Comedies

Oh God, now I'm going to be up all night with this!

The League Of Gentlemen - So many great characters who've left such an impression that when mom said she'd brought a pack of new pegs, because she's tried to hang a large load of washing and had run out, my only response was "wanna buy some pegs, Dave? I've got some pegs belooonging to you." (and the subsequent...)
Psychoville
Inside No.9 - love the differing stories each episode. If one doesn't tickle your fancy it'll be something different next time.
The Comic Strip Presents... - Again lots of different stories. Bad News, More Bad Need, Roll Out The Gun Barrel, Detectives In The Edge Of A Nervous Breakdown (brilliant), Spaghetti Hoops, Strike (Peter Richardson playing Al Pacino playing Arthur Cargill!)
Filthy Rich & Cat flap - Only 6 episodes, but I love it.
The New Statesman - Rik Mayall was so good in the role. The episode Three Line Whip is my fave.
Red Dwarf - (series 1-6 especially and even more so 1-2, when they had no budget so had to rely on a really good script)
Blackadder Goes Forth - (2 & 3 aswell but 4 is my fave)

I recently watched
Operation Good Guys (docu-comedy before The Office was a glint in Gervais' eye!)
House Of Fools - Sadly gone after 2 series.
Toast Of London - Matt Berry is great in this.

American:
Wings - Totally love. I don't think it's been shown here, but I think its a great find. (I watched after seeing Steven Weber in Studio 60, which I watched because I liked The West Wing which was written by the same guy, Aaron Sorkin...who also wrote...
Sports Night - Another good one. Stars Josh Charles (The Good Wife), Peter Krause (Six Feet Under), Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives), Joshua Malina (Scandal). It's set on a cable sports programme. It's comedy but with drama.
Perfect Strangers - "Don't be so ridiculous" I loved watching this after school as a kid on BBC. I watched them all a few years ago online, not sure I'd like it still as tastes change, but although it can be very silly it's very sweet and there were bits that still made me laugh out loud. (The bibi babka ditty stood the test of time.)
Murphy Brown - Set in a news magazine show called FYI it follows Murphy, Miles, Frank, Corky and Jim around their show. I have the first season on DVD but they never released more. I assume due to issues with music rights. Every episode has a couple of Motown songs so maybe it cost too much or they couldn't the rights. It ran for 10 seasons and won multiple awards so I'm not sure why they wouldn't put them on DVD. Very annoying.

The relationship between the two characters and the acting between the Albert and Harold was hilariously funny and heartbreakingly tragic at times. Especially in some of the early episodes.
I saw the episode where they split the house in half a few days ago on Yesterday. They've installed a turn stile and have to pay a penny to get into certain parts of the house. A fire breaks out and they end up in hospital. I've been the edited version of this so many times that I did start to think I'd imagined a scene where the firemen enter the house and then start trying to find a penny for the turn stile to get in. They always cut this. It usually shows the tea towel, the ambulan e through traffic and then in hospital but cut the firemen in the house. I saw an unedited version awhile ago and really jumped off the sofa "I didn't imagine it!!".


Early Doors is very good too. Under rated and rarely repeated.

Cradle To Grave is very good as well. I'm looking forward to the 2nd series. I saw Danny Bakers stage show in March and met him afterwards and he was so down to earth and lovely. He didn't just sign the programme and on to the next, which I'd have been happy with, but spoke with everyone at length, he seemed genuinely interested in what people wanted to talk about. I asked him about the 3 part of his autobiography but said he was still writing it and was in trouble because he should be finished it by now!

Rising Damp is another good one. We regularly have this on. Amazing there's only about 24 episodes, it seems like more.

Nightingales It was a show on Channel 4 with Robert Lindsey, David Thenfal (sp?) and James Ellis who finished the episode like Dixon Of Dock Green...or was it Z Cars!, playing night security guards. Some strange things happened by my favourite is when the psychiatrist comes and hypnotists them. Also Jake Wood (Max Branning) is in an episode.

Talking of Channel 4, Drop The Dead Donkey. I brought series 1 awhile ago and enjoyed it so got series 2 and ended up with all 7. I think the dearest was about £3 and the cheapest was 83p (minus postage) off Amazon. It still holds up, although being filmed the day before airing meant it was up to date with current affairs, and those affairs aren't so current, but they do have a voiceover telling you when it originally aired and what was happening in the news...and I got the whole Neil Pearson thing. He's handsome in that show!

Also, Trevors World Of Sport. BBC ruined this before it go going by scheduling it all over the place.

Saw an episode of Dads Army last night,the writing is so simple and sublime. And still funny.

Must have seen every episode of The Big Bang Theory countless times,and still makes me laugh.

And came to Friends really late when it had finished and was on a loop on Channel 4,so must have seen that at least 3 times.

So in my world, comedies work if you can watch them again, know what is coming,and still find it funny.