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VEEP: The Best Comedy Since Seinfeld?


Jace, Extat

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Best comedy since 1998? That's a tall order and nope for Veep. It's a very good, but the biggest problem I have with it is that a comedy about a bunch of semi-incompetent lunatics on the loose in the White House (or VP's office) feels a bit too close to home now. Reality has made the show kind of redundant. Beyond that I think Veep really has its teeth pulled. You can see that Armando Iannucci is really operating with the safety catch on, as Veep never reaches the sheer viciousness of The Thick of It (which it is pretty much the US version of) and doesn't remotely have a character on the same level of charismatic insanity of Malcolm Tucker.

Community I think was sublime brilliance for 3 seasons and then the "gas leak year" happened and the show never recovered, even after Harmon's return. You could make a strong argument for Community Season 2 or 3 as the greatest season of TV comedy since 1998, but the show overall is a bit too patchy over the long haul.

The UK version of The Office is some kind of encapsulated bubble of brilliance. Very short, self-contained and devastatingly funny and occasionally poignant, with the perfect ending. It makes you forget how annoying Gervais can be now. The recent attempts to resurrect the character are a little sad, though. Extras is also decent but gets swept up by the major star cameos, but it does recover for another very solid ending. The Patrick Stewart scene may be the funniest scene of comedy in the last twenty years (to the point that they had a ridiculous amount of trouble filming it), whilst getting David Bowie to do a cameo was just amazing.

The first season of The League of Gentlemen is one of the funniest seasons of anything I've ever seen but the show fell off a cliff almost immediately. Season 2 was very patchy, Season 3 was terrible veering on the unwatchable and the recent Season 4 was unnecessary and self-indulgent. It's a huge shame as the first season got that mixture of the macabre and the hilarious just right.

Black Books is unvarnished gold, excellent from start to finish and some incredibly outstanding speeches on the pointlessness of life and the urgent importance of being drunk and Irish by Dylan Moran. Also, it has a lot of Bill Bailey it in it. The next show from the same writers, The IT Crowd, is much patchier but its best episodes (the gay musical episode, the "fire at Sea Parks" episode and the Chris Morris funeral episode) are fantastic.

Michael Schur's comedies are very strong. The Office (USA) emerged from the shadow of the UK version and was pretty decent (and introduced us to the underused comic potential of Idris Elba), although probably went a season or two too long, to the point where it entered that annoying "Schroedinger's Lead" problem when your lead actor whom you've made a massive star is no longer under contract but also doesn't want to just leave, so kind of floats in and out of the series.

I'm only at the end of Season 2 of Parks and Recreation but after a rough start it has become utterly brilliant. Ron Swanson may be the best sitcom character of the last 20 years, and is a very fleshed-out character who works beyond the tics that make him funny. This seems to be a Schur thing, as it's shared by Brooklyn Nine-Nine (which is very reliably funny but you wouldn't put it in the same league) and also (from the little I've seen of it) The Good Place.

In animation Rick and Morty is very good but there were signs in Season 3 that they might already be running thin on material. Archer is utterly brilliant, particularly its golden period of Seasons 2-4. It's still been good since then, but it's relying more on gimmicks and high concepts rather than the characters in the last couple of seasons, which is not a good sign.

Of the recent shows, The Tick is incredibly promising. It doesn't seem quite sure what tone it's going for for the first two episodes and then it hits on the idea of being an actual live-action cartoon and then it becomes utterly hysterical. Overkill (the Punisher x10) is a phenomenal creation, Alan Tudyk playing a sentient boat works way better than it should and Peter "Voice of Darth Maul" Serafinowicz as The Tick is a genius casting choice (if you're going to pick someone to replace Patrick Warburton, it can really only be him). If it sustains this quality, the first season will end up being something very special.

My personal pick, though, is Spaced. Fourteen episodes, still-stunningly directed by Edgar Wright on very little money (you can see the roots of Baby Driver in his editing and cutting style on Spaced), with Simon Pegg on top form in it with tremendous performances by Jessica Stevenson, Nick Frost, Peter Serafinowicz (him again) and Mark Heap, who really should have had a much stronger career than he has. It has some of the best concept episodes ever, probably peaking with the one that combines Robot WarsOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Fight Club in the same episode, but also just really great characters, tremendously funny lines, excellent sight gags and the first really successful use of meta-humour about geek culture. Also, best use of a tank ever.

Also, not a comedy but we should consider the "CSI: Fuckity Fuck Fuck" and "Desk Moving" scenes in the first season of The Wire, which both almost killed me.

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I watched the first two or three episodes of Veep and found it wasn't on the level of its sort-of parent show The Thick of It. I'm told it gets better, and I'll watch it eventually, but I have a hard time believing it's gonna top the best of Thick of It (which also improved wildly as it went along), especially since only one of those two shows has Malcolm Tucker in it.

There's one recurring character (a senator) who I think they leaned towards being Malcolm Tuckerish (deeply cynical, swears like a trooper, deeply obnoxious but you absolutely want him on your side in a tussle) but then they seemed to pull back on it. Among the regular cast, no, there's no-one quite in the same league. 

