Best Comedy Shows to Watch: Coupling

This past week has been very hectic for me both personally and professionally. This unfortunately led me to be too tired to write this article about my number 1 so it had to be delayed. I apologise for this delay. The past 2 days at work was even more hectic this time which still makes me tired as hell but I have to get on with this article now. 

The following show has a very special place in my heart as it always helped me cheer up whenever I felt bad about something. When I feel this way, only a good comedy makes me feel better. There is no other alternative to this. I just have to watch a comedy to forget about whatever has happened and lose myself in laughter.

I love this show so much that in case I lose it, I have it on both of my flash drives, about 4-5 CDs, my laptop, my desktop and my external hard drive. As you can see the list is pretty long. I for some reason have fear of losing my archives but the only documents I archived on various means is the photos and videos of my dog Akira and all the episodes of this show! For a time I even had my favourite episodes on my cell phone but I recently changed my phone so at some point I'm gonna have to do that again. 

When you find out about my number 1 and consider my number 1 & 2 shows I guess you will find it obvious that I like British humour much more than American humour.

After establishing the fact that how much this show means to me lets get to know a little bit more about it.

So here is my number 1:

- 1 -

COUPLING

My number 1 without question is Coupling. Never before has any show made me laugh as much as Coupling did. The subtle and witty jokes make this show even better which means after watching it for the second time you might pick up a joke you haven't on the first time. And this show is full of these jokes. 

I probably watched all seasons hundreds of times without exaggeration with the exception of Season 4 which was a disaster not because lack of Jeff but because of the introduction of such poor characters like Oliver and Tamsin. Season 4 could do just as fine without Oliver. Season 4 felt like writing gone bad. Story could have been much better and funnier even without Jeff, so him leaving the show is not an excuse for Season 4 to be that rubbish. Setting aside my anger towards Season 4, let me talk a little bit about the plot of the show and brief introduction to its characters.

The show centres around 6 friends. It is mostly about theirWhile the show is about sex we DON'T see anything we shouldn't be seeing which means it does a fantastic job on its part to be about it WITHOUT showing any of it :)
sexual adventures. Girl troubles, guy troubles and so on... It is interesting to note that in this show girls are portrayed as more independent and stronger while guys are portrayed as useless and rubbish in relationships. The girls are self-confident while the guys aren't. We can easily understand that from the way the guys talk when they try to flirt with girls. They really are useless :) Something important should also be noted:

Now let's get to know a little bit about the characters of the show and their personalities. Of course I'll be talking more about my favourite characters but this show has got too many of them if I have to be honest. I usually like 1 or 2 characters at the most in a TV show. But this rule doesn't apply to Coupling. We've got 6 main characters and I can hardly separate 4 of them with the exception of 1. And the last one I don't find that funny :) So lets start with my least funny one and go from there :)

Jane is the ex long term girlfriend of Steve. At the start of the show we see Steve trying to break it off with Jane but she refuses and tries to seduce him by talking about her lesbian relationships and wearing stockings. And yes Jane is bisexual but we never see her date with a woman. So I guess we just have to take her word for it. Even after Steve and Jane break up being a very possessive character, Jane never lets go of Steve. She is extremely self obsessed as well and loves talking about herself. Jane could be my least favourite character but Gina Bellman does a fantastic job of portraying her.

Patrick is Susan's ex boyfriend. He is the typical lad who cares about nothing but sex. There is a funny line in the show that pretty much sums up his character. Steve asks him "Patrick, what do you call people you go out with but don't try to sleep with?" and Patrick answers "Men?". He is referred to as donkey man and tripod because according to Susan he was born "very lucky" if you know what I mean :P He can be dense sometimes and have a hard time grasping things but he is an expert at getting women to sleep with him and he always leaves in the middle of the night and never calls again. The reason for him to be that dense may vary from character to character. Patrick thinks he doesn't have a "subconscious" and there is "nothing going on" in his head. Sally thinks that there isn't enough blood in his body for both ends referring to his generous pack :P She actually smiles when Patrick answers her "And that's a guarantee!" which shows that he doesn't really think before he says something. He is also possessive of his ex girlfriends or shall I say one night stands. He proves that by having a large collection of home-made videos in his cupboard of the nights he spends with these women.

