Comedy Blind Spots

[Pink Gregory]

What should you have really seen, but haven't?  Or should have revisited and can't remember?

I've never seen a single minute of Fawlty Towers. 

I was shown a few episodes of Arrested Development but never followed up on it.

Never seen/heard any non-Derek and Clive Cook/Moore material.

Never seen a Steve Martin film.

[Magnum Valentino]

When I read Judd Apatow's and Mike Reiss's books they discussed a lot of apparently essential American comedies that I've never seen, including the films Broadcast News and Terms of Endearment. Never seen any Dad's Army either.

[Glebe]

I've never seen a single minute of Fawlty Towers.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

never seen Daniel Kitson

[bigfatheart]

Only seen about 3/4 of an episode of Only Fools and Horses.

And yet I still read every bizarre CaB thread about it religiously.

[neveragain]

I've never made an effort with Tim and Eric, Nirvana The Band The Show, Nathan For You, Adventure Time or that one with the cartoon hamburger and fries. Or the other stuff that the guy from Wonder Showzen made. Or indeed Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, which for some reason sticks in my mind.

Didn't last long with Archer. Felt like the effort exerted in catching all the quickfire jokes was in direct opposition to their quality (unlike in, say, Arrested Development).

Community I liked for a while but never felt the urge to go back to. Bob's Burgers occupies a similar space, although I will more happily plonk down in front of it.

[Mobius]

Community is probably the biggest/most acclaimed one I've never bothered with. I think Reddit ruined it for me before I got a chance to give it a go.

[EOLAN]

When I read Judd Apatow's and Mike Reiss's books they discussed a lot of apparently essential American comedies that I've never seen, including the films Broadcast News and Terms of Endearment. Never seen any Dad's Army either.

Thought Terms of Endearment was far more an out and out drama in the old tragedy style with a couple of offbeat characters.

My own blindspots probably post 2000 sitcoms, such as Arrested Development, US Office and 30 Rock.

[Wayman C. McCreery]

Thanks to the bald twerps at work who endlessly quote it, I've never knowingly seen a second of Monty Python.

There are loads of massive standups whose shows I haven't seen because I hate sets recorded in big theatres with cutaway shots to the crowd. So while I'll lap up the Delightful Sausage recorded with out of sync sound on two cameras in a tiny room, I've got piss all desire to watch Eddie Izzard or most of the other big names who used to release DVDs every year.

[Spudgun]

I've only ever seen one full episode of Seinfeld. I've been meaning to go back and get into it properly one day, but all these years later still haven't got round to it.

[Poobum]

Anything Garry Shandling. From the bits I've seen of the Larry Sanders Show I reckon I'd love it.

[famethrowa]

That Nirvanna Band Show thing. It should be right up my alley, bathetic low-stakes comedy, but it seemed so contrived. Who has a nostalgia hardon for fckin Jurassic Park? Never continued with it.

[famethrowa]

And the whole Black Books world, taking in the comedy of Bill Bailey. Once again, it should be my kind of thing, but no thanks.

[Famous Mortimer]

Nirvana The Band The Show, Nathan For You, Adventure Time or that one with the cartoon hamburger and fries.

Me neither. But I'm not sure they count as blind spots for me as I've never really been interested in trying any of them.

[dissolute ocelot]

There's a lot of acclaimed more recent British stuff I've never seen, especially BBC for some reason: Inside No 9, Pulling, Fleabag, People Just Do Nothing, Motherland, Rev, I've only seen 1 episode of This Country although I liked it. I guess it's easier to binge Channel 4 on All4, while BBC takes episode 1 of things down randomly. Till a month ago I'd never seen Detectorists but I just watched it all on iPlayer.

And with streaming and satellite, lots of newer American stuff I've never seen: Community, Bojack Horseman, Girls, and anything on Apple+ etc.

[Matthew Dawkins Jub Jub]

It's mostly American material for me. Growing up, come to think of it, my parents were always of the view that American comedy was inferior and not worth watching. I'd see everything British from Steptoe to Fawlty to Only Fools to fucking Jim Davidson's Generation Game, but we never ever watched Seinfeld, Shandling, or even Cheers.

