The demise of sketch shows.

HAL9000

axisus said:

Have I missed any good uns?

Yes. The Sketch Show - Tim Vine, Lee Mack, etc...

https://youtu.be/koNwUeG-iKE

axisus

tanihhiavlt said:

Is everythings a drum a Sketch Show? 

That skit (everything's a drum) was brilliant. I watched two whole episodes and that was the only bit I liked. Gave up ...

Sassafras

Not telly but I still think Beyond Our Ken and Round the Horne were hard to beat as fast paced sketch shows.
They've stood the test of time pretty well.

tanihhiavlt

axisus said:

tanihhiavlt said:

Is everythings a drum a Sketch Show? 

That skit (everything's a drum) was brilliant. I watched two whole episodes and that was the only bit I liked. Gave up ...

Fair enough, I'm guessing "I think you should leave" would be a similar hit/miss ratio.

FelineGuitars

Not the Nine O Clock News  was excellent in it's time, and still holds a high water mark

fob

I think one of the letdowns of a lot of sketch shows is the sheer repetitiveness of them. I really enjoyed Armstrong and Miller's street talking WW2 pilots but it was the same exact thing every week - maybe a dozen characters in total given a slightly different piece of dialogue each week to fill out a series. That's where the likes of Python did well - hardly super original with every sketch but not just the same thing ad infinitum.

lustycourtier said:

earwighoney said:

Limmy's Show is recent and it's one of the best TV shows for a long time.

Key and Peele is recentish and it's outstanding as well.

First series of Limmys show was incredible. 

I checked out Limmy's Show as it seems to be available on Youtube in its entirety. Good job we're all different I suppose - that's about as bad as it gets for me. Key and Peele hit the mark much more often though:

I can't really think of any contemporary ones other than SNL in the States, which is awful, or possibly Horrible Histories (does that count?)

Philly_Q

fob said:

I checked out Limmy's Show as it seems to be available on Youtube in its entirety. Good job we're all different I suppose - that's about as bad as it gets for me. 

I watched a couple of episodes as well - I think it's on iPlayer, or was - and I'm with you, I didn't like it.

tanihhiavlt

Andy: wanna sketch show
Lou: are you sure, you've always said as an art form it was past its hey day
Andy: Yeah ah know, I wanna sketch show
Lou: but you know how disappointed you get when it doesn't compare to your idealised reminiscences of the 1970s
Andy: Yeah ah know, I want a sketch show
Lou: okay how about this one?
Andy: I don't like it.

Tune into the forum in a few days for the next episode or a repeat, it's on BBC we doubt you can tell the difference. 

axisus

fob said:

I think one of the letdowns of a lot of sketch shows is the sheer repetitiveness of them. 

I don't agree with that personally, I think there's a lot of fun in repeating characters, I think that Mitchell & Webb did that really well. 

Dominic

I think there is a resistance to do it because it's a minefield ; some Wokeweasel somewhere will find a way to draw a tenuous link to some kind of issue ,rally the mindless of Twitter to hitchhike on the silly bandwagon and cause the artist more grief than it's worth.
Damn them.

LastMantra

Philly_Q said:

fob said:

I checked out Limmy's Show as it seems to be available on Youtube in its entirety. Good job we're all different I suppose - that's about as bad as it gets for me. 

I watched a couple of episodes as well - I think it's on iPlayer, or was - and I'm with you, I didn't like it.

I watched it for about 10 minutes once just because I couldn't believe how bad it was. 

Hootsmon

Not everybuudy's cup of tea but my favourite comedy show/guy is Spike Milligan

This is typical of Spike....

Dominic

^ He was an odd character........we used to live about 4 houses away from him .He shot at kids with an air rifle if they climbed on his fence.

Mellish

 I liked most that have been listed but there was one I couldn't stand: Mike & Bernie Winters  

axisus

Mellish said:

 I liked most that have been listed but there was one I couldn't stand: Mike & Bernie Winters  

American comedy is so different to ours (eg not funny!)

Dominic

Mike and Bernie were not American they were from N London ( Cockfosters )

Mellish

Dominic said:

Mike and Bernie were not American they were from N London ( Cockfosters )

Yes, they were around the same time as Morecambe and Wise give or take  

EricTheWeary

Schnorbitz was the real star! 

Philly_Q

Mellish said:

Dominic said:

Mike and Bernie were not American they were from N London ( Cockfosters )

Yes, they were around the same time as Morecambe and Wise give or take  

In Wales we had a comedy duo called Ryan and Ronnie.  They seemed very famous to me as a kid, but in fact - having just looked it up - their career was quite brief, from the late '60s to the early '70s. 

We often used to see Ryan Davies in our local newsagent and in my mind's eye he was quite old, but in fact he was only 40 when he died!

Mellish

@Philly_Q I have visions of you back then looking at Ryan Davies as if he was Methuselah age-wise