Comedy Series Review: Futurama

Created by the Simpson's Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, this series about life in the 31st century was one of FOX's many successful animated sitcoms, although production was in later seasons carried out for Comedy Central. The series follows Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery-boy from the late 20th century who accidentally fell into a cryogenic tank on new year's eve 1999 which freezes him for 1000 years, thus he ends up in the year 3000 on January the first, mere minutes after midnight. The series follows his new life in the 31st century, trying to adapt to all the changes and deal with the loss of his old world. The series is wildly popular, won 6 primetime emmys and several other award and has found its way to the Internet in the form of several popular memes.

Alongside Fry the main characters include Turanga Leela, Professor Farnsworth, Bender, Amy Wong, Hermes Conrad and Dr. Zoidberg. They are also the crew of Planet Express, the delivery company owned by Professor Farnsworth. Professor Farnsworth is said to be extremely old, with his age most recently being mentioned to be 170 years old, and he ages along with the series. He used to be the oldest member of his family, until Fry came out of cryogenic preservation. Fry, being a distant uncle of the professor, is currently the oldest member of his family.

Fry and Leela

Fry's love interest is Leela. She's the captain of the Planet Express ship, although the used to be a career placement officer at the cryogenics lab, where she implanted a chip into the hand of fresh defrostees to identify which jobs they were best suited for. When Fry refuses to have his hand chipped, he flees and Leela follows him. After meeting Bender, a humanoid bending robot who just deserted his job, they are all hired as the new crew at Planet Express, since the old crew just died on a dangerous mission. The matter of former Planet Express crews dying becomes sort of a running joke in the series, with Professor Farnsworth sometimes assigning jobs to them which have cost the previous crews their lives. At one point the crew meet a previous crew, which was believed to be dead, stuck inside a giant four-dimensional space whale in the Bermuda Tetrahedron, which Leela manages to pilot back to Earth by the power of sheer obsession.

Leela is first believed to be an alien, although no-one knew where she came from. She was raised in the Cookieville Minimum Security Orphanarium where her parents abandoned her with a note covered in mysterious symbols to give the impression she was an alien. Eventually Leela finds out she is in fact a mutant, but as mutants are not allowed on the surface, her parents decided to give her up to the orphanarium in hopes she'd have a better life as an alien orphan.

Dr. Zoidberg is an old army friend of the professor. Also he is the only surviving member of the first crew of the Planet Express, having escaped from the whale by escape-pod. Zoidberg as a character is modelled after Jewish stereotypes, although most of his characteristics are not distinctly Jewish. He is an atrocious doctor with poor understanding of basic human anatomy, although he believes himself to be an expert. He is otherwise poor, unsuccessful with females (even of his own species), smelly and altogether disgusting. Also his manners – especially his table manners – are non-existent. He is not mean-spirited or of bad heart, just helplessly incompetent in just about everything. He often lies about his wealth and status and tries to appear of higher standing than he really is. This is something more people in his family do, so it's uncertain if its a Zoidberg thing, or a family or species characteristic.

Bender Bending Rodriguez

Bender is a bending unit robot fuelled by alcohol. He is generally an inconsiderate, selfish robot, although he does develop a close friendship with Fry. A humorous characteristic he has, is his dependence on alcohol. If he goes without alcohol for too long he grows weak and starts rusting around his mouth and chin, giving the impression of a beard. He more or less looks like a human would after drinking too much alcohol for a prolonged period of time often would look in a sitcom.

Futurama has aired 140 episodes. In 2013 the series had it's finale, but the producers have indicated they would like to continue or to make a film to conclude the series. Futurama has a huge fan base around the world and the episodes are still broadcast around the world by Comedy Central. The series has survived a cancellation before and many fans are hoping for a return of the series. Fingers crossed!

