedians we've grown to dislike.
"Him & Her works so well..." small minded whimsy.
you forgot Pet Shop
elliotgonzalez
29 December 2011 10:15PM
There has been some great Comedy this year with a lot of new shows. Him & Her and Rev. are two definite highlights. I often write about Comedy on my blog and have compiled my own list of my 12 Comedy Highlights of 2011.
http://elliotgonzalez.blogspot.com/2011/12/12-comedy-highlights-of-2011.html
Feel free to read and I'd really appreciate it if you left a comment. Thanks.
6ofclubs
29 December 2011 10:23PM
I'm happy to see Him & Her and Friday night dinner get a mention, I found both quite funny.
Its a shame that 10 O'clock live was as disappointing as it was.
keylargojude
29 December 2011 10:30PM
Psychoville definitely the highlight for me. Not now, silent singer ...
keylargojude
29 December 2011 10:35PM
Psychoville definitely the highlight for me. Absolute brilliance from the big moments (Tina Turner impression; clown funeral) to the little details - the Nazi memorabilia collector drinking from a mug with the slogan "Tomorrow Belongs to Tea".
keylargojude
29 December 2011 10:36PM
Weird - that post didn't seem to transmit so I sent it again and now you have 2 versions!
derek500
29 December 2011 11:32AM
The Trip was shown in 2010!!!! Can you get a 2011 show from Heidi Stephens?