Final Results and Closing Thoughts

The rest of entertainment is presented by Octopus Energy. Now, one of the stranger signs of status in show business is being very, very hard to reach. Exactly you get to a certain level in the business where you don't want anyone to talk to you at all. some people who are notoriously difficult get hold up. But Christop Nolan, for example, is famously almost completely It doesn't even have a mobile phone. I mean, you literally cannot get hold of mister Rola. He said, off course he does. he's got a sneaky little mobile, has he? Yeah He's on what WhatsApp groups. But he doesn't want you to know that. Shall I tell you who is easy to get hold of? Octopus Energy. Y. So Octopus Energy, if you know the score when one of your service providers writes to you, you've got a question for them or you're disputing something, you reply and it immediately says, you cannot reply to this email Optimus synergy, any email they send you. you can reply to and it will go to your dedicated team, which to me feels like one of the greatest advancements I've heard of the last thirty or forty years. You can actually. Would it be possible to contact the people I'm paying my money to? Well, with Octopy email, you can reply directly to your own dedicated small team. I mean, that's amazing, right Hello everybody. Welcome along to The Rest's Entertainment World Cup of Everything. Our first bonus episode is all about US sitcoms here from the World Cup US. sitcoms, I am joined to discuss them by Maisy Adam. Hello Maisy. Hello John Robins, Howo John Hello I' good thank you. L lovely to be here. See that's how you're suppos to do that. Yeah. The way this works is more in common, our lovely polling partners have given a massive list of kind of sixty seventy US sitcoms to the British public. The British public have told them which is their favorourite. I don't have the results yet, but I know what the top eight are and I'm going to draw them in four quarter finals. We're going to talk about those quarter finals, predict who's going to win and then find out who actually did win. Okay, We'll go quarter fininal, semifinals final, and we will discover which US sitcom is the favorite of the British public. Now I've done World Cups of before, World Cups of Chrismans things like this. What I will say is the result is always disappointing What a great trailer for the booker. We might as well call this and this is why democracy doesn't work. Yeah. Our first quarter final is friendriends versus Mash Oh wow. Oh I mean, well, that's it. when there's when there's only eight teams. Yeah, every every game's a big game I mean, also Battle of the Great Thes Yeah, Battle the great thing. So I'll be there for you by the Rembrandts Suicide is painless. Do You know who wrote suicide is painless, The the lyrics? Who did wr? So Robert Altman who directed the movie his son wrote the lyrics for that one he was eight Really M madeade like a million dollars out of it Can you imagine pitching a sitcom now where that Lyrics to the theme tune are suuicide is painless It wouldouldn't really lift off, I don't think, would it? It's got an odd vibe an odd vibe to navigate But also yeah, saidid, I tell you what it' going to be,'s going be a sitcom. It's going to be about a mobile hospital unit in the Korean War. Yeah the funniest war of course. And it's going to have a themeune that says suuicide is payingless. and also it's going to have the highest rated episode of any sitcom in the entire history of sitcoms. Who. That's the problem I The highest rated today. Yeah. I think the phomale hundred five million. Good grief. That is like, even when Mck the Week add like two episodes together, they're not get into one hundred five million, right Even you know, even when I started on TV in the early nineties, we weren't getting one hundred and five million for stuff. Me and Ellis are lucky if we get that a month. Friends final. what was that? was It was super big It be sixty million. Yeah. but it was, yeah it wasn't one hundred and five. I don' think anything would ever go was Friends finale was the biggest one. No. fifty two million friends. so pretty much exactly Although it was like super, super, super massive, right Also, both sitcoms were people have transitioned into films? Or was Alan Alder already a big film star That's a good question. What all the egg isn't it? Mash start is seventy two So I guess not. guess I guess he moved into the world of films. I wasn't surprising that the cast of Friends didn't do more films Are they just t with that brush of forever being seen as those characters though? I say they're so ye. Jennifer Aniston did good but still still largely, you know, great career but went into a career of being Rachel in various forms, really. it's technically a spin off, friends. because The first E friendriend's character was actually Phoebe's sister Ursula, who was the waitress on Mad Aout You. What? Yeah. So really it's a Mad aboutout you spinoff