Comedy Series Review: Fawlty towers

The Cast of Fawlty Towers

Who doesn’t know this landmark of British comedy? Still regarded as one of the best televised comedies ever made, this sitcom still captivates and entertains viewers all over the globe. In the 1970s, the series won 3 BAFTAs; in 2000, a good 20 years after the final episode aired, it was named “Best British television series of all time” by the British Film institute; in 2006 the series came second only to Frasier in The Ultimate Sitcom Poll of Comedy Writers and in the same year Basil Fawlty (one of the main characters) ended first on Five’s Britain's Funniest Comedy Character Poll. All this is truly remarkable for a series consisting of only 12 episodes. So what makes this such a hit?

The establishment

During the 1970s there was a class struggle in the UK where the lower-paid working class started to rebel against the wealthy upper-class establishment. This sometimes led to clashes such as the miner’s strikes of 1972 and 1974 which derailed society to the point the government introduced the 3-day week to conserve power. The miner’s strikes are sometimes mentioned in Fawlty Towers, mainly by Major Gowen, who’s always looking for his newspapers to read up on the outside world.

This general discontent felt by many British people made them susceptible to the ridicule of the establishment throughout Fawlty Towers. Mainly Basil Fawlty’s attempts to attract upper-class rich people and the resulting chaos played in to the animosity many people felt towards the real-life upper-class.

Racism

Racism, mainly in a fairly innocent form, is recurrent throughout British humour. In Fawlty Towers a running joke is Manuel’s lack of skill in being a waiter and the English language. The usual excuse for this is “He’s from Barcelona”. Basil Fawlty’s racism towards the Spanish waiter usually bounces back to hit Fawlty - often literally. This kind of mildy racist humour is popular not only in the UK, but around the world. Even in Spain, where in the translated version Manuel is Italian.

Slapstick

Slapstick is one of the oldest forms of comedy and is as popular as ever. There is no lack of slapstick in Fawlty Towers, mainly on the expense of either Basil Fawlty or Manuel, the Spanish waiter. Generally there are no real consequences to the violence and slapstick, although Basil does end up in hospital once and Manuel is at one point locked in a burning kitchen.

Recognizablity

Many people who have stayed at hotels or been to restaurants are familiar with bad service and incompetent management. The series was based on the real-life Gleneagles Hotel, run by the Sinclair family. John Cleese (Basil Fawlty) described the Gleneagles’ manager Donald Sinclair as “the rudest man I've ever come across in my life.” And modelled the Basil character after him. The over-the-top ridiculous acting and drama in the series is laughable because it is so close to the truth and to existing stereotypes.

To sum up, Fawlty Towers is a timeless mix of many of the famous aspects of British humour executed brilliantly by a formidable cast. It is still loved by many and will continue to be popular for years to come. 

Comedy Series Review: Family Guy

Five time Emmy Award-winning show Family Guy is an international hit. With over 200 episodes already aired and the twelfth season currently airing, the show is going strong. Focusing on the Griffin family this series follows the antics of Peter, Lois, Meg, Chris, Brian and Stewie, with several recurring characters such as Glenn Quagmire, Joe Swanson and Cleveland Brown. Cleveland moved away from the neighbourhood and got his own spin-off show in 2009. When The Cleveland Show was axed by Fox in 2013 Cleveland moved back to Quahog, Rhode Island and resumed his old spot in the show.

Much of the humour is derived from pop-cultural references. Some films such as the Star Wars series and the Ghostbusters films are often referenced. Also there are a lot of cutaway gags, often caused by a character reminding a scene from their past and the episode then cutting to that memory. These cutaways are often absurd and portray unlikely situations. These sometimes include celebrities or mythological and religious characters. The parodying and referencing of other material has led to lawsuits, although in most cases the court ruled the use of copyrighted material justified as fair use, and/or protected by the First Amendment. One case was however settled out of court with undisclosed terms.

In early seasons a recurring joke came in the form of the family's baby (Stewie) having super-villain aspirations, often devising plans and weapons of mass destruction with the goal to get rid of things he doesn't like and in particular to kill Lois (his mother). His plans fail without exception but he does manage to build an entire room and fill it with weapons and evil machinery without his parents noticing. Over the course of the series Stewie's character developed and lost much of it's evil side. Although it is sometimes still referenced, he is now a more stable character, with strong sexual (sometimes gay) tendencies and he has formed a strong bond with Brian, sometimes showing a romantic or sexual interest in him.

