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Child Item

Hungry? C4 to create comedy series...about the famine

Kermit.de.frog

"Hungry" is a new sitcom being developed by Channel 4. Bit bizarre subject matter for a comedy?

http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/niallodowd/British-TV-orders-up-a-comedy-series-about-the-Irish-famine.html

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AboutaWeekAgo

creolebelle wrote: »

Breaking bad isn't a comedy so no

Saul Goodman would disagree with you. It's a black comedy.

onlyrocknroll

Obviously Hungry could turn out to be offensive, dismissive of people's suffering and cruel. Equally it could be sensitive and intelligent, like the best comedy can be. Being a sitcom, it'll more likely be boring and forgettable.

Might I suggest that we actually wait until we see it before we decide if it's offensive or not.

flas

lertsnim wrote: »

I can't wait till someone does a comedy series based on the Holocaust.

The lolocaust?

creolebelle

AboutaWeekAgo wrote: »

Saul Goodman would disagree with you. It's a black comedy.

Got it. I see your point but I don't think meth and famine can be compared when ppl choose to do meth whereas famine victims are victims of circumstance

creolebelle

I kind of don't like the premise that almost anything can be turned into a comedy. Maybe black comedies like South Park and other media platforms like YouTube where ppl laugh at the pain of others kind of turn is into emotionally insensitive zombies. It seems like the element of empathy is lacking in many tv programs and films.
*steps off soapbox*

Pwindedd

onlyrocknroll wrote: »

Obviously Hungry could turn out to be offensive, dismissive of people's suffering and cruel. Equally it could be sensitive and intelligent, like the best comedy can be. Being a sitcom, it'll more likely be boring and forgettable.

Might I suggest that we actually wait until we see it before we decide if it's offensive or not.

I agree, I'm really not sure how everyone has decided that it's going to be a pisstaking xenophobic mess filled with ignorance and cliche.

It might be good or even mildly entertaining. I hardly think channel 4 are going to launch a new comedy with relatively unknown writer and not hold a few opinion polls or test screenings. I've always seen them as a very progressive channel. I'm going to reserve my judgement.

Cienciano

The Rubberbandits put it nicely:

No subject should be off limits to art and comedy. It's how it's handled that matters.

Wait till you see it before you get your knickers in a twist

Venus In Furs

creolebelle wrote: »

I kind of don't like the premise that almost anything can be turned into a comedy. Maybe black comedies like South Park and other media platforms like YouTube where ppl laugh at the pain of others kind of turn is into emotionally insensitive zombies. It seems like the element of empathy is lacking in many tv programs and films.
*steps off soapbox*

I agree too. If everything is fair game for comedy, then why isn't everything fair game for offence?
That said though, as Ciencano says, if it's done well - with actual wit and sensitivity and a bit of commentary (not just Frankie Boyle-esque shocking for the sake of shocking) - then I do think it's possible to pull it off. Not an easy one though, of course.

My name is URL

Venus In Furs wrote: »

I agree too. If everything is fair game for comedy, then why isn't everything fair game for offence?
That said though, as Ciencano says, if it's done well - with actual wit and sensitivity and a bit of commentary (not just Frankie Boyle-esque shocking for the sake of shocking) - then I do think it's possible to pull it off. Not an easy one though, of course.

That's asking a lot from one of Katherine Lynch's writers

um7y1h83ge06nx

It could backfire if they try and make out that the famine was just about potato blight or that it was the fault of the Irish back then.

Maybe they might make a comedy about setting up the first concentration camps during the Boer War.

ChunkyLover54

mikom wrote: »

irish central, who named Pope Francis as their person of the year 2014, as he "has transformed the Catholic landscape in a way unseen since the heyday of Pope John 23rd".

Now there is comedy.

In the context of the hyper-conservative, often medieval-minded Catholic hierarchy, Pope Francis has been remarkably open-minded and, dare I say it, enlightened.

Of course I'm sure you're probably an expert on the papacy.

dreamers75

Same channel that did a show on irish preists....that had the same effect before it was aired.

whisky_galore

the_syco wrote: »

Esp when you consider how badly the other RTE show with a woman and two priests bombed.

Series one was written by a housewife with zero grounding in comedy. It's all in the writing.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Anyone else think it's not cool to laugh about an event that not even 200 years ago killed a million Irish people and drove another million from their country to survive, signalling the start of a free fall in population and economic circumstances that would last over a century?

But maybe I'm not cool and aloof enough to laugh at stuff like this. We'll wait and see.

Frankie Lee

My name is URL wrote: »

That's asking a lot from one of Katherine Lynch's writers

Did he write for her, can't find much mention of it.
This is what his agent is putting out.
http://www.lisarichards.ie/directors/hugh-travers-screenwriter#.VKX0a3u3dOY

Here is an Irish language short he wrote which doesn't seem to bad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS921xjQG3U&index=4&list=PL1555F89017A8E536

whisky_galore

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater wrote: »

We'll wait and see.