A very tenuous spin offff. an enormously tenuous spin off. I remember watching it when it was on TV. and it was part of the big UK Jacobs Creek launch So the two are like inextricably linked in my head. Okay And then when I started buying DVD's, like friends box sets. I big you go around to your mate's house and what friends box set have they got? And then there was a lot of coverage of it when it came on streaming services because I guess Gen Z and younger generations were discovering it and finding it quite confusing in some ways because I would have without having rewatched it, thought of it as quite you know harmless liberal Yeah. But actually some references to homosexuality are quite dated.. The complete lack of diversity on almost any level is quite strange But then Gen Z kind of embraced it, didn't they? I think they, you know, Gen Z who are much maligned, I think they're able to watch something and understand it in context and go, oh, so that was acceptable. I think the pacing of friends though is quite it's quite quick. The gag rate is quite quick. when they're so used to to consuming comedy that is a lot more kind of a quick succession of gags. We're re watching friends at the moment? And sure, Chandler's got some opinions about his father that is is a man not dealing with with things in a healthy way. And there's loads of which, I mean, yeah, we're re watchatching at the moment and we're only into like season two or three And just Ross's approach to his ex wife now being queer is deeply problematic. There are episodes of friendriends. The one with the videotape. Yeah is really masterful stuff and I think it also maintained that Doug rate and gag quality right towards the end There's a there's a bit in I think it might be even the last episode of the lastast two where Ross is chasing Rachel in the airport And there's one of those Oh, and he has to go through the whole He's going to the check in desk And Phoebe just runs down to the side straight to the front, but he goes through all of the empty little zigzag corridor sections, which I should think is a really nice sight gag. Yeah, they never ran out of a gag. S the Atlantic did a gag rate of every single top US sitcom And Fan has six point zero six jokes a minute. Wow. That's why Jen Z love it. That's why we loved it as well. One every nine seconds. One every nine seconds. That's not bad going is it? Jokes a minute. that That's a long head. I'd get out of half a tour show Like set up six pay. Dream Edinburgh shows like that. shhall we If it was just us, say which one of those we would put through to the semifinals, Joh? that's a tricky one, Can I just guess a fact that Elliott Gould is in both? Mash came out. I remember the theme tune from when I was like four years old when it would have been being repeated for the fifth time So I don't I didn't take on board a huge amount. so I would I'm going to have to say friends. Yeah. understood, Maisy. Yeah, I mean, exactly the same reason, but Mash I can admire from afar, but in terms of what I have a strong connection to is friends all day. Yeah. it was even a tiny little bit too early for me Mash, but I remember loving it. but I have to go with friends I'm going to assume that the British public had gone for friends as well. That'd be a big shock. Certainly it's going this whole series is going be weird if the first thing we do is mash beating friends, but one never knows. Joey who won that friends goes through to the semi finals. veryy well done. to friends. O second our second quarter final, Big bang theory versus the Fresh Prince of Belaire Good lord. Now bigig bang theory five point eight jokes a minute Okay. I think you can define the kind of people that you were in school with of whether they were more of a Fresh prrince fan or a big bigig Bang theory fan. Well, I definitely watched more Fresh Prince of Bellair than Big Bang Theory. Yeah. Can I just double check check, Is Big Bang Theory the one with the guy who played Doogie Hauser MD? No, that's how I met your mother. Okay, well we'll come back to that I can see how you get that. They're both shown on E four at a weird time of day. involving a bunch of people who wear like long sleeve tops with a t shirt over them. Big Bang theory is the geeks of we all study as Sheldon, isn't it? Sheldon and big fans on the sofa, I think. But sometimes it feels like they're always all living in that room Yeah that all of them come and sit back on the sofa in in all of these American sitcoms. Yeah I mean, that's how sitcoms work essentially, isn't it? They've only got one one main set Yeah. and the more they they can sit on that, the cheaper the episode is. It's when they come to London. that's when you you get a prof get your bud's worth's when you go I wonder if you'd just go back and sit on that sofa. Yeah. They both got very wordy theme tunes as well. Big Bang Theory has that bare naked lady song. Oh ye Prince of Belair, of course. Oh the famous rap Both can sort of give