No political bile for the holidays, just classic moments in the long history of horrendous ideas. Enjoy the sole surviving episode of the 1990 British sitcom Heil Honey, I'm Home! The plot places Adolf and his nagging sitcom wife Eva Braun in the role of Honeymooners-style suburbanites whose lives are turned topsy-turvy by the arrival of their new neighbors, Arnie and Rose Goldenstein. Amazingly, eight episodes were filmed and only one aired – all copies were thought to be destroyed until the pilot episode surfaced, hit the internet, and thus became property of mankind.
The show creator intended to satirize corny American sitcoms like Leave it to Beaver by using the lame jokes, insipid plots, and canned laughter, exacerbating the ridiculousness of it all by sticking Hitler in the lead. Trey Parker and Matt Stone used this same formula to some success a few years ago with That's My Bush. That didn't last long either, but at least it didn't star Hitler. Adolf and his Nazi companions are not exactly a rich source of comedy to the British.
The thing that offends me is that this simply isn't funny. I like TV-making-fun-of-TV, with Garth Marenghi's Darkplace currently filling the void in my heart left by Frisky Dingo's disappearance. But any way it gets sliced, Heil Honey is about as funny as pancreatic cancer. Like its successor That's My Bush, the only funny part about the show is the set-up – "Picture a sitcom, but with Hitler! Ha ha!" – leaving viewers bored stiff after 30 seconds when the effect of the Big Gag wears off.
We all know that I like offensive, off-color comedy. Two out of three won't do.
Matthew says:
Agreed. It's not that Hitler can't be funny – the Monty Python sketches that he's in are pretty hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlmGknvr_Pg
http://www.ibras.dk/montypython/episode12.htm#4
But if there aren't any jokes beside the premise, then you lose interest pretty quickly.
Peggy says:
…Adolf Hitler is the ticklemonster???
I think my favorite part is how everyone's attempt to "act" just involves SHOUTING and DELIVERING ALL LINES LIKE THIS.
J. Dryden says:
Wagonhalt!
Mike says:
I'd like to think that if I was 7 years old, and it was being played on a rainy afternoon of Sunday WGN-Channel 9 programming, I'd take "Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace" ultra-seriously. That show is fantastic, and on some level very difficult to tell the difference between a lot of 80s programming.
Dave says:
If you've enjoyed Garth Marenghi, have a look at Man to Man with Dean Learner. It's not as immediate, but it's more genius from the same team. And hey, it's more Dean Learner. The pube on the pipe was not his.
Ed says:
"Wait, I have more things to say."
Pat says:
I miss Frisky Dingo, something fierce.
I've been trying out The IT Crowd, which is uneven but sometimes decent. It's British to its core, which keeps it from being as funny as 30 Rock or Arrested Development, but it's better than most things on BBC America.