Scottish TV comedy is usually set in the Central or West of Scotland. The Scottish dialect used in these comedies can be a challenge to identify and understand by many viewers outside of Scotland and even by some in other regions of Scotland. Therefore it can be suggested that these comedies are made primarily for Scottish audiences.
Since these shows are mostly watched in Scotland, Scottish situation comedies can be very expensive to produce, largely due to limited funding from England and elsewhere. However, there has been 3 very successful series: City Lights (1987-1981), Rab C. Nesbitt (1990-present) and Still Game (2002- 2008)- all produced by Colin Gilbert.
Scottish Vs English Comedy
No programme made in Scotland can really compare to the best English comedies with viewing figures for Scottish comedies being very small in comparison to viewing figures for English comedies. Only Fools and Horses is an example of a very successful English comedy, this success can be shown by being the only sitcom ever to have attracted half of the British population to watch its final episode.
One main distinction between Scottish and English comedy is the difference in classes. Scottish comedy is almost invariably working class, whereas many English comedies including: the Vicar of Dibley and Keeping up Appearances, are usually set exclusively in middle-class surroundings.
Scottish Vs American Comedy
In contrast to both English and Scottish comedy, American comedy is much bigger business drawing in huge viewing figures and being aired in many continents.
Friends, Frasier and The Simpsons are some examples of extremely popular American TV comedies.
American comedies are usually set in the middle-class with very few programmes based on the working class.
One vast contrast between Scots comedy and American comedy is the use of highly paid actors in American comedies. Friends is one example of this, with main actors such as Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston being paid £1 million near its ten-year run. This emphasises how huge these shows are with American comedies having much bigger budgets. It is also quite common for these shows to have guest appearances of A-list celebrities and actors.
Sir Harry Lauder
Sir Harry Lauder is best remembered as ‘the little tartan comic with the twisted walking stick' (University of Glasgow) .He was born in Edinburgh in 1870 as Henry Lauder, but became known as Harry. He died aged 80 in 1950.
He is probably the most successful Scottish comedian in terms of his success and fame outside of Scotland and overseas. More recently, Billy Connolly has also achieved huge success outside of Scotland.
As a singer and comedian, he performed in variety theatres and also became popular in pantomime. Pantomime dominated the winter theatre season and could therefore make or break a career as success depended on it.
He has a number of famous, well remembered songs, such as 'Roamin in the Gloamin' and 'I Love a Lassie' and became the first British artist to sell a million records (STV News, 2010). His career coincided with the increasing popularity of the gramophone.
At the time of the war, Lauder expressed an interest in war work, but was told he was too old to work on the front-line. He then expressed an interest in entertaining the troops and was eventually given full permission to entertain them wherever they were. He was also active in recruitment, with over 12,000 men signing up due to his efforts. He established the Harry Lauder Million Pound Fund to raise money for injured Scottish soldiers and sailors and as a result of his war work received a knighthood in 1919 (University of Glasgow, 2010)
In terms of his contribution to Scottish national identity;
Scotland's image in the world today owes much to the caricature presented by Harry Lauder's stage performances, particularly in England, Canada and the 22 tours in the United States. His extravagant highland dress, glengarry at a jaunty angle, pawky humour, "ultra-thrifty" attitudes and sentimental songs endeared him to many audiences (rampantscotland, 2010)
The above quote gives reference to the tartanry discourse, suggesting that our image is partly owed to his displays of tartan and highland dress. It also suggests that his dry humour and jokes about Scots being ‘careful’ with their money contribute to Scotland’s image.
Rikki Fulton
Rikki Fulton is a Scottish comedian and actor, born in Dennistoun, Glasgow in 1924. He died aged 80 in 2004.
He was extremely popular in Scotland but, unlike Harry Lauder and Billy Connolly, this success was not echoed in other countries. Most Scottish comedians find difficulty in gaining popularity outside of their home nation.
In his early career he was a serious broadcaster for the BBC alongside performing in theatres. In the 1950s his popularity grew and he became well known in Scotland for his double act with Jack Milroy, ‘Francie and Josie’. The popularity if this double act, with Milroy as Francie and Fulton as Josie, led to STV commissioning a show in 1962 (STV video, 2010).
He was also widely known for his role in Scotch and Wry, which is explained in further detail below. He also appeared in the 1994 version of The Tales of Para Handy, alongside Gregor Fisher from Rab C. Nesbitt.