Brian is the family dog. He is able to talk, walks on his rear paws, drives a hybrid and is an often pretentious left-wing wannabe intellectual. He has been 'working on his book' for years without result, drinks humongous amounts of booze and is a real ladies man. Besides alcohol he has used cocaine and marijuana and he smokes. He is also an Iraq veteran. Despite these definite human characteristics Brian still has clear dog perks as well: He sometimes barks at people or dogs, wags his tail when he's happy or aroused, he likes to ride up against people's legs and his parents were normal dogs. Brian has a human son called Dylan although it is questionable if this is really his son, given the fact that Dylan is older than Brian. Brian has accepted Dylan as a son though and managed to change him from a marijuana smoking, violent teenager into a well-mannered young adult.

Another recurring form of humour used is self-reference. Often these jokes are about FOX, the company the series is made for, or break the fourth wall. An example of a joke about FOX is Peter telling the family FOX has cancelled them to make room for a list of other shows. Lois asks if there is any hope, to which Peter replies they might stand a chance if all these shows were cancelled. The joke works even better because all the shows named, were actually cancelled by FOX during Family Guy's hiatus. Other recurring jokes include the ridicule of FOX News and the use of catchphrases such as Quagmire's “Giggity giggity goo” and Peter's “Freakin' sweet!”

Family Guy manages to keep a consistently high level of funny and it survives because it isn't afraid to adapt and evolve to keep it fresh and interesting. If you haven't seen it, go check it out!

Comedian Bio: John Oliver

John Oliver in 2011

John Oliver is a prime recent example of a comedian from England, who made a successful transfer to the USA. Although Oliver was already well-known in the UK as a panelist on Mock The Week, he is now successful around the world with his popular late-night talk show Last Week Tonight on HBO. 

Oliver started in 2001, at age 24, on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as a stand-up comedian. During the next few years, he had a solo stand-up show and worked with UK comedian Andy Zaltzman on a double act and on the radio show Political Animal. In 2005 and 2006 Oliver was a panelist on Mock the Week.

In 2006 Oliver joined The Daily Show as its senior British correspondent, after having been recommended by Ricky Gervais. In 2009, 2011 and 2012, Oliver received Emmy awards for outstanding writing. In 2013, Jon Stewart left The Daily Show for 8 weeks to direct a film. Oliver guest hosted the show during this time, to critical acclaim. Several critics stated Oliver should succeed Stewart as show host, or receive his own show. Three months later, HBO announced Oliver would be getting his own late night show.

Last Week Tonight attracted over a million viewers during its first broadcast. Because many segments

John Oliver in 2007

were also uploaded to websites such as Youtube, the actual ratings have risen well into multiple millions. This is in part where Oliver gets his success from; he understands the importance of the Internet. By uploading his videos to Youtube himself, he can avoid other people uploading them and the show can collect ad revenue from Youtube. Also the show is able to attract greater audiences, which can help it survive in the long run. Plans have been announced to make every episode a full hour, instead of a half hour, with multiple episodes per week, as soon as Oliver “gets his feet under him”. Oliver has also received complete creative freedom from HBO, including the freedom to ridicule any corporation. This is made possible by HBO's ad-free subscription system. Therefore HBO can't be harmed if Oliver critizises a corporation, as they aren't receiving funding from other businesses.

With a young show gaining incredible ratings, Oliver seems to be set for the future. His work is hilarious, so if you haven't seen it, look for it on Youtube!

Comedy Analysis: Deadpan

A funny line with a 'dead pan'

Also known as dry humour or dry wit, the term deadpan is derived from the words “dead pan” where pan is a slang word for face. Therefore deadpan means “dead face” meaning expressionless face. Deadpan is the delivery of a humorous, sarcastic, blunt or apparently unintentional statement with a neutral face. This can add to the effectiveness of a joke, whilst also testing the observational limits and awareness (and thus the implied intelligence) of the audience. Especially British comedy often relies on this.

