Out Of Her Mind - Sara Pascoe's new BBC sitcom

[Small Man Big Horse]

This started last night and I'm a huge fan already. In some ways it's kind of a very slight adaptation of her book Animal: The Anatomy Of A Female Body as we see her day to day life mixed with a lot of fourth wall breaking and mini-lectures on various subjects, though it has more of a straight forward narrative and is more about her sister and mother than the book was. It's also a show I can understand some really not liking, but it ticked my boxes and made me laugh a huge amount, even if the very ending

Spoiler alert

where they make Sara more likeable was a tiny bit manipulative

[close]

.

[Pink Gregory]

Interested to see.  I find her a bit lacking as a standup but her writing shines through.

[j_u_d_a_s]

Just caught the first episode and yeah, it's really solid stuff. Inventive and playful in the best ways, always liked Pascoe and it's nice to see her spread her wings a bit.

[McFlymo]

1 episode in and I love this. I can imagine it would rub some people up the wrong way with the constant quirkiness, but not me, love a bit of 4th wall / form breaking / meta context shit, me. I shall binge further...

[bobloblaw]

Hmmm. Really wanted to like this but spent the whole time wishing I was watching Lady Dynamite, which goes to town on issues that this tiptoes around.
And episode 2 - a fat suit gag? Really?

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Sounds like a Sean's Show/ Kelly Monteith mash- up for the 2020s.

[timebug]

I bailed out after a few minutes. I accept that many find her funny, but I never have.

[Utter Shit]

I bailed out after a few minutes.

Same. Possibly a bad move but it was just a bit irritating.

[dissolute ocelot]

Will have to watch this - is it something where you can watch episode 1 without having to justify it by going "it gets better in a few episodes"? She always seems a likeable person and I enjoy her quirky taste in clothes but I can't remember her being really funny in anything.

[olliebean]

Thought episode 1 was mostly OK, although a bit aggressively self-indulgent. Halfway through episode 2 now, and really struggling with it. Don't think I'm going to bother with the rest.

During the solo bits with the silly costumes in the hall, I keep expecting her to start going, "Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit, rabbit..."

[Mr_Simnock]

Might give this a watch, hope it's better than thing with Kathryn Ryan in it. I still can't believe how much she looks like my colleague at work who (did) sit across from me.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I watched (what I assume was) the short pilot episode a few months ago. I remember laughing, although her talk of biology makes me think of what (I assume) Jordan Peterson talks about.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Just caught the first episode and yeah, it's really solid stuff. Inventive and playful in the best ways, always liked Pascoe and it's nice to see her spread her wings a bit.

To be fair, in that leotard, how could you not see that?

[Tony Tony Tony]

This started last night and I'm a huge fan already. In some ways it's kind of a very slight adaptation of her book Animal: The Anatomy Of A Female Body as we see her day to day life mixed with a lot of fourth wall breaking and mini-lectures on various subjects, though it has more of a straight forward narrative and is more about her sister and mother than the book was. It's also a show I can understand some really not liking, but it ticked my boxes and made me laugh a huge amount, even if the very ending

Spoiler alert

where they make Sara more likeable was a tiny bit manipulative

[close]

.

No objection to

Spoiler alert

a bit of manipulation

[close]

surely comedy should manipulate the emotions?

Anyhoo, really enjoyed it and looking forward to further episodes. Thought some of the meta stuff was great especially

Spoiler alert

Luna telling her off for writing in token black characters

[close]

and the end credits sequence made me guffaw. Props to SMBH for pointing me towards Sara's book - on my lockdown list now.

Probabaly a tad biased as I do Like Sara Pascoe in any case so felt predisposed towards the series, but this deffo negates the need for an 'Are Women Funny' thread. 

Trivia Edit: Is the big warehouse she skates around in the same one from this weeks Taskmaster where they did the balls in hoops task?

[Small Man Big Horse]

No objection to

Spoiler alert

a bit of manipulation

[close]

surely comedy should manipulate the emotions?

Absolutely, but there was just something about that last bit that didn't quite work for me, especially given how self-aware and meta the rest of the show was, but it's only a tiny complaint and I really liked the show in general.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

surely comedy should manipulate the emotions?

That's just chemicals in your brain.

[Tony Tony Tony]

That's just chemicals in your brain.

In that case I loved it.

[McFlymo]

Hmmm. Really wanted to like this but spent the whole time wishing I was watching Lady Dynamite, which goes to town on issues that this tiptoes around.
And episode 2 - a fat suit gag? Really?

I got a few Maria Bamford moments in this (especially episode 2) now that you mention it!
It has the standard BBC 6 part story arc (that everything I've watched on the Beeb over the last 10 years has), which makes it feel less quirky / manic than Lady Dynamite, though I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

[lankyguy95]

I always respect a sitcom with a title that leaves itself open to being used sarcastically in a pithy review.

[arpster]

This is bad...really, really arsewiping bad....

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

How do you mean? Like when the paper rips and your finger goes through?

I really liked it for the most part. The second episode seemed a bit light on laughs compared to the rest of the series, but I was absurdly tired when I watched it.

I only really knew Pascoe from panel shows, which clearly didn't give a fair impression of her potential. I like all the stylistic touches, like the animation and such. Despite being very different, it put me in mind of Spaced - which seems appropriate, as I noticed Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are executive producers.

[Virgo76]

Seen most of the series now. Liking it more with every episode.

[The Roofdog]

Love her stand-up but this was unwatchable

[olliebean]

God help me, I gave this another go. I reasoned that maybe episode 2 was a low point (because if it isn't, fuuuuuck), and episode 3 would be better. Which to be fair, it very slightly was. Still godawful patronising shite, though.

[Jungleted]

I like Sara Pascoe in general but this series left me flat. I felt like her character is a cross between Russell Brand and Miranda.

[steveh]

Having now finished it, I felt I could appreciate the show intellectually as being cleverly written and produced but none of the characters I found likeable and I'm not sure I could say I actually enjoyed it.

[Thosworth]

I watched the first and last episode of both this and Katherine Ryan's thing on Netflix due to, in both cases, not enjoying the first episode but being curious enough to see how they ended.

It's almost as if they had a half hour chat with each other about a sitcom, then went off and wrote their own version of it. Both centred on hard-to-like main characters who have had bad relationships, with both final episodes featuring crazy goings on at someone else's wedding.

[thugler]

What is going on with all these expensive overproduced sitcoms with half baked ideas? This was awful. Not funny enough so has to be crammed with naval gazing and drama. Seems like she wanted to make a romantic comedy film or a one woman show and doesn't even like sitcoms.

[Thosworth]

What is going on with all these expensive overproduced sitcoms with half baked ideas? This was awful. Not funny enough so has to be crammed with naval gazing and drama. Seems like she wanted to make a romantic comedy film or a one woman show and doesn't even like sitcoms.

Channels chasing the next Fleabag

[The Lurker]

10 minutes in on iPlayer. I like Pascoe so I want to like this but, so far, it's not great...