you the ick, can't they? I think I mean, I know Sheldon is deliberately antagonizing, but he's so irritating. But then at the same time, anybody who starts a conversation about Fresh prrintince and starts to do the rap, I find it nauseating. Yeah, I definitely though I would be capable of doing it, I would never do it. No. But it is in there somewhere. likeike I know all the lyrics to rappers delight. Exactly It's vanilla ice And the rap from Wld in Motion. People can't talk about it without then insisting that they know it I could do only falls and horses, both the theme tune and post theme tune as well I'm not going to, none of us are. I met Will Smith So I went I met Will Smith Wh by the way, was auditioned for that show at Quincy Jones's birthday party. No way. So he auditioned for that show in front of Stevie Wonder and Stehven Spielberg. Why? I don't know.. Hollywood isn't? So bigig bang theory, twelve seasons, two hundred and seventy nine episodes, Fresh Prince of Belaire, one hundred and forty eight episodes. which do you think the British public have put through to the semifas I? I think for sort of like nostalgia I would go, Fresh Prince of Belair. Yeah. But it's just reminded me reading out those stats. an American friend of mine just getting into British comedy says What is it with you Brits? You make six episodes of a sitcom, say you've changed the face of comedy and then it stops. And these like all of these have got like I know thousands of episodes and what Faulty toers was what fourteen? A even few as twelve, wasn't it? Yeah, I can't say So youre going to go to Fresh Prince, Maisy? Yeah, yeah. I think Fresh Printince had a bigger impact, I think as well in terms of like and again, you mentioned there like the nostalgia, but like it had such a a second boom, didn't it of all that like nineties fashion and which I don't really see Big Bang theory enjoying. Nobody's having a sort of second wave. I don' know, I'm going to stick up for Big Bang theory. It is. Do you think it's fun? Yes. D. I really do. I genuinely do. It's massive in America. It's beyond massive. I think Chuck Laurry, who does it and did two and a half men and all sorts of things very talented. He started out in show business, writing the lyrics for teenage mutant ninja Turtles. Really? Lorry. Yeah. Who won was it Fresh Prince of Beelair or was it a Big Bang theory? Please be Fresh Prince That was Big Bang theory. I'm genuinely surprised. Oh justustice justustice for Will Smith. Do you think that's reputational damage of Will Smith in more recent years Do you attention know so met Graham Norton and before or after sllapgate so soon before Oh it really it really because I just thought He was really great. and I thought, what if I become friends with Will Smith? That's. What if next I'm in L.A. I just go Will. it's rich from the show fromom the GN show. And I get invited over to Will Smithsou. Th then literally like a week later he punches Chris Rock. I was like, Oh great. Who am I going to stay with now? Quter fininal three Oh, this is an absolute Doozy, we have The Simpsons versus Fraser A now this is I mean, that's tricky, right Simpsons longest running animated show of all time. Now here's a question. Do you think when they wrote the first episode of The Simpsons, they said we're writing a sitcom So has it just become a bit like family guy Has it become a sitcom because of what it evolved into, or is it still like an animation or is that okay for? I think you have to treat it as a sitcom, right? I mean is it follows the conventions of a sitcom. Is it linear The Simpsons? So the Simpsons was always on at six o'clock on channel four Yeah and we weren't allowed to watch it because my dad wanted to watch the news. Oh And we were so I've never seen an episode of the Simpsons. Are you serious? You've never seen the episode To this day. Wow, because your dad still ''s not posossible. That's impossible. I promise. You've seen clips I've seen Clear. I know what I know he enjoys a duff beer and donoughnuts. You have We have to stop this now. That's unbelievable. Should I abstained from the vote as I haven't seen? I mean, I mean Yes. like take a sabbatical from comedy and watch seasons like three to thirteen of the se How many seasons have we got with sim way too many. R is I think a problem we might thirty seven, thirty seven seasons and is it linear? Does it follow It doesn't, they don't age. No, that's the clever thing about them. That's why there's thirty seven seasons because they can be because the actors don't get any older. But they're not on a journey of any like there's no narrative on not really. I mean they too you know, if you watch early Simpsons, the voices are all different, the animation is different, but they settled. once they've settled, they really settled. Yes, it's gone off forever, but joke for Joke has had some of the best jokes in the history ofit E single one you're currently thinking of happened before the year two thousand