Men Behaving Badly thread

[Dewt]

Well he's a wannabe really. He's a bit bland with his office job and his girlfriend/wife who bores him and bullies him and his dull work colleagues who he insults all the time. So he gets a blokey lodger so he can drink cans and talk about tits with. Only, he's just as pathetic in his own way.

Hmm, yes! You've summed up what I like about the character there. I should rewatch this.

Tony fulfils the "poor" bit, being an unemployed waster most of the time.

He's just one of life's natural dossers. Gary is more the typical middle-class one, but I don't remember Tony being explicitly working class.

[Sebastian Cobb]

he had a van for a bit

[Dewt]

So did Benjamin Netanyahu

[Dusty Substance]

One thing I never understood was the choice of theme tune. It's so trad, jaunty and "chat show" for a sitcom about toxic masculinity.

Men Behaving Badly wasn't about so-called toxic masculinity, though.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Men Behaving Badly wasn't about so-called toxic masculinity, though.

Of course it was. The whole premise is that Gary and Tony are fighting a losing battle against their middle class beigeness, desperate to be "bloody blokes" because they think that's what they should be.

They aren't the perpetrators. They are the victims.

[Old Gold Tooth]

Oddly pleasant upon rewatching to realise the characters were all in their mid-thirties.

If it was made these days I reckon you'd have to knock a good decade off all of them, or alternatively make it somehow unbearably tragic that these characters are in their 30s and still living such aimless lives. I really liked seeing them dicking around, renting flats and doing shit jobs as a matter of course, rather than something to be sneered at.

Sitcom TV characters in their 30s these days all seem to be portrayed as grizzled veterans, "too old for this shit", or hopeless types who didn't win at life because they're not living in a 5-bedroom London townhouse with a six-figure income and a full deck of family. Fuck it, I'll always be able to hang out with Gary and Tony.

[The Culture Bunker]

Would a 35 year old Gary in 2020 be able to afford a two bedroom flat, quite a nice one at that, in whatever suburb of London it was set in? The impression I remember was that Tony never had any cash to pay his share of the rent/mortgage until he got the job as a postman.

[Tony Yeboah]

So-fa, So-fa, Sofa, Sofa, Sofa, So-fa.

[petril]

Would a 35 year old Gary in 2020 be able to afford a two bedroom flat, quite a nice one at that, in whatever suburb of London it was set in? The impression I remember was that Tony never had any cash to pay his share of the rent/mortgage until he got the job as a postman.

thanks to middle class sitcom writers, he magically can! just throw in a line every second episode about how he can't really afford it, but ignore that and we're fine!

I think if you were writing it now, you'd probably flip it slightly. Two men trying to escape the toxicity and nastiness that permeates a bit chunk of the Lad Life, but not fully able yet to figure out what to do or how, so they're slowly getting trapped into this tired 30-something post-Lad dullness of wanting to move on but no longer being able to work out where.

that last part's something I've seen being around call centre places - the post-Ned folk who want to move on, but they're kind of stuck in the holding pattern of CoD/FIFA/Current Action Films/Whatever's On Independent Ex-Local Radio Today for culture until they figure out the sort of life they want to aim for. That kind of ennui of trying to escape becoming a nasty cunt, but not being sure of what to be instead or how to move on.

[Benjaminos]

One of my favourite sitcoms, rewatched it all again a few months back. Miscellaneous observations:

Clunes is absolutely doing 100% of the comedic heavy lifting throughout. Any time he does that belly-laugh, I feel like I've got my money's worth.

It veers wildly in tone from episode to episode. Some are genuinely emotionally draining (that one where Gary throws a pathetic dinner party after Dorothy leaves him is almost Beckett-levels of pathos, I hate it), some are just gleeful stupidity.

I often find myself saying 'mmm, that'll be nice' a la Gary's dad whenever I find myself doing/saying something middle-aged.

I really fancy 90's-era Caroline Quentin.

[Utter Shit]

Definitely think it's underrated, as it's viewed as very much 'of it's time' and doesn't really feature when people talk about classic comedies, but I honestly think it's right up there. Pretty much every intelligent thought I have about the show has already been made - they aren't really lads, the show doesn't celebrate lad culture, the women are as bad as them. So many classic moments - one of my favourites is in the brilliant Christmas special; Dorothy gives Tony an introduction to opera CD, and Tony tries to hide his disappointment by earnestly singing the chorus of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq65ZMD42g8&t=16m20s

[dead-ced-dead]

I've been watching scattered, random episodes just to have something to watch while working and I haven't really been giving it a proper re-watch, but the thoughts of everyone here is making me think I should watch it from the start and invest some non-working time to it.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Definitely think it's underrated, as it's viewed as very much 'of it's time' and doesn't really feature when people talk about classic comedies, but I honestly think it's right up there. Pretty much every intelligent thought I have about the show has already been made - they aren't really lads, the show doesn't celebrate lad culture, the women are as bad as them. So many classic moments - one of my favourites is in the brilliant Christmas special; Dorothy gives Tony an introduction to opera CD, and Tony tries to hide his disappointment by earnestly singing the chorus of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq65ZMD42g8&t=16m20s

I, personally, like the bit where goes to  deep- fry Caroline Quentin's hand # domesticviolencelolz.