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20 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Also, not a comedy but we should consider the "CSI: Fuckity Fuck Fuck" and "Desk Moving" scenes in the first season of The Wire, which both almost killed me.

The Wire was always low-key hilarious in places.


The most consistently funny not-actual-comedy in the timeframe has to be The West Wing though.

Or Firefly, I guess, what with having Jaynestown in.



As for more recent shows, I have heard consistently great things about The Good Place but have yet to take the plunge. Anyone got an opinion?

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3 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

The Wire was always low-key hilarious in places.

I love the intro to season five (I think) where they give the guy the lie detector test using the copy machine and it prints out the paper that says "FALSE."  :lol:

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@Werthead the first season of Parks and Rec was pretty much a write off. I think even the cast and writers acknowledge that it was not good. Hence why Leslie is almost a completely different character in S2 and beyond, same with Mark. Not sure what my favourite season is but 2 is very good (and also the longest). I do think the addition of Ben and Chris was a great move though.p, and the show was better for having them.

Ron Swanson is certainly a great character. But he really truly shines when paired with Tammy 2 (who is his wife in real life too). I love every scene those two share.

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2 hours ago, polishgenius said:

The Wire was always low-key hilarious in places.


The most consistently funny not-actual-comedy in the timeframe has to be The West Wing though.

Or Firefly, I guess, what with having Jaynestown in.



As for more recent shows, I have heard consistently great things about The Good Place but have yet to take the plunge. Anyone got an opinion?

I’ve never watched West Wing, but my vote would be The Sopranos. How funny it was is definitely part of the reason it’s the show I’ve rewatched more than any other. 

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4 hours ago, Werthead said:

The UK version of The Office is some kind of encapsulated bubble of brilliance. Very short, self-contained and devastatingly funny and occasionally poignant, with the perfect ending. It makes you forget how annoying Gervais can be now. The recent attempts to resurrect the character are a little sad, though.

I disagree.  Not a huge fan of US Office, but UK Office is a perfect reminder - and primer - at how grating Gervais is and always will be.  And this is coming from a fan of his.  It's a bid sitcom, just no.

4 hours ago, Werthead said:

This seems to be a Schur thing, as it's shared by Brooklyn Nine-Nine (which is very reliably funny but you wouldn't put it in the same league)

Agreed on Brooklyn Nine-Nine.  I thought it'd just be Samberg showing off, but I can't deny it's damn good.  Only problem is it seems to follow the Friends formula, like Office US, which is always a bad idea long term.

4 hours ago, Werthead said:

Archer is utterly brilliant, particularly its golden period of Seasons 2-4. It's still been good since then, but it's relying more on gimmicks and high concepts rather than the characters in the last couple of seasons, which is not a good sign.

I'm not sure on the season numbers, but Archer hasn't been good in awhile.  That's unfortunate, it was brilliant for the first 2-3 seasons.  Such is life for many comedies, animated or otherwise.  While it never reached it's heights, The League was pretty damn funny for a couple seasons too.  Then it sucked so hard.

4 hours ago, polishgenius said:

The Wire was always low-key hilarious in places.

The most consistently funny not-actual-comedy in the timeframe has to be The West Wing though.

Or Firefly, I guess, what with having Jaynestown in.

I love the Wire, but qualifying it as a comedy in any way seems almost...offensive?  West Wing could be funny, but closer to the way other high end dramas are/were funny.  I've never seen Firefly and at this point I never will because of how much it aggravates my brother.

1 hour ago, Nictarion said:

my vote would be The Sopranos.

Sopranos is the one show that I think I'd laugh at more than any other comedy.  That's why I think it's so comfortable as the greatest show ever.  Lots of people cite Pine Barrens as their favorite episode ever.  It's fucking hilarious.

4 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

the first season of Parks and Rec was pretty much a write off. I think even the cast and writers acknowledge that it was not good. Hence why Leslie is almost a completely different character in S2 and beyond, same with Mark.

Yes, this is well documented.  Season 1 of Parks & Rec sucked and was reworked.  Same thing with US Office and Carell's S1 Michael Scott.

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35 minutes ago, polishgenius said:


No-one said The Wire is a comedy. We said it was funny.

When?  

Seriously, not trying to be a dick here.  Didn't find any of it funny, except season 5, which was just bad.

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10 minutes ago, Nictarion said:

You didn’t find Omar testifying against Bird funny?

 

17 minutes ago, Ramsay B. said:

Sheeeeeeit

Fair enough.  Haven't rewatched Wire in a long time because a lot of it is depressing.  Perhaps more importantly, it's (d)evolved into an annoying stereotype.  But, from what I remember, I stand by my general assessment - and criticism of the last season.

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14 hours ago, polishgenius said:

As for more recent shows, I have heard consistently great things about The Good Place but have yet to take the plunge. Anyone got an opinion?

The Good Place is excellent. Tone-wise it fits into a similar spot as Parks and Rec, in that it's wholesome without being lame. It's consistently funny and has a lot more going on from a plot perspective than most network dramas, let alone sitcoms. I can't recommend it enough.

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