2. It's Brilliantly Heartbreaking
Good comedies make you laugh, but great comedies make you cry. Like when Blackadder and Baldrick go over the top or when Del Boy's all alone after Rodney's wedding. Gervais and Merchant don't just include these moments, they specialise in them. It's possibly Ricky Gervais's finest moment when David Brent's made redundant, to take a laughable figure that everyone thinks is an idiot, and to write and act in
that scene. 'Extras' has its moments too, again with the last scene, but even just moments when Andy's so disappointed with 'When the Whistle Blows'. 'Life's Too Short' was subtly poignant too, and don't get me started on 'Derek'. I well up just thinking about that final episode. It's a gift that not many writers have, to be able to switch between such extreme emotions. But it's almost as if these shows are anti-comedies; shows that don't focus on what's funny in life, but what's really sad. They just happen to also be hilarious.