I've noticed something of late about British comedy. Or should I say British comedy fans.
It is in fact possible to separate them into two entirely distinct groups using just two questions. Both questions return the same groups. They are:
- Are you under 30?
- Do you like Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, The Mighty Boosh, Man to Man with Dean Learner, Snuffbox and Nathan Barley?
So, if you answered yes to 1 and are a British comedy fan, you almost certainly answered yes to 2 (and vice versa). On the other hand, if you answered no to 1 then you answered no to 2. Capice?
Man, did I labour that.
My question to you then is why should this be so? Is it
- The natural difference in tastes between older and younger generations?
- Or Is it that the older generation has seen it all before and is uninterested in the stupid, derivative, toothless gunk that seems to so please the younger, used to be foetuses just five minutes ago so what do they know generation and which isn't a patch on The Day Today, say, which was put together by really talented, clever people*?
Let me know what you think. Although clearly the answer is 2.
* What do you mean Chris Morris did Nathan Barley as well? Liar
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December 11, 2008 | Reply
I can see what you're getting at but I'm not sure about that list - Garth Marenghi would appeal more to over-30s, I'd have thought, who know exactly what it's spoofing. Don't you have to have grown up in the 70s and read at least one James Herbert novel to really get it?
The Boosh however are definitely a mostly under-30s thing and that may be because of their aching attempts to be hip (references to indie bands etc) and the studenty surrealism. Vic & Bob used to be popular with the same crowd back in the day and were just as unfunny really.
December 11, 2008 | Reply
1. No. 2. No. Bingo.
December 11, 2008 | Reply
This is based purely on observation: I know plenty of
0s who love Darkplace; I know no one over 30 who does. My theory is that familiarity with Stephen King's The Langoliers, the 80s remake of The Twilight Zone and the books of James Herbert just makes Darkplace redundant - it's satirising things so bad they're self-satirising. It's only people who aren't familiar with them who can find them funny in their own right.
December 11, 2008 | Reply
The younger generation are still hopeful enough that they can change the world, or at least their little bit of it - and therefore laugh at "satire" such as Darkplace, The Office, Nathan Barley etc.
Whereas the older generation *know* that it has always been thus, always will be thus, comedy cannot change the world, and therefore don't find it funny because it's a reminder of just how terrible the world is.
Also, it's just not as damn cozy.
Bring back the IT Crowd! and Dad's Army!
December 11, 2008 | Reply
Sadly I'm not over 30 so I can't dispute it here. But my Father does.
He loves Darkplace, Dean Learner & Mighty Boosh and he's in his 60s. I'm not sure if he's watched the other two but he did love Green Wing so much that he pretended he'd returned my DVD sets when he was still watching them for the third or fourth time.
December 11, 2008 | Reply
Well, now you 'know' one - I'm over 30 and I loved Darkplace. To the point where I just watched that Beehive thing just to see Liz. Dean Learner, now, did nothing for me.
December 11, 2008 | Reply
It generally has to be the love of the collective works rather than of individual members of the collective that distinguish one group from the other. Loving only zero, one or two items from the collective is usually a sign of being over 30, loving them all of being under 30.
I'm not sure about Nathan Barley being explained away as a bit of world-changing satire, given it was written by guys in their 30s at the time and it was essentially taking the piss out of young people, particularly cocks in Hoxton Square. Unless you put it down to student self-loathing.
December 11, 2008 | Reply
And 3. get off my damn lawn you crazy kids (waves shotgun)?
Over 30, (but not by that much) and I quite liked the first couple of series of Boosh. Darkplace and Dean Lerner not so much. Snuffbox I never saw, apart from recently seeing this hilarious bit on YouTube: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=I66aySW4le8 (WHISKY!)
Nathan Barley had its moments too. (You didn't mention the involvement of another TMINE god - Charlie Brooker.)
Tempora mutantur nos et mutamur in illis. De gustibus non est disputandum. Quanti canicula ille est in fenestra.
Also: "The Darkplace Quandary" sounds like a great name for a rock band.
December 11, 2008 | Reply
It does indeed sound like a great name for a Rock Band. I wonder if it's taken on Rock Band 2 (360 version) yet...
December 11, 2008 | Reply
[this is good] Darkplace and Man to Man where superb. The Mighty Boosch is massively over rated. Nathan Barley had its momoents but wasn't as funny as something like Modern Toss.
The best bits in the IT Crowd are those with Matt Berry in (Dr Sanchez from Darkplace)
Possibly I'm too old to enjoy Boosh.... but I just think its rubbish.
December 11, 2008 | Reply
What do you mean "Bring back the IT Crowd!"? The third series is on right now, isn't it?
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I'm over 30, and I liked Boosh and Darkplace. Saw only the first episode of Man to Man, but it just didn't turn my crank. Haven't seen Snuffbox or Nathan Barley. So, I'd say I fall right in line with the collective works hypothesis.
December 11, 2008 | Reply
I'm 30, I like all of those shows and I'm sure there are 20 somethings that don't care for those shows at all.
I think the problem here is that you're picking shows that have some creative talent behind them even if the end product is not always a critical success. I'm glad that the shows you mentioned exist because they all attempt to do something that isn't mainstream rather than being sitcom about couples or a sketch show full of catchphrases.
What would be interesting is applying the same 30+ age group to the recent crop of BBC 3 comedies that are expressly designed to match the 'yoof' demographic (of which the Mighty Boosh was arguably the originator despite BBC 3 not really knowing what to do with the show at first). I've tried to sample the recent new crop of comedies on BBC 3 and have found them to be terrible, but is this because I'm not in the demographic that BBC 3 seems to aim for?
Well, it's because they're crap obviously. I'm pretty sure it's not because I'm an out of touch old man now.
December 12, 2008 | Reply
Is it not just because those comedies are all feature one or other (or both) of the great talent vampires, Richard Ayoade and Matt Berry*?
Anything they touch becomes essentially worthless, everyone they work with loses all ability to create; they are the comedic Nosferatu, feeding on the blood of better men...
Or, you know, it could just be because I'm 39.
* Except the Mighty Boosh - which is perfectly fine, thereby adding weight to my theory...
December 12, 2008 | Reply
I did consider that possibility when formulating the tests, but I realised that The IT Crowd throws a spanner in the works, since it features Matt Berry and Richard Ayoade but is not universally embraced by British comedy fans under the age of 30 since it's quite traditional in many ways.
Matt Berry was in four episodes of The Mighty Boosh, as well as the stage show; Richard Ayoade's been in five episodes. I actually quite like Berry in The IT Crowd.