Opposites attract

4:00pm Thursday 27th March 2008

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IS anyone else a fan of Peep Show?

For me, it's one of the funniest sitcoms of the past 10 years, combining clever and witty scripts with sublime comedy acting.

I call it The Odd Couple for the Internet/i-POD generation. Two very different characters, Mark, the sort of bloke who irons his undies and keeps his CDs in alphabetical order, and Jez, the eternal student who dreams of making it as a musician one day, have somehow ended up sharing a flat together.

My sister bought me the DVD of the last Channel 4 series for Christmas and I've watched it several times already and, time after time, it has me in hysterics.

When it comes to TV and especially TV comedy I'm extremely hard to please, but this show hits the spot every time. Okay, some of the humour is near the knuckle - Terry and June it most definitely isn't - but I am of the opinion that Peep Show is a 21st century masterpiece.

The funny thing is, Jez thinks he's dead cool, while in reality his behaviour and his banter is just as cringe making as the way Mark carries on. Both are great value when trying to impress members of the opposite sex. If "impress" is the right word that is.

Mark and Jez are played by David Mitchell and Robert Webb, who I think are two of the most talented comedy performers around. But they don't write the show and I feel that, when it comes to writing, we haven't seen their best work yet.

As well as the two unlikely flat mates, Peep Show also features a host of other, er, interesting characters. From Mark's strutting boss Johnson, a walking burst water pipe of inane corporate patter, to the duo's bizarre best mate Super Hans. Then there's the drop dead goregous Nancy, the on/off girlfriend of the gloriously amoral Jez. Who said actors suffer for their art?

I don't believe it.