He retired from the stage in the mid-1990s after a successful Scottish comedy career. The extent of his popularity in Scotland is outlined by BBC Scotland Controller John McCormick;
He was a legend for people across the whole country. Scotch and Wry was watched by half of this population. Those figures will never be exceeded and it was Rikki they made an appointment with on Hogmanay (BBC News, 2004)
Scotch and Wry
Scotch andWry is a traditional Scottish sketch show and was shown on BBC 1 on Hogmanay. It began in 1978 and ran for 14 years. It featured many faced of Scottish comedy, most importantly, the star of the show, Rikki Fulton. Gregor Fisher and Tony Roper also appear, later to be seen in the successful Rab C. Nesbitt.
The popularity of Scotch and Wry is undoubted. At the shows peak 2 million viewers were tuning in to watch, a figure that represented almost every household in Scotland who had a television at that time.
Rikki Fulton’s role as the permanently depressed ‘Reverend I. M. Jolly’ is probably the most loved and best remembered of all of the sketches. This featured at the end of each show in a sketch named ‘Last Call’, and was so popular that it continued appear on Hogmanay long after Scotch and Wry had finished.
In terms of the Scottish discourses of Tartanry, Kailyard and Clydesideism one particular sketch springs to mind. The ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ sketch could be said to heavily make use of Tartanry, portraying Scottish men of the past in traditional Highland dress, but it also pokes fun at the discourse. Clydesideism could also be said to be apparent, in scenes where working class meets middle class, however the show does not feature prominently on the discourses mentioned.
Other memorable sketches include ‘Supercop’, in which Fulton played an incompetent traffic policeman, dealing with unexpected characters, most outrageously, Batman.
Scotch and Wry was only shown once in England on Hogmanay in 1982 on BBC 2. This may be because of its strong Scottish accents and references to Scottish culture, such as religious divide and football, which may be difficult for people from out with Scotland to understand. This may also be because of the difference in Hogmanay celebrations south of the border.
The working class nature of Scotch and Wry, like most other Scottish comedy, differs from English and American comedy, therefore could also contribute to its lack of success in other countries. Scottish comedy tends to feature mostly working class characters, who often mock the middle classes, whereas most English and American comedies are middle class orientated, for example Friends compared with Rab C. Nesbitt.
Colin Gilbert
Colin Gilbert has played a big part in Scottish Comedy. The very first programme that Gilbert produced in Scotland was a radio programme, Naked Radio. Naked Radio was a sketch show that broadcast on radio Scotland and spanned seven episodes. The main writer included Ian Mowatt and Niall Clarke. The radio show provided a fresh face to Scottish comedy, distancing itself from the usual Tartanry and Kailyard humour and instead delve into the world of political humour, with jokes about Maggie Thatcher and the president, Ronald Reagan.
Gilbert later went on to produce a number of programmes including: The Man Behind the Green Door, Naked Video, The Tales of Para Handy, Rab C. Nesbitt and City Lights. Gilbert worked for the BBC for 20 years, raising BBC Scotland's profile as the only supplier of network comedy outside of London. He then went on to form the Comedy Unit in 1995. Colin has either been a producer or executive producer of virtually all the Comedy Unit's productions and continues to be creatively involved with all the company's projects.
Gilbert produced and directed City Lights, the first real situation comedy to come out of Scotland.
City Lights
City Lights (1987-91) was written by Bob Black and starred the king of pantomime, Gerard Kelly. Kelly played the role of WIlly Melvin, a bank teller who dreamt of being a novelist, although he had no talent for writing. Most of the plots revolved around his attempts to get his book published, the autobiographical "My life up a close", which ends up causing him no end of problems. Melvin was depicted as a "Sweetie wife", the term used in Scotland for a man who exhibits the major stereotypical aspects of womanhood. Someone that could be described as very camp, however he was most certainly not gay as he has many romances with women throughout the series.
What made this comedy so original is the depiction of modern day living at that time, in the way that Willy's flat was actually Bob Black's flat and the Bank that Willy worked in was an actual running bank.
This was the first time in Scottish comedy that a series ( an actual situation comedy set in Scotland) was recognisable as taking place in the present day.
