British Television Comedy

The future of television comedy looks safe in the hands of the post-alternative generation—led by such talents as Steve Coogan (Knowing Me, Knowing You…with Alan Partridge, 1994), Paul Whitehouse (The Fast Show, 1994), Caroline Aherne (The Mrs Merton Show, 1995), Meera Syal (Goodness Gracious Me, 1998), and Sanjeev Bhaskar (The Kumars at No. 42, 2001), all of whom specialize in wickedly accurate character comedy. In many of these cases, the humour operates through the “Trojan Horse” of a spoof chat-show host.

In recent years, the most successful comedy has been quasi-documentary. Eschewing a laughter-track and employing very naturalistic acting, hyper-realistic, fly-on-the-wall shows such as The Royle Family (1998), The Office (2001), and Phoenix Nights (2001) have all demonstrated the comic potential of the everyday. In these sitcoms, the idiosyncrasies of quotidian life are an apparently bottomless source of humour.

In the 21st century, there has also been a vein of black humour running through much of the most thought-provoking television comedy. Programmes such as The League of Gentlemen (1999) and Black Books (2000) have not been afraid to make darkness visible. These shows have managed to find comedy in the most unlikely areas.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of high-quality American comedy imports on British screens. Shows such as Cheers (1982) and Roseanne (1989) underline the popularity of well-crafted, character-driven sitcoms. The most durable shows from over there that have made it over here, Seinfeld (1990), The Larry Sanders Show (1992), Frasier (1993), Friends (1995), and Will and Grace (1998), are full of wiseacre characters firing off a volley of killer one-liners. The sheer wit of these programmes also disproves the old canard that Americans do not understand irony.

It is British comedy, however, that remains the envy of the world, with its wealth of personalities that people everywhere can warm to—from Arthur Askey through Michael Palin to Victoria Wood. Performers such as Benny Hill and the Monty Python team run constantly on American cable television channels, and Mr Bean played by Rowan Atkinson does huge business as in-flight entertainment.

Now the United States networks are lionizing performers as diverse as Ricky Gervais from The Office and Absolutely Fabulous’ Jennifer Saunders. Figures such as Tony Hancock, John Cleese, Ronnie Barker, and David Jason, the stalwarts of British television comedy, have a following the world over, which they look set to retain.