Was comedy better years ago?

Obviously comedy can be very subjective, but I do believe "mainstream" TV comedy is very sanitised today, especially politically. Comedy in ye olde years seemed to have a lot more leeway to be controversial and poke fun at many areas of life and politics.

There is good comedy out there still, local clubs, internet etc. Just the big "TV" comedy is pretty bland and unfortunately has to be that way in order to cause the least friction. Rightly or wrongly.
 
Good thread !

Some shows in here I'd not thought to look at, I'll definitely be checking some out with Always Sunny in Philadelphia first on the list.

My girls love Brooklyn 99 which hasn't been mentioned so far.
 
I'm struggling to think if TV comedies in recent years that I find as funny as the stuff from the 80s and 90s.

The most recent ones I can think of are The Thick of It, The IT Crowd and Peep Show, and they aren't exactly recent.

Most of the good comedy I've watched recently has been American stuff such as Brooklyn Nine Nine, Modern Family and Grace & Frankie. They are almost too different to be comparable though. Plus the British stuff is so much more relatable.

Stand up is in a good place though. Dave Chapelle, Bill Burr etc.
 
Comedy is dead on UK TV stations. It's all just ultra P.C, try not to offend anyone rubbish now.

Same with movies, there are hardly any comedy movies being made. The ones that do get made are mostly terrible.

Southpark has the right idea. When people complain they just don't care.
 
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100% it was better back in the day.

Only Fools, Blackadder, Bottom, Young Ones, Red Dwarf, Fawlty Towers all classics.
 
Reuben klang said:
yep, you can’t say jack now without someone getting offended.
It’s quite sad that society has moved so quickly but at the same time it’s good for say LGBT rights etc
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People have always been offended, a very small minority that is.. the problem nowadays is that the corporations and government pander to them because it helps them to push their censorship/micromanage everyone and everything to insane proportions agenda.

It's not just comedy that has suffered, almost everything has been poisoned by politics and virtue signalling, you can't even watch a football match without it being rammed in your face at every opportunity.
 
Modern life, where we're busy trying to make sure no precious <stuff that snowballs are made of> is melted -- perhaps with perfectly good intentions -- leads to bland everything. Pearls need grit... which is a shame if you happen to be the grit. But learning to laugh at ourselves is part of the British bedrock.

A relevant podcast discussion here...
https://whatmostpeoplethink.libsyn.com/ep-100-al-murray
 
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DanTheMan said:
I'm struggling to think if TV comedies in recent years that I find as funny as the stuff from the 80s and 90s.

The most recent ones I can think of are The Thick of It, The IT Crowd and Peep Show, and they aren't exactly recent.

Most of the good comedy I've watched recently has been American stuff such as Brooklyn Nine Nine, Modern Family and Grace & Frankie. They are almost too different to be comparable though. Plus the British stuff is so much more relatable.

Stand up is in a good place though. Dave Chapelle, Bill Burr etc.
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Enjoyed the IT crowd, but as you say it's a fair few years old now.
 
I don't think so really, there's still tons of good old fashioned comedy if you know where to look. I think the main problem is that the broadcasters get dragged over the coals every time they say a naughty word so they stick to the PC safe stuff. If you want some proper old school zero-hoots-given comedy, check out Jim Jefferies for example. I'm pretty sure he's offended every single walk of life on the planet at some point and people still flock to his shows, so there's definitely an appetite for it.

Sidenote: If you haven't watched Derry Girls, you're not living life correctly and need to rectify this situation immediately.
 
DanTheMan said:
I'm struggling to think if TV comedies in recent years that I find as funny as the stuff from the 80s and 90s.

The most recent ones I can think of are The Thick of It, The IT Crowd and Peep Show, and they aren't exactly recent.

Most of the good comedy I've watched recently has been American stuff such as Brooklyn Nine Nine, Modern Family and Grace & Frankie. They are almost too different to be comparable though. Plus the British stuff is so much more relatable.

Stand up is in a good place though. Dave Chapelle, Bill Burr etc.
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Derry Girls. Do it, trust me.
 
Few American sitcoms are pretty good
brooklyn 99
Superstore
Rick and Morty
South park still legendary( obviously you can't say anything now....oh wait that's a load of balls white ragers)
 
South park, Rick and Morty and Brooklyn 99.

Norsemen now that show is just amazingly funny and one of my all time favourites, the bad guy is pure genius.
 
Diddums said:
I don't think so really, there's still tons of good old fashioned comedy if you know where to look. I think the main problem is that the broadcasters get dragged over the coals every time they say a naughty word so they stick to the PC safe stuff. If you want some proper old school zero-hoots-given comedy, check out Jim Jefferies for example. I'm pretty sure he's offended every single walk of life on the planet at some point and people still flock to his shows, so there's definitely an appetite for it.

Sidenote: If you haven't watched Derry Girls, you're not living life correctly and need to rectify this situation immediately.
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You are bang on the money with Jim Jeffries, he absolutely cracks me up, his observations are spot on, and I’ll agree with your judgement of “Derry Girls” as well, with the rider that as much as I think there’s nothing wrong with the Northern Ireland accent, when the girls get carried away I have to put subtitles on, which doesn’t take away any appreciation of the show.
 
Jean-F said:
You are bang on the money with Jim Jeffries, he absolutely cracks me up, his observations are spot on, and I’ll agree with your judgement of “Derry Girls” as well, with the rider that as much as I think there’s nothing wrong with the Northern Ireland accent, when the girls get carried away I have to put subtitles on, which doesn’t take away any appreciation of the show.
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It took me an hour to cook a couple of steaks and make some salad the other night because I had Derry Girls on in the background and I couldn't stop laughing. It's definitely one of my favourite shows at the moment!
 
You'd have to define "better" better.

Is comedy timeless?

Take a poll of 1000 twenty year olds and ask them to respond to comedy of the past.

It's more the personality delivering the comedy than the actuall script. I find Milton Jones funny but his actually lines are very basic puns.

So it's that knowadays people / comedians don't have a good personality or qualities and that's shaped by the world we live in and by the values we live by.

So comedy knowadays suits the current climate which is superficial and serious. 30 years ago it was more from the heart, sarcastic, sexist, self depreciating, offence. Again that's all relative to the current ruleset as to what's acceptable and what's not.

People will laugh at offence jokes when they're delivered in a subtle environment as it allows them to delve into their "naughty side", the dark side, without fear of reprocussion.
 
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