The Inbetweeners: How Subtlety Enhances Comedy

The scenes from The Inbetweeners that most likely to come to mind are its gross out moments, such as Simon’s testicle doing the catwalk or Neil casually punching a fish to death. But it is not these moments that really define the show and in fact, as argued in this excellent video from ‘Full Fat Videos’, the puerile moments are only funny because of subtle character development throughout the series.

On the face of it ‘The Inbetweeners’ characters are all stereotypes but in certain understated, perfectly executed moments they are shown to be real people, not caricatures. It is these scenes that facilitate much of the comedy in the series. They provide a crucial authenticity – as viewers we believe they are all friends, and we believe and can relate to their relationships with each other.

As creators, if we can establish this authenticity, then the scope and effectiveness of comedic moments in our shows will be enhanced markedly.

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