Author: jcanavan

Hey guys, it’s Jillian here! As per the request of Jeremy, I wanted to give my two cents on the three shows we watched last class. As I remember, Hancock was pretty funny, albeit slightly obnoxious because of his continual commentary. However, this seems a break from past satire, where the commentary was much more subtle. Maybe this was the whole purpose of Hancock, to be obviously satirical to get to a point? Porridge and Fawlty Towers were both more subtle, which is why I think I liked them better! In all three, the topic of class and the importance of social status was a major facet of the commentary, which is really interesting because it seemed much more of a bigger deal to the British than Americans. Even though we obviously also distinguish class and the importance of status in the US, I found it particularly interesting that even the specific accents were so important to British status.

Not the Nine O’Clock News

I am going to do my research project on the show, “Not the Nine O’Clock News” (1979-1981), because of its similarity to American shows  “The Colbert Report,” “The Conan O’Brien Show” and “The Daily Show” for relaying world news and events through comedy and satire. I also think it would be very interesting to compare the execution (how/what was actually said) of the satirical political and social commentary for the two different countries.

From an article on the BBC website explaining Not the Nine O’Clock News:

“Not The Nine O’Clock News was the first major programme showcasing the talent of the so-called ‘alternative’ comedy performers. Unlike the Bernard Mannings of the world, the performers didn’t rely on boob gags and mother in law jokes to get them through the day. They dealt in observational comedy and were about to put their observations not just of life, but of the events of the world and the country to work, in the first major topical comedy programme since the 1960s”

The whole article can be found at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/notthenineoclock/

Cast:

Rowan Atkinson
performer
Griff Rhys Jones
performer
Chris Langham
performer
Mel Smith
performer
Pamela Stephenson
performer