No, there must be some good ones after that because the generation grew up watching it. The graph of the IMDB rating per episode. No For the Simpsons and it's a color like a heat chart. And what happens? It just goes green for twenty five years So like, you know, the sort of eight point five, the nine point five' are all red It's quite chilling. and you just think it must be so odd to work on something so well respected that most people probably think has stopped. Interesting. ye. I know what you mean But it's probably makes more money than ever now. Do you reckon? Yeah. They're still going. Oh yeah. They're still new. the movies and yeah, all sorts of things. I've not watched it since probably two thousand five. Yeah. So I think longevity, you know, obviously is a feather in the cap, but there's is it as big a boast to have longevity without the quality? Because really they did have like a seven to eight year golden period And then it just never stopped. But What's that like late nineties Soort like I would say ninet ninety six to two two, maybe or ninety five. I knew John would have a strong opinion on that. I knew you'd have the right dates Like what are the Simpsons? Are they humans? They're these yellow, long limbed Yeah, you do need to watch the Simpsons if you ask it. is so great to have you amaz. They H humans. Yeah, but they don't look humans They got long yellow, they look like chips a and then they've got mouths like I mean, they're cartoons. Mr. Chips. They aren't look like Mr. Chips. They do. They they look like Mr. Chips. We'll be talking about him on our British Chrish show's epise I'm sure. I think that's a pretty big achievement that they managed to kind of like invent a new I mean, the drawings. Matt Gr had a very good rule For the cartoonist drawing the characters, he said their faces should never do things that human beings' faces can't do. So their eyes don't pop out. Yes. this is it. like you know, they they don't get smoke coming out of their ears. They're not that looononey tunes kind of mad Yeah, but they're also not family guy way or like that's Ears' noseou, you know Ears nose mouth Well they've ears. No, I know they've ears. Right. You know what I mean boys. It's a long that is not how you draw a human being. In a cartoon. Sena Simpson. Yeah They don't look like human beings. But the Fintstones don't really look like human beings. Maisy, have you ever seen a show called Fraasier? Yes, I of his w. Shall we talk about the joy of Fraser now. I think it's aough draw for phraser being up against The Simpsons I'll say that. So Fraser really was a spinoff, a spinoff from Cheers, which I going to guess has not made this top eight although it was brilliant. It was actually shot on exactly the same set as cheers. So Fraser's living room is where the bar was in Ch Yeah, but the most successful spin off of all time, I'd say Yeah. Praaser fan Yeah, againain, I kind of have it as one of those ones that was channel four early mornings on a Saturday or Sunday. Still is, isn't it If you wake up a bit too early, it's everybody loves Raymond I love everybody loves Raymond We come a bit too early is one forgets your a stand up. I like Fraser. I don't love Fraser. Interesting, John? No, not for me. Really? That's interesting. I just can feel that I'm having scripts read to me. That's not to say it's a bad script. It's very well written, but delivering a script and I found Nils quite Annoying the character.. Yeah, that sort of American dinner party kind of raised eyebrow vibe that didn't really speak said nothing to me about my life. I was quite the Bart himself. Yes. Whereas the Simpsons? Yes, deffinitely. Yeah, yeah yeah. I mean, I'm probably the agge Bart is meant to be I would have thought my pge? Yeah. also. are never bloody worked out if that woman's accent were real or whether she wantn't did learn how to do accents where from The worst episode of any show in the history is when Daphne's brothers turn up and it's like Robbie Coltre and Richley Grant. they've all got different It's all over the shop, isn't it? It's really, really, really Yeah. Is she English? Yes, she is Jane Laves. And is that her accent? I've just can't be. It can't. She's from Manchester, isn't she? But that's not she can't speak like that. No. How do you feel about that accent? Not great, not great And it felt confusing to see. Do you think she panicked Well, they must have been like Someone they must have been able to say. But maybe it was just, you know, you go over to America and they're also like, have fun with it, you know? She just maybe went all of thes And then Anthony L Pagia comes from plays his brother talks like that talkks like Dick Van Dyke and he thinks at some point it's so beautifully observed that show. At some point someone should have said This is not how anyone in this country speaks Simpsons versus Fraser, what would you go for? Simons Simpsons I you know what? I'm going to ask you to sit this one out. Yeah. I think