Many British comedians and television series use a lot of deadpan. For instance Mike in The Young Ones is famous for his deadpan one-liners used for comic effect. Often these can be confusing, such as his response when Rick asks him if he stole his apple: “Well, if you're gonna sin you might as well be original”.This can be seen as a reference to John Calvin's description of original sin, which includes theft.

Another popular British show frequently utilizing deadpan is Blackadder. The show's main protagonist, Edmund Blackadder, often makes dry witty statements and insults with a completely straight face. In one of the episodes of the final series, Blackadder goes forth, the following conversation takes place, where Blackadder tries to prove Capt. Darling is a German spy and remains completely deadpan up until the final sentence:

            Blackadder: What is the colour of the Queen of England's favourite hat?
            Darling: How the bloody hell am I supposed to know?!
            Blackadder: I see...Well, let me ask you another question. Who is the      German head of state?
            Darling: Well, Kaiser Wilhelm, obviously.
            Blackadder: (furiously) So you're on first name terms with the kaiser, are you?!

Not only British humour uses deadpan, it is increasingly common in American humour as well. Some well-known American series that use deadpan include Seinfeld, Adventure Time, The Office and Arrested Development. In series like Seinfeld not all characters utilize deadpan, as it is mainly George who remains expressionless during most of his screen-time. In Adventure Time deadpan is mostly utilized when characters make a statement or remark which is not weird or humorous to them, as it fits their universe. For the viewer however, their universe in itself is weird enough and some of the deadpan remarks can be absolutely hilarious. Especially when characters like Lumpy Space Princess and Princess Bubblegum make a joke or hilarious comment, they are usually completely deadpan.

To sum up, deadpan has been around for a while and isn't going anywhere soon. It is becoming increasingly popular in humour and comedy on both sides of the Atlantic as well as in on-line comedy. It's funny and puts the audience to the test, which in itself can have hilarious results. It rightfully deserves its place in comedy.

Comedy Analysis: Dark humour

Also known as black humour, this is a type of humour that makes light, an otherwise serious or depressing situation. It is closely related to gallows humour. Dark humour works because of cynicism and satire, often related to matters like death or disease as well as taboo subjects. In recent years STDs and HIV/AIDS have become increasingly popular subjects for dark humour. Dark humour is however generally not obscene and not intended to insult or offend people. Blue humour is a type of humour derived from and interrelated with dark or black humour which is usually less subtle and more obscene.

Dark humour is often considered to be a classic part of British comedy. Even though this is not necessarily untrue, it is not by origin British: the term was first coined in 1935 by the Frenchman André Breton (humour noir) who credited Irishman Jonathan Swift with it's invention. Since it has been adapted in British humour, American humor, and many other schools of comedy. Famous dark comedians include Dane Cook, Monty Python, M*A*S*H and Louie C.K.

Dr. Strangelove

A prime example of a dark humour film is Dr. Strangelove by Stanley Kubrick. This 1964 film deals with the threat of annihilation of the Earth due to nuclear war. Although films with this subject are generally dark, serious and treat the subject with gravity, this film doesn't. For instance the safeguards to prevent nuclear war in Dr. Strangelove are exactly the causes which trigger the war.

A more recent film utilizing dark humour is Horrible Bosses, which is a 2011 film. The film deals with 3 men who decide to murder their respective bosses. Although this is a heavy subject, bordering on the morbid, it is treated in a light-hearted and sarcastic way, which makes it enjoyably funny.

Although dark humour is a relatively young type of humour, it has secured it's place in the world of comedy. With much more yet to come no-one knows where it's gonna go from here.

