[TV] UKCC23 - R16 Match EIGHT - The Office vs The Young Ones

[Mellotron]

Round of 16 - Match EIGHT
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Another tasty match-up to finish off the Round of 16.

The Office - 1994, 14 episodes

Such a huge show at the time - the birth of the mockumentary genre, and kickstarted the career of Ricky Gervais amongst others. Influenced a whole generation of men to talk a certain way. The show is endlessly quotable, but with a real warmth and pathos that elevates it above peers IMO - most likely the influence of Merchant, given the clumsiness of some of Gervais' future works without Merchant. This could go far.

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VS
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The Young Ones - 1982-1984, 12 episodes

Anarchic comedy about student life in Thatcher's Britain. Skidmarks.

VOTE NOW!​

UK Comedy Cup 2023 - Group Stage Round Up
UK Comedy Cup 2023 - R16 Match ONE - Fawlty Towers vs The Royle Family
UK Comedy Cup 2023 - R16 Match TWO - Father Ted vs The Detectorists
UK Comedy Cup 2023 - R16 Match THREE - The Inbetweeners vs Only Fools & Horses
UK Comedy Cup 2023 - R16 Match FOUR - Blackadder vs Porridge
UK Comedy Cup 2023 - R16 Match FIVE - Not The Nine O'Clock News vs Red Dwarf
UK Comedy Cup 2023 - R16 Match SIX - I'm Alan Partridge vs The Thick Of It

 

[Simster]

As much as I loved it in its day, I feel bad The Young Ones knocked out The Day Today. And I'd probably have voted for The Office here anyway, which was absolutely fantastic in its day.

 

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Both ground breaking. It's like choosing between your mother and your father.

 

[The Clamp]

Easy for me.

TYO was just before my time, I would have been far too young to get it.

When I see it now, it does nothing for me although I appreciate its cultural impact.

I rather liked Rik Mayal but this isn’t for me.

The Office it is. Pitch perfect and always funny. A landmark comedy. It was such a tonic.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

I think I'd rather watch an episode of the Office - but have voted for the Young Ones because it was such a revolutionary show.

And because of the song they did with Cliff Richard.

 

[Simster]

Both ground breaking. It's like choosing between your mother and your father.

I can see how The Office was ground breaking - it heralded the dawn of the mockumentary. How do you think The Young Ones was groundbreaking? Genuinely interested.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

Incredibly difficult, but The Office shades it.

 

[POSKETT AT THE VALLEY]

Watched a few re-runs of the Young Ones recently. It definitely had it‘s day, but The Office gets more laughs for sure.

 

[e77]

I love The Office. Apparently Ricky Gervais was on the London Underground the day after the first episode and he heard people complaining about the documentary set in an office on BBC2 the evening before! Also like Cleese with Fawlty Towers he parked it before the quality waned. That said the mockumentary - or rockumentary - format was pioneered by Rob Reiner in Spinal Tap.

The Young Ones is an age thing. If Monty Python were the Beatles, the Young Ones were the Sex Pistols/Clash. It was the sitcom baton passing down a generation and some of the visuals and challenged the status quo and the cast and crew went on to dominate comedy for the next couple of decades.

 

[Giraffe]

Closest one to date for me. But I'm voting for the Office, but I've as said many time the US Office is even better!

Young Ones is close to my heart from watching as a young thing with my older sister, but if you said which one would you watch again it would be The Office. I don't think Young Ones ages very well.

 

[Brovion]

I can see how The Office was ground breaking - it heralded the dawn of the mockumentary. How do you think The Young Ones was groundbreaking? Genuinely interested.

I think because it was 'alternative comedy does sitcom'. I know it's sneered at now, but 'alternative' comedy did seem a real leap forward in the early 80s. Only a few years before comedians had stood on stage in dinner jackets and told jokes about immigrants. Sit-coms were often (although not always) people like Terry Scott in nice, middle class situations. Then the likes of Rik Mayall appeared and blew it all away. Firstly they did it with stand-up, and then with the Young Ones they did it with a mainstream BBC sit-com.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

I love The Office. Apparently Ricky Gervais was on the London Underground the day after the first episode and he heard people complaining about the documentary set in an office on BBC2 the evening before! Also like Cleese with Fawlty Towers he parked it before the quality waned. That said the mockumentary - or rockumentary - format was pioneered by Rob Reiner in Spinal Tap.

The Young Ones is an age thing. If Monty Python were the Beatles, the Young Ones were the Sex Pistols/Clash. It was the sitcom baton passing down a generation and some of the visuals and challenged the status quo and the cast and crew went on to dominate comedy for the next couple of decades.

Nice anecdote, but unfortunately not true. Ricky Gervais has said he never got the underground, he always thought it was beneath him

 

[Simster]

Closest one to date for me. But I'm voting for the Office, but I've as said many time the US Office is even better!

Young Ones is close to my heart from watching as a young thing with my older sister, but if you said which one would you watch again it would be The Office. I don't think Young Ones ages very well.

The US Office was exactly the same as The Office for the first 2 series. They pretty much used the same UK scripts. It was only when the Americans decided to milk the show (as they always do) that the characters began to change completely.

Absolutely no way the US version was better from series 3, IMO. Just very different, far more gentle and got all a bit samey.

 

[Whitley Bayster]

The Young Ones the beginning of anarchic alternative humour! It changed British comedy and gave the youth of Britain something to laugh at away from mainstream sitcoms and traditional stand up comedians. It was groundbreaking and utterly, utterly brilliant you bastards!

 

[Man of Harveys]

The Office was very funny. The Young Ones changed comedy. I think you can assess a great comedy’s status by how much it’s imitated by its audience, by which the Young Ones is second only to Monty Python. Genuinely revolutionary.

 

[Mellotron]

Looking like this might be the tie of the round...

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

It's like comedy in 3D vs comedy in 2D. Surprised the Young Ones got this far in the competition to be honest, when far superior comedies failed to make the cut. Hated it then, still hate it now. That image in post #1 of lazy student stereotypes (well apart from the guy in the suit, what's that all about?) tells you all you need to know really
And... RELAX

 

[e77]

Nice anecdote, but unfortunately not true. Ricky Gervais has said he never got the underground, he always thought it was beneath him

TBF the underground is beneath most of us.

 

[Comrade Sam]

Why the brief intro for the Young Ones? It changed comedy in Britain for ever, sweeping away the racism and sexism that had dominated TV in this country and at the same time took slapstick to a whole new level. Whilst I loved The Office, it merely launched a few careers and was funny.

 

[Comrade Sam]

I can see how The Office was ground breaking - it heralded the dawn of the mockumentary. How do you think The Young Ones was groundbreaking? Genuinely interested.

Did you not watch the telly before 1982? Bernard Manning, Little and Large, Cannon and Ball, Jim Davidson, Benny Hill.