Friday Five: British Comedy on Netflix Instant Watch

Hi everybody, I'm Lindy, the main minion for Arch Editing, and sometimes I have thoughts about things. I will be posting on Fridays from time to time when Haley and Jasie don't feel like writing a blog post. Today 
we'll be looking at the wonderful world of British sit coms and sketch comedy.

That Mitchell and Webb Look

I was watching this show a few days ago with Jasie because she had not seen the third series yet. I laughed at every joke and I have seen the third series at least five times. You may know David Mitchell and Robert Webb from Peep Show, which is one of the funniest sitcoms made in the last ten years. Their sketch comedy isn’t always as funny as Peep Show, but there are some true gems. Any sketch in which David yells at someone (especially the posh waiter and vicar sketches) are gold, Sir Digby Chicken Ceasar is a hilarious recurring sketch that never gets old, and Numberwang is delightful and insane.

Blackadder

This show combines my favorite things: cruel humor, history jokes, and Hugh Laurie’s face. This almost feels like recommending Monty Python to someone. In my mind it should just go without saying that everybody has heard of it and loves it, but that often isn’t the case. It’s a show that has been around for a long time and has played on PBS and BBCA often, but its airtime can be pretty sporadic. God bless how easy Netflix makes it to marathon a series, because that’s the best way to watch this show. I highly recommend Series 3 and Series 4 because of the aforementioned face of Hugh Laurie. (Also, watch Jeeves and Wooster, it’s not on Netflix. Find it.)

Saxondale

I had never heard of Saxondale until I saw it on Netflix, and I think it’s kind of strange that the show is even on Instant Watch. It does not seem like it was very popular, and I don't remember it being on BBCA, but I'm happy it's on Netflix. Saxondale is about a former roadie who’s pretty oblivious about his place in the world but not as truly oblivious as Alan Partridge. This is actually a semi-irresponsible recommendation because I’ve only seen four episodes of the first series, but trust me, it’s worth it. If only for the episode in which he meets his hero: a cocky Jeremy Clarkson-like host of a car show.

The IT Crowd

I love how this show has gotten more and more popular, and I’m so happy I don’t have to illegally download any upcoming series because of IFC and Netflix. It was created by the Graham Linehan, who wrote Father Ted and Black Books, so he’s sort of amazing. This show is honestly a bit hit and miss, but the truly hilarious episodes and wonderful nerdy jokes totally make up for any mediocre episodes. Warning: when you start watching it you will immediately fall in love with Moss. Or maybe you will if you love extremely socially awkward nerds.

Trailer Park Boys

This is a Canadian show, but you know what? I’m including it anyway. The Queen is their head of state, so there. I’ve only just started watching this show, and I wish I could just watch it all day. It’s set in a trailer park in Nova Scotia, and it mostly follows three characters: Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles. Ricky is an emotionally immature dumbass, Julian is slightly smarter and keeps Ricky alive most of the time while always holding onto a rum and coke, and Bubbles is just hilarious. I can’t wait to watch all seven seasons. Also, Ellen Page is in a few episodes as the trailer park supervisor’s daughter who helps Ricky and Julian with their dope growing operation, it’s pretty awesome.