Most recent comedy that you now feel a bit embarrassed to have liked

[Memorex MP3]

Doesn't even have to be bad, just have to be a bit embarrassed that you liked as much as you did when you think about it now. The more recent the better

I'm sure I can think of more recent ones but I liked Parks and Recreation enough to buy a P&R shirt in 2012; the show was already in decline by that point but within a few years I wouldn't have been caught dead outside in that shirt.

[popcorn]

Sorry, not as recent as you'd probably like, but a few years ago my mum and dad were watching standup on telly and I came in and sat down and watched about 10 minutes. It was a comedian I didn't know (I'm not that into standup generally). I thought he was quite chucklesome.

It was Michael McIntyre, who I soon after discovered is much loathed. Such is the contempt for McIntyre by my CaB peers and comedians/writers/etc whom I admire I have just assumed I was horribly wrong to find him funny and have never gone back to check. How embarrassing. No one can ever know.

[Stinky Lomax]

This is not terribly recent, and it's not half as embarrassing as having seen ten minutes of Michael McIntyre and thinking he was quite funny, but:

Baseketball. That Parker and Stone sports comedy. Back in 2000 or so I thought it was absolute top-tier, classic gag every two minutes, hip as hell comedy. I went back and watched it a couple of years ago and couldn't believe I thought so highly of it. I don't think it was even that problematic, it just... wasn't funny. It was Friedberg-Seltzer level, really childish, and the whole production felt so cheap and flat as well.

[frajer]

Absolutely adored The Mighty Boosh at the time. Discovered the first telly series late night on BBC Three during my first year of uni and went cringingly fannish over it for years after.

Thought Noel Fielding was a sublime comedy genius (oof, winced as I typed that). Scales fell off my eyes around the time of the Future Sailors Tour, when I realised how superficial and lazy and "playing to the fans" it had quickly become.

I still like bits of the Boosh, especially the first telly series and the radio series, but I feel high embarrassment when I remember how absolutely in thrall I was to it at the time.

[neov1974]

Kevin Smith films?
Not revisited but suspect as a whole they'd not hold up, could be wrong

[dontpaintyourteeth]

Wouldn't say I'm embarrassed about liking anything. I'm sure there's stuff that doesn't hold up very well though. Most of the ones already mentioned, arguably.

Parks and Rec features a lot of centrist cringe and like half the cast are wronguns, so that doesn't help.

I sort of liked The Mighty Boosh at the time, or bits of it, but I'm sure I'd hate it now. I definitely remember seeing that other series yer man did (Luxury Comedy?) and just thinking "this is a load of random bollocks, he's trying so hard to be weird and the effort is just leaking out of the screen", you know? Also he's going to get #cancelled eventually. Allegedly. Etc.

Again, not embarrassed about liking Garth Marenghi, but last time I watched it I only liked two episodes. It was a very limited concept really. At least I thought Man to Man with Dean Learner was shite from the start.

Not going to mention Bill Hicks in any depth because it seems to make people very cross when you discuss certain comedians on the comedy forum for some reason. Edit: he's sort of not really that recent anymore, so... never mind anyway. heh.

[Matthew Dawkins Jub Jub]

I got caught up in Afterlife's first season, swept along in the effluvial tide of everyone at work raving about how "it's so funny yet so sad!! And g*psy jokes!!" I remember watching it, enjoying it, recommending it to others, and then after a few weeks had passed thinking "What the fuck was that supposed to be?"

[dontpaintyourteeth]

This is not terribly recent, and it's not half as embarrassing as having seen ten minutes of Michael McIntyre and thinking he was quite funny, but:

Baseketball. That Parker and Stone sports comedy. Back in 2000 or so I thought it was absolute top-tier, classic gag every two minutes, hip as hell comedy. I went back and watched it a couple of years ago and couldn't believe I thought so highly of it. I don't think it was even that problematic, it just... wasn't funny. It was Friedberg-Seltzer level, really childish, and the whole production felt so cheap and flat as well.

I swear if you guys rip on that movie 13 or 14 more times, I'm out of here.

New thread idea: comedy you should probably be embarrassed about still liking

[checkoutgirl]

Only one I can think of is Little Britain series one which I quite liked and I believe I got the DVD for a present. Some of the stuff like Ray McCooney is urgh!! That bit was funny for about 5 seconds.  Dear god it's bad. Basically David Walliams acting the knob and expecting it to pass muster as a comedy sketch.

23 years ago now though. Blimey!

Other stuff you look back and are surprised it holds up quite well like Game On. Not great but still better than expected.

[Cleveland Steamer]

Another mention for Kevin Smith. There's been more recent stuff like Rick and Morty or Extras, but I really was a big fan of Smith. I thought Clerks and Mallrats were amazing when I was in my late teens/early 20s. Loved Jay and Silent Bob. It was only when Chasing Amy came out that I started thinking "hmmm this is a bit embarrassing and shit isn't it", Dogma confirmed that, and it just got worse and worse, culminating in Tusk which I think is one of the worst fucking films I've ever sat through.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Rick and Morty for me, it's not even the show itself, I like it, I just want to distance myself from fans.