Obviously I've rectified some of that now, but I've still yet to see a full episode of any of the three I mentioned. Likewise, comedy appears to have fallen by the wayside for me in the last decade. I've checked some things out, a few religiously, but Community, Bob's Burgers, BoJack (and other animated comedy), and Parks and Rec passed me by entirely.

[The Mollusk]

A Bit of Fry and Laurie
Absolutely
Any Pete and/or Dud
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Any Daniel Kitson
Any Gary Shandling
Almost any Mel Brooks films
Almost certainly loads of other huge influential things

My attention span dictates that the classics will always be on the periphery of my mind and so I'll never forget to one day (never) eventually check them out. But more contemporary stuff I feel like is more likely to be enjoyed but not widely revered as a classic until a long time has passed and I'm worried I'll forget about it.

This is also true of my music tastes. I was a metalhead from age 14 but I didn't listen to Slayer or Metallica until I was in my early 20s.

[jobotic]

Any American alpha male who has a podcast or has appeared on Howard Stern or that Rogan man's thing.

[Pimhole]

Any Daniel Kitson

To be fair, that's not really your fault.

Garth Marenghi/Shirley Ghostman/Mighty Boosh for me. I will probably never watch any of that.

[The Mollusk]

Garth Marenghi/Shirley Ghostman/Mighty Boosh for me. I will probably never watch any of that.

Marenghi I think stands the test of time pretty well although its reputation on here at the time of broadcast certainly tarnished it. At the very least it's worth watching just to soak up how much love went into making it look and feel the way it does, since it's aesthetically very funny and engaging even outside of the scripted humour.

Boosh is definitely of its time though. I have a big soft spot for the first series (again it looks like it was a lot of fun to make plus there are a handful of jokes that still make me laugh thinking about them) but I know that if I went back to it I wouldn't come out thinking it was deserving of "classic" status at all and that would certainly be the last time I ever watched it.

Never seen Ghostman myself but the dude was just barely tolerable in Delocated and apparently he's far more irritating in SG so not arsed.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

I knew someone a few years ago, from last fm, that I used to go to music festivals and stuff with. They never showed any interest at all in comedy besides Shirley Ghostman. They loved that. Always thought that was odd

[zomgmouse]

started typing out stuff I've never seen and the list is too large so i deleted it. posting this anyway

[Stonefish]

I've never seen Peep Show but feel like I've consumed 90% of it purely via internet osmosis. Always thoroughly enjoyed what I've seen of it but it mostly exists in my head as a serious of disconnected highlights.

[beanheadmcginty]

Never seen more than 3 seconds of Mrs Brown's Boys or Coronation Street.

[Petey Pate]

I've never watched any Jacques Tati films, despite being more into old slapstick comedies than most people my age.

I've also never bothered watching any Jerry Lewis movies with the exception of The King of Comedy. Similarly the only Frank Tashlin directed films I've seen are the ones he made when he was working in animation and not live action.

Tried listening to an episode of The Goon Show I had on cassette tape but couldn't get into it.

Never listened to Sorry I'll Read That Again or any of Tony Hancock's radio shows.

Also never heard any Sloppy Daniels, Redd Foxx, or any other comedian who released stand up comedy records on the pioneering Dooto records label.

Victoria Wood's TV work has completely eluded me.

I get the impression that Cheech and Chong are hopelessly dated so never bothered with them.

Probably could be here all day...

[wrec]

Garth Marenghi/Shirley Ghostman/Mighty Boosh for me. I will probably never watch any of that.

I've bought Marenghi and Boosh on DVD and rewatched multiple times but have never even heard of *Norm voice* Shirley Ghostman.

[wrec]

Never seen more than 3 seconds of Mrs Brown's Boys or Coronation Street.

No point in just diving in with Coronation Street, you need to follow it from the beginning.

[Better Midlands]

Never seen/heard any non-Derek and Clive Cook/Moore material.

Same, loved the D&C albums when I was 14 years old and probably would still enjoy a large amount of it.

Bedazzled came up on Youtube a few weeks ago and I thought I'd give it a go - lasted about 30 mins.

[Catalogue Trousers]

I've only ever seen one full episode of Seinfeld. I've been meaning to go back and get into it properly one day, but all these years later still haven't got round to it.

What's the deal with that?

[elliszeroed]

Never watched Derek, found more joy reading the theads on here than I think I would actually watching the thing.

Life is precious. Don't waste it on Derek.