On Television
The label has been applied most frequently to the original (BBC) version of The Office. The series often captures excruciating moments in the lives of employees of a Slough-based paper firm, including, but not limited to, overheard conversations that suddenly become explicit in nature, office party dances so bad they leave the viewers speechless, and, frequently, boss David Brent's inability to censor himself or even understand that he is being offensive. This approach can also be seen in Gervais's more recent series, Extras, although Gervais's character is generally the straight man in the show. Gervais' and Merchant's other show Life's Too Short features dwarf Warwick Davis in the lead role, and the cringe factor comes mostly from his height and his self-confidence which often makes him oblivious to saying the right thing for his situation.
One also finds frequent examples of this in the series created by Larry David Curb Your Enthusiasm. David stars as a version of himself who is unable to censor his feelings and does not believe that he should have to follow social rules he does not like, but also feels that everybody should follow the social rules he likes (which he usually invents himself). The result is often unfortunate, and nearly every episode ends in humiliation for Larry. This is a style that was previously used in the UK sitcom I'm Alan Partridge in which the title character, portrayed by Steve Coogan seemed inept at being able to keep his thoughts and emotions to himself and constantly spoke his mind. Another British show, Peep Show, took a different slant on this, by actually showing the audience the character's thoughts, often their most embarrassing and awkward ones.
Larry David had begun to explore the bounds of traits generally regarded as socially unacceptable years earlier with a character loosely based on himself, George Costanza on Seinfeld, which he had co-created and served as an executive producer. Costanza's character storylines often revolved around extreme selfishness and blatant disregard of others, but portrayed more explicitly than David's Curb Your Enthusiasm version of himself.
Another show which can be closely identified with this trend is Da Ali G Show. Sacha Baron Cohen's crossover UK hit often featuring cringe comedy. This can be seen with two characters in particular: Brüno, whose extravagant homosexuality often drives his subjects' homophobia to the surface. The central character on the show, Ali G, often says things that are cringe-worthy in their stupidity, but whether his material can be considered "cringe comedy" is debatable. The other recurring character Borat derives the cringe comedy from his inability to follow western customs and his own bigotry making certain people expose theirs. On occasions he will ask someone how to do something repeatedly because he never understands. Another is his telling a non-sequitur joke to the bemusement of his audience.
Comedy Central's own take on roasting events frequently uses offensive and shocking comedic remarks on every roastees' career, controversies and personal lives.
Read more about this topic: Cringe Comedy
Famous quotes containing the word television:
“Photographs may be more memorable than moving images because they are a neat slice of time, not a flow. Television is a stream of underselected images, each of which cancels its predecessor. Each still photograph is a privileged moment, turned into a slim object that one can keep and look at again.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“It is marvelous indeed to watch on television the rings of Saturn close; and to speculate on what we may yet find at galaxy’s edge. But in the process, we have lost the human element; not to mention the high hope of those quaint days when flight would create “one world.” Instead of one world, we have “star wars,” and a future in which dumb dented human toys will drift mindlessly about the cosmos long after our small planet’s dead.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)