that' you pate one of them and you've never seen the other one. Yeah. Yeah. so I will abstain. I love Fraser It has to be the Simpsons just for the joy it's given different generations and the different groups of people who can watch that show And surely it's going to win. So let's find out Fraser versus Simpsons. Tue to our semifinals. we have one final semif finalist to discover and it will come from two family shows Family Gy and modern familyamily. Oh Hang on, where's the US office We will get to that after this because we will have a little debrief on what's not in here because I'm going to kick off. Yes, exactly. mee too. This is an interesting one though, Family guy and modern Family as a comedian, I think familyily guy is the On thing sometimes when you get in from a gig into a hotel room and you're trying to find something on the tellle. A family guy is the only thing somet type in that sort of Half ten to midnight I think I've watched so I think I've watched every episode at least two or three times purely due to the schedule of being a stand up comedian. And talk about density of jokes. And the gag rate again is And because it's an animation they can do jokes about anything. the cutaway gags which are of those where they go this is almost as bad as the time and then it just So would South Park not have been considered in this It would have been fur it' further down the list. Oh right Park I'm afraid. It Motter, isn't it? South Park. It's a lot. Yeah, I think muchuch weuder. Family Guy maintained its standard, which is a very high standard for a lot longer I think Stewie is one of just the best characters ever created in comedy And I love when there are are episodes just about him. Yeah. That's another good thing is they can just focus on like you would never have a friend's episode just just about Just Chandler in a room unless they went down imagd.es Alan Bennett style Avenue. And if you if you pitched Stewie at the time like you were saying about mash, like if you were to describe it now going Oh no, he he is a baby, but he's evil and he talks sort of incredibly like he doesn't have an accent like anybody else in his family. He's got a sort of old RP. You should also know he's incredibly camp. Yeah. ye.ext question. has a complex relationship with the dog, whoo's the only person that can hear what he's saying. The tone of voice Like there's one where Brian's writing a novel. And I love that there's that element to Brian is that he's the He's the great American intellectual And Stewie just walks in and He says Oh, hello, Brian Great impression, John. How's the little novel coming along? Yeah You got a couple of protagonists? And it keeps going highired I all. Maybe some of themood some life lessons. Friends becoming enemies. Eemies becoming friends. It really ks just gets higher and higher and higher. It's so good. It's really reallyd. like yeah, all of that and that one way he just gets hit Louith, Lewis Lewis. L Mobby, Mobby, Mobby Modern family we must probably not but it's Modern family to me has the same hit rate for a mainstream audience that family guy has perfect modern family. It's amazing. I was introduced to modern Family in twenty fifteen when I was at university because applied through the National Youth Theatre to winner writing Masterclass with Lawrence Marks. Oh wow ye Statesm. Yeah.'s nice sweet heart Birds with feeather. and There was like maybe ten of us sat around this table and he was talking about how to write the perfect pilot. And he used modern families his first episode as the perfect pilot. and I hadn't seen it. I think it's absolutely that. and they all have their own individual little funny relationships. And again, going back to that whole thing of like depending at what point of life you're at, you can find yourself relating more to being Claire Dunphy, which was what I was doing when we rewatched it recently, but I remember at the time when I first watched it thinking the hilarious thing was Manny and Gloria the way that you're introduced to all of those characters and how they relate to each other, But it but it's it's gag heavy But my God, modern family in a way that the U.S office and especially the British office actually also achieved, but like can suddenly really hit you in the gut with just life and things that real people come up against in real relationships. I mean, I'm not a writer, but I think it's so hard to do You're having much more fun than on the Simpsons versus Fraser quarterfes. Having a lot, much more fun. Yeah. Yeah was. Yeah. that fixture for me was like what watching Jordan versus Bosnia and Herzegovina at four AM. I absolutely agree with you with modern famies because It's one of those ones that's very easy to overlook. It's not cool But the writing in it is sensatational.c It's not an uncon as big bang theory. It's not you know, Brooklyn n ninetine nine. No no, you're right, Your Honor. Are you a lot of family watching? I've got to hold my hands up. I