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*** Official TV Thread ***

Been enjoying the poignant and funny HBO series, Hacks.

Jean Smart (Designing Women) won an Emmy for her remarkable performances in Season 1. She plays a famous but fading comedian who is a local legend in her hometown of Las Vegas. Looking for an assistant and writer, she winds up with a struggling LA comedy writer who doesn't remotely want to take this job. That character is played by Hannah Einbinder, daughter of Larraine Newman, cast member of the original Saturday Night Live on NBC, and an absolute star. Really fun ride as their relationship - and personal lives - swoop and swirl all over the place.

Seriously good writing, plot and character development. I reluctantly sat down to watch this with my wife as she had read good reviews on it. Anything but a 'chick flick' sort of series. Just watched the opening episode of season two and roared with laughter. But start at the beginning.
 
Ricky Gervais: Supernature now on Netflix. I saw it at the palladium in September 2021 and loved it! I knew it would cause a storm amongst the usual suspects I.e. squares who can’t take a joke and think it’s their job to ban things and decide what everyone else watches.
 
Jurgen the German said:
Ricky Gervais: Supernature now on Netflix. I saw it at the palladium in September 2021 and loved it! I knew it would cause a storm amongst the usual suspects I.e. squares who can’t take a joke and think it’s their job to ban things and decide what everyone else watches.
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There's a good article in the Telegraph about how the same neo-puritan comedians who are upset at him doing a thing they call "punching down" are the ones who spend their time ridiculing the mentally subnormal Donald Trump and people like him.
 
scaramanga said:
There's a good article in the Telegraph about how the same neo-puritan comedians who are upset at him doing a thing they call "punching down" are the ones who spend their time ridiculing the mentally subnormal Donald Trump and people like him.
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It’s the idea of “punching down” which fascinates me. I get the concept don’t mock the handicapped, minorities etc. I guess I struggle with the concept that you shouldn’t poke fun at trans people, woke people, feminists etc as they can’t defend themselves. They can defend themselves. We live in a free society, they are more than welcome to devise their own comedy routine and poke fun at Ricky Gervais and I’m sure he’d laugh at himself. It’s the idea that certain groups of people can’t take a joke as it would damage them immensely, the same people who say “words are violence”.
 
Jurgen the German said:
It’s the idea of “punching down” which fascinates me. I get the concept don’t mock the handicapped, minorities etc. I guess I struggle with the concept that you shouldn’t poke fun at trans people, woke people, feminists etc as they can’t defend themselves. They can defend themselves. We live in a free society, they are more than welcome to devise their own comedy routine and poke fun at Ricky Gervais and I’m sure he’d laugh at himself. It’s the idea that certain groups of people can’t take a joke as it would damage them immensely, the same people who say “words are violence”.
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Being trans or feminist isn't a disability, so unless you think that they are somehow inferior how can it be punching down.
They are insinuating that those people are lesser, bizarre.
 
Anyone watching Better Call Saul?

Always been a slow burner, but can be very intense — the end of the latest episode was absolutely crazy. Just as good as BB for me!
 
elyid said:
Anyone watching Better Call Saul?

Always been a slow burner, but can be very intense — the end of the latest episode was absolutely crazy. Just as good as BB for me!
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I may be in the minority here but i could never really get into BB, feel the same way about BCS.
 
billyiddo said:
The problem with Ricky Gervais isn't that his comedy is offensive, it's that he's not funny
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Each to their own, I like most of his stuff. The Office I thought was great but others didn't like it. Same with Extras.
A lot of people laugh at John Bishop who I don't find funny at all.
 
Diamond Lights said:
Love, Death and Robots is one of the greatest TV shows available on any platform. For those who love Sci-Fi, futurism or cyberpunk, animated anthology series, it's truly groundbreaking stuff.
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Just finished the last episode in series 3 now. Loved the first 2 series and the 3rd one is equally as good. Absolutely brilliant. Animated black mirror is what to expect (sort of)
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I've searched for it (but don't really understand the search parameters / how to use it) and can't find a specific comedy thread so here seems like the best place to post about it.

Norm Macdonald's last special filmed during the lock down before he passed away was released on Netflix today with a resulting panel of colleagues / accomplices talking over what they'd seen and it's a fascinating watch. Not necessarily the best intro watch if you're new to Norm, like I regrettably was essentially jumping on to the bandwagon following his passing but from what I've seen, an incredible comic who wasn't fussed about instant recognition or cheap laughs. I imagine it wouldn't make sense to some but you've got to admire a comic who'd intentionally bomb and revel in the sheer awkwardness, I fudging love that attitude.

Other notable mentions immediately available if you're willing to part with 8 quid a month to the grand lizard overlords at Netflix -

David Cross, Make America Great Again - Particularly on gun control which unsurprisingly is relevant again due to recent events hits so very hard and he's ruthless without being overtly aggressive on that show, it's a wonderful display of playing with supposed boundaries that I feel translates across the Atlantic quite easily.

Bo Burnham's catalogue is astounding, don't know if anyone on here vibed / resonated with "Inside" but that was mind-blowing - If you're unfamiliar with his work it's not exactly an easy listening introduction to his work, What! / Make Happy may be better introductions but the musicality and planning that goes in to his work really pay off.

Tom Segura was a new-ish name for me a couple of months back as well but going by all the Netflix specials on there, I could listen to the guy's stories forever.

Appreciate nobody has explicitly asked me to review all stand up material available on a streaming platform but if people are looking for something to keep themselves entertained whilst having to think a little bit than the above names won't hurt you. Having Hicks / Priors sets on there aren't going to hurt either.

Edit - I glanced at the post to check for blatant typos / grammar issues and realized that not mentioning Bill Burr seems beyond remiss..The guy is a living legend - There's so much more to get in to but his set in Philadelphia, winning over a restless / abusive crowd by just utterly "destroying" them is a feat of art in the stand up world, gotta admire the gall.
 
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