If it stinks, then we can rip it to shreds. Proof of the pudding and all that.

fatknacker

Well everybody baulked at my "Schindler's Lithp" idea, to have the entire movie redone exactly the same, only the lead character has a has a speech condition known as a lisp.
Now it's receiving awards left, right and thentre.

Comedy is done right if it's done tastefully.

mark13

The other fella wrote: »

What about a comedy based around the London tube attacks next? No?

It's been done already, Chris Morris made an excellent comedy movie called "4 Lions" which follows four dim-witted Muslims as they plan out a terrorist attack on central London, it was released in 2010, 5 years after the tube bombings.

My name is URL

Frankie Lee wrote: »

Did he write for her, can't find much mention of it.
This is what his agent is putting out.
http://www.lisarichards.ie/directors/hugh-travers-screenwriter#.VKX0a3u3dOY

Here is an Irish language short he wrote which doesn't seem to bad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS921xjQG3U&index=4&list=PL1555F89017A8E536

I don't doubt his talent, just his audience

Frankie Lee

mark13 wrote: »

It's been done already, Chris Morris made an excellent comedy movie called "4 Lions" which follows four dim-witted Muslims as they plan out a terrorist attack on central London, it was released in 2010, 5 years after the tube bombings.

A masterpiece, but frighteningly enough the characters are based on real characters who are filmed in the extras on the DVD.

RedemptionZ

Interested in seeing how they deal with it. The best comedies push boundaries but it's very difficult to actually push those boundaries without ruining the sense of comedy in the show. If they do it right it could be very successful.

At the end of the day Blackadder goes forth was about the redundancy of war and how human lives were simply used as pawns. But it was bloody hilarious. And that hilarity made it all the more sad and chilling when you come to the realisation of what it's about. A lot of potential with this idea.

Also guarantee that a fair few of the people complaining about the famine being made fun of have at one point or another laughed at some starvation in Africa joke. Southpark had an episode about that starving ethopian child and the fat lady running the charity eating all of the charities food, on first glance it looks like it's just a way to poke fun at starving children but it's quite clearly a commentary on how charities are sometimes more concerned on benefiting themselves. This show could easily be a commentary on how horribly the Irish were treated during the famine era.

Timberrrrrrrr

creolebelle wrote: »

Breaking bad isn't a comedy so no

creolebelle wrote: »

Racist and incredibly insensitive since people are still dying from hunger everyday

And Irish isn't a race so no.

William F

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater wrote: »

Anyone else think it's not cool to laugh about an event that not even 200 years ago killed a million Irish people and drove another million from their country to survive, signalling the start of a free fall in population and economic circumstances that would last over a century?

But maybe I'm not cool and aloof enough to laugh at stuff like this. We'll wait and see.

I certainly won't stand for such mockery.

Davidius

I find it hard to imagine this being done well but I'd have to see it first.

Grayson

Venus In Furs wrote: »

I agree too. If everything is fair game for comedy, then why isn't everything fair game for offence?
That said though, as Ciencano says, if it's done well - with actual wit and sensitivity and a bit of commentary (not just Frankie Boyle-esque shocking for the sake of shocking) - then I do think it's possible to pull it off. Not an easy one though, of course.

Jim Jeffries has a bit in his show where he's talking about God. He says that people should be allowed believe what they want but bear in mind, if you believe in God, you're an idiot.

He them mentions how up to that point he'd discussed sexual assault & killing arabs and nobody cared. It's only when he mentions God that 50% of the audience gets offended.

There will be some people who will be offended no matter how good this show is.

flas wrote: »

The lolocaust?

Jakob the Liar was a comedy about the holocaust.

The other fella

mark13 wrote: »

It's been done already, Chris Morris made an excellent comedy movie called "4 Lions" which follows four dim-witted Muslims as they plan out a terrorist attack on central London, it was released in 2010, 5 years after the tube bombings.

Ah, ok then, i did not know that.

As long as it wasnt an overly disrespectful movie and didnt cause much offense then i dont mind this comedy going along the same lines.

Grayson

The other fella wrote: »

Ah, ok then, i did not know that.

As long as it wasnt an overly disrespectful movie and didnt cause much offense then i dont mind this comedy going along the same lines.

It offended loads of people. Have you ever seen his other stuff like Brass eye?

It was still quite funny in places.

Venus In Furs

Timberrrrrrrr wrote: »

And Irish isn't a race so no.

So many of your posts just reek of "The Irish are a bunch of inferior plebs".

Timberrrrrrrr

Venus In Furs wrote: »

So many of your posts just reek of "The Irish are a bunch of inferior plebs".

Pointing out that Irish is not a race and therefore the whole ZOMG RACIST hysteria is wrong makes you think that? The fact that my Father was Irish and i have lived here for 2/3 of my life would probably be lost on you :rolleyes:

Venus In Furs

Timberrrrrrrr wrote: »

Pointing out that Irish is not a race and therefore the whole ZOMG RACIST hysteria is wrong makes you think that? The fact that my Father was Irish and i have lived here for 2/3 of my life would probably be lost on you :rolleyes:

No, not just that post - obviously. Oh yeh, plenty of self loathing Irish people with an inferiority complex. Makes no difference.