Depressing comedies

[Floogal]

As the title suggests, can anyone think of any programs that were supposed to be funny, but we're actually sombre?

I remember in the 90s, there was the Brittas Empire. Couldn't enjoy it as there was an abusive gay relationship, woman who kept her kids locked up in cupboards and scruffy Colin. Also Gordon meant well but most people seemed to dislike him.

Also loved men behaving badly and game on. But depressing to think of Mathew's acrophobia, Mandy's husband dying and poor Martin having his heart broken. Also Dorothy was pretty abusive to Gary

@IWasHotInTheNineties

Afterlife with Ricky Gervais

i agree with that

Flowers, lots of mental illness, attempted suicide, people trapped and so unhappy. I agree about Steptoe and Son. It was on when I was a kid and I found it almost harrowing.

Motherland is fantastic !!

Yes to Steptoe and Son. Just so grim.

I remember a not-very-successful comedy from the 80s about people with lonely, failed lives living in skanky bedsits - Sink or Swim.

Also Lame Ducks, about a man who was injured at work and ended up living in a derelict building with other homeless people. What could be more hilarious!

The Office U.K. Absolutely cannot stand it. So depressing. I worked in offices for years and it’s so close to home. However, I love The Office US. It has a completely different vibe.

Don't think fools and horses was depressing it had pathos which is a different thing altogether.

Mrs Brown's Boys.....I find it depressing that anyone finds it funny.

@IWasHotInTheNineties

Afterlife with Ricky Gervais

When I saw the thread title I wondered if someone would say afterlife, and I see a couple of people have.

I know there's real darkness at its heart, but to me its v funny (despite and alongside the pain), brilliant acting and writing.

For me, something other people find funny and I don't depresses me.
I give you Mrs brown's boys and roy chubby brown as examples.
Also dated comedy. Things like on the buses and mind your language - awful.

@OhMyCrump

Mrs Brown's Boys.....I find it depressing that anyone finds it funny.

Xpost

The Royle Family.

Supposedly a family but with no real connection, grunted at each other and lived in squalor. Horrible.

The Office.

What a horrible place to work. Soulless and grey.

Not sure if it fits, as it's supposed to be pretty dark, but Bojack Horseman was the first show that sprung to mind. It's brilliant though.

I'm not sure I can think of any comedy that doesn't have a sad or black streak a mile wide. It's what makes them 'real'.

Anyone remember Roger and Val Have Just Got In, with Dawn French and Alfred Molina? The most beautifully written comedy about the first half hour after a couple gets in from work. Over the course of the episodes you find out they lost their baby and have never really dealt with it.

Surely the definition of sitcom is people ‘trapped’ somehow. I can’t think of any great sitcom that wasn’t also sad.
As a young child I found Rising Damp particularly unsettling. So dingy and desperate. But brilliant too.

I find most comedies unbearably sad now. Managed about 2 minutes of This Country. Black Books makes me want to weep. Fawlty Towers seems like an accurate picture of hell. Hence why I watch documentaries about disasters and political crises instead.

I can sometimes cope with a bit of surrealism still. Maybe it's the Briton in me.

.. I LOVE Roger and Val! It’s genius.

When I was a child I couldn't bear Steptoe and Son. It was supposed to be funny but it made my flesh crawl. I hated how the son was stuck there with his horrible father. Same with Some Mothers Do Have Em - that wet useless husband and endlessly patient wife.

And My Family.

I only watched one episode. Wife went to get an award for something important. Abusive husband clearly resentful, tears her outfit, breaks her shoe, possibly ‘accidentally’ injures her and smears her with dirt.

Then suggests they just go home and forget about everything but I think she finds her balls and still collects her award.

I get angry thinking about it and I saw it about 20 years ago.

I agree that 'trapped' is a key element of sitcoms, they all represent a kind of madness, endlessly repeating things that never fundamentally change. Some are quite a bit bleaker than others though.

Absolutely Fabulous. Seeing a Mother clearly not give a flying wank about her own daughter was quite depressing.

Yes, Butterflies definitely meets this definition.

For me, I find ‘Still Open All Hours’ a bit depressing. I mean, the original had pathos but I find it tragic that Granville ended up becoming what he so despised. I always thought it would have been better if he’d become a spendthrift and Leroy had been the spirit of Arkwright.

Also agree with The Good Life, I’d have buried Tom in that allotment! I think Richard Briers said that Tom was his least favourite character as he was so sanctimonious.

@devildeepbluesea

I'm not sure I can think of any comedy that doesn't have a sad or black streak a mile wide. It's what makes them 'real'.

Anyone remember Roger and Val Have Just Got In, with Dawn French and Alfred Molina? The most beautifully written comedy about the first half hour after a couple gets in from work. Over the course of the episodes you find out they lost their baby and have never really dealt with it.

I love Roger and Val. It's brilliant. Very funny but yes very sad too

Mrs Browns boys is depressingly shit

I used to love Ab Fab, until I realised how much my mil was like Eddie and then it wasn't quite so funny any more.
As said already a lot of comedies have a sad undertone to them. Almas Not Normal really was bittersweet, and then heartbreaking in the final episode. More so as it was partially biographical.
I think a lot of comedies from the 80s and 90s I probably wouldn't enjoy if I watched them now.

Getting On, but it did make me laugh at times,

Steptoe and Son is brilliant but so sad, such an abusive relationship and the son is trapped with his horrible father. I think it's given a pathos because the actors hated each other in real life and also both hated that they were famous for a sitcom and stuck with that image in the public eye. Both were stage / classical actors.

The bit where Albert is talking about the Christmas Day football game in the WWI trenches is hilarious though (in a very dark way.) "Yeah, and his mate!"