Comedy never comes from the beautiful and successful people. It’s the ugly, the fat, the underachievers, and the underdogs. Premiering on Go! tonight are two comedies that understand this and embrace the notion with glee.
Community is a new US sitcom from Dan Harmon (Heat Vision and Jack, The Sarah Silverman Show) that sets its focus on the eclectic mix of adults who return to education by way of attending a community college. Joel McHale (best known as host of The Soup, and ‘Bank Manager’ in Spiderman 2) leads the ensemble, playing Jeff, a dodgy lawyer who needs to attend the college after his degree was deemed invalid. He falls in with a group of rag tag ne’er-do-wells who all join a study group for their Spanish class.
Taking its cue from mid-80s comedies, one could almost see this show as a feature film starring Bill Murray.
While funny, Community does take a few episodes to find its feet. Stick with the show, as it has quickly become one of 2010’s strongest offerings.
The In-Betweeners is a UK comedy by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris (who each had writing credits on Flight of The Conchords). Working almost like a high school version of the wickedly funny Peep Show (reviewed on Crikey), the protagonists are all grotty 15 year-old boys who stumble from one socially awkward situation to the next.
Driven by the same things that drive all teenage boys (the pursuit of girls and the opportunity to make fun of your friends), The In-Betweeners manages to be honest and truthful about life at that age, while embracing all manner of awkward UK comedy sitcom tropes.
With competition from The Sopranos and The Wire, Tuesday nights are already flush with great television, but both of these are certainly worth taking a look.
Community airs at 9pm on Go!, followed by two episodes back-to-back of The In-Betweeners at 9:30pm.
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