Two strange and quite unrelated British comedies have taken our attention this month: one well-known, at least to those of a certain age, and one perhaps not well-known enough.
The first is the reappearance of the Carry On movies, those low-budget British comedies (of which there were a remarkable 31) that traded on the tradition of music hall and bawdy seaside postcards.
They are, if nothing else, a strange reminder of years that have happily drifted into the past.
Remarkably, Sky's Jones channel is bringing them back from a long and well-deserved death.
But just what might the more enlightened youth of today make of these historic pieces?
Carry On ... Don't Lose your Head will be broadcast on July 31, part of a season of the films that originally began with Carry On Sergeant in 1958.
The movies, despite their lashings of what appears now extremely lame innuendo, did have some good points.
There was something - I'm not sure what - about Sid James, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Williams and the saucy Barbara Windsor.
But Don't Lose your Head is awful - there are no two ways around it.
It is Paris 1789, and the revolution is in full swing, as are the corny jokes.
There is a "half-hour service between the Bastille and the guillotine''.
"The growing mounds of noble heads are only matched by the growing mounds of unused return tickets.''
No-one is spared as the blade takes "men and women of both sexes''.
Ha ha! See what they did there?
Williams is Robespierre's chief of police Citizen Camembert, and his toadying lackey is named Citizen Bidet.
Meanwhile Sir Rodney Effing (Sid James) is having a terrific time with busty women in haystacks in nearby England, in what is apparently a parody of The Scarlet Pimpernel.
Worth watching for a view into a strange and now scarcely understandable past.
Then there is Chris Morris' Jam.
The horrendous dark sketch comedy/ambient music horror show originally broadcast in the United Kingdom in 2000 pushes boundaries of all sorts to the very, very edge.
The deeply unsettling Jam is not on New Zealand TV, but is on YouTube, and I can only warn you to not, under any circumstances, watch it.
I did during a recent winter holiday, and can only say it is so completely sick and outrageous that nobody should ever see it.
It is the also possibly the best show in the history of mankind.
Actors include the brilliant Julia Davis (Nighty Night, which was also dark and brilliant, and Hunderby (ditto)) and the wonderful Mark Heap (Green Wing and Friday Night Dinner).
Don't say I didn't warn you.
By Charles Lougherty