Five series of the show were produced with the last series being produced following a request from BBC2 in London. City Lights moved Scottish sitcom into the 20th Century, with the programme being set in a contemporary environment that viewers would be familiar with, with no displays of Tartanry and old-fashioned depictions of Scotland.
At its peak, City Lights managed to achieve 3 to 4 million viewers.
Rab C.Nesbitt
Rab C. Nesbitt is a Scottish Sitcom that began in 1990, starring Gregor Fisher in what was to be his first leading role. Gregor played an unemployed alcoholic living with his family in the working-class Glasgow district of Govan. When not at the pub or in a police cell, Rab would be out perusing women with his pal Jamesie.
The use of the Glaswegian dialect that Rab and the rest of the cast use can be perceived as being stereotypical in that the language is associated with the desperately depressing tradition of Clydesideism connoting its reductive tropes such as poverty and the working class experience as well as a lack of intelligence and sophistication. But by employing this language, the show arguably depicts a realistic portrayal of life in Glasgow Glaswegians and non Glaswegians alike alike relate to Rab's troubles and find nostalgic value in his turbulent life.As alcoholism is a big problem in Scotland, from an outsiders point of view, watching Rab C. Nesbitt could be portrayed as Scottish culture and the miserable lifestyles of many.
Much of the humour is generated through Nesbitt's belligerent encounters with people in positions of authority or with people who come from the middle or upper classes who talk politely and often in a posh accent, in comparison to the accents of Govan residents.
Interesting to note is that one of the series of Rab C. Nesbitt was shown during 1991 in the time when Glasgow was European city of Culture. A time when Glasgow was trying to be seen as the centre for art and culture, the most popular Glaswegian on television was a man who represented the worst excess of Glasgow's past.
The programme approached such issues as alcoholism and the poor living conditions for working class Scots, but it did so in a comedic style which meant that viewers were not upset by what they saw – but more that they could relate to the life the family and their friends lead. It portrayed issues such as adultery and temptation, again in a comedic way that viewers found very entertaining. Serious issues were also touched upon, for example in season 6 Rab had a Cancer scare.
Rab C. Nesbitt was the most successful comedy to come from Scotland and go to England, even though some English viewers claim that they cannot understand the accents.
Although people south of the border find Rab’s ramblings very hard to understand – Fisher portrays the character in such a perfect manner that they find him funny regardless and this is why the programme is as successful down south as it is in Scotland.
The show picked up numerous awards such as: The Royal Television Society Award for best sitcom, it was commended at Rose D'Or and was BAFTA nominated and won the BAFTA Scotland award for the best entertainment programme. These awards highlight the popularity of the show.
Chewin' the Fat
'Chewin' the Fat (1999-2001) is a Scottish comedy useful for an illustration of the 'ned' phenomenon (aimless cropped-haired council-scheme male hooligans), which itself goes a long way towards describing modern Scottish culture' (Gardiner, 2005: 180).
The show first started out as a radio series on BBC radio Scotland in 1997, then later went on to become a TV series that also had many Hogmany specials.
Chewin' the Fat became one of the most popular Scottish TV shows with popular phrases including, 'Gonna no dae that' and 'I love boaby' which spread throughout pubs and playgrounds after hearing the well-used catchphrases from the show. The show focuses on the working class, on youths and drinking.
Still Game
Still Game was originally part of the Chewin' the Fat sketch show until 2002 when it became a show in its own right. The show was broadcast on BBC1 Scotland and later shown in England on BBC2.
The show focuses on two Glaswegian pensioners, Jack Jarvis and Victor MaDade, played by Ford Keirnan and Greig Hemphill. A distinguishing feature of this sitcom is that almost all of the central roles are played by actors approximately thirty years younger than their characters, providing quite surreal characters that seem to add to the humour of the show.
Although Still Game is excellent and well written, as Ian Mowatt (2008) suggests, programmes such as 'Last of the Summer Wine (1973-), One Foot in the Grave and Waiting for God preceded it by several years in dealing humorously with the problems of old age.'
Still Game is known for strong language and bad taste, certainly not appealing to everyone. It may also be argued that this show provides a poor representation of Scotland, with people that have never visited Scotland believing that Scottish culture is like this.
