Peep Show - Jesse Armstrong's Odd Couple
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- čas přidán 6. 06. 2024
- This video essay reviews and analyzes Channel 4's Peep Show, starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb, and written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain. If you have not watched this classic British sitcom then I thoroughly recommend you do. This video analyzes the why the visual style complements the inner monologue approach to comedy, and how the airtight character writing leads to the funniest conclusions. Peep Show is about two odd couple style characters living together in London between the ages of 25 and 40.
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Timestamps:
0:00 The Odd Couple Sitcom
2:29 Visual Style
4:14 Inner Monologue
7:59 Story from Character
11:52 The Duality of Man
#peepshow #davidmitchell #jessearmstrong - Zábava
Peep Show is about two adults who have not achieved their dreams and are completely unfulfilled but only get by on the superiority complex they have built over each other. Mark hates his meaningless job that does not suit his character and stunted social life, but knows that he is at least more "adult" than his foolish flatmate. Jez has achieved absolutely nothing in his life but always thinks it's a small blessing that he hasn't sold out like Mark.
unfilled?
I think Jez has got further in life than Mark.. Mark works and makes himself miserable, to live in a 2 bed, ex council flat. He worries about money and what people think of him. None of the women in Mark's life are the type many would go for and even they don't respect him. Jez does nothing but enjoy himself and to Marks annoyance, he has a better life in the same flat, gets plenty of sex and is able to manipulate Mark into getting himself involved in the crap he does because Mark wants some fun.
@@sidarthur8706 Un*ful*filled.
It's interesting because both aspects of their fundamental (deluded) beliefs I see in myself as someone who does the dullard 9-5 and also tries to be a musician (fairly shite at both !). That's part of why it's so good I guess, most people are actually somewhere between the pair
it's funny because so often an odd couple type show ends an episode with this big reconciliation scene "oh man now i can see things from your perspective and i understand and respect you as a person" while in PS they are like "i hate you more now. i have hated you before and yet somehow my hatered for you has grown. unfortunately, without you i will disintegrate. do you want toast?"
That's how it is in real life also, it's the reason why you are not still friends with your childhood friends
Twice too. Series 8 and 9 both end with them stuck together.
"Awww, he loves me really."
"I simply must be rid of him."
"I simply must get rid of him." Last line of the last episode. Brilliant. Never happen on American TV.
"The secret ingredient is crime" is my mantra
Hell yeah. I've said this on a couple other Peep Show videos, but Super Hans is like a deeply disturbed combination of Kramer and the Fonz. Truly one of the great TV characters of all time.
It was a brilliant scene.
There’s two types of people in the U.K.
People that can hear the Phrase “chance would be a fine thing”, without adding “a fine thing indeed”and Peepshow fans.
"That's a thing people say, isn't it?"
I do NOT iron my socks.
My friends' version was 'this is outrageous, this is contagious, it's SOOOOO fu-TILE'.
I watched succession for the first time after my 100th rewatch of peep show. You can see the writing similarities and I feel like it’s not spoken enough
They write such realistically cynical characters that is very relatable in almost the worst ways. The Thick of It is almost like a blend of the two, Armstrong co-wrote 15 episodes but you can see the similarities throughout
@@jebus89 came to reply exactly this. Three of the best comedies in terms of dialogue I have ever come across and all bear Jesse Armstrong's fingerprints. He's a genius.
ACTION STATION !
Peep Show is my favourite British comedy and Succession is the worst thing I've ever watched. I can't see any similarities, or shared values and have no idea why people like the latter
@brunolondinese5857 I mean, that's certainly on opinion, and I, for one, definitely don't feel that reading it wasted valuable seconds of my life that I'll never get back. Fair play, lad.
Don't thank me. Thank the Microsoft Office family; Excel, PowerPoint, and Word - The Three Amigos.
Access doesnt get enough attention
Olivia's Oscar started here.
I think it started on the Bev Kev insurance advert.
