#oneaday, Day 47: 6 Brit Comedies You Should Watch*

There’s a specific breed of British comedy that’s been around for a few years now that’s a far cry from the “old school”. Mostly, it can be recognised by the presence of any or all of the following people in the cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Mark Heap, Dylan Moran, Tamsin Greig, Richard Ayoade, Matt Berry, Kevin Eldon, Stephen Merchant. Yes, I know there are others, but the above-mentioned each have a number of different shows to their name with a considerable amount of crossover. Also, they’re the only ones I can remember the names of without resorting to Googling.

Anyway. This specific breed of British comedy is quick-fire, clever and often quite surreal. As such, it doesn’t appeal to everyone. There are some items on this list that Americans in particular find very difficult to fathom. And indeed some Brits find it quite hard to fathom, too. But I can highly recommend at least giving all of them a shot if you’re not already familiar with them. And if you are already familiar with them, the UK-based people (and those who are clever at faking UK IP addresses) will probably be interested to know that all the Channel 4-based ones are available via YouTube.

So, onward then.

Spaced

It’d be remiss of me not to mention Spaced, probably the most accessible of all these shows, even though I’m pretty sure most people are very familiar with it by now. A tale of relatively normal people in circumstances that are frequently anything but normal, it’s a stylish show crammed full of smileworthy cultural references and some truly wonderful character work. It put Simon Pegg and Nick Frost firmly on most people’s radars, and is pretty much the reason Shaun of the Dead exists.

There are so many amazing scenes, but this has to be my favourite.

Black Books

Black Books is some gloriously surreal character-driven comedy based largely around the wonderful chemistry between Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey and Tamsin Greig. It’s a simple show with some completely off-the-wall humour that is a little too much for some people. But it managed to hold its own for three seasons, which is pretty good going for a low-budget Brit comedy, even if our seasons are considerably, considerably shorter than an American season.

Like Spaced, there are a ton of fantastic scenes to choose from, but it’s difficult to beat this one.

Big Train

Big Train is a sketch-based show on which Pegg, Heap and many others had one of their first “big breaks”. It almost defies description, such is the diversity of the sketches in which they engage. But it carries the cast’s trademark surrealist humour, allowing you to escape into a land of pure nonsense.

Garth Merenghi’s Darkplace

A great idea for a show, this. Darkplace is a fictional TV show presented with occasional talking-head segments from completely fictional writers and actors. The TV show itself is convincingly low-budget and awful—so much so that it’s intentionally unintentionally hilarious—and the whole thing is a fantastic parody of the terrible crap that we see on our TV at times.

The IT Crowd

Another piece of genius small-scale character-driven comedy, this one has successfully made the transition across the pond for many people. Featuring a cast who are perfect comic foils for one another, a setting which most people can relate to and a variety of mundane-yet-hilarious situations, this has to be one of my favourite shows.

Green Wing

I’ve only just discovered this as I’ll confess I didn’t quite “get it” when it was first shown on TV, though this was probably largely due to the fact I only ever caught little bits of it. It’s a heavily stylised show set in a hospital with very little discernible medical content, and one of the strangest casts of characters you’ll ever see. I am now addicted to it

There. Enjoy. Should keep you busy for a little while.

* Unless you’re American.**

** Maybe. Give them a chance at least.