The Darkplace quandry

11 December 2008 Rob Buckley UK TV 16 Comments

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:

  1. Are you under 30?
  2. 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

  1. The natural difference in tastes between older and younger generations?
  2. 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

Author

  • Rob Buckley

    I’m Rob Buckley, a journalist who writes for UK media magazines that most people have never heard of although you might have heard me on the podcast Lockdown Land or Radio 5 Live’s Saturday Edition or Afternoon Edition. I’ve edited Dreamwatch, Sprocket and Cambridge Film Festival Daily; been technical editor for TV producers magazine Televisual; reviewed films for the short-lived newspaper Cambridge Insider; written features for the even shorter-lived newspaper Soho Independent; and was regularly sarcastic about television on the blink-and-you-missed-it “web site for urban hedonists” The Tribe. Since going freelance, I've contributed to the likes of Broadcast, Total Content + Media, Action TV, Off The Telly, Action Network, TV Scoop and The Custard TV.

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