But then we all knew that right? Yes, UKTV Gold asked 4000 people (have any of you ever been asked to take part in one of these polls? No, me neither) and their votes suggested that Monty Python's Flying Circus has had the greatest influence on today's comedy, with a pretty decisive 26% of the vote. And you can't really argue with that decision.
The 'Mr. Man goes into a shop' sketch in Little Britain is strange enough to be pure Python - as is much of the dressing up as laaaayyyyddeeees, of course - and the more surreal visual aspects of the Mighty Boosh clearly bear the mark of Terry Gilliam's animations. Mitchell and Webb's ability to mix high-brow humour with catchphrases also owes a huge debt to the Pythons. Hop over the cut for the rest of the Top 10, and a bit more discussion...
1. Monty Python’s Flying Circus
2. Only Fools And Horses
3. Blackadder
4. Little Britain
5. The Royle Family
6. The Morecambe And Wise Show
7. Spitting Image
8. The Young Ones
9. The Office
10. The Vicar Of Dibley
Quite how Only Fools and Horses can be considered the second most influential TV comedy is beyond me. It's wonderful, obviously, but it's just a straight-forward convential sit-com, isn't it? Much more deserving of the second place, I'd say, are either The Royle Family or The Young Ones - the former for bringing naturalism to TV comedy, and the latter for bringing, well, anarchy. What do you think?
[via Chortle]
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"Most influential" is Unspeak for "Favourite in recent memory". "Little Britain" just apes Dick Emery. You dare to cite "The Royle Family" for "bringing naturalism to TV comedy"? What utter toss. Ray Galton and Alan Simpson never existed then? There never was a Tony Hancock in East Cheam, or a junkyard called Steptoe and Son down Oildrum Lane?
It's no crime to be ignorant, but it there's no virtue in parading it!