IT'S ONE of the most entertain- ing sitcoms of recent years, winning multiple awards thanks to its hilarious scripts and the fine comic performances of its ensemble cast. Jack Black and Jane Lynch have made scene-stealing cameo appearances. And yet you've probably never seen it. Because this sitcom, iCarly,airs on weekday afternoons on Nickelodeon, the popular digital channel aimed at children and teenagers – and it's not the only children's show to wipe the floor with mature competition.
Centred on a group of teenagers who make their own online comedy show, iCarlyis a very 21st-century programme. But there's nothing new about good comedy aired at younger viewers. In the 1960s, half the Monty Pythonteam honed their surreal skills on the children's sketch show Do Not Adjust Your Set. The 1980s saw the debut of Press Gang, a whipsmart, witty comedy drama set in a school newspaper; its creator and chief writer, Steven Moffat, is now the producer of Doctor Whoand creator of acclaimed TV show Sherlock.
In the 1990s, young people's comedy expanded:the BBC made the BAFTA-winning Maid Marian and her Merry Menand aired The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,in which future megastar Will Smith played a teen who moves in with his rich cousins. The same decade also saw the rise of Nickelodeon, the network responsible for a variety of funny shows from Spongebob Squarepantsto Sabrina the Teenage Witch.Over the years, many of these programmes have attracted cult followings among adults. But perhaps the most significant milestone occurred this year when the BBC's Horrible Histories, a hilarious sketch show inspired by Terry Deary's children's history books, beat the likes of Harry Enfield to win the British Comedy Award for Best Sketch Show. Finally, a children's comedy was acknowledged as not just the equal but the superior of grown-up programmes.
What's impressive about the best children's comedies is the fact that unlike many Hollywood family films, they don't win over adults just by including jokes that go over children's heads. Although Horrible Historiesmay parody adult programmes such as MasterChef, and iCarlyeven featured a subtle reference to The Wire, generally these shows don't work on different levels for adults and children. They work on one level: they're very funny. Nina Hahn, Nickelodeon's senior vice- president of production and development, thinks this is why so many Nickelodeon shows appeal to adults too. "It sounds simple, but it's just really good, strong funny," she says. "There's an uncanny ability in our shows to make a nine-year-old old laugh, a 14-year old laugh, a 28 year old, a 50 year old, without consciously setting out to do that."
Of course, while children and adults often enjoy the same silliness, some comedy just doesn’t work for younger audiences, and that doesn’t just mean jokes based on sex and violence. “Children have a highly developed sense of black humour, but they don’t like meanness and cynicism,” says Sheila DeCourcy, RTÉ’s commissioning editor of Young People’s Programming. “Adults get sarcasm, but for children sarcasm is like a knife. They don’t like seeing someone being cut down to size unless it’s a bully.” Comedy for children has to grab its audience straight away. Adults will give a sitcom time to grow on them, but most kids won’t wait for the pay-off to a joke. “People who are new to making programmes for kids say, ‘But if you wait five minutes. . .” says DeCourcy. “You don’t have that five minutes with children.”
And of course, there’s always the danger of misrepresenting your audience’s world. “As a writer or show creator, you have to do your homework,” says Nina Hahn. “As we get older we think ‘Well, I was a kid’ or ‘I have kids’, and you end up in a space where an adult is writing comedy that they feel a kid would like. They’re going through a filtering stage that often doesn’t work.” Instead of writing what they imagine a child would like, comedy writers have to immerse themselves in a child’s world. “I ask [show] creators ‘when did you last go to a boyband concert or go to a toystore with a kid?’” says Hahn. “It’s sobering to realise where [today’s kids] are in comparison to when you were a child.”
Above all, writing children's comedy means taking children seriously. "There was traditionally a rather patronising attitude towards children," says DeCourcy. "Now people are more aware that children are younger versions of adults – they have the same likes and dislikes, they're smart and witty. More programmes are being made by people who think kids are their equals." This season RTÉ has several new home-grown productions aimed at children of all ages; for the under sixes, comedian Reuben and a cow called Bó present RTÉjr, while for older children there's The Mad Cows, a cartoon about surfing bovines, and The Importance of Being Whatever,a teenage update of The Importance of Being Earnest.
DeCourcy points out that these programmes are made by people such as David Horan, Iseult Golden, Noel Kelly and Michael Algar, all of whom are already successful writers and producers for adults. “It’s quite important that it’s not just a marginalised group making television for a marginalised group,” she says. “It’s mainstream creatives discovering a world where they have a lot of freedom.” And the anarchic spirit of the best children’s comedy makes it liberating for adult audiences too.
“A lot of adults don’t watch children’s programmes, but if they did they might find stuff that will surprise them,” says DeCourcy. “I think there’s a lot in the children’s schedule that adults would enjoy if they knew about it.”
Comedy for kids: the greatest hits
Do Not Adjust Your SetMichael Palin, Terry Jones and Eric Idle, later of Monty Python's Flying Circus, wrote and starred in this kids' sketch show, and fellow future Python Terry Gilliam made some of the animated segments.
Horrible HistoriesGenuinely educational while at the same time funnier than pretty much all recent adult sketch shows.
If you just watch one Horrible Histories sketch, make it the amazing boyband parody Born 2 Rule, sung by the four King Georges.
The Importance of Being Whatever
This very promising RTÉ series updates Oscar Wilde’s classic to contemporary Ireland, as hard-working student Tobi Okocha creates an alter ego to impress his dream girl.
The Fresh Prince of Bel AirThe new Nickelodeon repeats of the sitcom that made Will Smith an acting star show proves itself to be, when watched as an adult, not just very funny but sophisticated when it comes to issues of race and class.
Press GangAs uptight editor Lynda and wisecracking slacker Spike, Julia Sawalha and Dexter Fletcher traded razorsharp quips like a teenage Tracy and Hepburn in Steven Moffat's comedy drama set in a children's newspaper.
iCarlyMiranda Cosgrove and Jennette McGurdy play teenage girls who make an online comedy show with their long-suffering friend Freddie. The cast are fantastic, but McGurdy steals the show as the bacon-loving, slightly psychotic Sam.
