The Catherine Tate Show

I laughed all the way through the one show I saw. Catherine Tate sets up several situations...in this case a housewife who jumps at the slightest noise, a new mother who will do anything to keep from waking the baby while people try to give her a birthday party, a hateful grandmother being visited by her grandson, and several others, and revisits their scenes in turn throughout the show. The premises are skimpy, it is true, but I didn't notice that until this other reviewer pointed it out because her characterizations were hilarious. I'm a Californian so I really had to focus to make out what some of the characters were saying as she uses various accents from all over England. I would be very pleased to see more of Catherine Tate.

First of all i want to say this - how is the use of catchphrases on this show "unfunny and trite" when Little Britain (which also does it) is "better executed"? Double Standards here.

Personally, i think this show is FAN-TASTIC! Some of the characters are so accurate, its actually scary. I'm 17, and i go 2 school with several people like Lauren, who are rude and sullen (and i can openly admit that i'm like that sometimes as well!) As Ms Tate has been performing this character in her stand-up shows for years, exactly how is she a rip-off of Vicky Pollard. I think thats the generic response from people who haven't actually seen the show but pan it for the sake of it. Yes Vicky and LAuren are alike, but Vicky is more of a caricature than Lauren - you cant go anywhere in a modern British city without seeing a Lauren! However, i think that Vicky and LAuren should meet in a special sketch, as that would be interesting!

Ms Tate is a virtual chameleon, and her set of hilarious characters include Nan, who is scarily like every old person in this country; the housewife who screams at everything - a classic case of a simple joke that works every time; randy Irish nurse Bernie with her great accent and laugh; the middle-class mother ("Daddy has not been able to pick up some Brie today, darlings" "But Mummy, there is some Wensleydale in the cupboard") who again i'm sure everyone knows; Allie who always puts her foot in it at parties; Amanda the TGI Friday's waitress; the hilariously effeminate Derek Leslie Faye ("WHAT are you insinuating?!" "Just because I shave my eyebrows and listen to Judy Garland, doesn't mean i'm a back-door Deirdre!") who gets in a hissy fit every time someone suggests he's gay; the banal Essex couple who find the most normal thing funny; and in Series one, the rude Estate Agent ("You're a disgrace to ur profession!" "Dont be ridiculous! I'm an Estate Agent!" {laughs crazily}) and the drunk Bride in series 2!

However, can someone answer me this = whats the deal with the burger van people? I never have got that one.

Along with Little Britain, this is one of the best new TV sketch shows i have ever seen!

All in all, Ms Tate, your show is superb, and i think you were robbed at the recent British comedy awards!

"Is an old woman swearing funny" - "This sort of comedy is done 100 times better by Matt Lucas in little Britain". Well in that case is a pedantic man in a wheelchair funny? Comedy is subjective, Catherine Tate's observations are spot on, OK granted some of the sketches go on too long, the essex couple (with Lee Ross) spring to mind, but the gran sketch has characteristics present in old people all across the country. Will this be shown in twenty years time, who knows but i was brought up on Not the nine o clock news also and a lot of that Doesn't stand the test of time and is very dated, as is a lot of the young ones. If you don't like it don't watch, but a lot of other people do.............................

I beg to differ with the other IMDb-er who finds this show, and Catherine Tate, unfunny, trite, and so forth.

Her show comes through on BBC America on my TV cable service and I only recently discovered it. It might help if I had a slightly sharper ear for British accents, especially those of the "lower classes" (no offense intended), but I have no doubt that this lady is an extremely gifted comic actress, a virtual chameleon (assisted by some extraordinarily talented makeup artists), who has provided some of the most solid laughs I've enjoyed in some time.

In my book she's right up there with her fellow Brits, Mollie Sugden, Paricia Routledge, et al. and her Canadian counterparts, Andrea Martin and Catherine O'Hara. And let's not forget an American, the inimitable Joan Cusack, who deserves her place right alongside her peers from outside our borders. My enthusiastic compliments to you all, ladies!

One British woman, Catherine Tate, is multi-talented enough to play several roles in her titled show including the woman is not drunk enough to find her date attractive enough, or the woman who screams at anything because she is easily scared, then there is the couple of new parents with a sleeping baby who won't get out of the car for the mother's birthday party because the baby has finally fallen asleep and don't want to risk the sound of waking her up. Also, there is the couple of women who work in an office cubicle where she keeps asking her to guess how much whether it's weight or money. Catherine Tate might be a new face but she is somebody to watch out for in the future. She's very talented and capable of maintaining a sense of humor throughout the program even being unrecognizable. She does a fabulous job at showing off her craft of British comedy. Now if we can only get it in America.