Movie Or Television Show with Same Comic Sensibility as "The Onion" Videos?

May 25, 2010 10:33 AM

Movie Or Television Show with Same Comic Sensibility as "The Onion" Videos?

I find these Onion videos to be some of the funniest things around (This, and This as examples.)

Is there anything of longer length with the same sensibililty. I'm aware of "Curb..." "Arrested Development" and "Seinfeld", but somehow it seems hard to find this type of humor anymore (it reminds me of first season or two of SNL).

Thanks,

Jon

posted by Jon44 to Media & Arts (24 answers total)

Maybe "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!"

It's never really been my thing, but with the sketch rate they blow through every episode, there is probably one or two things that you'll like.
posted by Think_Long at 10:45 AM on May 25, 2010

Perhaps Gremlins 2: The New Batch? It's nice mix of satire and total nonsense.
posted by brundlefly at 11:04 AM on May 25, 2010

There's an onion movie...
posted by RustyBrooks at 11:06 AM on May 25, 2010

RustyBrooks already said what I came to say. The Onion Movie.
posted by owtytrof at 11:08 AM on May 25, 2010

Kentucky Fried Movie?
posted by Thorzdad at 11:10 AM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]

That Mitchell and Webb Look/Sound/Situation. (Also, Peep Show.)
Archer.
Look Around You.
Brass Eye.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:15 AM on May 25, 2010 [4 favorites]

It's a different style of humour, but in terms of mock news, and being damn hilarious, check out The Day Today, and Brass Eye.
posted by Magnakai at 11:16 AM on May 25, 2010

You would probably like The Newsroom, which is quick and dry.
posted by kmennie at 11:18 AM on May 25, 2010

I haven't seen The Onion Movie but I've heard it's terrible. It went straight to DVD and was basically disowned by its creators. They're making two TV shows - Onion News Network on IFC and Onion Sports Network on Comedy Central - which look more promising.
posted by Chenko at 11:23 AM on May 25, 2010

Putney Swope.
posted by Rykey at 11:29 AM on May 25, 2010

My husband and I both love The Onion videos, and we think Idiocracy is pretty dang funny.

The set-up for the movie, from Wikipedia: A narrator explains that in modern society, natural selection has become indifferent toward intelligence, so that in a society in which intelligence is systematically debased, stupid people easily out-breed the intelligent, creating, over the course of five centuries, an irredeemably dysfunctional society. Consequently, the children of the educated elites are drowned in a sea of sexually promiscuous, illiterate, alcoholic, degenerate peers.
posted by purlgurly at 12:07 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wouldn't Colbert be a perfect fit here?
posted by Pomo at 12:08 PM on May 25, 2010

Perhaps terribly outdated, The Groove Tube might have been the first in faux news.
posted by cazoo at 12:12 PM on May 25, 2010

Thank You For Smoking is also great for the dark humour/satire.
posted by purlgurly at 12:19 PM on May 25, 2010

For off-beat news satire, Not the Nine O'Clock News is an absolute classic. British and from the late 1970s so pretty different sensibilities to The Onion but the sentiment's the same.
posted by Captain Najork at 12:22 PM on May 25, 2010

Captain Najork inspired me - A Bit of Fry and Laurie. And now I'm done. :)
posted by purlgurly at 12:25 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]

Do not watch The Onion Movie. Just watch Armed Gunman and pretend the rest never happened.

I loved Kentucky Fried Movie when it came out in the 70s. Hard to say if it's aged well. But it's leans towards parody more than satire.

I don't know if you love or hate sketch humor, but I love the Kids in the Hall. Somewhere between satirical and absurdist, I suppose.

The few clips I've seen of Look Around You are great. It's a tone-perfect mock educational show.

As for movies, you might like Crazy People. It mocks advertising, which admittedly is an easy joke, but I still thought it was quite funny. Volvo: Boxy but good.
posted by O9scar at 1:05 PM on May 25, 2010

The Onion Movie is well-nigh-unwatchable, in my finding. Kentucky Fried Movie I recall as being quite good, although I last saw it maybe twenty-five years ago.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:37 PM on May 25, 2010

Family Guy. Kids in the Hall. Mr Show. That Mitchell & Webb Look. And, especially, Brass Eye.

The Naked Gun movies. Airplane!
posted by Sys Rq at 2:09 PM on May 25, 2010

Oh, and SCTV.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:17 PM on May 25, 2010

The Peter Serafinowicz Show, of which there is sadly only one season. The DVD had a UK release earlier this year; although it's not out in the US yet, I'm pretty sure Serafinowicz himself would be fine with you finding a copy of it online. My personal favourites: The Butterfield Diet Plan, Kitchen Gun, Internet Ham, Gem Mania, O News, and Home Shopping.
posted by hot soup girl at 4:32 PM on May 25, 2010 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks a lot to everyone--a lot of great suggestions.

I'm glad to hear "The Onion" will be getting its own series. I find the videos much funnier than the actual paper these days.

And a lot of the UK comedies are really brilliant--too bad we don't get more of them here in the states (BBC even blocks watching some of the linked clips). "O News" came through though--really hilarious.
posted by Jon44 at 6:50 AM on May 26, 2010

Mitchell and Webb is on Netflix instant if you are a subscriber
posted by Think_Long at 10:12 AM on May 26, 2010

"Not Necessarily the News" was the American version of "Not the Nine O'Clock News." Its claim to fame was Rich Hall's sniglets, but it also gave Conan O'Brien his first TV gig. It came on HBO in the 80s; I was just a kid, sneaking a view when my parents weren't looking, so I can't remember if it was actually funny or not.
posted by Jane Austen at 11:35 PM on May 26, 2010