Kaamelott

This is on my opinion one of the best comedy show ever made on french TV. Each episode contains unforgettable lines that you will quote with friends for the rest of your life, told by tremendous actors that just perfectly fit to the dialogues. It's a glorious tribute to the most cherish comedy writers (Goscinny, Audiard...) with fantastic characters that quickly become your best friends, even the most unlikables. The two last seasons are very different from the.former four, becoming much darker as King Arthur is slowly drowning in nervous breakdown. I know they loosed a lot of audience expecting the same kind of slapstick comedy as before, but I love them as much as the others as it relates to the writer/director - who also plays King Arthur - burning out after 4 years of intense work. The only limit I see is that it's a very french show that maybe will not have the same appeal outside the borders, especially if you expect something serious like Game Of Thrones, Walking dead, or Last kingdom :)

I have been watching Kaamelot since it came out. It is probably the funniest TV Show ever made (even compared to the US TV Shows). It describes King Arthur's Legend with great sense of humor and a really nice way of filming it. Don't even think in terms of respecting the history here or you will be disappointed. But my point is this : as old the show gets as old it getting better in terms of content and realization. I've heard that about 15 countries have already bought the project for local diffusion and Ican't do nothing else than encourage people to turn their TVs on whenever that show airs. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

First, I must say that I'm far from being a fan of french humour or french comedies. But this TV-show, in spite of its shortness, is brilliant. Some of its lines have already become mythical, as the "For example, you take the present day, you wait for a week, well you'll end up with the same day as today! But be careful, you might make a mistake, it's not an accurate science..." (approximately translated). Perceval, King Arthur and Leodagan are real funny characters. I have rarely met such smartness on words, on images, I recommend this show to any amateurs of parodies and besides the costumes and sets are great and well used.

This is one of the best comedies I've ever seen. As a translator, I'd be hard-pressed to put this into English - it pushes the envelope to the limit in its own language. The wordplay is amazing.

Each episode is about 3.5 minutes (!), over 6 seasons. In the first three seasons, the episodes are stand-alone, with a few seeds planted for the story arcs that arise in the 4th and 5th, which take a serious turn while remaining funny. I haven't yet seen season 6. Every episode, very intelligently written, has us coming back for the next (for the time being, they can be seen on YouTube).

A humorous take on Arthurian legend, other than Père Blaise, the Roman-educated Arthur is the only erudite person in Kaamelott. He's surrounded by a bunch of "billes", "marteaux", "clodos" and what not, who exasperate him with primitive values and general ineptness, a misuse of the language, and misunderstanding of the simplest instructions.

Each character is distinct from the others. Perceval, for example, is an idiot-savant who simply can't get an instruction right. Leodagan, Arthur's father-in-law, is the irascible knee-jerk rule-by-force male member of the "couple infernal" in which he's married to the shrew Dame Seli. Their battles are legendary. Their daughter, Guenevièvre, is the twit who's married to Arthur. Their son Yvain is a lazy oaf whose best friend, Gavain, is not much better. Bohort is a febrile coward whose face is always contorted with tension, Merlin is addle-pated, the Lady of the Lake is visible only to Arthur, which Arthur can't get others to understand, and so on.

Despite all this, it's quite faithful to the actual legend and the story manages to build up a lot of tension as well as tenderness through season 5. It has earned an ardent following in France and Canada. If you have any understanding of French, you gotta see it, otherwise, you might find some episodes with English subtitles on YouTube.

I was in the US when this show was released and thus did not watch it before 10 years later. I never understood the hype surrounding it... until I saw it and then I discovered light.

Alexandre Astier and his cast have created one of the funniest shows ever on TV with characters that will last generations (Perceval, Leodagan, Yvain, Lott, Merlin, Karadoc; Bohort, Guethenoc, ...). The show is full of quotes that are incredibly funny, all the while keeping some real messages about the loneliness of power and humanity.

Can't wait for the movie.

And as would say Perceval with an "Objet redondant saisi par la partie sporadique" in the hand to the "Deux Petits Pedestres": "C'est pas faux!"