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Best Comedy series of the 00s


  • Total voters
    76
  • Poll closed .

seany t

President
Joined
May 11, 2006
Messages
3,566
Further to MK's thread about the state of comedy, I thought it might be good to discuss which comedy show was your favourite from the last decade.

Many of the choices speak for themselves; The Office was a critical smash over here and developed the fly-on-wall feel of Ianucci / Morris' early work earning it a place in the nation's hearts. Some regard the US Office as even better from series 2 onwards.

Over the pond, they spoiled us with modern classics. Curb your enthusiasm is generally regarded as having some of the strongest characterisation and plotting in comedy; Arrested Development was so densely packed with in-jokes and gags-per-minute it required multiple viewings to take it all in; Flight of the Conchords managed to do that rarest of things and combine comedy and music to great effect and animated shows finally outclassed The Simpsons - South Park went from strength to strength, decimating every topic and person in it's path and Futurama allowed the makers of The Simpsons more fun and flexibility with adult humour.

But that's not to say this isle didn't produce it's fair share of notable shows too. Early on in the decade we got two wonderfully observant series of Phoenix Nights to belly laugh at; Peep Show grew from a cult sleeper hit to launching several careers and numbering 6 series (Number 7 is in the works as we speak). The Thick Of It rejuvenated high brow, political drama and spawned the cracking In the loop. Graham Linehan followed the breakthrough Father Ted with the bleaker Black Books and flippant IT Crowd. There was also innovation too in the zany Green Wing, essentially an hour hour sketch show centering around a core set of themes and storytelling.

We ought to include the big hitters too - the shows which transcended age and became lucrative exports; for all the stick it gets now due to our Aunts loving it, Little Britain started off as wonderful throwaway fun. Likewise The Inbetweeners was viewed by some as a juvenile version of Peep Show, and as others as the UK's answer to those college American teen dramas.

And whilst they're not sitcoms so should probably be viewed differently, a special mention go out to Harry Hill's TV Burp and Have I Got News For You as both were excellent last decade.

So where does your vote go? Did I forget anything that you adored?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

These were a bit niche to include in a list of 15, but deserve a mention: Nighty Night, I'm Alan Partridge / Spaced / League of Gentlemen (both first series were 1999 so only series 2 onwards count), Time Trumpet, Garth Merenghi's Darkplace, Nathan Barley, Saxondale, Kath & Kim, Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, 30 Rock, Malcolm in the Middle, Early Doors, Monkey Dust, Smoking Room, Outnumbered

- - - - - - - - - -

PS. Poll open for 2 weeks. You can vote for multiple shows but I ask that you all just vote for 3 each to keep it to your very favourites. Cheers
 
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Mock the Week? Although it was technically a news panel show, it was still very funny.

Good post by the way. Very interesting read while I am bored at college :)
 
I can not stand the Office. Ricky Gervais really does my nut! What to smack that smug git sometimes. :madman: Rant Over.
 
The US Office has exceeded the original IMO, the last few series have expanded on the idea and as soon as they weren't copying the original plots, it came into it's own.

That said, Curb Your Enthusiasm takes some beating.
 
I voted for The Thick Of It, it's a different class.

Green Wing, Black Books & Peep Show are definately noteworthy but I don't feel like voting for them. Futurama & South Park are both good but I don't feel like voting for them since they started in the 90's and SP I haven't seen for years.

One of my other votes would have gone to The Mighty Boosh but you seem to have missed that out. Oh and the same goes for Qi.
 
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I voted for 'The Thick Of It', it's a different class.

Green Wing, Black Books & Peep Show are definately noteworthy but I don't feel like voting for them. Futurama & South Park are both good but I don't feel like voting for them since they started in the 90's and SP I haven't seen for years.

One of my other votes would have gone to The Mighty Boosh but you seem to have missed that out.

Yeah no Boosh!!

I voted for Curb.
 
I voted for The Thick Of It, it's a different class.

Green Wing, Black Books & Peep Show are definately noteworthy but I don't feel like voting for them. Futurama & South Park are both good but I don't feel like voting for them since they started in the 90's and SP I haven't seen for years.

One of my other votes would have gone to The Mighty Boosh but you seem to have missed that out. Oh and the same goes for Qi.

I like the Thick of It, I do, but it's really a one-man show. Everything else is on the periphery. I think Tucker's almost a caricature now.

Boosh I didn't get. QI has jumped the shark - trying to be clever for its own good. It used to be funny, now I think it's just trying to tick the box of educational as well.
 
I like the Thick of It, I do, but it's really a one-man show. Everything else is on the periphery. I think Tucker's almost a caricature now.

Boosh I didn't get. QI has jumped the shark - trying to be clever for its own good. It used to be funny, now I think it's just trying to tick the box of educational as well.

It is for a specific group of people (random and crazy people like me :)), if you understand it, then it can be very funny! It is defiantly a niche!
 
I voted for The Thick Of It, it's a different class.

Green Wing, Black Books & Peep Show are definately noteworthy but I don't feel like voting for them. Futurama & South Park are both good but I don't feel like voting for them since they started in the 90's and SP I haven't seen for years.

One of my other votes would have gone to The Mighty Boosh but you seem to have missed that out. Oh and the same goes for Qi.


Oops, sorry about that, I own both series of that too!

Wouldn't be in my personal top 10 but should still have included it here. Apologies guys.
 
I like the Thick of It, I do, but it's really a one-man show. Everything else is on the periphery. I think Tucker's almost a caricature now.

I dunno, I felt it was a bit in danger of that in the last series but the characters are all very well defined and have different senses of humour in series 1, 2 and the specials. Like Mannion, Jamie, Julius Nicholson etc.

The last series conversely had more belly laughs though than the earlier ones and the Richard Bacon one was absolute gold, so it wasn't quite so subtle but seemed more funny? I didn't like how many of the lines in that last series were so interchangeable however. In the earlier runs Glen, Ollie, Terri etc all have very defined traits and mannerisms, but in the last series they all merged a bit too much into a meld of sheer abuse.

I still loved it loads mind. More than almost anything else this / last decade.
 
Nail on the head.

I struggle a bit in some places when I rewatch some of it now admittedly but I still adore it. Comedy moves on really quickly; quicker than music and film I reckon. Which is why i reckon many of the drier ones have aged better (Fawlty Towers, Yes Prime Minister, Partridge, Day Today etc)...
 
The first series of Phoenix Nights was hilarious - the second episode, involving the p***ed horse, was pretty special.

"What do you do with a p***ed horse?"

"Give it a kebab!"
 
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I struggle a bit in some places when I rewatch some of it now admittedly but I still adore it. Comedy moves on really quickly; quicker than music and film I reckon. Which is why i reckon many of the drier ones have aged better (Fawlty Towers, Yes Prime Minister, Partridge, Day Today etc)...

I can watch Partridge, OFAH, Porridge, Fawlty Towers, Men Behaving Badly, Bottom and The Young Ones over and over again .. whereas Little Britain is the only show on this vote list is the only one i'd make a point of turning over to watch

Modern comedy is no longer funny IMO, or maybe i'm just getting old and cynical :unsure: :'(
 
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