A very important point to note about Still Game is that it provides a turning point for Scottish comedy with the introduction of an Asian character, shopkeeper Navid. This is the first time in the history of Scottish comedy TV shows that a race other than white Scottish or white English characters are used. This is a development long overdue, with cultural diversity rarely shown in Scottish TV comedy, providing a more realistic representation of the multicultural nation that Scotland is today.
New Scottish TV comedies
It can be argued that new Scottish TV comedies including Limmy's Show and Burnistoun do not compare to the likes of Rab C. Nesbitt and Still Game. Rab C. Nesbitt has also had a new series out this year, however, it does not seem to have the same appeal of some of the older series, maybe due to Rab no longer drinking and no longer being as funny?
Limmy's Show
Limmy's Show was written, animated and directed by Brian Limond. The show was created as a result of the success of Limmy's live performances at the Fringe and Glasgow International Comedy Festival. The first series was aired on 11 January 2010 and ran for 6 episodes.
Characters in the show include Limmy, who appears as himself and makes dry observations on life and modern culture. "Have you ever noticed..?" and "What would you do..?" are common introductions to these musings, represntative of many poor observational "alternative" comics of the 80s and 90s. Wee Gary is another character used in the sketches. Gary is a primary school kid who spends his breaks and lunch times selling everything and anything to his fellow pupils including spare plimsols and advice to beat bullying. Not all goes as planned with his advice, but the trickster keeps the payment anyway.
The British Comedy Guide reviews Limmy's Show as: "It's good to see BBC Scotland giving popular internet star Limmy a chance to air some of his sketches, thoughts and characters on TV. However, this show is unlikely to become a big TV hit- we think Limmy's style of humour is probably too niche to cross over to a mainstream TV audience' (2009).
Burnistoun
Burnistoun is one of the most recent Scottish Comedy Shows and was launched in March 2010. Florence and Connell have created characters for shows like Chewin' the Fat and the Karen Dunbar show. Robert Florence and Iain Connell write and perform this sketch show in a fictional Scottish location that somehow seems eerily familiar.
Burnistoun has its own newspaper, furniture store, gym, pub and all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant, radio station and even an ice-cream van. Characters include: Uncle Willie, the man who insists on having his own funeral before he dies, wannabe girl-band singer, Jackie McGlade who can make any tune sexy except football songs, and John and Terry, two pub pals who insist they do not fantasize about each other sexually.
A review by the British Comedy Guide talks of the show as 'a very well written sketch show which features some excellent original ideas and characters. A couple of sketches do fall flat and drag on a bit, but overall this is a tightly written and very funny show with far more hits than misses. It certainly deserves to move onto UK- wide exposure.'
Themes and discourses of the show are pretty similar to older scottish comedies with short sketches and situational comedy of modern life.
References
Blain, Neil and David Hutchison (2008) (ed.) The media in Scotland, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.
Gardiner, Michael (2005) Modern Scottish Culture, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.
Introduction to Scottish TV comedy
Scottish TV comedy is usually set in the Central or West of Scotland. The Scottish dialect used in these comedies can be a challenge to identify and understand by many viewers outside of Scotland and even by some in other regions of Scotland. Therefore it can be suggested that these comedies are made primarily for Scottish audiences.
Since these shows are mostly watched in Scotland, Scottish situation comedies can be very expensive to produce, largely due to limited funding from England and elsewhere. However, there has been 3 very successful series: City Lights (1987-1981), Rab C. Nesbitt (1990-present) and Still Game (2002- 2008)- all produced by Colin Gilbert.
Scottish Vs English Comedy
One main distinction between Scottish and English comedy is the difference in classes. Scottish comedy is almost invariably working class, whereas many English comedies including: the Vicar of Dibley and Keeping up Appearances, are usually set exclusively in middle-class surroundings.
Scottish Vs American Comedy
In contrast to both English and Scottish comedy, American comedy is much bigger business drawing in huge viewing figures and being aired in many continents.
Friends, Frasier and The Simpsons are some examples of extremely popular American TV comedies.
American comedies are usually set in the middle-class with very few programmes based on the working class.
One vast contrast between Scots comedy and American comedy is the use of highly paid actors in American comedies. Friends is one example of this, with main actors such as Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston being paid £1 million near its ten-year run. This emphasises how huge these shows are with American comedies having much bigger budgets. It is also quite common for these shows to have guest appearances of A-list celebrities and actors.