was too busy watching the office four times all the way through. so I have some black spots Maisy's very eloquent description of it has kind of sold it to me. So' going to check it out, but I can't say that I've seen it. Oh, really? you'd really like it. It is really good. It has some proper truths in it. Yeah. absolutely. Right. We're gonna to find our We can'tote in this one. I can Yes, were. So John, I presume you're gonna to go for family guy. Yeah, but in the absence of more information As Maisie abained from the Simpsonss You' amaz, what do you think Gsh, this is really reallyally ty, isn't it but I Don't get me wrong, I love Family Guy for how it guides me through on an evening when I need something on But modern familyam has made me laugh out loud and it's made me cry. And I think that's a real achievement to do in half an hour. Yeah. So modern family. Mern Family And also if you take anything away from this, it's that if you haven't seen mododern Family, really, really, really worth it. I'm excited to see who's going through it. Is it going to be Fam guuy or modern family Oh. A worthy winner though. This episode is brought to you by the Lloyds five K house deepposit. Lloyds are offering a five K house deposit, which was last seen in nineteen ninety six. What are your entertainment memories of the nineteen nineties? I feel guilty talking about the nineteen nineties because you look back and it was such a golden era. We'd never had it so good and we didn't even realize because we were young and we just thought we were entitled to it. We absolutely took it for granted ye pop was absolutely in its pump, Oasis plane to a quarter of a million people You hadice Girl I'm so sorry. Iice girls. ammazing movies at the cinema, train spotting. I mean it felt a time of absolute optimism. But at the time, you just assumed that was the way that A very British type of optimism. Yeah. And part of the optimism, of course, is that mortgages were more affordable. and that is what Lloyds is dealing with right now Last seen in nineteen ninety six, Loyds are now offering five K deposit mortgages to first time buyers. Search five K first time buuyer. nineteen ninety six average first time buyer deposits based on ONS data, sububject to status, your home may be repossessed if you don't keep up repayments. Conditions apply So that's on our top. We got our semi finals, we will deal with those in a minute. What else on this list do you think should have been in the top eight. I think there's some I think probably my four favorite US sitcoms are not in that top eight. Really? I think so Yeah, I would say the office best sitcom that doesn't feature Steve Kugan or Rick Mle.roud that That is high praise indeed. I think again it's one of those ones, you probably need to get past the first season Well, not even the first season. It's sort of the first five episode, the one where they're trying to ape the UK office. Yeah But it Yes, once it finds itself, it's great. Do you not think John it drops off a little bit Tards the end. I don't know that it did actually. We were re watchatching it recently, even the kind of that season eight. didid it go season nine? What's his name? that new boss that came? J Spader. There is a brief, but the final season, I think it really, really brings it back. The fininal episode is great superb. Yeah. I think what happens is they get into that situation that friends did where you just run out of combinations of people. friendriends it was who's dating who, who'd slept with who. In the office, it was who's manager of the office. It pushes your suspension of disbelief when Ed when Ed Hels becomes H becomes When he's going off on a ship, but that's a ridiculous. James Sadeader era, Idris Elbert era Will Ferrell. Yeah, Willfrell all of that I can live without. I think that final, certainly the second half of the final season. If you would ignore the sort of manager rotation the dynamic between Dwight and Pam and Dwight and Jim's battle.'s really That's a really sort of beautiful, underplayed love story ym and Yeah, it really isn't it. And I think that thing as well of like It sort of if you compare it to friends, the whole thing is Ross and Rachel will they won't they. But actually you start to really fall with Chandler and Monica's beautiful relationship. And I found that with the U.S Office of like Jim and Pam, sure, but my god the way I was rooting for Dwight and Angela. Yeah. Like When Angela was with the senator, I just wanted him gone and wanted her back with Dwight. Doesn't it speak to the quality of the cast that we've not even mentioned Steve Carerell yet? I know, I know. one of the best performancesred performances I've ever seen For me That would be number one. My top four I would have US office V thirty Rock, Brooklyn nine nine, none of them made it in C Brooklyn nine nine, if only for Charles Boyle. He's amazing Charles Boyle, I think is one of the best sitcom characters re I wonder if it was a mistake putting