Comedy Series Review: Bottom

Eddie Hitler and Richard Richard

Bottom is a British sitcom in alternative comedy created by and starring Rick Mayal and Adrian Edmondson, famous from the London stand-up scene from the late 70s and the BBC hit-series The Young Ones. Similarly to The Young Ones, this series had the two actors portraying two house-mates, although no longer students. Richard Richard (Mayall) has many similarities to the Rick characters from The Young Ones whereas Eddie Hitler (Edmondson) shares many traits with the Vyvyan character. The main difference is in that the Bottom characters are much, much more violent toward each other than in The Young Ones.

Since Richard (Rich) and Eddie are two bachelors living together, they have few interests. Cleaning is not one of those, which results in their apartment being consistently disgusting. The interests they do have include women, sex with women, booze and smashing each other's brains in.

The comedy in this series is generally relatively simple; there is a lot of slapstick, a lot of violence, quite a bit of blood and gore, not nearly as much sex as the characters would like, although it can't be said they aren't trying. A lot of the humour is derived from the contrast in personalities and the absurd situations they get themselves involved in. An example is the episode when they have found a sex tape starring the prime minister. When they subsequently try to blackmail said prime minister their flat is shot at by (presumably) armed police. Of course our anti-heroes survive but they loose the tape.

There is some semi-clever word play here, an example of which is the episode where the guys think there's a burglar in the house. Rich tells Eddie the burglar is in the drawing room, to which Eddie responds “we have a room just for drawing?!”. There's none of the really witty stuff found The Young Ones though.

Bottom ran for 3 seasons, consisting of 6 episodes each and also 5 live shows and 1 film were made. It's an entertaining series, but it's nothing ground breaking nor is it a work of genius. This is just simple, harmless slapstick being simply amusing.

Comedy Series Review: Blackadder

Blackadder's Christmas Carol

"The eyes are open, the mouth moves, but Mr. Brain has long since departed, hasn't he, Percy?"

Where did this gem come from you ask? Why, it was Blackadder II of course. This ever-popular British sitcom aired between 1983 and 1989 and dealt with the Blackadder dynasty. The series consists of four seasons, each focusing on a different (sometimes fictitious) era in British history. It is one of the most popular British television series of all time, being listed as one of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes by the British Film Institute, placing second on the BBC's Britain's Best Sitcom poll and being ranked as the 20th Best TV show of all time by Empire magazine. What was it that made Blackadder so great?

The Black Adder

Prince Edmund Blackadder

The first season, titled The Black Adder introduced the main characters Prince Edmund, The Duke of
Edinburgh, (who decides to call himself The Black Adder), Lord Percy Percy, Duke of Northumberland and Baldrick, Son of Robin the Dung Gatherer. Edmund and Baldrick are consistent throughout the series, Lord Percy only appears in the first and second seasons.

In this season the characters are still being developed and especially Edmund is quite different from the  later seasons. Here he is mainly slimy and not as smart as his descendants. Although he has a very creative vocabulary, he usually isn't brave enough to insult someone to their face. Lord Percy and Baldrick are more slow-witted than he is, although Baldrick did come up with the name The Black Adder, as a more impressive alternative to Edmund's own idea: The Black Vegetable. Edmund then ignores Baldrick and presents the name as if it were his own idea, being then praised for his cleverness by Lord Percy.

This season had the a high budget and a lot of the recording was done on-site, contrary to later seasons where most of the recording was done on-set. This is also the only season where Edmund is a prince. Furthermore Edmund is considerably less smart and witty than he is in later seasons and he doesn't seem as bitter either.

Edmund, Lord Blackadder

Blackadder II

The second season of Blackadder features Lord Edmund Blackadder, the first in the series to actually be called Blackadder. Although he has some standing at the royal court and remains a nobleman. He is described as the great-grandson of Prince Edmund, The Black Adder. This Blackadder is once again accompanied by Baldrick and Lord Percy. Edmund's main antagonist in this series is Lord Melchett, one of the queens favourites. This rivalry, coupled with Edmund's attempts to keep up his appearance of a wealthy man, often lead to hilarious showdowns. This is also the season the quote above this post is taken from.