Sir Harry Lauder
Sir Harry La
He is probably the most successful Scottish comedian in terms of his success and fame outside of Scotland and overseas. More recently, Billy Connolly has also achieved huge success outside of Scotland.
As a singer and comedian, he performed in variety theatres and also became popular in pantomime. Pantomime dominated the winter theatre season and could therefore make or break a career as success depended on it.
He has a number of famous, well remembered songs, such as 'Roamin in the Gloamin' and 'I Love a Lassie' and became the first British artist to sell a million records (STV News, 2010). His career coincided with the increasing popularity of the gramophone.
A clip of Harry Lauder can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JidoI0MrTQI&feature=related
At the time of the war, Lauder expressed an interest in war work, but was told he was too old to work on the front-line. He then expressed an interest in entertaining the troops and was eventually given full permission to entertain them wherever they were. He was also active in recruitment, with over 12,000 men signing up due to his efforts. He established the Harry Lauder Million Pound Fund to raise money for injured Scottish soldiers and sailors and as a result of his war work received a knighthood in 1919 (University of Glasgow, 2010)
In terms of his contribution to Scottish national identity;
Scotland's image in the world today owes much to the caricature presented by Harry Lauder's stage performances, particularly in England, Canada and the 22 tours in the United States. His extravagant highland dress, glengarry at a jaunty angle, pawky humour, "ultra-thrifty" attitudes and sentimental songs endeared him to many audiences (rampantscotland, 2010)
The above quote gives reference to the tartanry discourse, suggesting that our image is partly owed to his displays of tartan and highland dress. It also suggests that his dry humour and jokes about Scots being ‘careful’ with their money contribute to Scotland’s image.
Rikki Fulton
Rikki Fulton is a Scottish comedian and actor, born in Dennistoun, Glasgow in 1924. He died aged 80 in 2004.
He was extremely popular in Scotland but, unlike Harry Lauder and Billy Connolly, this success was not echoed in other countries. Most Scottish comedians find difficulty in gaining popularity outside of their home nation.
Francie and Josie Clip: http://video.stv.tv/bc/programmes-top30-20081111-francie-and-josie/
He was also widely known for his role in Scotch and Wry, which is explained in further detail below. He also appeared in the 1994 version of The Tales of Para Handy, alongside Gregor Fisher from Rab C. Nesbitt.
He retired from the stage in the mid-1990s after a successful Scottish comedy career. The extent of his popularity in Scotland is outlined by BBC Scotland Controller John McCormick;
He was a legend for people across the whole country. Scotch and Wry was watched by half of this population. Those figures will never be exceeded and it was Rikki they made an appointment with on Hogmanay (BBC News, 2004)
Scotch and Wry
The popularity of Scotch and Wry is undoubted. At the shows peak 2 million viewers were tuning in to watch, a figure that represented almost every household in Scotland who had a television at that time.
Rikki Fulton’s role as the permanently depressed ‘Reverend I. M. Jolly’ is probably the most loved and best remembered of all of the sketches. This featured at the end of each show in a sketch named ‘Last Call’, and was so popular that it continued appear on Hogmanay long after Scotch and Wry had finished.
Reverend I. M. Jolly Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cpb8rqYFd8
In terms of the Scottish discourses of Tartanry, Kailyard and Clydesideism one particular sketch springs to mind. The ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ sketch could be said to heavily make use of Tartanry, portraying Scottish men of the past in traditional Highland dress, but it also pokes fun at the discourse. Clydesideism could also be said to be apparent, in scenes where working class meets middle class, however the show does not feature prominently on the discourses mentioned.
Other memorable sketches include ‘Supercop’, in which Fulton played an incompetent traffic policeman, dealing with unexpected characters, most outrageously, Batman.
The working class nature of Scotch and Wry, like most other Scottish comedy, differs from English and American comedy, therefore could also contribute to its lack of success in other countries. Scottish comedy tends to feature mostly working class characters, who often mock the middle classes, whereas most English and American comedies are middle class orientated, for example Friends compared with Rab C. Nesbitt.
Colin Gilbert
Gilbert later went on to produce a number of programmes including: The Man Behind the Green Door, Naked Video, The Tales of Para Handy, Rab C. Nesbitt and City Lights. Gilbert worked for the BBC for 20 years, raising BBC Scotland's profile as the only supplier of network comedy outside of London. He then went on to form the Comedy Unit in 1995. Colin has either been a producer or executive producer of virtually all the Comedy Unit's productions and continues to be creatively involved with all the company's projects.
