The Marmite Hypothesis, and it's place in British Comedy

"What is food to one man may be fierce poison to others"

— Lucretius

Sit down and pay attention.

Are you sitting? Good. 

I expect you were sitting down anyway, it's quite awkward to use a computer standing up, they are so usually placed at waist height - I'm getting distracted.

The Marmite Hypothesis is simple. There are some things that you either love, or either hate. There are some things that seem to polarise as soon as they come into contact with people. A recent example would be the film Black Swan, which either created revulsion, irritation, but also reverence and adoration.

(I have no idea, I've not actually seen it myself. I'm in that safe, comfortable place before you try something new, also known as 'No thanks, I'm fine').

Other examples include... Marmite, modern art, opera and Glee. Actually, I'm not sure about Glee, but I was running out of things to list off the top of my idea. I've never seen Glee for personal reasons, it's not important, but let's just say it's between the people of Glee and myself. It's best not to get involved.

Moving on, this topic popped into my head after browsing the internet and finding pages and pages of people ranting against radio comedy that I happen to love. It's not that I was angry I was just confused why it upset them so much. They seemed to take it really personally if for whatever reasons they did not like a show. Very often it would be compared to another show, most likely a much older show, and what would follow would be paragraphs detailing why 'the older show was so much better, and how the writers of new show were totally ripping them off, and were also idiots', and some such vein.

Other people were milder i.e. 'this is the only show that's really made me laugh out loud in ages, others leave me wondering why the audience are laughing so hard'.

Comedy appears to be deeply personal, and I myself can be irritated by shows I don't find funny, but if others do... then that's fine. We have different opinions? Well, that's marvellous. Aren't we lucky that we can find mediums that cater to both? It's a more boring assertion, but I promise you that it'll save you some ranting and high blood pressure in the long run.

Radio comedy, for example, currently on the BBC, is delivering a huge range of comedy to suit different tastes, a lot of which is pretty good, or at least interesting, should you take the chance.

Cabin Pressure, for example, with Mr Benedict Cumberbatch of Sherlock, is a pretty perfect sitcom. Bleak Expectations we go to for the splendidly silly, The News at Bedtime gives us satire and deliriously wonderful wordplay.

Living with Mother is on iplayer at the moment and is beautifully observed, but is a little dark too. Safety Catch is VERY dark and I think jaw-droppingly good, but has complaints from others who find it in bad taste (I think it is just bitingly satirical about the state of modern morality in people... or something).

Even Party - which I find adorable and brilliantly observed (and hopefully will soon have tickets to a recording of!), others I know will find only so-so.

So, my main point is basically what Lucretius said somewhere between 90 and 55B.C., but a lot more snappily. We all have things that grate and our grievances, for whatever reason (I'm looking at you, Glee), but it's rare that we find nothing is to our taste, such is the plurality of voice and comedy. Comedy is wonderful, isn't it? An attempt to redress the balance from all the crappiness that is thrust upon us, and when we find one we connect with, makes us feel less alone, but may just confuse others. That wasn't very elegant.

Hold on, what's that again, Lucretius?

"What is food to one man may be fierce poison to others"

— Lucretius

Ah, that's the stuff.

Miki

xx