My favourite TV comedy series
Peep Show returns to our screens for its third run on Friday. The first two series were cult hits rather than massive rating-pullers, and
Channel 4 initially dragged its heels about commissioning a third series. Thankfully, the huge kudos the show received from comedy stalwarts
Ricky Gervais, Iain Morris, et al ensured it got another series. As the Guide points out this week: 'one day they'll all be too famous to make any more and that will be rubbish'.
Enjoyment of Peep Show is necessarily tempered by the realisation that it's a refined sort of masochism: it lays bare many of the more unsympathetic traits of the human condition, and in doing so taps into a peculiarly male cocktail of self-absorption and self-loathing. The programme's USP is that you get to hear the main two characters' internal monologues, which seems pretty canny given that both Mark and Jeremy's default position is blind solipsism. They are essentially two sides of the same coin: Jeremy the workshy deadbeat with delusions of being an edgy hipster, Mark the repressed office drone, a simmering cauldron of sexual and emotional inadequacy. Both greet the adult world with an abject terror which, perversely, feels almost heroic.
Whereas, say,
Nick Hornby manages to wrap male neurosis in a sort of wholesome, blokeish package which might almost be viewed as charming, Peep Show exposes the male psyche to a harsh and unforgiving scrutiny which will have you despairing for the future of the world. Or, at the very least, yourself...
A FEW OF MY FAVOURITE PEEP SHOW LINES
Jeremy on University: "I was there in the golden years, the mid-'90s, Britpop was kicking off, Four Weddings was out, it was mental."
Jeremy to Mark: "My mate and your girl have just gone off to fuck each other. So what are we going to do now, Mark? Build a tent in the lounge and eat Dairy Lea? Is that what you want? Cos that's what's gonna happen."
Mark: "Sure, an orgy might sound great, but when you think about it you're just multiplying the number of people you won't be able to look in the eye afterwards."
Mark on his sexuality: "I'm the sort of person who would be gay, and then repress it even to myself". And later: "I'm not gay, I may be Bi, but frankly not very curious."
Mark, on buying shoes: "Maybe I'll go for brown brogues? Nah, better stick to black, don't want to go completely mental."
Mark, on seeing rival Jeff drive off with love interest Sophie: "This is the worst thing that's happened to anyone, ever."
Bit slow off the mark with this one, I know, but I couldn't let this week pass without paying my own personal tribute to the late George Best. Sadly, I was too young to marvel at the legend in his prime, but like countless others I recognise the impact this man had and the extraordinary legacy he has left us. Best was, without question, the most naturally-gifted pisshead these Isles have ever produced, and his heroic consumption of alcohol despite being hampered by serious health problems is a truly remarkable feat. Who can ever forget his iconic appearance on Wogan when, slurring his words and dribbling into his beard, he informed the nation how much he liked 'screwing' before falling off the sofa? Best was a true gentleman who would never raise a fist against a woman unless, you know, she really deserved it. His charisma and charms were multifold, and he was always at hand with a great quote or two, like 'I'll tell you when I've had enough you cunt' and 'if you scream like that once more I'll hit you even harder'...
