Created by the similarly named sketch comedy troupe of Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, and Jeremy Dyson, this series follows the former three as many characters in the fictional town of Royston Vasey, Northern England, where the bizarre is normal and outsiders are certainly not welcome. The three play most seen in the town with sketches following different characters throughout, much like the later Portlandia in its loose overarching narratives stitching together the sketches. The jokes are quite dark and very blue, with much of the bits not aging well and seeming quite insensitive (if not blatantly racist caricatures), however all the bits around those did leave a couple heavy laughs and I certainly exhaled heavily out my nose many times. Again a quite dark series I think the group perfected the form in their much later anthology series Inside No. 9 (currently making my way through before a full review), which so far I would highly recommended, however in this series I feel their still finding their grooves and spend too much time trying to cross lines and be edgy than it was morbidly funny. First season was certainly the best, with the second being the low point, and the rest a decent end. Either way, would recommended for those local people into sketch comedy, especially those that enjoy being offended, if you're looking for a smile there won't be any trouble here.
Review of The League of Gentlemen
