3. All Of Tramadol Nights
If you haven't seen Tramadol Nights, a series of Boyle's creation broadcast on Channel 4 in 2011, there is literally no way that I can adequately illustrate the experience. I could use words like surreal, disturbing, experimental and downright weird, but no words can aptly describe what your eyes are witnessing. It was if the show producers suggested that Boyle was to take the concept and "go nuts", and he decided to take that literally rather than figuratively. To say that the six episodes of Tramadol Nights are an acquired taste would be another severe understatement, as it is an acquired taste in the same manner that polonium is. The content of the show was the best stand-up from his tours, which was delivered randomly with no recognisable order or theme, and this was dispersed with sketches which would cover such topics as drug abuse, rape, murder and disease. It was probably as close a person could come to exploring the darkest recesses of Boyle's creative capacity, and was certain to attract much controversy and complaints. In fact, it was as if somebody created the show with the direct intention of getting as many complaints as possible. That is not to suggest that the entire show was unlikable. Whilst very little of the sketches were laugh out loud funny, many of them had a dark humour and wit that made them compelling viewing. The acting was well done, and the subjects discussed, while controversial, would have entertained most of Boyle's fanbase. However, I'm not any better off for having seen it, as the funniest sections were the stand-up routines, that you could see if you just watched his latest live DVD. In the end it was a show that seemed to be bred for controversy, and the most lasting legacy of Tramadol Nights was the number of crashed servers brought by complaints to Ofcom.