The Rest Is Entertainment - World Cup Of... US Sitcoms

Episode Date: June 30, 2026

Enjoy this teaser of Richard Osman's new bonus series 'World Cup of Everything' - the all-out, head-to-head battle to discover the Great British public's favourite of ANY category. This week, Richard is joined by Maisie Adam and John Robins to discuss... US Sitcoms. Our Summer sale is here: get an annual membership for a third off with code SUMMER26. That's ad-free listening, every bonus episode, and full access to our exclusive members' series. Sale ends August 31st, so grab it before summer's over. The Rest is Entertainment is brought to you by Octopus Energy, Britain's most awarded energy supplier. Lloyds. 250 years on and still backing the nation's aspirations. Join The Rest Is Entertainment Club: Unlock the full experience of the show – with exclusive bonus content, ad-free listening, early access to Q&A episodes, access to our newsletter archive, discounted book prices with our partners at Coles Books, early ticket access to live events, and access to our chat community. Sign up directly at therestisentertainment.com For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com Video Editor: Joey McCarthy Assistant Producer: Imee Marriott Senior Producer: Joey McCarthy Social Producer: Bex Tyrrell Exec Producer: Sam Psyk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The rest is 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. And there are some people who are notoriously difficult to get hold up. So Christopher Nolan, for example, is famously almost completely, it doesn't even have a mobile phone. I mean, you literally cannot get hold of Christopher Nolan. He said, of course he does. He's got a sneaky little mobile, has he?

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I mean, that's amazing, right? Hello, everybody. Welcome along to the Restors Entertainment World Cup of Everything. Our first bonus episode is all about US sitcoms. The World Cup of US sitcoms, I am joined to discuss them by Maisie Adam. Hello, Maisie. Hello. And John Robbins.

How do you John? Hello, I'm good. Thank you. Lovely to be here. See, that's how you're supposed to do that. Yeah. The way this works is more in common, our lovely polling partners have given a massive list of kind of 60, 70 US sitcoms

to the British public. The British public have told them which is their favourite. I don't have the results yet, but I know what the top eight are, and I'm going to draw them in four quarterfinals. We're going to talk about those quarterfinals, predict who's going to win, and then find it who actually did win.

Okay, we'll go quarterfinals, final, and we will discover which US sitcom is the favourite of the British public. Now, I've done World Cups of before World Cups of Christmas, things like this. What I will say is the result is always disappointing. What a great trailer for the podcast. We might as well call this, and this is why democracy doesn't work. Yeah. Our first quarterfinal is Friends versus MASH.

Oh, wow. I mean, well, that's it. When there's only eight teams, every game's a big game. I mean, also Battle of the Great Thames. Yeah, Battle of the Great Thames. I'll be there for you by the Rembrandts. Suicide is Painless. Do you know who wrote Suicide is Painless, the lyrics? Who did what, no?

So Robert Altman, who directed the movie, his son wrote the lyrics for that when he was like eight. Really? Made like a million dollars out of it. Can you imagine pitching a sitcom now where the lyrics of the theme tune are suicide is painless? Couldn't I imagine that. It would really list off, I don't think, would it? It's got an odd vibe to navigate. But also, yeah, you said, I tell you what it's going to be.

It's going to 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 theme tune that says suicide is painless. And also, it's going to have the highest rated episode of any sitcom in the entire history of sitcoms. Whoa. That's the problem.

The highest rated episode. Yeah. I think the finale, 105 million. Good grief. That is like, even with when Mock the Week add like two episodes together, they're not getting to a hundred. And five million, right? Even, you know, even when I started in TV in the early 90s, we weren't getting 105 million for stuff. Me and Ellis are lucky if we get that in a month.

Friends final, what was that? It was big, it was super big. That's got to be 60 million. Yeah. But it was, yeah, it wasn't 105. I don't think anything would ever get a hundred and five. I always thought Friends finale was the biggest one. No.

52 million Friends. So pretty much exactly. Half. Although it was like super, super, super, massive, right? Also, both sitcoms where people, have transitioned into films or was Alan Alder already a big film star? Huh, that's a good question.

What year did Rush start? MASH started 72. So I guess not. I guess he moved into the world of films. I was surprised that the cast of Friends didn't do more films. Are they just tarred with that brush of forever being seen as those characters though?

I guess they're so, yeah. So Jennifer Aniston did good, but still large, you know, great career, but went into a career of being Rachel in various forms, really. Do you know, it's technically a spin-off, Friends, because the first ever friend's character was actually Phoebe's sister, Ursula, who was the waitress on Mad About You. What?

