Comedy Shows or Characters that changed things

[confettiinmyhair]

I was chatting to a mate in the pub about nostalgic memories and we got talking about Sasha Baron Cohen's Ali G. I proposed an idea that without the influence of Ali G there would be no resurgence of UK Hip Hop in mainstream culture. So in a sense Ali G led to mainstream acceptance of UK hip hop in the early 2000s, and that it was ok for this culture to be homegrown and not just whatever pop culture we got from the East Coast and West Coast of the USA. Without Ali G there is no Central Cee, no Dave, no Drill, no roadmen. Ali G changed things.

[madhair60]

homer simpson made it okay to laugh at dad

[Catalogue Trousers]

You're 'avin' a bubble, mate, ain't ya?

(OP, that is.)

[extraordinary walnuts]

Beatles and Python both unthinkable without The Goon Show IMO

[Utter Shit]

I was chatting to a mate in the pub about nostalgic memories and we got talking about Sasha Baron Cohen's Ali G. I proposed an idea that without the influence of Ali G there would be no resurgence of UK Hip Hop in mainstream culture. So in a sense Ali G led to mainstream acceptance of UK hip hop in the early 2000s, and that it was ok for this culture to be homegrown and not just whatever pop culture we got from the East Coast and West Coast of the USA. Without Ali G there is no Central Cee, no Dave, no Drill, no roadmen. Ali G changed things.

I don't really see the link to be honest...Ali G was explicitly influenced by US hip-hop culture, and off the top of my head I can't remember any UKHH featuring on the soundtrack (could be talking out of my arse there, it was a long time ago!). The resurgence, to my eyes, came from the garage era gradually morphing into a rap hybrid thanks to So Solid Crew, Oxide and Neutrino etc. That then gradually fed into grime, and so on.

[checkoutgirl]

A young Joe Piscopo taught us how to laugh.

[Utter Shit]

I suppose The Simpsons normalised cartoons being specifically aimed at adults?

[Video Game Fan 2000]

i love lucy is the best answer to this question

[Deskbound Cunt]

Smashie and Nicey destroyed the old guard on Radio One.

[Gurke and Hare]

Without Ali G there is ... no Dave

You reckon they'd have just stayed as UK Gold? Could be.

[Steve Faeces]

A friend told me recently they thought the development and popularity of UK jazz had been held back by the perception of the genre from the "jazz club" sketch in the Fast Show. I'm not sure I agree but I think it's a fun opinion to have.

[dissolute ocelot]

A friend told me recently they thought the development and popularity of UK jazz had been held back by the perception of the genre from the "jazz club" sketch in the Fast Show. I'm not sure I agree but I think it's a fun opinion to have.

I think the Jazz Club reflected existing views of jazz, rather than the opposite. Although the actual Jazz Club sketches were also influenced by shows like The Old Grey Whistle Test with whispering Bob Harris which weren't actually about jazz although they were overly-serious about other music such as prog rock.

As for Ali G, he certainly preceded the rise of British 00s hip-hop and rap (from Roots Manuva to GLC), but you can't overstate the influence of Mr C.

[Pink Gregory]

i love lucy is the best answer to this question

before then, no one had truly loved Lucy

[samadriel]

before then, no one had truly loved Lucy

No-one had admitted to loving Lucy.

[Gulftastic]

The darts sketch on NTNON helped push the sport to make the changes it needed.

And do Harry Enfield's scousers count? They super quickly became everyone's go to impression of Liverpudlians and remain so today, 30 years on. As far as I can tell, it was an image embraced by the locals too.

[checkoutgirl]

A friend told me recently they thought the development and popularity of UK jazz had been held back by the perception of the genre from the "jazz club" sketch in the Fast Show. I'm not sure I agree but I think it's a fun opinion to have.

Jazz is held back by jazz. But it's nice to have something else to blame sometimes.

[Inspector Norse]

The darts sketch on NTNON helped push the sport to make the changes it needed.

24-hour licensing?

[Jack Shaftoe]

No-one had ever put fools and horses together until John Sullivan's fine work and now you rarely see them apart.

