There seem to be quite a few sketch shows on the telly at the moment, probably due to them being cheap and easy to make, and I thought I'd round them up, giving my personal opinions on each one. These are all British, and all from the past couple of years. There are a lot of embedded videos because really, the best way to see if a show is any good is to actually watch the thing.
[img]http://www.superhans.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/that_mitchell___webb_look.jpg[/img]
[b]That Mitchell And Webb Look[/b]
Probably my favourite show out of going by the quality of its best sketches, though on average quality I don't think it's as good as Armstrong and Miller (see below). It is presented by David Mitchell and Robert Webb (pretty much all of these do what they say on the tin in that regard), and, although about half of the sketched barely work, there are enough completely hilarious (in my opinion) sketches to make up for the ones that don't. Mitchell and Webb are probably most famous for being the stars of Peep Show, and they were the Mac and PC in the UK versions of the new Mac ads, which were actually quite funny, if a bit too smug. They generally go for fairly wordy and often quite meaningful sketches which actually relate to things that actually happen. Personal rating: 8/10
Recurring sketches include numberwang, a parody game show two contestants say random numbers until the host tells them "that's numberwang!"
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjOZtWZ56lc[/media]
A few of the best sketches that they have done would be the Cheezoid sketch, about a robot that smells
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_m17HK97M8[/media]
And a disturbingly close parody of BBC news.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQnd5ilKx2Y[/media]
[img]http://www.bbc.co.uk/horneandcorden/images/f/logo.gif[/img]
[b]Horne and Corden[/b]
A very new, very BBC Three and really quite crude and immature in places show, Horne and Corden isn't exactly intellectual. It rarely rises above gay jokes and dick jokes, but it does them pretty well so what the fuck. It also features rather large amounts of the two actors undressing each other and being romantically involved in each other, so it doesn't take a genius to read through the lines there. And then you read through the lines too much and the mental images just won't go away. Having said that, some of the sketches work quite well, such as the ones with the incredibly camp TV presenter Tim Goodall.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVu3X4QmJiQ[/media]
And some of them kind of work
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj0dWzbAQGE[/media]
But the show's main failing for me isn't really in the crudity of the sketches, but in the length. Some of them take a good idea and stretch it out for far too long, and others take a bad idea and stretch it out over even longer. Overall, 5/10.
[img]http://www.tvthrong.co.uk/files/u1520/HarryPaul.jpg[/img]
[b]Harry and Paul[/b]
I have to admit, I haven't actually watched this one much. I probably should have done, considering it won a BAFTA, but I haven't, so there. Their most famous sketch is Clarkson Island, because it was shown on Top Gear, which is far more popular for some reason. It is about an island with the highest population of Clarksons... in the world.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMuO-8S_0Wg[/media]
I can't write much more about this on or give it a rating because I've only seen about 1 and a half episodes, but from what I've seen it looks pretty good.
[img]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/09/27/article-1063133-025FE38D000004B0-660_468x340.jpg[/img]
[b]Armstrong and Miller[/b]
Armstrong and Miller is a really good, fresh new show. You may recognise one of the actors as the guy who plays the only interesting character in Primeval. Like I said in the Mitchell and Webb mini review, I think it has better overall quality than Mitchell and Webb's show, but the best sketches aren't quite as good. Whereas Mitchell and Webb do parodies of big things - TV, movies, news, politics, that sort of stuff - Armstrong and Miller make fun of the people we see every day in our lives. Their best sketches by far are the ones based around two WW2 RAF pilots, who act like modern day retarded high school girls, treating the war like the girls treat school; bitching about how unfair it all is and how mean all the teachers are. The first time I saw it I just thought it was surreal, but after you get over that it is seriously funny.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiTaqgbXuVA[/media]
There is also a series of sketches (all in the same episode though I think) in which the presenters of a Blue Peter style kids' program apologise for certain... events that occurred in their time off camera, such as going to a lap dancing bar.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ptd-QyOOUg[/media]
I'm going to give this show the same as Mitchell and Webb above, for reasons I've already explained twice, so it gets and 8/10.
There we go, there's 4 new British (all BBC?) sketch shows, and reviews of them and shit like that. Hopefully you enjoyed it, if people like that then I might do a thread about the bazillion panel shows we now have as well. You probably disagree with me on everything.
I think i have something to do tonight :)
Armstrong and Miller are my favourite. I love the one about the two RAF guys acting like chavs.
Mitchell And Webb are much funnier in Peep Show.
Best humor ever
[img]http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bUPjYWE5Tf4/0.jpg[/img]
I didn't know there was an Armstrong and Miller, never seen it on the telly.
What the hell, posted 19th November 2009 and now it gets the first reply?
[QUOTE=darth-veger;24820991]Best humor ever
[img]http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bUPjYWE5Tf4/0.jpg[/img][/QUOTE]
I remember liking the first series, when I was nine. Some of it might still be funny.
The second two series and whatever the fuck that USA spinoff was are horribly unfunny. It was just schoolboy and shock "humour".
[QUOTE=Kialtia;24822099]What the hell, posted 19th November 2009 and now it gets the first reply?[/QUOTE]
Yeah what the shit.
[QUOTE=The DooD;24822466]Yeah what the shit.[/QUOTE]
Something like this happened with another thread a while back about if you liked the colour yellow or not.
How can you possibly want to watch anything with James Corden in without wanting to punch an infant?
Don't find Mitchell and Webb funny (I HATE Robert Webb). Don't find Horne and Corden funny. Never heard of Harry and Paul. Perhaps that's England only, I dunno? Armstrong and Miller is ok, though.
Nothing will surpass the Two Ronnies. Ever.
Wait, what? This thread is nearly a year old?
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