Sherlock is a show about a sociopath who runs around London solving grisly murders using his vast intellectual skills. Not really the stuff comedies are made of. But when you've got a show with subject matter that serious, you have to find the humor. Otherwise it will be too dark, too heavy, and a long way from entertaining. A lot of the best dramas are also the funniest, and Sherlock certainly fits that bill. In the midst of crazy intense situations where tension builds towards astonishing climaxes, a good laugh makes everything better. It defuses tension, humanises the situation. And humour on Sherlock also serves a very important character function. Sherlock himself is a very dark person, in a set of relationships that are similarly dark and possibly vaguely unhealthy. But when the characters laugh together, we believe them as friends. When they crack jokes at or about each other, they make one another more real. Whenever Sherlock makes us laugh, he seems a bit less remote, less inhuman. So, without further ado, the 10 funniest moments from the nine episodes of the BBC's Sherlock.
Rebecca Kulik lives in Iowa, reads an obsence amount, watches way too much television, and occasionally studies for her BA in History. Come by her personal pop culture blog at tyrannyofthepetticoat.wordpress.com and her reading blog at journalofimaginarypeople.wordpress.com.
