Stress-inducing comedy

[Blue Jam]

See here:

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,87182.msg4563032.html#msg4563032

Curb Your Enthusiasm, Motherland and some episodes of Peep Show for me.

I also found Stath Lets Flats a bit of a tough watch as the characters seemed a bit sociopathic, stuff like the petty dispute over the bins just made me think of that kind of behaviour at work. Ditto for Not Safe For Work and the way Vod's selfish boss would steal the lunch of his most shy and timid employee every day. Some of Jeff's behaviour in Peep Show is a bit of a tough watch for me too, he's one of those people who just always "win" somehow and are adept at making others looks small and stupid. I get stressed watching too much petty and vindictive behaviour, especially in work-based sitcoms.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Fawlty Towers is probably the epitome of this for me.

Leonard Rossiter had skills at this too, both Rising Damp and Reggie Perrin had their moments.

[Dusty Substance]

One Froggy Evening.

[shiftwork2]

Fawlty Towers is probably the epitome of this for me.

+1

[Lemming]

One Foot In The Grave is worth a mention for the sheer amount of horrible shit that happens. I always hated the non-comedy "serious" bits as a kid, I just wanted to have fun watching him go "I don't belieeeeve it" but old people and animals kept dying in hideous ways.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Mrs Warboys was always a great addition to make a stressful situation worse, great character.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

One Froggy Evening.

That fickle amphibian's caprice tortured me as a kid.

[Glebe]

Mr. Bean playing golf.

[Brundle-Fly]

Steptoe & Son. The misery Harold endured week after week used to quite upset me. At the end of the pilot episode when he can't move the horse and cart to leave is heartbreaking and oddly chilling.

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em used to stress the shit out of my whole family, if I recall?

[DJ Bob Hoskins]

Monty Python's 'The Visitors' sketch. https://vimeo.com/322682680

If you like this, you'll love Darren Aronofsky's Mother! which is basically the same thing, but 2 hours long.

[Bunty Levert]

Semi-Detached, innit? The real-time aspect makes it constant escalation without respite.

[Brundle-Fly]

Anything involving League Of Gentlemen, truth be told.

[neveragain]

Colin's Sandwich. A wonderful literate and underrated ball of stress, presided over masterfully by Mel Smith.

[kngen]

Monty Python's 'The Visitors' sketch. https://vimeo.com/322682680

If you like this, you'll love Darren Aronofsky's Mother! which is basically the same thing, but 2 hours long.

Weirdly, I was watching Red Letter Media's review of Mother! last night, and kept expecting Michael Palin to drag a goat in.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Loved mother! It's definatley workable as a comedy

[DJ Bob Hoskins]

Loved mother! It's definatley workable as a comedy

I agree with kngen. It needs more Ken Shabby.

[neveragain]

I had the same thought as DJ Bob Hoskins after seeing mother! in the cinema. (It was actually my first date with my partner of 4 years, a very odd choice as it turned out.) The Python version is preferable, slightly less of a Christian allegory for one thing.

[Andy147]

On a pedantic note, the Michael Palin character with a goat in "The Visitors" is called Mr Cook - Ken Shabby was the similar character who cleaned out public lavatories ("After five years they give me a brush!") and wanted to marry Rosamund.

Stressed Eric, if that's not too obvious a suggestion.

[Blue Jam]

Mr. Show: "Thrilling Miracles":

https://youtu.be/Dt-zz4LcxX8

Utterly disturbing. I think they even outdid The League Of Gentlemen with this one.

[lipsink]

I get a bit anxious in the moments in 'This Time' where Alan is talking to Jenny or a guest and he ends up over explaining some irrelevant thing for way too long. It seems like it's never going to end.

I recently rewatched 'Mrs Doubtfire' and the entire restaurant  scene where he's racing between 2 tables and the bathroom while getting more drunk is incredibly stressful stuff.

[Thursday]

Another one for Fawlty Towers, it's one where I completely appreciate it was good at what it was doing, but it's too anxiety inducing for me to actually enjoy.

Maybe this is more cringe than stress but Nathan for You is another one that in some instances I found too hard to watch. My own reaction to it annoys me, because it's clearly great but I wasn't enjoying it.

[thenoise]

Mr. Bean playing golf.

Lots of nightmarish stuff in Bean.  Basically think about the dentist scene whenever I go to the dentist, absolutely horrible.  And when he drinks the laundry detergent in the laundrette.

[Dead Soon]

One Foot In The Grave is worth a mention for the sheer amount of horrible shit that happens. I always hated the non-comedy "serious" bits as a kid, I just wanted to have fun watching him go "I don't belieeeeve it" but old people and animals kept dying in hideous ways.