Sally (left) is Susan's (right) best friend. She is the most insecure one among the women. She always considers herself to be fat. She is obsessed with calories, big necks and big bottoms and how aging and time will affect her looks. She hates wrinkly skin too which is clearly seen in an episode where she freaks out like she has seen a ghost after an approximately 80 year old woman speaks to her. Her biggest fear is dying alone. She constantly has trouble with men because of her paranoia about herself so she can be considered mean. She has her own beauty parlour. I find my obsessions to be similar to Susan's. I guess any girl or woman is obsessed about these "self-image" issues and Sally portrays that beautifully.

Susan is Patrick's ex girlfriend and Steve's current girlfriend. She is awed by two of the other women characters. By Jane because she is dating Steve and Steve has never told Jane once in their long-term relationship that he loves her. He tells Susan that many times so Jane dies from jealousy. By Sally because Sally is as skinny as a stick. Sally thinks Susan's bottom is like tinny puppies in a tinny sack so it is safe to say that Sally is also dies from jealousy. Susan works with Jeff. She is very good at her job and she speaks French fluently. She is obsessed with Australians same as my obsession with the English :P She is very well organised and is the most sensible character on the show. Most of the epic moments of the show consist of exchanges between Susan and Steve.

Jeff is probably the fan favourite. Most of the people who watch the show watch it because of Jeff. Jeff isn't sadly in Season 4 which made many people quit the show. I didn't because I had to see where the story was going. While the lack of Jeff's presence was highly felt, I couldn't help but think that even without him the show could have been much better. Anyway, it is really hard to describe Jeff. He is best friends with Steve. He is obsessed with woman body parts. He loves saying them out loud even more. He writes the word "naked" on a piece of paper and rubs it on his face. He also loves the word "breasts" and has 8000 words for breasts "and counting". He is socially awkward and has difficulty in speaking to women. So he always says the most silly things which scare off the women even though he means well. He says silly things like collecting ears in an ear bucket or a woman is so beautiful that she should be embalmed or she loves the legs of one woman so much that he would never want to separate them. Anyone would get scared I guess :D He is constantly frustrated sexually because he has difficulty in relationships. The show is also filled with his ridiculously funny theories or concepts about sex.



For me though, Steve steals the whole show. He steals each of the scenes too. I just can't stop focusing on him when he is in a scene. He certainly captures my attention. People can go on and on about Jeff all they want but Steve is another story! I wish they could see it :D When I want to cheer myself up there were times when I only watched Steve's scenes and fast-forwarded the rest, that's how much he made me laugh. Every single favourite scene of mine involves Steve making some serious points. These include such topics as "how male achievement over the years is to get a better look at our (women's) bottoms" or "how a toilet is the one last place a man can feel comfortable in" or "how paddings, cushions and pillows are just useless and how they just sit there and occupy our chairs and beds" and of course how "masturbation is like the only guilty thing left for a man" and the list goes on like that. In the show Steve is the most reasonable character. Also the smartest one among the men but despite all that he always finds himself in the most ridiculous situations. He is obsessed about Mariella Frostrup. He is also afraid of his girlfriend Susan. He is the sweetest character on the show and I certainly wouldn't mind if I had a boyfriend like him :P


Unfortunately I couldn't find a video of my number 1 LOL moment of the show anywhere so I'm gonna have to make do with the rest of my favourites. But you just HAVE to watch Season 1 Episode 4 called Inferno. It is probably the funniest episode of the show. I don't know what happened to the video though, it was on Youtube before but somehow I couldn't find it anywhere now, I guess the uploader must have removed the video.

However, here is a video of one of my other favourite scenes, it's about a bathroom door lock :)

Here is another hilarious video of Steve meeting the parents of his girlfriend Susan. The episode is called "My Dinner in Hell" and it really turns to hell :D

Last but not least, let's take a look at the cast. Every single actor's performance is simply amazing. Everything is as strong as its weakest link and this show doesn't have any!

Jack Davenport: Steve Taylor

Gina Bellman: Jane Christie

Sarah Alexander: Susan Walker

Kate Isitt: Sally Harper

Ben Miles: Patrick Maitland

Richard Coyle: Jeff Murdoch

Do yourself a favour and give this show a try. Believe me, you won't regret it! :)