OK, I admit it. I’m not perfect. Sometimes I miss things. But I’ve finally caught up with People Time, the sketch show that first went out online as a Comedy Feed and recently had an airing on BBC3. And thank the lord I did, because it really is rather good.
Fans of Kings Cross-based hipster comedy behemoths Invisible Dot will recognise most of the people here – Sheeps (inc socialist boy wonder Liam Williams), Natasia & Jamie Demetriou, Ellie White and Claudia O’Doherty. I guess in the old days threesome Sheeps (the other two are Alastair Roberts and Daran Johnson) would have got their own pilot, but heck, times are hard, you gotta take the breaks where you can.
I guess you could call People Time the Comedy of Modern Angst. A number of the characters seem to be struggling to make sense of the world. I particularly liked Ellie White’s stressed out spod who is too busy responding to spam emails from Nigeria and Linkedin requests to have a proper conversation with friends.
There’s also a very pleasing echo of The Fast Show in their recurring creations. Liam Williams repeatedly plays a furious mate who feels he has to abuse buskers and feminists in front of other blokes when really he approves of their behaviour.
A number of scenes upend the idea of banter and what is acceptable in the workplace. One brilliant running riff reveals that saying “too many leeks in the frittata” may be the secret path to everybody's heart. In a sarcastic spoof advert the three women in the cast model “The Busy Gal” – a ludicrously giant suit which they all fit into together, enabling women to compete on an equal footing with men in business...
There is very much a sense of this feeling like the coming of age of a new generation of comedians who have been pootling around on the live scene for a while now. A brief cameo from Anna Crilly is like a passing of the baton. People Time manages to be weird but not so weird that it would not be great as a series. In fact if the BBC doesn’t make more of these talents in one way or another they must be more bonkers than this show.
Watch People Time here.