Slightly more seriously, I'm pretty sure Ross's ex and her partner in Friends not being the butt of the joke, while Ross being a dick about it frequently was the butt of the joke did a lot to normalise gay relationships in the UK and US (among straight people, I suspect gay relationships were already normalised among gay people).

[bobloblaw]

after the day today, all news producers realised how silly their graphics and presentation had become and scaled it back to basics, all newspaper cartoonists adopted a more sophisticated outlook, and sexist questions from sports reporters were consigned to history.

[Sebastian Cobb]

A friend told me recently they thought the development and popularity of UK jazz had been held back by the perception of the genre from the "jazz club" sketch in the Fast Show. I'm not sure I agree but I think it's a fun opinion to have.

In terms of holding things back, The Monorail Society have blamed The Simpsons for holding it back, and Greoning has responded with a sort of non-apology-apology

That's a by-product of our viciousness... Monorails are great, so it makes me sad, but at the same time if something's going to happen in The Simpsons, it's going to go wrong, right?

[Sebastian Cobb]

A friend told me recently they thought the development and popularity of UK jazz had been held back by the perception of the genre from the "jazz club" sketch in the Fast Show. I'm not sure I agree but I think it's a fun opinion to have.

Yet around that time Acid Jazz had become pretty big.

[Gulftastic]

Yet around that time Acid Jazz had become pretty big.

Maybe, but Acid Skiffle? Ah......

[Feralkid]

Aspects of Father Ted may have accelerated social progress in Ireland. The  diminished respect for the Catholic Church, though definitely fuelled by CSA scandals and wider discussion of the Magdalene Laundries etc, was probably given a further push by the show's depiction of priests and bishops.

I think a case might be made for the show helping overturn the nation's banning of divorces - with its depiction of bickering couple John and Mary, but the timing is a little iffy. Divorce was made legal right at the end of 1995 and, though a lot of folk in Ireland may have seen the Channel 4 broadcasts, I don't think it properly hit the national consciousness until state broadcaster RTE also started airing it. 

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

I suppose The Simpsons normalised cartoons being specifically aimed at adults?

Not only that, The Simpsons completely changed (American) family sitcoms, which up till that point featured wise parents and occasionally disobedient but ultimately good kids, getting into wholesome scrapes and learning and growing together. After its debut, you see a lot more stupid dad/bratty kids sitcoms. Malcolm in the Middle is The Simpsons' spiritual successor.

[Terry Torpid]

Would it be an overstatement to say Steptoe & Son brought greater attention to the plight of the poor?

There's a story that Harold Wilson asked the BBC to reschedule an episode on election night, because it was so popular with the working class, that there was a danger they'd all stay home to watch it instead of voting. The BBC acquiesced, and delayed it until after the polls closed. In the end, Labour won.

Slightly more seriously, I'm pretty sure Ross's ex and her partner in Friends not being the butt of the joke, while Ross being a dick about it frequently was the butt of the joke did a lot to normalise gay relationships in the UK and US (among straight people, I suspect gay relationships were already normalised among gay people).

And we'd have to mention Ellen as a watershed moment. There had been gay people in sitcoms before, but usually as one-off or side characters.

[Des Wigwam]

Could you say Smashy and Nicey hastened the decline of the DLT / Bates / Edmonds type of DJ on Radio 1 at least? I'd say they at least made that type of persona aware of how they came across and accordingly people (not DLT / Edmonds / Bates obvs) pretended that they were parodying old-school DJs. Alan Partridge in IAP a few years later coming in to reinforce things.

[Petey Pate]

I kind of think the opposite about Ali G, in that it emboldened 'ironic' appropriation of Jamaican patois and black culture among white people, in a sense, leading to more of what it originally satirised.

Can't recall the specifics, but Michael Cummings said that Brass Eye led to ITC (now Ofcom) changing their guidance on duping interviewees.

[Pete23]

Boris Johnson on Have I Got News For You becoming a bunch of good lads and riding that "Oh it's just Boris being Boris" wave all the way into the top job in the country?

[Video Game Fan 2000]

ali g was a definite favourite of racists

everyone loves a good "actually, i was just laughing at the poor" excuse

[ThaBiggPaybacc]

In terms of holding things back, The Monorail Society have blamed The Simpsons for holding it back