There have ben very few times in my 40-odd years that I've genuinely felt I was pointlessly frittering away my time on this planet; even Champions League matches on the telly provide me with an opportunity for doing the ironing (in itself not the most valuable of activities), but never I have felt that my time was so wasted as when I watched Channel 4's 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches last night.
My main objection to the program was simply that, instead of showing the 50 sketches in their entirety, the producers decided to show snippets, interspersed with talking heads and recollections from the participants. The programme wasn't helped by the poor quality of the selected sketches, which only served to highlight how dependent comedic power is on the unexpected. Much as I despise Griff Rhys-Jones, his comment that "a sketch is a sketch is a sketch" proved to be true, at least retrospectively: If you know what's coming in a sketch, the humour dissipates. Very few are those comedy moments that retain any great power upon repetition. And Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition has been forever soiled in my mind by John Hannah's abuse of it in Sliding Doors. He suddenly made you realize what wankers those people are who repeat sketches verbatim as though the humour somehow rubbed off on them.
What did I laugh at last night? The League of Gentlemen's Papa Lazarou is still recent enough and dark enough to enjoy. Its creepiness and absurdity appeals to my misanthropic side; if it can scare kids, I like it, although I don't imagine many kids these days are scared by the likes of former Footlights bods.
Anything other laughter generated in our household last night was generated by affection rather than entertainment. Morecambe and Wise, Monty Python, and that was about it, although the hugely underrated Absolutely was, predictably, underrepresented. I loved John Sparkes's and Morwenna Banks's monologues, which were probably discounted on that basis, but it's criminal that none of the sketches featuring Moray Hunter as Calum Gilhooley were included: Booking a holiday by phone and dealing with Jehovah's Witnesses were just two that I remember, off the top of my head, that were BOTH better than the top sketch last night, from Little Britain.
Maybe I'm just getting old.
Arse.
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3 comments:
YES! Absolutely was brilliant. I have very fond memories of the show and am delighted someone else - should have realised it would be you! - recalls the Jehovah's Witness sketch with such fondness... Morwenna Banks was a goddess on that show.
Watched about 15 mins of the Comedy Sketch programme, felt sullied by the rubbish chosen, went and watched The Life of Brian instead. Agreed with Graham Linehan and Arabella Weir about Bo-Selecta. Glad to hear Matt Lucas admit that Little Britain was basically Dick Emery though.
Hi Lisa.
My favourite movie of all time.
Bo-Selecta is just bobbins, as they say in Timperley.
Never was much of a Dick Emery fan, but see the similarities. Surprised not to see any Dave Allen either, especially now he's no longer with us.
Bobbins! haven't heard that term in ages.
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