Simpsons and Family guuy amongst them. Yeah because I wouldn't say that they're technically sitcoms. Well, I'll tell you what would have snuck in if we hadn't. In ninth place was sex in the city and in tenth place wasrooklyn nine nine. you have to go down to number thirteen to find the office U.S. Office Sex and the city, each time you revisit it, you have a very different reaction to it and a different And would you say that was a sitcom Yeah, good point, John. I don't know if I would. No. I love arrested development. I do love Kirb your enthusiasm. Yeah I And I really, really like alwaysways Sny in Philadelphia. Oh my God that's that kind of stupid sense of humour. The stupidity of everybody. sensationally rude. Yeah I mean, I've watched it so many times. Shall we do our semifinals and find what the British public voted for? Our first semif final? Friends against Big Bang theory. What do you reckon's going to win on that?? I mean it's I think it's going to be a walkover for got to friend friends Got to be friends. hasn't it got to be friends we think at home as well? Is friends going into the final Yeah. It is indeed Fs as our firstal. That's a seven nil thashing, isn't it in the semifinals I mean God blessed big b, big bang theory. Did Wales get through at the semifinals? Yeah. And our other semifinals is all animation, right? We have Simons we don't doing We don't know. becauseuse I'm in my head there's two more deserving teams, but that's no No slight on Simpsons or familyily guy. Are there third place playoffs in this World Cup Sh we do that? can you imagine? if we're running short, which I don't think we will be. Well, I wonder like I'm trying to think of people voting on this. That's the thing. When I was a kid, we didn't have a sky. so I was watching Simpsons sort of on catch up through DVD's And then I don't know if younger people are still watching the Simpsons I reckon familyamily guy might have pited this. I would go familyily guide Aonamily guide for reasons we've explained. Again, my experience of these World Cups is the most mainstream thing almost always wins. I did the World Cup of Crisps and the winner was sorted salt and vinegar You No way. sorry s st was really sortted walkers. No way. Yeah. Can you believe it? That's disappointing. Let's find out is it the The Simpsons or is it a family guy Simpsons it's the mainstream thing. So it's Simpsons V Friendss is the final. I mean that's it That's a tricky one. Two very different teams here. Must be friends It's got to be friend. I just think for consistency across the seasons. Yeah. I think the Simpsons at its peak friends into a cockt hat, but in terms of we looking at it as a brand as a product I think it has to be friend as what it's meant to the maximum amount of. And I don't think there's a bad there' occasionally an episode where you're like a flashback one. Yes, a flashback one But there's no season where you're like Oh it dropped off in at seven or eight. Like it's consistently, as you say. Even when you knew they were each getting a million dollars an episode at like an eighteen year old you was my brain exploding at the price everyone money. And that was in their mind. And the constant ability to bring somebody back to being likable was incredibly impressive just when Ross had got so insufferable He'd be he'd do the most romantic thing ever or he'd be the most You had so much pity for it. like that it was really, really well done. The writing is excellent. Okay, let's find out. So thank you More in Common. They polled the British public, the British public had told them their favorite US sitcom Of all time. We know it's gonna to be Friends or the Simpsons. What is the winner of the Wor Cua US sitcoms It is friends. Very well done, friends. That se, you know what? I'm happy with that. I think that's fair enough. I'd have been really annoyed if Monica had been pipped by Maggie Very, very well done friends likeike they're watching. there might be, you have an idea. Have you ever met a friend? No, my wife has Oo yeah yeah. sort of like the spy skirills if you go Which one were you? whichich one was your favorite one? Who would you like to meet I think I've met all the spice gs. were You were chandler U I would say I'm more Ross. Yeah. I think I'm slightly maybe Dull and nerdy and Pity, like that scene where he's staying to the last minute of the hotel. Yes and filling his suitcase full of tot. It'serry Robins l. It's very.s just with sachets and tea bags and free sugar Maisy, John, thank you so much. Congratulations to friends. I think you're going to join us for a couple more of these at some point as well, which I look forward to ever so much. After I've watched mododern Family really, really, really, really recommend it. And I hope there's a few recommendations in there for you as well. So we're saying US Office, Maisys saying friends and Maisie agrees with the British public. W a couple of US sitcoms, won by friends. See you next time Bye bye. Bye