Gilbert produced and directed City Lights, the first real situation comedy to come out of Scotland.
City Lights
City Lights (1987-91) was written by Bob Black and starred the king of pantomime, Gerard Kelly. Kelly played the role of WIlly Melvin, a bank teller who dreamt of being a novelist, although he had no talent for writing. Most of the plots revolved around his attempts to get his book published, the autobiographical "My life up a close", which ends up causing him no end of problems. Melvin was depicted as a "Sweetie wife", the term used in Scotland for a man who exhibits the major stereotypical aspects of womanhood. Someone that could be described as very camp, however he was most certainly not gay as he has many romances with women throughout the series.
What made this comedy so original is the depiction of modern day living at that time, in the way that Willy's flat was actually Bob Black's flat and the Bank that Willy worked in was an actual running bank.
This was the first time in Scottish comedy that a series ( an actual situation comedy set in Scotland) was recognisable as taking place in the present day.
Five series of the show were produced with the last series being produced following a request from BBC2 in London. City Lights moved Scottish sitcom into the 20th Century, with the programme being set in a contemporary environment that viewers would be familiar with, with no displays of Tartanry and old-fashioned depictions of Scotland.
At its peak, City Lights managed to achieve 3 to 4 million viewers.
Rab C.Nesbitt
Rab C. Nesbitt is a Scottish Sitcom that began in 1990, starring Gregor Fisher in what was to be his first leading role. Gregor played an unemployed alcoholic living with his family in the working-class Glasgow district of Govan. When not at the pub or in a police cell, Rab would be out perusing women with his pal Jamesie.
The use of the Glaswegian dialect that Rab and the rest of the cast use can be perceived as being stereotypical in that the language is associated with the desperately depressing tradition of Clydesideism connoting its reductive tropes such as poverty and the working class experience as well as a lack of intelligence and sophistication. But by employing this language, the show arguably depicts a realistic portrayal of life in Glasgow Glaswegians and non Glaswegians alike alike relate to Rab's troubles and find nostalgic value in his turbulent life.As alcoholism is a big problem in Scotland, from an outsiders point of view, watching Rab C. Nesbitt could be portrayed as Scottish culture and the miserable lifestyles of many.
Much of the humour is generated through Nesbitt's belligerent encounters with people in positions of authority or with people who come from the middle or upper classes who talk politely and often in a posh accent, in comparison to the accents of Govan residents.
Interesting to note is that one of the series of Rab C. Nesbitt was shown during 1991 in the time when Glasgow was European city of Culture. A time when Glasgow was trying to be seen as the centre for art and culture, the most popular Glaswegian on television was a man who represented the worst excess of Glasgow's past.
The programme approached such issues as alcoholism and the poor living conditions for working class Scots, but it did so in a comedic style which meant that viewers were not upset by what they saw – but more that they could relate to the life the family and their friends lead. It portrayed issues such as adultery and temptation, again in a comedic way that viewers found very entertaining. Serious issues were also touched upon, for example in season 6 Rab had a Cancer scare.
Rab C. Nesbitt was the most successful comedy to come from Scotland and go to England, even though some English viewers claim that they cannot understand the accents.
Although people south of the border find Rab’s ramblings very hard to understand – Fisher portrays the character in such a perfect manner that they find him funny regardless and this is why the programme is as successful down south as it is in Scotland.
The show picked up numerous awards such as: The Royal Television Society Award for best sitcom, it was commended at Rose D'Or and was BAFTA nominated and won the BAFTA Scotland award for the best entertainment programme. These awards highlight the popularity of the show.
Chewin' the Fat
The show first started out as a radio series on BBC radio Scotland in 1997, then later went on to become a TV series that also had many Hogmany specials.
Chewin' the Fat became one of the most popular Scottish TV shows with popular phrases including, 'Gonna no dae that' and 'I love boaby' which spread throughout pubs and playgrounds after hearing the well-used catchphrases from the show. The show focuses on the working class, on youths and drinking.
Still Game
Still Game was originally part of the Chewin' the Fat sketch show until 2002 when it became a show in its own right. The show was broadcast on BBC1 Scotland and later shown in England on BBC2.