Lovely Sophie
@@kevincarter2020”my beautiful wife”
You’re my ballast, Mark
I think she acted well but the writing of Sophie went downhill. I think her most consistently funny performance was on another under rated masterpiece: Green Wing.
I always use "Hitler promised not to invade Czechoslovakia, welcome to the real world" as my default response to people saying "You Promised!" Or something to me
For some reason you break promises often?
@@ameliorated sure. I'm a LARPer and play TTRPGs. Sometimes you just want to play an unrepentant thief or just plain want to get the most out of a quest reward. This is my go to phrase for that in like, a VTM game or D20 Modern. . .
Chance would be a fine thing
You missed 'listening to coldplay'
People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people.
When I was younger I used to smoke weed and watch peep show to give myself anxiety
I used to get the same feeling by drinking 3 cafetieres of coffee, hiding under my bed and calling my dada after 10pm
One of greatest british sitcoms of all time, so glad to see someone finally covering it!
At this point I think we can confidently say the greatest.
I agree - if you haven't seen Peep Show, you MUST. It's my favorite comedy of all time and an extreme example of just how good TV writing can get. I'm psyched to see it get some of the coverage it deserves
Personally, I'm terrified at the idea of America finally coming up with a marketable version of the show and having THAT be the default version that fills everyone's heads when they think "Peep Show."
One thing I'm glad about my high-school buddy being stationed in the UK is him telling me to watch this show around 2010, probably my favorite sitcom.
An American Peep Show can't work because Americans are typically outspoken but Brits are typically repressed. Therefore the contrast between what the characters say and do, and what they actually think, only works if it's a British show.
Bullseye. like the whole Mark / Sophie relationship arc is the best example. There was so much that no one in that circle was ever going to say out loud yet it affected all their motivations. Its a masterclass in the under and un stated. That scene when Ian confronts Mark about his true feelings for Sophie while his own wife was banging Jeremy. Better than therapy. Pure genius.
One of the best shows of all time, either side of the Atlantic.
‘Super Hans,’ is one of the best television character names ever.
It’s almost criminal to make a video this long about Peep Show, and not show, at least a passing glimpse, of the almost supernatural beauty, that is, Big Suze.
Thanks for making videos eh.
HERE HERE
The most quotable show of all time
Urban myth
@@theazkii Jamie Lee Curtis, born a hermaphrodite, true or false?
Chance'd be a fine thing
@@johndcoffee632a fine thing indeed
Those trees are not real trees
Im Spanish and Peep Show is my all time favourite sit-com ❤❤❤ Im obssessed with the humour, the wit, the acting... it is superb!
They're eating mummy 😂😂😂😂😂
This was a classic watch among students in the UK a decade ago. I remember feeling depleted after a watch and pitying Mark and Jez. It's so dark that I need company to watch it with, like watching a horror movie.
..20 years ago 😂 first season was 2003.
@@joeynessily haha yes but it wasn't a classic yet! It was a classic 10 years ago when I was a student :)
@@joeynessilyor maybe it was an instant classic that remains a classic uk student watch till today, who knows
As someone who recently went to uni, students still watch it. Everyone in my accommodation would come downstairs and watch a couple episodes every couple days
There are crossovers between peep show and succession. Greg referring to Logan as Jaws (the name of the shark) - Mark and Jez arguing about if the shark is called Jaws.
Stefan Straus is both head of JBL and also investigating Tom during the cruise scandal
Pretty sure April’s husband that gets kidnapped is also the one who calls Logan to tell him they think he should step down for the boat scandal
@@JustanObservation yes, exactly
On top of that, one of the production companies involved in making Succession is called Project Zeus. Of course making an acclaimed series is a much more possible task than turning marketing into a branch of sales
@@oisindowling7085Absolutely, those aims are too fucking diffuse
When I first read Stalingrad I’d quote it for month… then I said Peep show for the first time and realised I was Mark.
Please tell me you tried to seduce a woman with it
There’s no way to articulate how much I love this effing show.
