British Summertime

By Jason Snell – June 24, 2008

Temporarily unboning myself to let you know about the two funniest shows airing on TV these days.

In a not-remotely shocking turnabout, they both come from the UK and are airing on BBC America here in the colonies.

The first is That Mitchell & Webb Look, which is a hilarious sketch comedy show starring the British comedy duo of, you guessed it, Mitchell and Webb. There are recurring bits that are run into the ground with remarkable variation (“Numberwang” is an inexplicable game show along the lines of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” or “The Weakest Link”; Drunken Snooker announcers go off on bizarre tangents; the host of “Big Talk” stands in for every “issues” talk-show blowhard who ever lived).

The show’s more lucid than Monty Python without being as pedestrian as, oh, Saturday Night Live. Yes, the accents help, but the show’s funny regardless of your status as an Anglophile. My favorite Mitchell and Webb bit might be the one featuring BBC news anchors who are forced to insert interactive features (“e-mail us your comments!”) into every aspect of their newscast. So funny, yet so piercingly accurate.

And for anyone who’s watched Fox Sports, you’ll find this parody of its UK counterpart (Sky Sports) extremely perceptive:

The other show, while not technically a comedy, has made me laugh more than any single TV show this year. It’s Top Gear, and I realize that I’m a bit late to the game with this one. But seriously, don’t let the fact that this is a British TV show about cars put you off. The cars are secondary. I’m about as far as you can get from being a “car guy,” and Top Gear has rapidly become must-see viewing for me.

The show’s hosts are incredibly enthusiastic about the subject matter, and I’m willing to watch just about anything that projects genuine excitement about whatever topic it’s covering. You can’t manufacture that enthusiasm; it’s got to come from the heart. And Top Gear has it. A great sense of humor, a refusal to take anything seriously, and three hosts who have a perfect, lightning-in-a-bottle rapport with one another.

The segment that made me laugh the hardest involved creating stretch limousines out of improbable cars. It’s got the same kind of mad energy that the early days of Junkyard Wars had.

So if you’re looking to break out of the summer TV doldrums with some light, fun entertainment, point those DVRs to BBC America for That Mitchell & Webb Look and Top Gear.