Funny Business (TV series)
A BBC documentary series examining the craft of comedy.
Funny Business, also called Laughing Matters, is a BBC documentary series exploring the art of comedy. It debuted in the UK on 22 November 1992, with six 50-minute episodes each covering a distinct area of humour and showbiz. Tiger Aspect Productions created the series for the BBC.
Quick Facts
- Starring
- Rowan Atkinson
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Series
- 1
- Episodes
- 6
- Executive producers
- Sarah Williams
- Runtime
- 50 mins (each episode)
- Company
- BBC
Facts from the source article.
Visual Comedy: A Lecture by Rowan Atkinson M.Sc. (Oxon.)
Directed by David Hinton and written by Rowan Atkinson, Robin Driscoll, and David Hinton, this episode features Atkinson as both presenter and as an aspiring comedy actor named Kevin Bartholomew. Atkinson demonstrates principles of visual comedy in a manner familiar to viewers of his Mr. Bean character. He identifies three principal mechanics behind visual comedy: an object or person behaving unexpectedly, being in an unexpected place, or being of the wrong size. Atkinson stresses that the character behind the comedy is as important as the techniques used, and claims that Charlie Chaplin no longer makes audiences laugh because they cannot identify with his attitude. The episode illustrates these mechanics through chapters covering topics such as laughing at others' pain, early American violence and Mack Sennett's Keystone Cops, the relationship between comedians and magicians, sudden appearances or disappearances, and Georges Méliès as the first to make surreal jokes using film magic. It also examines exaggerated movement speeds, comedy rooted in fear, parody as exaggerated imitation, satire as parody of power or authority, and parodies of pop culture that imitate mannerisms, physical mechanics, or visual style. The comedy of personality is described as doing something normal in a funny way through body language, with Jacques Tati cited as a post-silent era filmmaker who made films without dialogue. The episode also discusses the dim attitude, defined as stupidity and lack of awareness less than that of the audience.
Reception
Mike Boone of the Montreal Gazette found Funny Business incomplete and outdated for not including Roseanne, Seinfeld, and The Larry Sanders Show, but called it an otherwise fascinating and frequently funny documentary that talks to the best and brightest in network comedy. Derek Leather of The Age praised the series, noting that Kevin is one of the funniest characters in Funny Business and underlining Atkinson's preeminence as a visual comedian.
More in 1990s British Documentary Television Series
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