[Cleveland Steamer]

Rick and Morty for me, it's not even the show itself, I like it, I just want to distance myself from fans.

Roiland is also a piece of shit and basically it's just edgelord rape jokes except lol we're doing parallel universe stuff to make it look like something more intelligent than it is.

Shame because there is a lot of funny and creative material there but it's a shame the fans and the creator are so fucking terrible.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

Genuinely see people complaining about the Rick and Morty fanbase far more than I ever see the fanbase being objectionable. I swear it's just because people were embarrassed to like it because of that "to be fair, you have to be very intelligent" etc copypasta thing.

[lauraxsynthesis]

Little Britain

[checkoutgirl]

Kevin Smith films?

Which ones? He's divided viewers since Mallrats which is only his second film.

[gilbertharding]

Little Britain

I think that would be my answer as well. My excuse is that it was good when it was on the radio, and it was nice to see the guys from the excellent Rock Profiles having success.

I also think it was easy at the time (before it became mainstream) to see what are clearly problems with it, as harmless layers of irony.

[Cleveland Steamer]

I think it depends where you are. On here I'd feel embarrassed about saying I love the Ricky Gervais XFm shows and podcasts (although mainly down to Karl, although Ricky and Steve are also integral), probably wouldn't feel embarrassed in real life though.

[checkoutgirl]

Extras. It's the last Gervais thing that I unironically enjoyed. Mind you the finale with Ricky blubbering in a big brother house was embarrassing even at the time, i.e around 2005. The seeds of what he would become were right there and he seems to have thought the mawkishness is the thing.

I haven't watched it in at least a decade so can't remember if it's any good but enjoying Gervais sincerely is a bit shameful now with all that's happened.

[Cleveland Steamer]

Extras was the turning point for me. Specifically the DVD extra with him bullying his producer. A proper scales falling from my eyes moment: "oh this guy is a cunt!"

[gilbertharding]

Extras was the turning point for me. Specifically the DVD extra with him bullying his producer. A proper scales falling from my eyes moment: "oh this guy is a cunt!"

Funny, but if you remembered him from the 11 O'Clock Show, it would have been  "Oh - this guy's a cunt again" after three or four years of thinking "Maybe this cunt was just pretending back then."

[neov1974]

Which ones? He's divided viewers since Mallrats which is only his second film.

First 5 I guess, just recall liking them at the time, but have a sense that i'd probably not now

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

I shouldn't watch Session Heads and I definitely shouldn't laugh at it but I do and I do and I feel ashamed of myself

[Brundle-Fly]

Non, Je ne regrette rien. I'm always surprised when people say "it makes me uncomfortable watching it now" I just mutter to myself "Different times." and continue viewing. I can't think of anything recent I'd be ashamed to admit to liking, just to maintain some deluded sense of credibility. It's ok that you once liked Elastica too.

[Brundle-Fly]

Extras. It's the last Gervais thing that I unironically enjoyed. Mind you the finale with Ricky blubbering in a big brother house was embarrassing even at the time, i.e around 2005. The seeds of what he would become were right there and he seems to have thought the mawkishness is the thing.

It's because he saw its power when used effectively in the ending of The Office, a truly unexpected poignant moment in TV comedy. I think the reaction even surprised Gervais. I know, he thought, let's rinse the fuck out 'having a sad bit' in everything I make from now on.

[chip]

In terms of recency then it really does have to be Rick & Morty. Not because of Roiland or anything like that (has nothing to do with the show itself), and the program genuinely is very funny - it's just because they have characters named stuff like 'Mr PBH'. I can't even type it out, I'd cringe the enamel from my teeth.

[checkoutgirl]

It's because he saw its power when used effectively in the ending of The Office, a truly unexpected poignant moment in TV comedy. I think the reaction even surprised Gervais. I know, he thought, let's rinse the fuck out 'having a sad bit' in everything I make from now on.

To this day I don't think I've seen the Office finale. Was it a Christmas special or something? The Extras finale might have made more sense if I'd seen the Office one.

But yeah it's like he saw the reaction to sentimentality and decided he had to put it into every second scene from then on. Because that's what the punters want.

[checkoutgirl]

First 5 I guess, just recall liking them at the time, but have a sense that i'd probably not now

That's the thing about Smith, very uneven. His second film Mallrats wasn't very good and was already very self referential, almost folding in on itself under the weight of its own lore. This stuff is just baffling to outsiders.

Then you have Chasing Amy which again, I can understand looking back and thinking hmmm.

[madhair60]

basically it's just edgelord rape jokes

bullshit.

---

i can't think of anything in comedy i've liked that i'm now embarrassed by. Maybe the likes of American Pie? but even then it's just like right, this is what it is.

[curiousoranges]

Jonathan Pie.

[bgmnts]

A lot of Red Dwarf would almost be this but I enjoy the world and the characters too much.