It's a daily watch essential
Jeff's doing a joke! Jeff's doing a joke! Everbody quiet cos Jeff's doing a joke!
'Freak!'
😆nice
@@darrenstopper1806 Izzy really is freakish
Thankyou for this loving analysis of my favourite tv show OF ALL TIME.
It’s such a diamond in the rough. I love this show so much. I got the chance to live in the UK for a year. I got the full British experience. I was extremely depressed and Peep Show was my sick and twisted lifeline. Wouldn’t change that for the world.
Why do you think you connected with it so much during that time?
(I hope this doesn’t come off as rude or arrogant)
@@RedLabs not rude at all. I’m not quite sure. I remember feeling very satisfied at the end of each episode. I think that it made me laugh at how absurd life can be at times. I identified a lot with Mark and Jeremy. I was also a victim of my own decisions in life. And at the end of the episode not everything was solved. Just small changes at times. But it left me with a sense of continuity. It wasn’t over yet. Each episode was an opportunity, another chance to fix themselves. Even if the journey was miserable it was always new, interesting and also a dark kind of fun. It helped me think about my life in those terms as well.
@@emtoprma thank you for taking the time to reply I really appreciate you writing back with a full bodied answer :)
I hope things are going better for you now, and if not, I hope they start to turn around soon :)
mark and jez are all the awful things we see about ourselves, it's nice to find something relatable even when you're miserable. you can tell yourself they're worse than you yet at the end of the day, not alone.
I think this would be better transported to a Canadian version instead of an American one. Americans aren't commonly keeping their thoughts to themselves especially when they are convinced they are right
Damn, you nailed it
I can see it.
Jez would work as one of those burnouts who languishes indoors, and particularily one of those guys who can't handle winters. Not as hippy and libertine like Jez, more blatantly status obsessed.
Mark as a STEM trade/degree graduate who claims he wants to move forwards in life, but is an uncommunicative wreck and a neurotic nightmare boyfriend. He should be better disguised as a normo than British Mark, but anyone that interacts with him should catch on pretty quick.
They'd live in one of those housing market crash poorly built suburban houses with an unfinished basement Jez lives in. Instead of claustrophobia it'll be agoraphobic with creeping hoarder tendencies that Canadian Mark would have.
Peep Show is my favourite show of all time. Brilliantly written in a way that still holds true today and the inner monologue thoughts are perfectly caputring the genuine thoughts we all have. It is, without doubt, the best thing we have produced and should be in everyone's top ten. Jez and the giant "turkey leg" and his look of disgust is amazing. "They've eaten Mummy!" As a show it's "Tikkety Boo."
"Did you have to eat it?" "I keep asking myself that, but in the moment I really did feel I had to eat it."
Nice video mate,
These I watch Peep Show and then get to peep at shows about Peep Show, and I love doing so!
Great video as always. I have never seen any of this sitcom. I will give it watch soon. Keep up the good work.
One of my favourite all time sitcoms, probably watched it a hundred times. Grossly underrated but definitely one of the greats.
"Are we the baddies?"
Wrong show, but yes!
Oh, uh, naughty, you've combined two different shows there, you might get an interdenominational... you know, from mixing the two measurement systems, a hangover of that kind.
Have you seen "the grammar nazi"? Mitchell and Webb.
@@muscleandhate excellent 👌
@@muscleandhate top tier comment
I love that the world discovered this gem
My favorite show ! Just watching the clips in this essay made me laugh out loud, such a hilarious show, I have watched it so many times!
'This crack is a bit moorish' - Super Hans.
For some reason its one of my favourite lines.
My random favorite line from Super Hans that I say all the time is "we've changed our name... we're now 'Curse These Metal Hands'" 😂
Moreish, not moorish
Such a shame its not seen much outside of the UK its truly amazing
Really good analysis
I'm so glad you appreciate the quote at 11:02 like I do. Such a brilliant programme 😂
One of the best shows ever. Great review
Watched every episode a couple of times, my favorite sitcom
Peep Show is tied with Breaking Bad as my #1 favorite show. I was really hoping that when Succession took off (probably my #2) it might ignite a renewed interest in Peep Show. thanks for highlighting it!
my favourite channel talking about my favourite show wtf
It's one of the best ever because I can watch it over and over and still laugh at it. Not many shows have that. Like Alan Partridge, Father Ted or Simpsons in the '90s.
