A wacky British workplace-sitcom that revolves around the day-to-day running of a “mom & pop” bookshop in downtown London.
Created by:
Graham Linehan & Dylan Moran
Starring Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey, & Tamsin Greig.
‘Black Books’ delivers bucket loads of laughter, barrels of bellyaches from repeated guffaws, and three main characters that epitomize what it means to be in the midst of your quarter life crisis. These turbulent friends get up to all kinds of antics, any attempt at realism is dispensed with almost immediately – in favour of outlandish scenarios and hysterical outcomes.
And the critics approve:
“It relies on absurd imagery and witticism, rather than [traditional] American sitcom setup-and-punchline kind of humour. I don’t know what was in the water in Britain in the early 2000s (probably something like “the shadow of Thatcherism” or “biscuit austerity”), but it’s similar to the absurd humour we see in The Mighty Boosh or The IT Crowd – often based on hilarious descriptive comedy.”
[1] Patrick Lenton – TheGuardian.com
It really works to the advantage of the show, since the writing and acting lends itself to truly bizarre, ridiculous gags — and only a handful of US sitcoms have pulled this off and only after ‘Black Books’ inception: ‘The Office’, ’30 Rock’, ‘Parks & Recreation’, and ‘Brooklyn 99’ to name a few.
A majority of American sitcoms have chosen to rely on tired tropes and predictable story lines, reusing and recycling from famous sitcoms of the past. Although this is a tried and true method for creating an inoffensive show that appeals to a mass audience, it rarely allows for creativity in the writing department. Comedy is better off as a genre when it has less constraints, absurd comedy allows for surreal situations juxtaposed with realistic writing of characters and their wants and desires. [2]
“Absurd comedy such as the work of Monty Python shows largely intelligent and rational characters reacting in realistic ways. It’s simply the situation that’s absurd. Even if the characters are operating under an absurd belief or obsession, once we accept that they genuinely believe in it, we can see that they are behaving rationally.”
Tim Ferguson – CheekyMonkeyComedy.com
Where some shows instead opt for joke-a-minute punchlines, ‘Black Books’ focuses on combining slapstick comedy with a flippant commentary on life, love, and friendship. It’s no wonder Simon Pegg is seen playing a speaking role in multiple episodes; his love for awkward wit with a dash of the absurd fits in snuggly with the rest of the cast. Not to mention, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, and Olivia Colman – all these English luminaries make an appearance in this Bafta award-winning series.
In the pilot episode of ‘Black Books’, the third amigo “Manny” loses his job after swallowing a self-help book titled “The Little Book of Calm”, which imbues him with guru-esque omnipotence. This is the inciting conflict that brings him to the eponymous bookshop in the first place, and into the fold of the wildly eccentric owner “Bernard Black”. Bernard is instantly beguiled with Manny’s godlike clerical abilities – so being understaffed as he is, he has no choice but to employ the man at the shop on a trial basis. This decision soon leads to persistent hilarity as the three disparate friends (Bernard, Manny, & Fran the adjoining shop owner) begin to get to know each other; quirks and tics included.
Oh and they all drink excessively.
Many times we’re shown the effects of their alcoholism in the form of severe hangovers, complete with obnoxious complaining and redoubled pessimism about their lives and lack thereof. One episode’s plot involves the death of the Pope from a bad bit of wine, Bernard and Manny use spoiled hooch to replace a literally priceless bottle that they mistakenly drank.
Yes, that is a plot of an episode of ‘Black Books’, like I said: it gets batsh*t crazy. Do not expect your stereotypical “dry British humour” – this show has bullocks!
It’s apathy centered premise is certainly fitting for aimless thirty-somethings in the early 2000s when it debuted but surprisingly Lihman & Moran’s ‘Black Books’ is still relevant in the mid-2020s – the same demographic that eventually made ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ a global success should absolutely dig this off-beat British comedy with its pessimistic jabs at “try hard” culture and workplace stoicism.
I know I did.
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Sources:
[2] https://www.cheekymonkeycomedy.com/how-absurd-comedy-works/