Yeah. So really, it's a Mad About You spin-off. A very tenuous spin-off. 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 DVDs, like Friends Box sets were quite 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, know, harmless, liberal. Yeah.

But actually, some references to homosexuality are quite dated. Yeah. The complete lack of diversity on almost any level is quite strange. But then Gen Z kind of embraced it, didn't they? Well, 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 Gen Z. It's quite quick. The gag rate is quite quick.

when they're so used 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 a man not dealing with things in a healthy way. And there's loads of weird, I mean, yeah, we're rewatching 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 Friends, the one with the videotape. Yeah. Is really masterful stuff.

And I think it also maintained that gag rate and gag quality right towards the end. There's a bit in, I think it might be even the last episode or the last two where Ross is chasing Rachel in the airport. And there's a one of those... Oh, and he has to go to the whole lot. 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 just think it's a really nice sight gag.

Yeah, they never run out of a gag. The Atlantic did a gag rate of every single top US sitcom, and Friends has 6.06 jokes a minute. Wow. That's why Gen Z love it. That's why we loved it as well. It's one every nine seconds. One every nine seconds.

That's not bad going, is it? Six jocks a minute. That's a long Edinburgh. That's what I'd get out of half a tour show. Like, big set up, six payoffs. We dream of Edinburgh shows like that. Shall we, if it was just us, say which one of those we would put through to the semifinals? John, that's a tricky one, isn't it?

Can I just guess a fact that Elliot 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 didn't take on board a huge amount. So I'm going to have to say friends. Yeah, understood. Macy. 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, it's 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. It'd be a big shock. Certainly, this whole series is going to be weird if the first thing we do is

mash beating Friends, but one never knows. Joey, who won that? Yay! Friends goes through to the semi-finals. Very well done to Friends. Our second quarter final, Big Bang Theory versus the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Good Lord.

Now, Big Bang Theory, 5.8 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 Prince fan or a Big Bang Theory fan. Well, I definitely watched more fresh Prince of Bel Air than Big Bang Theory. Yeah.

Can I just double check? Is Big Bang Theory the one with the guy who played Dugiehauser MD? No, that's how I met your mother. Okay, well, we'll come back to that. I can see how you get them. They're both shown on E4 at a weird time of day involving a bunch of people who wear like long-sleeved tops with a t-shirt over them. Big Bang Theory is the geeks who all study. A 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 that all of them come and sit back on the sofa in, in all of these American sitcoms. Yeah, but I mean, that's how sitcoms work essentially, isn't it? They've only got one main set. Yeah. And the more they can sit on that, the cheaper the episode is.

It's when they come to London. That's when you get a problem. Yeah, you get your buddies with. That's when you go, I wonder if you just go back and sit on that sofa. Yeah, yeah. They've both got very wordy theme tunes as well. Big Bang Theory has that Bear Naked Lady's song. Oh, yeah.

Prince of Bel Air, of course. Oh, wow. Yeah. It's the famous rap. Both can sort of give you the ick, can't they? I mean, I know Sheldon is deliberately antagonising, but he's so irritating. But at the same time, anybody who starts a conversation about Fresh Prince 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. Like I know all the lyrics to rapers delight. Exactly. It's that vanilla ice. That's a bit cool. And the rap from World in Motion. People can't talk about it without then insisting that they know it.

I could do Only Fools and Horses both the theme tune and post-themed tune as well. I'm not going to. None of us are. I met Will Smith. So I met Will Smith, who 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 Stephen Spiel. Why?

I don't know. At a birthday party. Hollywood, isn't it? So, Big Bang Theory, 12 seasons, 279 episodes, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, 148 episodes. Which do you think the British public have put through to the semi-finals? I think for sort of like nostalgia,

I would go, Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Yeah. But it's just reminded me, you 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, thousands of episodes. And what were faulty towers? What, 14? 12, I think so. So you're going to go Fresh Prince, Macy?

Yeah, yeah. I think Fresh Prince 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 second boom, didn't it, of all that, like, 90s fashion and which I don't really see. Big Bang Theory enjoying. Nobody's having a sort of second wave. I don't know.

I'm going to stick up for Big Bang Theory. It is huge. Do you think it's funny? Yes. Do you? I really do. I genuinely do. It's massive in America.

It's beyond massive. I think Chuck Lorry, 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? Laurie. Yeah. Who won?

