Comedy Style
The series is set in a humorously surreal world in which Ted is the only fully rounded "normal" character among "caricatures", according to Graham Linehan: "exaggerated-over-friendly, over-quiet, over-stupid, over-dull they really only got one thing, they've got one job." Embarrassment plays a role in many storylines, in a similar fashion to Fawlty Towers. Linehan says, "if Ted is in a situation that is slightly embarrassing we get him out of it by having him lying or cheating, basically digging a massive hole for himself". Arthur Mathews has described Seinfeld as a major influence on the comedy of Father Ted, with himself and Linehan being "big fans" of the show. Father Ted also contains references to pop culture, and some film parodies, such as the episode "Speed 3".
Regarding the series's religious content, Linehan says "Ted doesn't have an anti-religious view of life, but a non-religious view. It's a job to him. He doesn't care about religion." While writing, he says, the show's creators imagined Ted and Dougal as "just two people who happen to be ".
Read more about this topic: Father Ted
Famous quotes containing the words comedy and/or style:
“Unless comedy touches me as well as amuses me, it leaves me with a sense of having wasted my evening. I go to the theatre to be moved to laughter, not to be tickled or bustled into it.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“I shall christen this style the Mandarin, since it is beloved by literary pundits, by those who would make the written word as unlike as possible to the spoken one. It is the style of all those writers whose tendency is to make their language convey more than they mean or more than they feel, it is the style of most artists and all humbugs.”
—Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)