UKH

I think we've discussed previously on here comedies which weren't very amusing ( the Scandi film about a snowplough driver springs to mind)  but I want to propose what I consider to be  a winner in this category: the HBO series "Succession" . It is the most compelling thing on TV currently, described as a comedy drama by its creators, but it's not funny at all to me.

What puzzles me is why I find it so addictive. It's about a world I don't understand which, like "Ozark", is populated by utterly despicable characters. And yet I'm stuck on it.

At least I'm not alone in my view of it. Apparently Jeremy Strong, second lead actor, doesn't consider it comedy at all and I suspect after watching the end of last night's episode there'll be a lot of people agreeing with him.

You heretic!

In the Order of Disappearance / Kraftidioten is one of the funniest films ever (unless to happen to watch the limp US remake).

CB

99% of radio 4 comedy falls into this bracket. 

Where the paraglider goes in the snow blower at the end? 

That's the one. Great film, very funny, pitch black.

The Producers ( original) is what I call a funny film. 

Kraftidioten is a good film but not funny.

Cold Pursuit is neither.

You don't find e.g.. the absurd situation with the head drug dealer continuously worrying about his son getting healthy food and vegetable smoothies funny, or the custody battle with his wife that focuses on all the wrong issues why he might be an unsuitable parent?

Or the Serbian criminals discussing going to a Norwegian jail to get their teeth fixed, and enjoy the polite wardens and the absence of rapes?

Well, funny is obviously a matter of taste.

CB

I sort of understand what you are saying however, since I burst out laughing regularly throughout each episode (not something I normally do through alleged sitcoms) so I guess that I do find it funny. The writing is fantastic and the sheer unlikeability of every character without ever resorting to that tired  cliche of revealing some deeply hidden positive characteristics makes it highly addictive.

Watching these deeply unpleasent uber rich people stagger from one disaster to another without ever evoking one iota of sympathy for them makes it the best best viewing on TV at the moment.

I think the key is that not one of the characters has any redeeming features, other well writen series such as The Sopranos, The Wire, Breaking Bad, Ozark etc etc all provide their anti-heros with some characteristics that we can empathise with. In Succession this is not the case and it's a winning formula

I must admit to chortling at the expression on Roman's face after he realised he'd pressed the wrong send button ( I don't think that's much of a spoiler). 

People disagreed when I likened Ozark to The Wire and The Sopranos , the word Shakespearean  being used in praise of the big two, but if we're looking for a modern day counterpart to the bard then I would say it's Succession .

Sounds like they're both due for a rewatch. Can you remember where you saw Kraftidioten (BBC, Netflix, Amazon etc)

I have the DVD...

I think, though, that it is available on Amazon.

CB

JUst found it on ROKU, thanks.

Film 8/10. It really is a very good film.

Comedy Value 2/10. At one point I was close to tears, and not those of laughter.

i see Wikipedia does not describe it as a comedy.

It has moments of comic relief in among a lot of grief and slaughter, but then, so do Macbeth and Hamlet .

I forgot it had the big Viking type actor from Beck and that other unfunny comedy, Force Majeure ( and its remake).

The blackest humour Ive seen recently, but which still had me laughing out loud as opposed to the odd wry smile, is in the series Get Shorty, where every single character is likeable, even the big Mexican lady who runs the cartel.

El Infierno (Netflix) is a good example. Many of the characters are almost comic-book funny and the whole film is peppered with hilarious scenes. Of course being set in the criminal underbelly of a Mexican border town, grimness (murder, rape, torture, amputations that kind of thing) also abounds.