Edmund, Lord Blackadder sets his archetype in this series. Nearly every Blackadder in later series and specials is modelled after this version of him. He is much more handsome, smart, witty and sharp than his predecessor. Also he is shown to have little remorse, at one point shooting at some kids with a bow and arrow only to then shout at them they should be in school. Whereas Prince Edmund 'The Black Adder' was often remorseful or regretful about his actions, Lord Edmund Blackadder is not bothered by the result of his actions as long as he isn't adversely affected.

Blackadder the Third

Edmund Blackadder, Esq.

In the third season of Blackadder, the dynasty has fallen even further. Edmund Blackadder Esq. is now the servant to Prince George, the dim-witted Prince of Wales. Baldrick is again a loyal companion to Mr. Edmund Blackadder although his companionship is not always appreciated by Edmund. Lord Percy does not make an appearance in this season, the role of “the goofy one” is mainly filled by Prince George.

This version of Edmund is, although no-where near as rich or influential as his predecessors, still generally well respected. He is a lot smarter and wittier than most of his peers and is often found stealing from the Prince and Baldrick. He is mostly bitter and ruthless and is often violent to Baldrick and, when given the chance, to Prince George. This is also the only Blackadder who is not killed on screen.

Captain Edmund Blackadder

Blackadder goes forth

The fourth and final season of Blackadder features Captain Edmund Blackadder and is set in the trenches of the Great War. He is again accompanied by Baldrick, his Batman, and Lieutenant George. He often has to deal with the simpleton General Melchett and his assistant Captain Darling.

This Edmund is mainly occupied with not getting killed. He joined the British Army when the worst enemies to be expected were armed with sharp slices of pineapple. Now he has ended up in the trenches, facing the most deadly enemy the world had ever seen. His constant attempts to get out of the trenches sometimes get him in trouble, even to the point where he was court-marshalled for shooting and eating General Melchett's favourite carrier pigeon, Speckled Jim. This series ends with Blackadder and his companions going 'over the top' in 1917. He technically doesn't die on screen but the general assumption is he did not survive the battle.

Blackadder's focus on British history, although sometimes fictitious, is often recognisable to people with a basic understanding of British history. Even to those who are unaware of the historical context will find this an excellent sitcom with brilliantly written characters and a marvellous cast portraying every character in a believable way. The series still holds up today, over 20 years after the last episode was aired. Several specials have been made since which were all well-received and some cast-members have hinted towards the possibility of a 5th season or a film being made in the near future. If you haven't seen Blackadder yet, go see it, it's worth it. 

Comedy Series Review: American Dad!

Steve Smith and Roger the alien

An alien in the attic, a talking goldfish with the brain of a German guy, a GOP-loving father, left-wing activist daughter, cocky 14 year-old son and a clueless mother. That is the Smith family, the main characters in American Dad!. This award-winning American Sitcom first aired on FOX but is now aired around the world on many stations. So far over 160 episodes have aired and a new season is announced for the summer of 2014.

What makes this series so successful is its hilarious combination of classic American sitcom humour and absurd comedy. Especially Stan (the father) and Roger (the extraterrestrial) provide plenty of opportunity for absurd situations. Stan is a secret agent with the CIA and always carries his gun to protect his family and American values. Roger is an alien whose gender is never specified and whose sexual preferences are virtually limitless. He is also a master of disguise, being able to disguise himself to the point where the Smith family don't even recognise him anymore.

The Smith family

Steve is the family's 14-year old son. He is the second child and the youngest. Stan often considers Steve to not be “a real man” and every now and then attempts to make Steve more masculine by taking him hunting and do other 'manly' things. Steve is generally friendly with Roger but his best friend is Snot, another 14-year old who's in school with Steve. They often devise plans together, generally with the goal to get (older) girls, which invariably result in hilarious payoffs and failures. Roger also often comes up with devious schemes, usually to make money or achieve some of his other personal goals. These are sometimes much more ruthless, since Roger generally has no problems sacrificing others to achieve his own goals.