Was it Fresh Prince of Belair or was it Big Bang Theory? Please be Fresh Prince. No. It was Big Bang Theory. I'm genuinely surprised. Oh, justice for Will Smith. Do you think that's reputational damage of Will Smith in more recent years, do you think? I don't know.

So, you know, I met him on Graham Norton. Before or after Slapgate? So soon before, 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 time I'm in L.A., I just go, Will, it's rich from the show. from the G.N. show. And I get invited over to Will Smith South. Then literally like a week later he punches Chris Rock.

I was like, oh, great. Who am I going to stay with now? Quarter final three. Oh, this is an absolute doozy. We have The Simpsons versus Frazier. Oh, now this is true. 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 it? I think you have to treat it as a sitcom, right? I mean, it follows the conventions of a sitcom.

Is it linear? So The Simpsons was always on at 6 o'clock on Channel 4 and we weren't allowed to watch it because my dad wanted to watch the news. Oh, no. And we were, so I've never seen an episode. episode of The Simpsons. Are you serious?

You've never seen an episode? To this day? Wow, because your dad's still... That's not possible. That's impossible. I promise. You've seen clips. I've seen clips.

You know what the thing. I know he enjoys a duff beer and donuts. Oh, that's good. We have to stop this now. That's unbelievable. Should I abstain from the vote as I haven't seen? I mean, I mean, yes. I think you might have to like take a sabbatical from comedy

and watch seasons like three to 13 of the Simpsons. How many seasons have we got with Simpsons? Well, way too many, which is, I think, a problem we might come. 37, 37 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 37 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 art, really. Not really. I mean, 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 on forever. But joke for joke has had some of the best jokes in the history of sitcoms. Every single one you're currently thinking of happened before the year 2000.

No, there must be some good ones after that because the generation who grew up watching it. You've seen the graph of the IMDB rating per episode for The Simpsons and it's a color like a heat chart. And what happens? It just goes green for 25 years. So like, you know, the sort of 8.5, the 9.5s 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, yeah, 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 episodes. They're doing the movies and, yeah, all sorts of things.

I've not watched it since probably 2005. Yeah. So I think longevity is, you know, obviously is a feather in the cap, but is, is it as bigger 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. What's that like late 90s? Sort of like I would say 96 to 2002 maybe or 95.

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, big... Yeah, you do need to watch the Simpsons if you're asking. It is so great to have you on, amazing. They're humans.

Yeah, but they don't look human. They got long, yellow, they look like... chips with a big... And then they've got mouths like... I mean, they're cartoons. They're like Mr. Chips. They look like Mr. Chips. They do. They look like Mr. Chips.

We'll be talking about him on our British show's episode, I'm sure. I think that's a pretty big achievement that they managed to kind of like invent a new... I mean, they're drawings. Matt Grayling had a very good rule about... 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.

You know, they don't get smoke coming out of their ears. They're not that loony tunes kind of mad. Yeah. But they're also not family guy where you're like, oh, that's ears, nose, you know. Ears nose mouth. Well, they've got ears. You know, I know they've got ears, nose.

Right, you know what I mean, boys. Not really. It's a long, yeah. That is not how you draw a human being. In a cartoon, it is. I've seen a Simpson. Yeah. They don't look like human beings.

But the Flintstones don't really look like human beings. Maze, have you ever seen a show called Frasier? Yes, I'm aware of his work. Shall we talk about the joy of Frazier now? I think it's a tough draw for Frazier being up against The Simpsons. I'll say that. So Frazier really was a spinoff, a spin-off from Cheers, which I'm going to guess has not made this top eight,

although it was brilliant. It was actually shot on exactly the same set as Cheers. Was it? Fraser's living room is where the bar was in Cheer. Ah. Yeah. But the most successful spinoff of all time, I'd say. Yeah.

Frazier fan? Yeah. Again, I kind of have it as one of those ones that was Channel 4 early mornings on a Saturday or Sunday. Still is. Still is, isn't it? If you wake up a bit too early, it's everybody loves Raymond. I love everyone. I love everybody loves Raymond.

Wake up a bit too early. One one forgets your stand-up. I like Frasier. I don't love Frasier. Interesting, John. No, not for me. Really? That's interesting.

