1. Top Gear
The best show on the planet…ever! No argument, no ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’, the most entertaining thing ever! It’s even better when you think back to how boring the old Top Gear was. The three ages of man – young (Hammond), old (May) and very old (Clarkson) participate in incredibly entertaining and informative challenges involving cars, fulfilling their catchphrase “Ambitious, but rubbish!”…
2. Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Ever since Simon Amstell took over from Mark Lemarr, this show has only got funnier and funnier. It still remains one of the only programs that can make me laugh till I cry. With 2 teams of 3 people, this quizcom is based on popular music and features rounds such as “The Intro Round” where 1 of the team has to guess the intro to a song sung by the other 2. All the rounds, however tent to result in a hilariously comedic anecdote.
3. QI
The source of 90% of my useless and interesting ‘man knowledge’ is the infamous QI hosted by that national treasure and most literate of comedic men, Stephen Fry. A quizcom that focuses on facts and rewards points for quite interesting (QI) answers and penalising wrong or obvious answers.
4. Futurama
Described as ‘The Simpsons for geeks’, Futurama pushes all the right ‘geek buttons’ with hidden references to math, space and time that only anorak would find entertaining. I love the 4 movies that make up the final series. It’s a real shame that they’ve now ended it! Set in the year 3000, a 23 year old delivery boy, frozen in time from the year 2000 learns to live in the confusing world of the 31st century.
5. Two Pints of Larger and a Packet of Crisps
I somehow managed to see the out takes on BBC Three before I saw the series and I loved every minute of it. I can really relate to Johnny, the jobless layabout with homosexual tendencies. The sitcom follows 5 20-somethings from Runcorn as they date, get married and have babies. Obviously, hilarity ensues throughout.
6. Family Guy
At first, I was convinced that this was a crappy, unfunny American cartoon, but I’ve slowly grown to like it. It’s not the funniest thing on TV but I like the no-punches-held attitude towards sex, drugs, violence and racism. The show stars an ‘average’ American family headed by Peter Griffin, an overweight, drunken, retarded from Quahog, Rhode Island as they try to live like a normal family.
7. Scrubs
The only reason that I started to watch this was because of Sarah Chalke, who plays Elliot. She is one of the only reason that I don’t really hate ALL Americans. It’s a good laugh and I love the random thoughts of JD. Scrubs is about a young intern (and later doctor), John Dorian who works in Sacred Heart hospital with his surgeon friend Turk, Turks love interest Carla and his on-again-off-again girlfriend Elliot.
8. Friends
The classic sitcom that ran for over 10 years. The original and best. Nothing can top it. The girls are unbelievably hot, the guys are funny and the plot is easy to follow. It’s perfect! It’s all about 6 friends who live, love and grow up in New York City. Friends is one of the rarest sitcoms in that the actors are more commonly known by their character names than their real names. It will remain a classic for years to come.
9. Red Dwarf
The best comedy of the late 80s and early 90s, this still holds the record for the most watched show on BBC2. At least 4 further episodes have been planned for release on Dave in April 2009. The series follows the adventures and explorations in space and time of David Lister, a Liverpudlian technician frozen aboard the mining ship Red Dwarf for 3 million years only to awake to find a robot, a hologram of his dead crew-mate and a creature that evolved from the ships cat.
10. Blackadder
Edmund Blackadder, portrayed by Rowan Atkinson, is a clever and devious character who appears throughout time in different roles. Along with his sidekick Baldrick, played by Tony Robinson, Blackadder attempts to work his way up the ranks of power. The first series was aired in the late 80s and was based in Medieval times, the second was set in Edwardian times, the third in Elizabethan and the last series in the First World War.
11. Have I Got News for You
The original quizcom, HIGNFY is based around media sensations. Politics, religion, sport, entertainment and current afairs are all covered in a number of rounds such as “The Odd One Out” round and the fantastically funny “Missing Words” round: “Blair proves that _____ is bad for you…” – so many amusing and original answers are possible!
12. Whose Line is it Anyway
A improvisational comedy program originally aired in the home of comedy, Britain in the mid 80s, WLIIA inspired many copies all over the world, the most popular being the American version. It also inspired some of the rounds on Mock the Week. Guest comedy performers are given situations or props to act with for which they have to make the funniest sketch possible. Ryan Styles and Colin Mochrie are comedy geniuses when put together! (The American version is not half as good, chiefly due to Drew Carey!)
13. The IT Crowd
A relatively new series on Channel 4 about a pair of IT professionals (Moss and Roy) who work in the basement of a large company, Reynholm Industries, run by a slightly unorthodox boss with their relationship manager, Jen. The series follows Moss and Roy as Jen tries to introduce them into the world outside of their basement. I love the sheer amount of geeky references and slapstick humour.
14. Mock the Week
One of the funniest quizcoms on TV at the moment. Like HIGNFY, Mock the Week focuses on current affairs, entertainment, politics and sport. The show is hosted by Dara O’Briain, with 4 regular comedy performers as panellists, Frankie Boyle, Andy Parsons, Hugh Dennis and Russell Howard alongside 2 guests. Frankie, Andy and Dara are the three funniest and every show they manage to come up with fresh and funny material.
15. Fawlty Towers
This is the funniest comedy ever. Nothing will ever be able to top it. No imitation will do. Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) is the owner of a small independent hotel in Torquay. With his “dragon of a wife” Cybil, the maid Polly and an incompetent Spanish waiter with very little knowledge of the English language, Manuel, Basil plays host to some of the strangest and most irritating guests ever with hilarious consequences.
16. Fonejacker
This guy is an absolute genius! To be able to think as quickly on his feet is no less than a miracle. It must have one of the lowest budgets of any TV programme as all it consists of is a single Iranian comedian phoning random people and starting an often surreal conversation as one of his many personas, including a South African banker, a gangster and a foreign telemarketing salesman.
17. My Family
I love this show purely because it echos my own family so closely. My brother Tim is Michael, the intelligent but often-forgotten youngest child. My sister is Janey, the boy, shopping and fashion-obsessed middle child and I (rather accurately) am Nick, the first-born, slightly mental child who provides the comedic hub of the family. The show follows a ‘normal’ English family called the Harpers in their everyday life. Later episodes without Nick aren’t quite as funny, but are still a good laugh.
18. Father Ted
Father Ted is a story based on 3 priests who are banished to a remote island just off the coast of Ireland. Father Ted Crilly is a middle-aged and ambitious priest who is constantly formulating plans to get off Craggy Island. Father Doogle McGuire is a young and stupid priest with little understanding of everything and Father Jack Hackett is an old perverted, alcoholic and misogynistic priest whose catchphrases include “Drink”, “Feck” and “Arse”.
19. Black Books
This show follows 3 people. Bernard Black (brilliantly portrayed by Dylan Moran), an aggressive, alcoholic, and cynical smoker who runs a small bookshop in London. His friend Fran is a similarly-minded 30-something woman who also enjoys the guilty pleasures in life. The bookshop is chiefly maintained by Bill Baileys character Manny, a slightly-mad mild-mannered and intelligent ex-accountant.
20. Sex and the City
Call me a woman, why not? Everyone else does when I tell them I like this show, but women talking about women things and scenes of sex is my primary source of knowledge for helping me to understand how that crazy species of ‘women’ think. Sex and the City follows 4 women living, loving and working in New York as a writer, a lawyer, a PR manager and a consultant for an art gallery.