It is high time I gave this sitcom a chance. I had it pigeonholed as that wacky gag comedy where our exasperated old protagonist has some different reason to exclaim ''I don't believe it!'' each week. I would have been in my teens last time I watched any second of it. Father Ted may or may not have aided and abetted this.

I realise how dirty wrong my preconceived notion of it is.

[Ferris]

My beloved Nathan For You and my newly beloved Nirvanna The Band: The Show.

Lots of interacting with members of the public in a way that is just on the edge of ok. Joe public is never a 'target' of the show (any gags are always at the expense of the creators/performers), but it does sometimes make me feel a bit... unsure. Love them both though, so it's hardly impacted my enjoyment that much.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

It is high time I gave this sitcom a chance. I had it pigeonholed as that wacky gag comedy where our exasperated old protagonist has some different reason to exclaim ''I don't believe it!'' each week.

If my memory does it justice the fact that its half this is what makes it so stressful. Wacky set ups with grim pay-offs and vice versa. Toy dinosaurs. The fact that the BBC used to endlessly play clips of goofy stuff like the toupee a loaf of bread, yucca in the loo and Victor buried under a plant pot didn't help.

There's one episode where Victor worries he has cancer for a minor but plausible reason as just an aside to another plot thread that stuck with me. Jarring.

[DJ Bob Hoskins]

On a pedantic note, the Michael Palin character with a goat in "The Visitors" is called Mr Cook - Ken Shabby was the similar character who cleaned out public lavatories ("After five years they give me a brush!") and wanted to marry Rosamund.

Funny, I actually hesitated before posting to check if it was indeed the same character, and Google threw up this bit from The Pythons autobiography. I'm guessing it's essentially the same character but he was named differently in the actual script?

Maybe this is more cringe than stress but Nathan for You is another one that in some instances I found too hard to watch.

God, yes. I don't know why I get so involved in his nonsensical schemes but I often found myself turning into a bag of nerves hoping they'd pan out. The 'Chili Suit' episode, for example. I was worried sick that he was going to get busted, as if that would actually matter.

[Thursday]

My beloved Nathan For You and my newly beloved Nirvanna The Band: The Show.

Lots of interacting with members of the public in a way that is just on the edge of ok. Joe public is never a 'target' of the show (any gags are always at the expense of the creators/performers), but it does sometimes make me feel a bit... unsure. Love them both though, so it's hardly impacted my enjoyment that much.

They aren't the target, but I get massive 2nd hand embarrassment watching people's confusion/discomfort.

[Lemming]

It is high time I gave this sitcom a chance. I had it pigeonholed as that wacky gag comedy where our exasperated old protagonist has some different reason to exclaim ''I don't believe it!'' each week. I would have been in my teens last time I watched any second of it. Father Ted may or may not have aided and abetted this.

I realise how dirty wrong my preconceived notion of it is.

From the second series onwards, it's mostly great. Sometimes the dramatic interjections do jar a little and feel forced, but other episodes get the balance between comedy and drama down perfect.

I agree with what Video Game Fan 2000 says, it essentially is half wacky gag comedy, and half something else entirely. It's a very strange show at times, tonally all over the place and veers into very unexpected territory, but it often comes off brilliantly. As a kid, I remember just wishing that it was entirely upbeat gag comedy, but as an adult I've come to appreciate the show's capacity to blindside the viewer in surprisingly brutal ways.

[evilcommiedictator]

I have extreme trouble watching Freaks and Geeks as the bullying and the "High School" elements hit some pretty raw nerves, and I have never finished watching it on a number of occasions.

[Jack Shaftoe]

I find this sort of stress comedy too anxiety-inducing to appreciate sadly*, I'm much happier with yer New Girls (as I've banged on about in the other thread) and yer Communities, where they have a group of characters who are fun to watch as they sort of throw the ball up in the air and keep it there for twenty episodes at a time. If I want to be stressed out, I'll watch a Nordic Noire or something.

There's that sort of Alan Partridge middle zone where it's very stressful, but also has a farcical edge, so I don't find it too difficult to watch, as you're being gently reminded it's not real. I do wonder if we have much more this kind of stress comedy in the UK as it's what get awards, and so much of our comedy is writer/performer driven, and they tend to naturally go in this direction.

*I'm beginning to suspect I have that mildly autistic hyper-empathy thing, where you get really uncomfortable around a lot of emotion, or characters in believable distress. I can see that in my son, who finds live-action stuff very difficult to watch and is much happier with animation, whereas my daughter just mainlines anything with real actual actors.