The Inbetweeners

I like British comedy. You may believe that people say that because it makes them sound more erudite or sophisticated, but I've found that it is anything but a reflection of a loftier sensibility. One of my friends, a Russian woman named Anastasia (really, that's her name despite sounding like it was made up), said that she couldn't understand the appeal of British comedy because it seemed to be all about farts and crude jokes. I told her that I think a culture which focuses on being so "proper" and stoic finds the opposite to be more humorous. It is because they are stodgier that they find cruder humor appealing.

At some point in the not so distant past, I came across a list of the 50 best British comedies as well as top 10 list which focused more upon recent shows. One of the shows in the top 10 was called The Inbetweeners. I don't know what an "inbetweener" is in English culture. I've watched the entire series as well as a follow-up theatrical movie release and I still am not sure what one is. My best guess is that it is someone who is neither cool or high status nor a complete dork of no status. That is, they are "in between" these social groups.

The setting of the show is a public high school and focuses on the lives of four young men. Narration is provided by the central character named Will. Will used to go to a private school and is intelligent and a bit snobbish, but he had to switch to a public school when his father left his mother for his assistant. Will is self-aware - far more so than his cohort - and realizes that finding the right friends as well as enduring being hazed as a newcomer are part of the experience. In America, I imagine such a character would be a bit shy and pathetic or may, on occasion, scrappily fight back.

In this show, Will manages with a certain level of dignity and forthrightness. People are lobbing verbal darts at him and he just seems to keep putting up defenses effortlessly due to his wit and somewhat higher maturity. Even when he overdoses on energy drinks while cramming for university entrance exams and craps his pants due to the side effects and people mock him for it, he owns up to it and refuses to be humiliated. This is part of what I like about the humor.

The other three characters embody certain stereotypes that reflect aspects of being a young male. All of them are fairly sex-obsessed and preoccupied with girls. In fact, when I first started watching this, I couldn't help but feel that this group is what the guys in The Big Bang Theory would be like if that show took place in high school, was more realistic and less concerned with creating "likeable" characters, and was R-rated. The character of Jay not only acts like Howard on The Big Bang Theory in the early days of the show - overestimating his sex appeal, talking a lot about sleeping with women, etc. - but has a similar hairstyle. I don't think this is a rip-off, however, as the shows were developed nearly concurrently.

I think it's a bit of a waste that some British comedy never takes off in America, or worse, that it is adapted and re-made with American actors and just tends to lose all of its charm and humor. Perhaps I overestimate the audience in the U.S. and their ability to absorb and understand other cultures. Perhaps the entities responsible for broadcasting underestimate them. At any rate, I recommend The Inbetweeners if you're looking for fresh comedy and aren't prudish or sensitive about language or sex. Yes, it's crude, but it's also sharp and funny.

Note: There's a YouTube link there which works now, but may vanish any day. If it goes away, then you'll have to see if there's another outlet from which to view the show or another link on YouTube.