Evening all!
Many have attempted to compile a definitive list of the best sitcoms of all time. But have they ever done it in a hotel bar, with their wife, based on nothing but vague recollections of things they've seen?
No. They have not. But thank goodness, here I come to redress the balance. What follows is the result of much scribbling on notepads, disagreement and compromise and I think you'll agree, it's devastatingly inaccurate.
Numbers 50-41 are here, should you be so excited as to pursue them. But now, for your horrified disbelief, are numbers 40 to 31.
40.
Toast of London 2012-2020. Now
This is an odd inclusion, really. In many ways it's not a great sitcom. It's wilfully daft and doesn't do any character work, as such. Nothing wrong with that - it's just not really my preferred mode of sitcom.
I think its inclusion is testament to the power of Matt Berry's fizzing firecracker of a performance, which makes him impossible not to enjoy. He's a modern day Tom Baker by way of Brian Blessed, exploding through each episode in a Catherine wheel of exciting, flamboyant dialogue.
Massive respect here to Wifeface, for including this even though she knows that the mere thought of it will have me strutting up and down doing bad impressions for the rest of the day. Steady on Toast!
39.
Friday Night Dinner 2011-2020. Netflix, Channel 4
A fairly traditional sitcom, the like of which you don't get that often these days. A repetitive premise, with a bunch of mismatched characters forced together in a specific environment; catchphrases and broad slapstick rubbing along together as if it was the early 90s again. This is textbook stuff.
It rises above the herd due to some sharply observed character work and a strong cast. Paul Ritter, in particular, gives us one of the all time great comedy characters and there's a fun turn from Mark Heap as weird neighbour Jim.
Quotable and easy to watch... this doesn't break any moulds, but its gently enjoyable.
38.
Modern Family 2009-2020. Disney, Channel 4
This feels surprisingly low down, doesn't it? A clever, heartwarming show that was genuinely progressive in its attitudes. OK, it was pretty white, but it did a decent job with gender and sexuality. Plus the cast was, for the most part, perfect - delivering even the weaker scripts with emotional dexterity and physical nuance.
I rated it higher than Wifeface did. She thought it got too repetitive in later seasons, which is fair enough. Though apparently if you say this about Friends you are stupid and wrong and never load the dishwasher properly.
37.
Home 2019-2020. Channel 4
A lovely little tale of an asylum seeker who smuggles himself into the lives of a middle class family and slowly wins them over. A sort of ultra-woke retelling of 'Love Thy Neighbour'. What's 'Love Thy Neighbour'? Well it's a sort of 1970s racist version of 'Home'.
This didn't get to a third series, which is a massive shame as it was clearly set up for one. We watched as Sami - our asylum seeker - struggled with systems that set him up to fail, while trying to rub along with his adopted family. It was a show that felt important, in giving a voice to the refugee experience, while never forgetting that it was a character comedy.
36.
Feel Good 2020-2021. Netflix
A lot of the comedies on this list tread a fine line between 'funny' and 'incredibly bleak, what were you thinking calling this a comedy, never recommend anything to me again.' Feel Good is perhaps the ultimate example of that. The title is a trick to lure you in, and let me tell you this - 'good' is not the only thing you'll be feeling. No.
It's a trend in sitcom, in recent years, to use the form to explore some pretty heavy stuff. In this case we're talking about mental health issues, gender identity and toxic relationships. Sounds fun, right?
But hold on before you run away for a big comforting mug of Only Fools and Horses. This here show is beautiful, and warm and wonderful and oh so many things. The central relationship - between Mae Martin and Charlotte Ritchie - glows with all the unpredictable, silly joy of real love and there's a sly, dark wit to the whole affair that makes it sing.
35.
Frasier 1993-2004. Channel 4
I exist in a kind of quantum relationship with Frasier. When I'm watching it, I'm perfectly happy, marvelling at the quality of the character work and enjoying the razor sharp script. I love the way the characters seem to genuinely care for each other, and the perfect balance between intelligent wordplay and well constructed farce.
When I'm not watching it, I simply can't be bothered with it. It seems smug and repetitive and visually a little bland. So while many people might have this quite close to the top of their lists, I've let it languish down here, where it might be advised to have a think about what it's done.
