Comedy - Is It A Science?

Dr Helen Pilcher is a molecular neurobiologist, as well as a stand up comedian specialising in scientific jokes(which sounds like a hard slog if ever I heard one). In 2005 she was commissioned by UKTV Gold to research why some sitcoms are hugely popular whilst others fall into the huge black hole of obscurity. Being neither a comedian nor a scientist it is all a mystery to me, but here follows the reasoning and results of her study.

The all important formula to which we should all aspire to is :
(( R x D + V) x F ) + S divided by A = all time comedy classic

Let me explain each element (if I can) :

R = recognisability of the main character
D = delusions of grandeur of that character
V = verbal wit of the script
F = number of times someone falls over or is injured
S = difference in social status of highest and lowest ranking character
A = success of any scheme in the show

So, give each sitcom a mark out of 10 for each category, do your sum, and hey presto............another 'best ever' list !!

Which is the point where we need Dr Pilcher, wearing her scientist hat please. The research was carried out on various sitcoms over the past 20 years. I point this out because many of the older classics were not included. The control (which I am led to believe is needed in any experiment) was the BBC programme Casualty. This would have been chosen because a) it is not a sitcom and b) it can represent on its night as thoroughly a gruesome and depressing an hour as anyone could wish for. Bear this in mind as I tell you that the score achieved by Casualty was 5.5

So, to the results (drum roll please) :

In 5th place with a score of 374.5 was Blackadder
4th goes to the legendary Fawlty Towers with 557
which was just behind third placed Father Ted with 564
leaving in second place The Office on 678
and the winner (double drum roll.............)
Only Fools And Horses with a mammoth 696.

No surprises there then. All have been major TV successes and the exercise provides another interesting 'best' list. However of greater intrigue are the results at the other end of the league table; that is to say those that provided none of the essential ingredients required by a long running, gigantic ,and acclaimed sitcom. Here then is the 'worst' list :

5th from bottom was Eyes Down with 96
only mildly worse was According To Bex on 67
both of which were gems compared to Sam's Game on just 22
leaving on a measly 8 points, Babes In The Wood
and finally and holding the wooden spoon 'Orrible on 6.5

It is not for me to criticise any person or show. This blog is an appreciation of comedy after all. But looking at the results of the top end and bottom end of the analysis it would suggest our good Doctor is well on the way to discovering exactly what makes the great sitcoms compulsive and long lasting. I guess I will just continue to laugh at things I find funny and quickly forget those things I don't.But what I will do here, as a point of record, is enlighten you with a little more information on those worst five. I must confess I had to research this because the shows had either passed me by or had temporarily ( ! ) consigned themselves to the darker recesses of my memory :

Eyes Down was the only one of the five I could remember watching (though not until I had looked it up). It was a BBC comedy (as indeed were all the bottom 5 ) from 2003 starring Paul O'Grady as a Liverpool binger caller. 15 episodes in 2 series was as long as it lasted.

According To Bex was a one series eight episode show in 2005 starring Jessica Stevenson as a secretary in an office struggling to work out what to do for best in a male environment and the effects it has on her love life.

Sam's Game was a flat share comedy from 2001 which also managed just one series but only six episodes in total. Starred Davina McCall and Ed Byrne.

Babes In The Wood had another flat share theme ,though more vulgar than Sam's Game. Followed the steamy lives of three girls and starred Denise Van Outen. Lasted for 15 episodes over 2 series in 1998-1999.

And finally 'Orrible, which is possibly the only sitcom in history to truly live up to it's name.Using the scientific test it scored just one point more than Casualty. Johnny Vaughan starred as a taxi driver on the peripheral of the gangster world of crime,drugs and violence. This adult comedy from 2001 did not last to a second series nor beyond 8 episodes.