I can literally quote every word in every clip they show in this vid.
Cracking analysis once again. My all time favourite show!
Could you not mention crack?
@@oisindowling7085 Why not? It's just a nice little relaxing bit of crack. It's not Blue Peter!
It’s just that when u mention crack it makes me think of crack,and I love crack
"Please, don't say 'crack,' because you saying 'crack' makes me think of 'crack.'"
What the fucks a washing machine doing in a pub? Jesus, I need a drink.
Then we'll serve them one of organic scrumpy's
Peep Show is one of my favorite series of all time, I’ve recommended it to just about every friend of mine. I got my roommate to watch it with me a couple of years ago, and one of my proudest moments came when her sister unexpectedly spent the night with us: my roomie came into my room and said that she just wants to see what Mark and Jeremy are getting up to. She loved it! 😂
I forgot how I stumbled into this show but I Loved it so much.
One of the best shows ever. I’ve watched it so many times.
beautiful analysis, fucking LOVE Peep Show so much man
I think the biggest parallel with succession is the ending, after all the machinations, all the efforts for success - our core characters end up in exactly the same space they were in the beginning, with the same frustrations and fewer and fewer opportunities
“Oh my brain! My poor, diseased brain!”
Yeah, I'd just like to assure everyone that Mr corrigan will indeed be dead in a month.
Well done
Mitchell and Webb are genius in everything they did.
I used watched this heaps in High school, but haven't seen it since then. I always found that Mark and Jez represented the two sides of me that were always in competition. Both thought they were absolutely right but couldn't come to find a middle ground, and only begrudgingly co-exist with one another.
A show that has had a lot said about it, but at the same time is still massively underrated.
You know I'm fascinated by the idea if what you could do with the show 'Dexter'. Is there any chance you could take a look at it?
Peep Show has the best side character in any show ever made…Super Hans! Soooo many great moments from him!
Where's the turkey Jeremy?? Honestly great video, hadn't realized that Jesse Armstrong was involved in both Peep Show and Succession!
Oh and if you havent seen the very last scene of the Mitchell and Webb show, you simply must go watch it. Robert Webb may just be one of the greatest actors of all time yet undiscovered. His portrayal of Dr Watson is throat catchingly beautiful. And the writing is utterly sublime.
Jesse Armstrong also wrote on The Thick of It. Criminally overlooked when analysing how Armstrong's previous work influenced Succession. So prevalent.
POV can do everything other traditional camera angles can do as long as there is more than one person in the field of view of whoever’s perspective the scene is being observed through.
It’s just cameras on helmets.
My all-time favorite British comedy.
If Just an Observation recommends it, I will watch it.
It's very good, cleverly done
Oh, I envy you having so many series to immerse yourself in. I remember adding each series to my DVD collection over the space of a decade!
Start with season 2
@@AM2K2 You think? I LOVE series 1!
4 naan Jeremy? 4? That’s insane.
THEY ATE MUMMY!
Peep show is the only show where I felt they could’ve made many many more series & it wouldn’t have got old or tiring!
One of the overlooked things about Peep Show was how it could accurately depict types of people.
Like criminal burglaring their flat, and he starts playing the victim and whimpering, that is literally every street criminal ever.
I'm a kooky American who loves British comedy and I watched the show (through piracy) since 2005 or so. Now I constantly watch it in background on PlutoTV and never get sick of it, even though its only like 50 something episodes. "It's just a hairy turkey!" lives deep in my subconscious. This and Chris Morris's various 90s/early 00s shows are up there with the Golden Age of The Simpsons and the original Fox run of Arrested Development as the greatest sitcoms ever. When I found out Jesse Armstrong had an HBO show in development, I made sure to catch Succession from the very beginning.
