Nathan Barley

Chris Morris has not, contrary to some people's opinion, failed at producing a truly inspired piece of work in his latest series "Nathan Barley". His talent for humour shines through all over the place, and the show is riddled with almost subliminal jokes. When I watched both of the two first episodes, I was laughing out loud. This certainly rivals "Brass Eye" and "The Day Today" and I would personally rate it above those two.

One thing I will say though is that the people who don't appreciate "Nathan Barley" clearly are the people who find "Friends" funny. There is a lack of the increasingly boring slapstick humour, instead the show is packed with amusing irony and stupid phrases - my favourite: "It's gonna be totally fukin Mexico." I think that Chris and Charlie are onto a winner and avidly await the next four episodes...

I've watched the DVD several times now and I can say it's hilarious. It did take a little to get over the overly annoying characters though but...

I caught this on TV when it came out and I didn't really give it the time and as such... I didn't really get much out of it. To tell you the truth, the character wound me up a lot. Later on a friend pointed out that Chris Morris had directed it, so I had to give it another go.

Being a Chris Morris fan (other for Blue Jam, which I thought was just a little bit too far over the line) I had to give it another go. And it was worth it. Give it a bit of time and there is no turning back. As many have said, it's not an overly obvious joke based Sitcom but it's in the subtleties.

I'd say, give it a go and you MAY love it… or you can give it to a friend. The choice is yours.

Mat

I came to Nathan Barley one Friday night totally by accident, as i am usually out and about on weekend nights. I stumbled on it and was immediately sucked in by their world. It may have got the lowest ratings channel 4 have ever received on a Friday night, but its popularity in DVD format shows its cult following. HMV (Leeds)sold out in their first week and had to re-order another 200 or so due to unexpected sales. The comedy depicts an image-conscious world where most of the characters are working in the media spectrum, either in newspapers (Dan Ashcroft), documentaries (Claire Ashcroft) or in websites/music or anything else he can get his idiotic hands into (aka Nathan Barley). The show is the typical 6 episodes. It centres mainly around the 'friendship' between Nathan Barley and Dan Ashcroft. Barley loves Ashcroft and wants to be just like him (e.g. copying haircut, salmon/scrambled egg coffee) but Dan Ashcroft despises him for being 'the King of the Idiots' and for wanting to sleep with his sister. Just as Dan seems to be winning his little personal duel against Barley, things go wrong for him. The comedy is layered and warrants multiple watches. I have watched 'The Mighty Boosh' last week to see what all the fuss was about. I personally believe Nathan Barley to be a far better comedy. More development of characters, better use of language, more money spent on design, interesting take on London society. Futuristic yet still very accessible, i recommend Nathan Barley to anyone. Even my dad managed a few laughs. It has catchphrases and songs, and games (Barley's take on paper, scissors, stones) and slogans (Suga Rape)and a high number of laughs per minute. It is worth buying the DVD just for the booklet of stencils and slogans and 'political comments' which accompanies it. Futures yeah! Would have been nice if Vince Noir (off 'the Mighty Boosh') had been given a better part. If Peep Show was the comedy of 2004, in the words of Ricky Gervais, perhaps Nathan Barley will end up being the new comedy of 2005. Believe.

Chris Morris advances on the agitprop satire of Brass Eye, and the ambient weirdness of Jam, with the wonderfully caustic and gleefully vicious Nathan Barley. As others have noted, 'Barley' is probably Morris's most-subtle creation yet... a seemingly conventional sitcom about life in the world of the media, with cutting edge magazine publishers, idolised DJ's, crusading digital filmmakers and techno-wiz-kids all standing in as the centre of attention, complete with their own annoying txt-speak characteristics, daft costumes, anti-establishment opinions and ever-so-trendy idiosyncrasies. However, the joke here is not what is written into the scripts (though, more often than not, this is incredible funny), but rather, the notion that these kind of characters - which do exist in real life - will no doubt buy into the whole joke, watching each episode eagerly before going into the office the next day to confront their friends and co-workers with the usual one-liners.

Morris, writing here alongside Charlie Brooker, is to television what Luke Haines is to pop music... someone who can work within the confines of an industry, gathering acclaim and a legion of devoted fans, whilst simultaneously trying to bring said industry down from the inside!! Morris and Brooker seem to have a genuine contempt for the characters that they write about, and - as with Brass Eye and The Day Today - the joke sometimes becomes so scathing and so accurate, that you actually forget that you're watching a satire (a notion continued by Morris's faux-edgy directorial style, which has swerving hand-held cameras and random zooms to, I would hope, rip the pip out of all of these trendy new TV shows that want be challenging - in a Dogme-style sense - so bad, they can practically taste it!!). Some of the media pastiches are fantastic too, like the so-chic it hurts art gallery that consisted of nothing more than pictures of celebrities urinating, or the Russian underground website, which includes pay-per-view downloadable clips of "tramp marathons" and tooth-pulling competitions, complete with armed police threatening anyone refusing to take part with assault rifles and teargas.

The madness of the show works because Morris and Brooker tend to anchor the shows to the character of Dan (The Preacher Man) Ashcroft, a cynical and fairly down-to-earth sort, who seems at odds with the backslapping and self-congratulatory cretins who populate his office. As a result, the jokes work because we can relate to Dan's anguish at being celebrated by these fools, who find humour in irreverent spreads on child molestation, have chainsaw ring tones and have a unhealthy habit of composing raps while they get it on with the opposite sex (Nathan's seduction of Claire is absolute comedy genius... "yeah, well plastic, man!!"). My favourite gag would have to be Dan unintentionally creating a new trendy hair-style when he falls asleep under the paint table. "What's it called?" asks Nathan. "Errr... Geek Pie" replies Dan. Cut to Nathan on Japanese TV promoting said hair-style without a shard or irony or good humour.

Most of the jokes work on multiple levels, often acting as an out-and-out parody of the kind of pretentious, novelty, tabloid-bating nonsense that seems to be continually spat out of these nu-media outlets (digital television, on-line publishing, underground advertising, or remnants of the shallow mid-nineties art scene, etc)... but then, there's also the integration of the characters, the disgust and contempt that Dan has for his colleagues, and the sheer genius of the word play used by these bizarre caricatures (typical Barley invitation, "you should come doll snatch, it's gonn'a be Mexico!!"... all this and more from the man who gave us "fact me till I fart"). The cast is great, padded out with characters form The Mighty Boosh and the brilliant Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, so you know the timing and delivery will be pitch perfect and the plausibility spot on.

Nathan Barley may not scale the comedic highs of Morris's more on-the-nose satires like The Day Today and Brass Eye, but it is, nonetheless, very funny, not just in the way the jokes are constructed, but in the believability and plausibility of the characterisations and the recreation of that kind of self-conscious, self-styled universe. Morris (and Brooker) should be commended for taking a risk with this serious, creating something that almost passes for a normal sitcom, but with that much loved/much needed Morris contempt always lurking, just beneath the surface.

Everyone who says that Nathan Barley is trash(bat.co.ck) never known anyone like Barley or Ashcroft. These days you can not help but be bombarded by the idiots who are going to inherit the world. I didn't have to watch this show. All I had to do was go outside of my apartment in London to see the idiots with massive amount of money and no direction.

For me it wasn't funny watching my life portrayed by Dan Ashcroft who seems to be the only one who sees through the idiots persona. He is the only one who realizes that there is no escape, there is no turning back, there is nothing you can do to avert the rise of the Idiots.

This is a sharp commentary on todays idiot youth. Its funny and to the point. Everyone should watch it and see if they know any 'Idiots'