Black Books

[Polaris]

British sitcom starring Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey and Tamsin Greig.

The series revolves around Bernard's loathing of the outside world and all the people who inhabit it, except his oldest friend, Fran Katzenjammer. Bernard displays little enthusiasm or interest in retail (or, indeed, anything outside drinking, smoking and reading) and refuses to interact with anyone outside his bookshop, or even inside, as Bernard has a personal hatred of customers. Many episodes are driven by Manny and Fran's attempts to force him into a more socially acceptable lifestyle. However, despite their attempts, and Manny's strong social skills, their efforts usually result in chaos, sucking them back into Bernard's nihilistic view of the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTvfG3HSDYA

Absolutely the funniest sitcom I've ever seen! Bill Bailey and Dylan Moran do a great job with the series and they're both just as hilarious on their own. Bill Bailey tends to do a lot of self-depreciating humour, in fact his best stand-up (I reckon) is called 'Troll' after himself. While Dylan Moran is renowned for black or dark humour. Both these styles come out during the series as Dylan Moran is a mysanthrope who hates everything and Bill Bailey is the one who always ends up getting insulted, teased and put down (mind you in ways that will have you laughing forever).

If you have seen it, what's your favourite episode/character/moment/etc?

[Fatass]

I bloody love Black Books.

Not only are Bill Bailey and Dylan Moran two great standup comedians, but Graham Linehan was one of the writers on the show. He also wrote The IT Crowd and Father Ted, two other brilliant sitcoms, so I'm assuming he's farking good at it.

[Polaris]

It would seem that way, I never really got into the IT Crowd or Father Ted as much as Black Books though, the actors just didn't seem to be able to act as well. There was one episode for the IT Crowd that I saw once, where there was a fire in the store or house or something and when one of the characters discovered it and another character just playing on the computer and ignoring it, he just didn't seem genuinely surprised or angry enough.

But it does have a lot of followers, so there must be something I'm missing.