For Frasier and Niles, this chart position is the equivalent of a perfectly good table at a middling restaurant. It's good company, but they would feel in their hearts that they should be somewhere better. And the fact that I know that about those characters suggests that maybe it should, indeed, be a little higher up.
But it's not. How d'you like those scrambled eggs?
34.
This Country 2017-2020. iPlayer
This is a documentary style tale of young, directionless people in a small English village, with all the petty frustrations that entails. As far as I'm concerned, it's one of the most brilliant shows made in recent memory, if not ever.
Looking at Wifeface's scores, however, I was shocked to find that she did not share my delight. What the hell? Hadn't we both massively enjoyed this, and had an incredible time watching it together? Well, apparently not. My memories are a sham! How much else of my life is a lie?
Well don't listen to her. Pretend this is higher up. It's amazing. It doesn't look great at first glance, I'll grant you. I avoided it for a while because the main characters looked very irritating. And they are, I suppose. Very irritating indeed. But as you watch there's a sweet vulnerability to them that really grows on you. I mean, you wouldn't want to spend any actual time with them. But watching them is lovely.
There's also a sneaky thing, where the pretend-documentary gives you facts and figures about what it's like to be young and have no prospects in 21st Century Britain. Bloody woke BBC - smuggling in socially responsible messages while I'm having fun.
33.
Catastrophe 2015-2019. Netflix
Some shows make you feel good about humanity and the possibilities we have for happiness once we surround ourselves with the right people. Others - like Catastrophe - hold a great big mirror up to our lives and simply raise two sarcastic eyebrows. We are jerks, 90% of the time, says the show, and the best we can do is try to find it funny.
This is a show about relationships, and how they are quite like clinging on to a raft, in a storm, and the raft is on fire, and you have to work out what your raft-partner is thinking or they'll go into a huge passive-aggressive sulk.
The central couple - played by Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney - tumble through a romance that is brilliantly, terrifyingly realistic. They argue in a way that is so true to life that I'd advise caution if watching with your partner. Laugh too hard at one of their horrible, hilarious put downs and you'll be getting quite the side eye.
32.
Black Books 2000-2004. Channel 4
A big tick from the wife for this show, and a kind of 'Yeah... OK,' from me. Though why I'm being so grumpy about it I don't know. This is a pretty good show and whenever it's on I'm compelled to watch it. And then I laugh loads and I know all the lines. So what am I even talking about? It's obviously good, and I'm just trying to look cool in front of my friends.
This is textbook sitcom stuff, rejoicing in the conventions of the form. Mismatched ersatz family? Check. Stuck in the same place every episode? Check. Clearly delineated types of humorous reaction to situations? Check! That's bingo - open the wine!
This is good, clockwork comedy that teeters on the edge of surrealism without ever quite going there. If the reality police came in, it could quite easily straighten its tie and say, "Why no, officer. I'm just a show about a perfectly normal bookshop." But there's a wonderful chaos to the whole thing that wins by putting the joke first, every single time.
And there's room for odd moments of poetry, in among. A wistful Bernard, surveying his musty bookshop through the wine bottles and cigarette smoke, somewhere in between despair and wonder, and smiling... "This is fantastic". Now that's what comedy is for.
31.
What We Do In The Shadows 2019-2024 iPlayer, Disney
Like the film which spawned it, this is a pseudo-documentary about a bunch of vampires who share a house. As a pitch, it sounds pretty awful - the sort of nonsense you could imagine on ITV in the 1980s, starring Spike from Hi-De-Hi in a set of comedy fangs, saying things like, "I guess that's what I get for suggesting we go out for steak!"
Well, it's not like that. It's very good indeed, and there are no dodgy fangs to be seen. Instead we get a collection of well drawn, believable characters, living in a world that is both wildly supernatural and reassuringly mundane. It's a delicate balancing act, done with such skill that you never question the parameters of the world building.
After series three I was starting to wonder if the show had run out of ideas, and was starting to tread water a little. Then series four did some cool new things that reinvented the energy of the show and was even surprisingly moving. Well done, you vampires.
So there you go. That's numbers 40 to 31. Don't like them? Write your own list. But don't do it with my wife - she'll just tell you that you're wrong, and your taste is awful, and if you wanted beans so badly why didn't you put them on the shopping list?
Here's the other rankings, for your pleasure and disagreement:
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