A great point of strength in this series is its continuity. True, there are several series out there with better continuity, but for an animated sitcom, American Dad! does exceptionally well. Some examples or this are Roger, who in the first two seasons wasn't allowed to go outside the house. An adventure during one episode made Stan realise Roger's talent in disguising himself. Ever since Roger has been building a considerable collection of clothes, shoes and wigs to allow him to go outside more often. He has grown much happier since he's allowed to go out and uses his freedom for a variety of purposes. Other comparable sitcoms, such as Family Guy – Seth McFarlane's other hit show – don't even come near the level of continuity in American Dad!.

Another source of hilarity is the relationship between Hayley and Stan. Hayley is Stan and Francine's daughter and oldest child. She is a hippie-like left-wing activist. She protests pretty much everything Stan stands for: capitalism, free gun ownership, the meat industry and the CIA's policies and practises. Over the course of several seasons Hayley was in a relationship with Jeff, a 'proper' hippie, who Stan believes to be a deadbeat. Jeff disappears from the series after Rogers has his people take Jeff back to their home planet, instead of Roger.

Stan Smith during the intro

As mentioned, Stan is often a source of absurd hilarity. Being an emotional and irrational, insensitive, inconsiderate conservative and self-proclaimed American patriot, he often takes to extreme measures to achieve his goal. At one point he framed his wife so as not to hear her say “I told you so” and in another episode he tries to get an atheist friend by spreading bird flu at his restaurant, taking away his children, brainwashing his wife to think she's a lesbian and blowing up his home. It is also revealed he takes Francine to a hypnotist every year to make her forget about bad things he's done over the previous year. The hypnotist reverses the effects after Stan goes to get a sandwich and doesn't offer him one for the umpteenth consecutive year.

Francine is Stan's wife and the mother of the family. She is often considered to be a moralistic nagging wife, who constantly scolds her family (Stan in particular) over their wrongdoings. She has a very paradoxical personality, often making remarks or performing actions that are completely inappropriate and sometimes unwholesome.

This motley crew all result in a generally hilarious American sitcom, which can be enjoyed by people from all over the world, even the ones without knowledge of American culture. The new season is definitely something to look forward to! 

ComedyTop 10: One-liners and Catchphrases

Catchphrases are single, recurrent lines which are associated with a specific character or series. These are generally used for comic effect and sometimes become even more famous than the character itself. One-liners are not necessarily recurrent, but are always jokes told in, you guessed it, one line. Here we will list ten of the best one-liners and catchphrases in comedy. Feel free to add your own in the comments!

10.  Suit-up!

            This is Barney Stinson's catchphrase in How I Met Your Mother. The ever-suited Barney prides himself on his own suits, and always tries to get others to suit-up themselves. Some variations   on this catchphrase include: suit-down and birthsuiting-up, which are both euphemisms for getting naked.

9.      D'oh!

This is Homer Simpson's catchphrase in The Simpsons. Repeated and parodied countless times in other shows, this phrase has become a trademark of someone doing something stupid.

8.      I have a cunning plan

This one's from the British sitcom Blackadder. Always followed by an awful, but hilarious plan, this is Baldrick's announcement when he has a plan to get the gang out of an ugly situation.

           

7.      Oh my god! They killed Kenny!

This world-famous quote is uttered by Stan and Kyle from South Park after Kenny has died (again) in some horrible way.

6.      Lucy! You got some splaining to do!

This is the most famous catchphrase that doesn't exist. Often thought to be from Ricky Ricardo, said to Lucy in I Love Lucy after she did something wacky again, it was never said that way. Instead, Ricardo often said similar, but different, phrases, such as “start splaining” and “Ok Lucy, splain”.

5.      I am serious, and don't call me Shirley.

This is Leslie Nielsen's character's standard response to being told “Surely, you can't be serious” in the film Airplane!. Parodied countless times, this is one of the funniest one-liner responses ever on the big screen.

