Harry Hill

Harry Hill's first series for Channel Four (UK) took most of the viewing public by surprise. This show was a non-stop, surreal rollercoaster experience with Harry linking sketches with his stand-up routine which he had been perfecting on the live circuit for years. To 'get' Harry Hill you really do have to have your wits about you. Threads of stories are started and seemingly abandoned but returned to 15 minutes later. The structure of each show rarely varied which was, in fact, its strength. Catchphrases came thick and fast and we embraced them all. Puppets featured highly with Harry's obsession with the 'Badger Parade' reaching crisis level on each show. The badgers were fired on one particular show and replaced by the owls...like I said...surreal stuff but very, very funny. Harry completed two further series for Channel Four in 1998 and 2000. We anxiously await his next move.

I think it's an age thing. People below the age of 30 find him funny. Anyone on the wrong side of the tracks doesn't find him amusing. His latest series on British TV is where he reviews the most funny parts of the past week's TV, and still fails to raise a smile. That said none of my teenage daughters find him funny. Did I say funny? well, sometimes slightly, ever so slightly, almost mildly amusing, but I just sit there with a frown. I think he is a con on the verge of a breakdown. Given the same sort of budget as Benny Hill (no relation) got all those years ago, Benny gets the laughs, 20 and 30 years later from beyond the grave. There is something of a Methodist preacher about these scripts-vetted by a parish good suburb committee; they are so clean, as to be emasculated. I know it takes all sorts to make a world, but it ain't my world. You need an occasional barb in life, to convince yourself life is real. His thing is the over sized late career-Elvis white collars, bald head and 1960's glasses. He qualified as a doctor. That's all I know. But give me Harold Lloyd's 1930 glasses and I am falling about, biting the carpet. Just put on a Laurel and Hardy, and I am already giggling like a loon. The same with Will Ferrell, you either find him funny or like me, I think it is something about the eyes that is so uneasy. I would never sit at a table where he's carving the thanksgiving turkey, just in case. Having said that I don't find Ricky Gervais even remotely funny either. Another con, who has been seized upon by the under-30 humour police and made mandatory. Harry Hill is part of the new wave of British humour. It's the same as the old wave, but without any funny bits. Maybe it is an age thing. What do any other IMDb readers think?

Another great piece British comedy. I don't think they will ever make another series, but we can dream. So what if every show was a variation on the same theme, that allowed the jokes to build, though I'm sure it left some new viewers somewhat perplexed. I really hope Harry Hill is given the opportunity do do something on his own terms again with a decent budget. TV burp was entertaining but its compressed production schedule and late night slot could not support the more complicated sketches that would often feature in the Harry Hill Show. Curse Channel 4 for burying the third series! I want to see Burt Kwouk doing the hey little hen dance again. A release on DVD is long overdue.