TV Comedy

Car Share
Car Share was commissioned by the BBC and produced by Goodnight Vienna.  It is aimed at a middle aged audience as it is reliant on a patient audience with familiarity of old songs it is scheduled to be on TV at 22:45pm on Wednesday, this links to the target audience and type of humour as the target audience may be awake at that time and enjoy the transgressive humour shown after the watershed.

Celebrity Juice

Celebrity Juice was commissioned by ITV and produced by Talkback. It is aimed at a range of people from teenagers to middle aged as the humour is transgressive so is enjoyed by people of most ages, it is shown at 10:00pm on Wednesday, this links the target audience as it is after the watershed so its transgressive humour is welcomed and can be watched by teens as it is not too late as to miss out on sleep to watch it.

Institution and Regulation

What is the difference between:
Transgressive
Obscene
Obscene humour is extremely rude or offensive. Transgressive humour is also rude however most likely won't offend many viewers. The Office of Communications, or OFCOM, regulates what humour can appear on TV. They have rules about racism, hate crime, protecting under 18s and pornography. OFCOM must respond to complaints with investigations into the complaints and if they are valid they may have to fine or take down the TV show.

Keith Lemon's Celebrity Juice.

Celebrity Juice is a panel show which is played on ITV and lasts for 30-60 minutes. The show features the alter ego of comedian Leigh Francis, Keith Lemon as well as many other popular comedians and celebrities as guests in a joke based competition. The show has been running since 2008. Most commonly the show features Fearne Cotton and Holly Willoughby as captains of each team. The show contains lots of adult sex based jokes and is shown after the watershed due to its strong language and sexual references. Leigh Francis has been in a number of shows including but not limited to;

Bo' Selecta!

Through the Keyhole

A Bear's Tail

Sing If You Can

Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack

TV Comedy Panel Shows

What are the codes and conventions of a comedy TV panel show?

TV panel shows often last for 30 minutes and have an even layout to show all guests on screen at once usually sitting at shared tables for each "team". Dave is one example of a TV channel which shows panel shows including but not exclusive to; Mock the week, 8 out of 10 cats and Have I got news for you. Mock the week is shown on TV at 10 pm, which is after the watershed, as it includes swearing and rude comedy. It's target audience is teen to adult as it include sexual and rude jokes, it is a household TV show that is often watch late at . Mock the week likely earns lots of money as their guests include famous comedians such as Frankie Boyle, Russell Howard and Hugh Dennis. Their studio is only a large room with some space for seats for the audience and for tables for the guests, this allows them to have a low budget. The guests they invite on to the show allow the show to have a large viewer base with minimal advertising.

Mock the week scenes.

Car Share Audience Pleasures

Peter Kay has been in many comedy shows and has been around for a long time. He is considered a household name for his original comedy and popularity. Due to his popularity, the TV show Car Share has a large potential viewers range so that the show can become popular. The episodes have snowballing humour which is reoccurring humour throughout each episode, which hints at other jokes within. The humour is mostly adult based humour. This is enjoyed by the audience without restraint as the show is scheduled after 'The Watershed'. The show uses narrative resolution to bring narrative pleasures to the audience. Character identification, suspense and comedy to bring pleasures to the audience. Each episode plays familiar well known songs on the radio to entice a familiarity and recognition pleasure to make the audience feel more a part of the show. Another use of audience pleasures is unpredictability and spontaneity.

Situational Comedy: Car Share

Peter Kay's Car Share

Written by:

Paul Coleman

Peter Kay

Sian Gibson

Tim Reid

Scheduled broadcast:
11-12 pm based on  location in UK.

Sitcom codes and conventions:

The running joke, which is a reoccurring joke throughout the episode or series.

The comic trap, of which the entire show is based around. It is the situation which links the characters together which they cannot escape from otherwise the humour would be lost.

The one-liner, a joke made within a single sentence that has relevance to an event that has just occurred.

Car share is an example of situational comedy, a sitcom. Unlike a sketch show, sitcoms feature the same cast throughout the series, with a few changes based on storyline.

TV Comedy: Audience Pleasures


The type of audience pleasures you need to write about in the exam include:

• narrative pleasures such as those of narrative resolution, 
• character identification, snowballing narrative, suspense, comedy, and so on
• pleasures of recognition, familiarity and anticipation
• pleasures of difference-within-repetition
• performance unpredictability and spontaneity
• transgressive pleasures
• specific pleasures associated with performers or personalities.