[SteveDave]

Would a 35 year old Gary in 2020 be able to afford a two bedroom flat, quite a nice one at that, in whatever suburb of London it was set in? The impression I remember was that Tony never had any cash to pay his share of the rent/mortgage until he got the job as a postman.

He would because he's minted. As we find out in one episode.

[SteveDave]

If you happen across it I can highly recommend the script book of this. It's not every episode just Simon Nye's favourite/best ones. Each one comes with an introduction and extra bits.

Has anyone seen "Carrie And Barrie"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_%26_Barry

(a semi-sequel to Men Behaving Badly starring Neil Morrissey as a matured Tony in all but name)

[BeardFaceMan]

If you happen across it I can highly recommend the script book of this. It's not every episode just Simon Nye's favourite/best ones. Each one comes with an introduction and extra bits.

Has anyone seen "Carrie And Barrie"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_%26_Barry

Ooh I wouldn't mind seeing that, Simon Nye did some great stuff. I can't be the only one with a soft spot for Is It Legal?, surely?

[SteveDave]

Ooh I wouldn't mind seeing that, Simon Nye did some great stuff. I can't be the only one with a soft spot for Is It Legal?, surely?

I liked that too. There was one episode where Colin became a partner and was so excited seeing his name written on the window that he span around in the street like from the Sound Of Music and accidentally let go of his briefcase smashing said window. It was funnier watching it.

[Malcy]

Ooh I wouldn't mind seeing that, Simon Nye did some great stuff. I can't be the only one with a soft spot for Is It Legal?, surely?

Just found S1.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=SxGiQJX2WZE

It's low quality but have found a torrent so will get that and have a look.

[BeardFaceMan]

Just found S1.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=SxGiQJX2WZE

It's low quality but have found a torrent so will get that and have a look.

Ooh nice find, thanks you. There's some other great stuff uploaded to that channel too.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Loved Is It Legal. Very gentle, very funny and the cast were brilliant.

Looking at Wikipedia, I'm amazed to discover it was an ITV show. I could have sworn it was on the BBC.

[BeardFaceMan]

Loved Is It Legal. Very gentle, very funny and the cast were brilliant.

Looking at Wikipedia, I'm amazed to discover it was an ITV show. I could have sworn it was on the BBC.

It one of those rare shows (like Men Behaving Badly) that switched channels, only in this case it was ITV to Channel 4, rather than to the BBC.

[Gurke and Hare]

He would because he's minted. As we find out in one episode.

Is the implication, ludicrous as it now seems, not that he's become minted by saving all that money out of what he has left over from his salary after paying his monthly expenses?

Yeah, Is It Legal is Great. Hardware's good too. And I've not watched it for ages, but I remember enjoying Beast too. Nye's pretty reliable.

[BeardFaceMan]

Is the implication, ludicrous as it now seems, not that he's become minted by saving all that money out of what he has left over from his salary after paying his monthly expenses?

Gary mentions that apart from being thrifty, a relative left him some money. I hate that episode, it really leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

[A Hat Like That]

Mazda wanker

"you [gestures] Mazda"

my brother thought Mazda was the rude bit.

[idunnosomename]

i remember the ad bumpers clearly on Is It Legal so I never thought it was on BBC. even though it wasn't shit

[Dewt]

Would a 35 year old Gary in 2020 be able to afford a two bedroom flat, quite a nice one at that, in whatever suburb of London it was set in? The impression I remember was that Tony never had any cash to pay his share of the rent/mortgage until he got the job as a postman.

Wait was Gary 35 in this? I definitely should rewatch it at this point in my life.

[The Culture Bunker]

Wait was Gary 35 in this? I definitely should rewatch it at this point in my life.

I said that age after a mention about the characters being in their mid 30s, though Clunes was 30/31 when the show started.

[Sebastian Cobb]

thanks to middle class sitcom writers, he magically can! just throw in a line every second episode about how he can't really afford it, but ignore that and we're fine!

I think if you were writing it now, you'd probably flip it slightly. Two men trying to escape the toxicity and nastiness that permeates a bit chunk of the Lad Life, but not fully able yet to figure out what to do or how, so they're slowly getting trapped into this tired 30-something post-Lad dullness of wanting to move on but no longer being able to work out where.

that last part's something I've seen being around call centre places - the post-Ned folk who want to move on, but they're kind of stuck in the holding pattern of CoD/FIFA/Current Action Films/Whatever's On Independent Ex-Local Radio Today for culture until they figure out the sort of life they want to aim for. That kind of ennui of trying to escape becoming a nasty cunt, but not being sure of what to be instead or how to move on.

But older millenials are less likely to settle down and have kids, less likely to own property and less likely to have stable careers these days. The laddishness has died down admittedly.

Something I thought a bit out of kilter was how Gary's flat is a bit drab in a 90's sitcom way, not as bad as Bottom, which was an intentional hovel, but not especially nice, the house share in Game On was nicer, for instance despite them being younger and less 'settled'. Yet Debs the student upstairs had a modern bright and airy showhome for some reason.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I could never watch this programme, because Neil Morrissey's face, voice and hair are emetic.

I've probably missed out, but I'm just as God made me.

[neveragain]

That's a shame. Perhaps understandable (he's not to everyone's taste) but he does give a great comic performance.