The Armando Iannucci Shows

Armando has long been British satire's Midas - instilling gold into everything he touches - on his self-titled show he is at his most troublingly pure. A sort of existential sketch show with a self-conscious neurotic commentary from a sad interpretation of himself weaving through it all. Not all of it works but it drifts so quickly from silly skit to dark observation that it's possibly the closest thing ever produced that's actually like living in his mind.

So for that alone it's mesmermic enough - the fact that I actually saw it on TV at the time - in the bewildering early years of the new millennium lends it this strange nostalgic dreamy quality that further heightens it's glorious oddness. Do check it out if you haven't seen it.

How does Ianucci operate? Well, that's the question. I'd say it's by dislocating implicitness, by making the invisible that is our symbolic world visible, for just a moment. What appears is cultural contingency relativity of our perceptions. This is what appears when we dare to glimpse in the distorted mirror that the Armondo Iannucci Shows provide. Medieval mystic of numbers, a home for middle-aged men, the kitchen here is made of paper, thoughts on social inadequacy, knife attack reunions or the flight simulator. This is what makes it not just special but the best and most philosophical piece of satirical work of the last 20 years. A must see!

If you dare!