4.      We're on a mission from God

Funny because of it's debatable truthfulness and the sincerity with which it is said, this is a catchphrase from The Blues Brothers. On a mission to collect money to save their old orphanage, which is owned by the church, the Blues brothers feel they are on a sacred mission.

3.      Queens!

This quote from Eddie Murphy's character in Coming to America is hilarious because it has so many tie-ins to the plot. Eddie Murphy plays a prince, looking for his future queen in New York. Being completely oblivious to New York's reality, he feels the Queens borough is the best place to look.

2.      You know, for kids!

Originally from The Hudsucker Proxy, this phrase has been re-popularized among internet users by Doug Walker, as his character The Nostalgia Critic, in the webseries of the same name. It is now often used in response to a particularly nasty, violent or gory scene in children’s films or series.

1.      Everybody knows you never go full retard

This is another one-liner that took on its own life. Originally it is from Tropic Thunder, where the Kirk Lazarus character uses the line to criticize several films. It has become an Internet meme in the form of “you just went full retard” or alternatively the more controversial “nigga, you just went full retard”. It has been used on a variety of images showing people doing something stupid and has been said to many, many people on-line.

As a bonus there's this little gem from South Park:

After Eric captured 63 hippies and locked them in his basement, Officer Barbrady releases them and arrests Eric.

            Officer Barbrady:       You can't kidnap people and lock them in your basement.

            Eric Cartman:             They're not people! They're HIPPIES!

Comedy Series Review: 30 Rock

30 Rock, short for 30 Rockefeller Plaza, is an office in New York, home to the GE group and NBC's offices. Here a crew of writers, producers, stars and the network executive Jack Donaghy work to produce TGS with Tracy Jordan. This is the setting of 30 Rock, a sitcom centering around Liz Lemon, the head-writer for TGS with Tracy Jordan who tries to run the show whilst dealing with the crazy star Tracy Jordan and diva Jenna Maroney.

The show received much critical acclaim and over it's 139 episode run it won over 70 awards and was nominated over 200 times. Based on Tina Fey's (Liz Lemon) experience as a head writer with Saturday Night Live, it has been described as "weirdly appropriate and hilarious symbol of our times".

Main protagonist Liz Lemon is the head writer for popular sketch-show TGS with Tracy Jordan. The series follows her in both her personal and professional life, showing her endless attempts to find “the one” and her ongoing efforts to make Tracy Jordan and Jenna Maroney drop their diva-acts. She is mentored by Jack Donaghy, the new network executive who is mainly in the game to make money, although he quickly develops a soft spot for Liz.

Kenneth Parcell is the ever-cheerful and obedient NBC page. He's always willing to help everybody and he loves his job. He is somewhat of a mysterious character, as his age is never mentioned and, although he looks to be in his twenties, he has memories of events that happened long ago. There is also a flashback to the 1950's showing him dancing. He is a very religious character and a member of the “Eighth Day Resurrected Covenant of the Holy Trinity” -  a religious sect who follow a bible in German that states the year 2014 is actually 1999.

Jack Donaghy is a businessman and a capitalist through and through. He is constantly interfering with the course of business in the studio and is often a source of frustration to Liz, as well as a good friend and mentor. He has an unexpected past, having trained in the martial arts under Chuck Norris, driving a rental car into the Hudson to practice escaping, bow-hunting Polar Bears and overcoming a peanut allergy through sheer willpower. In the penultimate episode of the series he steps down as network chief and promotes Kenneth to President of NBC.

Tracy Jordan and Jenna Maroney are the stars of the show. They sometimes have falling-outs, but can sometimes work together to meet a common goal. Jenna used to be the star of the show by herself (TGS is an acronym for The Girly Show) but Jack brought in Tracy when he became the network president. Jenna and Liz are best friends, although Jenna often bothers Liz with petty problems for which she demands an immediate solution.

This amazing set of characters, complimented by some brilliant others make this series the hit that it is. As aforementioned it has received many awards and countless award nominations and it is still broadcast around the globe. This truly is one of the gems of American sitcoms.