The show focuses on two Glaswegian pensioners, Jack Jarvis and Victor MaDade, played by Ford Keirnan and Greig Hemphill. A distinguishing feature of this sitcom is that almost all of the central roles are played by actors approximately thirty years younger than their characters, providing quite surreal characters that seem to add to the humour of the show.
Still Game is known for strong language and bad taste, certainly not appealing to everyone. It may also be argued that this show provides a poor representation of Scotland, with people that have never visited Scotland believing that Scottish culture is like this.
A very important point to note about Still Game is that it provides a turning point for Scottish comedy with the introduction of an Asian character, shopkeeper Navid. This is the first time in the history of Scottish comedy TV shows that a race other than white Scottish or white English characters are used. This is a development long overdue, with cultural diversity rarely shown in Scottish TV comedy, providing a more realistic representation of the multicultural nation that Scotland is today.
New Scottish TV comedies
It can be argued that new Scottish TV comedies including Limmy's Show and Burnistoun do not compare to the likes of Rab C. Nesbitt and Still Game. Rab C. Nesbitt has also had a new series out this year, however, it does not seem to have the same appeal of some of the older series, maybe due to Rab no longer drinking and no longer being as funny?
Limmy's Show
Characters in the show include Limmy, who appears as himself and makes dry observations on life and modern culture. "Have you ever noticed..?" and "What would you do..?" are common introductions to these musings, represntative of many poor observational "alternative" comics of the 80s and 90s. Wee Gary is another character used in the sketches. Gary is a primary school kid who spends his breaks and lunch times selling everything and anything to his fellow pupils including spare plimsols and advice to beat bullying. Not all goes as planned with his advice, but the trickster keeps the payment anyway.
The British Comedy Guide reviews Limmy's Show as: "It's good to see BBC Scotland giving popular internet star Limmy a chance to air some of his sketches, thoughts and characters on TV. However, this show is unlikely to become a big TV hit- we think Limmy's style of humour is probably too niche to cross over to a mainstream TV audience' (2009).
Burnistoun
Burnistoun has its own newspaper, furniture store, gym, pub and all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant, radio station and even an ice-cream van. Characters include: Uncle Willie, the man who insists on having his own funeral before he dies, wannabe girl-band singer, Jackie McGlade who can make any tune sexy except football songs, and John and Terry, two pub pals who insist they do not fantasize about each other sexually.
A review by the British Comedy Guide talks of the show as 'a very well written sketch show which features some excellent original ideas and characters. A couple of sketches do fall flat and drag on a bit, but overall this is a tightly written and very funny show with far more hits than misses. It certainly deserves to move onto UK- wide exposure.'
Themes and discourses of the show are pretty similar to older scottish comedies with short sketches and situational comedy of modern life.
References
Blain, Neil and David Hutchison (2008) (ed.) The media in Scotland, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.
Gardiner, Michael (2005) Modern Scottish Culture, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.
‘BBC Comedy Archive’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/c/cityligts_1299000623.shtml (accessed 20.03.10)
‘Burnistoun’ ‘The British Comedy Guide’ http://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/tv/burnistoun/ (accessed 25.03.10)
'Comic legend Rikki Fulton Dies' 'BBC News' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3436337.stm (accessed 25.03.10)
'Famous Scots- Sir Harry Lauder' 'RampantScotland' http://www.rampantscotland.com/famous/blfamlauder.htm (accessed 26.03.10)
'Francie and Josie' 'STV' http://www.video.stv.tv/bc/search/francie+and+josie?up=1 (accessed 25.03.10)
'Limmy’s Show’ http://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/tv/limmys_show/ (accessed 20.03.10)
‘Rab C Nesbitt’ ‘The Comedy Unit’ http://www.comedyunit.co.uk/rabcnesbitt.asp (accessed 20.03.10)
'Sir Harry Lauder's Memorabilia up for sale' 'STVnews'
http://www.news.stv.tv/scotland/158307-sir-harry-lauders-memorabilia-up-for-sale/ (accessed 25.03.10)
'Sir Harry Lauder' 'University of Glasgow' http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/STA/lauder/index.html (accessed 25.03.10)
‘The Comedy Unit personnel’ http://www.comedyunit.co.uk/keypersonnel.asp (accessed 22.03.10)