Also that American pilot that leaked is some godawful shit. I hope it never gets remade.
Quite funny how you say only 50 episodes when its literally one of if not the longest running uk comedy show
@@shayZero it's just that American sitcoms often have 20+ episodes in a season
@@shayZero 1. that’s still nothing compared to US television 2. the top 16 longest running uk comedy series all have over 100 episodes
50 episodes is 38 more episodes than the average British sit com
Ugh, as an American I can say, Why can't we just leave perfection alone. Like most recently, Ghosts. I can't bring myself to watch the American version, but I'll make an educated guess it sucks like so many other American adaptations.
It stinks like King Kongs armpitts mate.
Very well done video. Watched the whole show in full last year (friends showed it to me previously, just thought it was weird) and loved it. The characters were realistic. Shitty people, but realistic. Oddly refreshing.
You know i think given some of the social etiquette overlap i think you could actually make a japanese adaptation of peep show and it would still work
"I tell you what, that crack is really moreish"
Peep show is incredible, revolutionary and iconic
I loved Peep Show, only of the only shows where I never felt like it declined in quality as it went along. I especially love the ending, it's exactly how I imagined it would finish.
Are we going to be alright?
Peeps show was absolutely brilliant
One of greatest comedies of all time.
I've yet to watch a video of yours that I haven't enjoyed. Thank you.
Did you remove your How Walter White evolves video from your channel? That was seriously one of the best CZcams videos on the entire platform in my opinion.
Sony blocked it.
Nice! Why no SuperHans?
Cos he accidentally ran to Windsor
2:21 The episode where Jeremy eats the dog :P It's stomach churning.
Plumbing's just lego, innit? Water Lego.
Honestly i WISH i could watch Peep Show as a new viewer! If you've never seen it then you are in for a treat. Stick with the first few episodes, get used to the way its filmed and you'll love it forever!
I’m gonna get this video up on my 32 inch plasma, because then I will really be looking at it.
Brilliant show + Mitchell and Webb are just funny on site 😂
Brilliant analysis. The best summary of the two leads I’ve seen is that Mark worries too much and Jez worries too little.
Nothing you want is ever gonna happen, that’s the real world. Your hair isn’t red and people don’t walk around on stilts.
No logo on the foam.
Been to enough of those city boy chain pubs
I always felt Peep show truer to life and so funny in its truthfulness than the cardboard cutout characters of Friends
Do Yes Minister next
I am not sick but i am not well
Is thay nomal pooping is legendary
Jesse Armstrong also did Fresh Meat didnt he?
I strongly reccomend giving that a go, it really turned me off on first contact but then i learned of the peep show link (i think?) and gave it another go, its got some excellent peep show esque writing
You’re really looking at that document.
Man I watched Peep show not having heard a lot of it just thought they were funny. Binge watched that shit in a week. One of my favorite shows of all time.
I’ve yet to ever watch a show that has writing as good as this show.
I think Peep Show only works in a British setting. You see with American style remakes of British shows that there is an inherent gritty and spiteful tone in UK TV which just does not translate. The American Office for example is a much brighter, funner, optimistic place. Spoilers below
I think Jeremy's killing, cooking and eating of the dog and the lies that follow would cause a complaint rampage in the USA whereas in the UK, it reduced my girlfriend and I to tears and laughing fits.
I love peep show. I think at this point I've re-watched peep show just as many times as breaking bad (which is a bunch btw, probably like 6 times)
Why do they have to remake it? No remake will ever do it justice.
What’s your favourite Super Hans quote?
This video is really more-ish
Ha great choice i love these guys!
I like Peep Show a lot but now a few years have passed since the show ended you realise how much the quality dropped off after the wedding in series 4, and then again after series 7.
It was a great show but it definitely outstayed it's welcome by at least two series. If it had ended at the wedding it would have been a legit 10/10 sitcom.