Top 10 British Comedy Sketches

I'm green when it comes to British humor. Still working my way through the second series of Blackadder. Still haven't seen the Fast Show. But I am in love, and I want to share my favorites so far.

These are sketches from a range of shows, though you'll find I'm partial to The League of Gentlemen. Sketches, never more than seven or eight minutes, are succinct vehicles for storytelling. Character is often limited to one or two idiosyncrasies because the medium is short and the purpose comedic. However, I consider it a triumph if, within those short minutes, there is poignancy: a moment that makes me stop and think. Laughter could be secondary. You'll find that the higher ranked sketches on my list are ones that combine genres or feature a tonal shift. (Yup, I've written about this before.)

Some are just plain funny, though, and have made it onto the list for that reason alone! Some are also more accessible than others, I imagine (jump in with Tricky Linguistics. Hold off on Masterchef for a while...).

10. Masterchef (The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer)

Brilliant and surreal. I think The Smell of is Vic and Bob at their very best.

9. Pitch of Fear (Doctor Who Night 1999)

I can't not giggle all the way through this. This is solely because I'm a huge pre-2005 Doctor Who nerd. And look, Gatiss and Walliams!

8. American Sitcom Parody (Mash & Peas)
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The first (I believe) collaboration show between David Walliams and Matt Lucas. This sketch was from a special, and features some of my all time favorite comedy actors.

7. Know-Nothing Estate Agent (Monkey Trousers)

Bob and that wig. I don't know.

6. The Debt Collectors (The League of Gentlemen)

I've written about this one before. All of the League at their very best. Superb acting, superb comedy.

5. Tricky Linguistics (A Bit of Fry and Laurie)

Fry and Laurie are absolutely masterful. Not only are they unbelievable actors, they are freakishly intelligent. Stephen Fry has a way with words like no one else. This sketch made me feel like I was reading a good bit of poetry. Fantastic.

4. Elderly Sherlock Holmes (That Mitchell and Webb Look)

I've written about this one before, too.

3. Papa Lazarou (The League of Gentlemen)

Look at the strut. Listen to the gibberish. Papa's one of my favorite characters of all time. Delightfully dark. Typical horror-tinged League comedy.

2. Understanding Barman (A Bit of Fry and Laurie)

Perfect, perfect, perfect.

1. Injure For Friends (jam)

Julia Davis, queen of black comedy. jam is fantastically dark and surreal, straight out of the brain of Chris Morris (Brass Eye, Four Lions). The sketches that comprise its 25 minutes remind me of the sort of deranged collage of snapshots of murder victims and newspaper clippings you might find plastered on a serial killer's bedroom wall. It's that good.