Happiness

A superb second episode of Paul Whitehouse's fortysomething sitcom. To be honest, after proper doubled-up laughing all the way through this, I started to panic that I'd got it all wrong last week, so I watched the first episode again.

And it was funny too, despite the overriding dead wife storyline and the fact that none of the characters were established and that some of the jokes really are obvious (unlike the second episode).

I think I'm falling into the trap of expecting The Fast Show, when this is something completely different. The Slow Show.

Put it this way, you won't get school kids acting out bits on the station platform the next morning.

Happiness hits a nice balance between pathos and cruelty, and the plastic surgery scenes should go down in sitcom history.

The cast is excellent, and Dawn French's cameo this week, satirising the idea that comics aren't funny in real life - not quite John Favreau in The Sopranos, but still very funny - is helped along by the two jokers in the sound booth.

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