I just can feel that I'm having script read to me. And that's not to say it's a bad script. script. It's very well written, but they're delivering a script. And I found Niles 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, to quote the Bard himself. Yes. Where's The Simpsons? Yes. Definitely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm probably the age Bart is meant to be, I would have thought. Now? Now. Sage? Yeah. Also. I never bloody worked out

if that woman's accent were real or whether she weren't to learn out to do accents where from. The worst episode of any show in history is when Daphne's brothers turn up and it's like Robbie Coltrane and Richard Grant

they've all got different It's all over the shop, isn't it? It's really, really, really bad. Is she English? Yes, she is. Jane leaves, yeah. And is that her accent? I've just made by the...

It can't be. It can't. She's from Manchester, isn't she? But 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. Really? She just maybe went for all of the accents. And then Anthony Lopaglia comes from places, brother, talks like that, talks like Dick Van Dyke.

And you think 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 Frazier what would you go for? Simpsons. Do you know what I'm going to ask you to sit this one out? Yeah I think that's absolutely fair 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. through to our

semifinals. We have one final semifinalist to discover and it will come from two family shows. Family Guy and Modern Family. 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. Me too. This is an interesting one though. Family Guy and Modern Family as a comedian, I think Family Guy is the only thing sometimes when you get in from a gig into a hotel room and you're trying to find something on the telly, a family guy is the only thing sometime, in that sort of half 10 to midnight bracket, 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 that you can do jokes about anything, the cutaway gags, which are, I love those. This is almost as bad as the time and then it just, oh. So would South Park not have been considered in this list? It would have been further, it's further down the list. Oh, right. It's not smartier, isn't it, South Park?

It's a lot. Yeah, I think 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 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 Chandler in a room unless they went down. Can you imagine?

It's an odd. Alan Bennett style avenue. And if you pitched Stewie at the time, like we knew you were saying about MASH, like if you were to describe it now going, oh no, he's 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, yeah. Next question. And there's a complex relationship with the dog,

who'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 thinks 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've got a couple of, um, protagonists and it just keeps going higher done it maybe some of the

life lessons friends becoming enemies enemies becoming friends it just gets just gets higher and higher and higher it's so good it's really weird

like yeah all of that and that one way he just gets in Lewis Lewis Lewis Lewis Mommy

Mommy mommy Mommy Modern family we must but it's Modern family to me has the same hit rate

for a mainstream audience that family guy has It was perfect modern family. It's amazing. I was introduced to modern family in 2015 when I was at university because I applied through the National Youth Theatre to win a writing master class with Lawrence Marks.

Oh, wow, yeah. States Mer. Yeah, Good Night's Sweet. Our Birds for Feather. And there was like maybe 10 of us sat around his table and he was talking about how to write the perfect pilot. And he used modern families. 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 Mani and Gloria the way that you're introduced to all of those characters and how they relate to each other, but it's gag-heavy, but my God, modern family, in a way that the US 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 quarterfying. I'm having a lot much more fun, yeah. Yeah, that fixture for me was like what's watching, Jordan versus Bosnia and Herzegovina at 4 a.m. I absolutely agree with you with modern families. It's one of those ones. It's very easy to overlook. It's not cool, but the writing in it is sensationally good.

It's not as uncool as big bang theory. It's not, you know, Brooklyn 9-9. No, no, you're right. Are you a modern 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, but Macy's very eloquent description of it has kind of sold it to me. I'm going to check it out, but I can't say that I've seen it.

Oh, really? Oh, you'd really like it. It is really good. It has some proper truths in it. Yeah. Absolutely. Right. Were you going to find our last...

Oh, I can't vote in this one? I can't. Oh, yes. I can't say... So John, you're... I presume you're going to go for Family Guy. Yeah, but... In the absence of more information...

As Maisie abstained from the Simpsons, I don't understand that. Mays, what do you think? Gosh, this is really difficult. It's really tricky, isn't it? But I... Don't get me wrong. I love Family Guy for how it guides me through on an eve. when I need something on, but modern family 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. Modern family. And also, if you take anything away from this, it's that if you haven't seen modern family, really, really, really worth it. I'm excited to see who's going through. Is it going to be Family Guy or Modern Family?

Oh, Family Guy goes through. A worthy winner, though. This episode is brought to you by the Lloyd's 5K House Deport. Lloyds are offering a 5K house deposit, which was last seen in 1996. What are your entertainment memories of the 1990s? I feel guilty talking about the 1990s because you look back and it was such a golden era. We'd never had it so good and we didn't even realise because we were young and we just thought we were entitled to it. We absolutely took it for granted.

Yeah, Brit Pop was absolutely in its pomp oasis playing to a quarter of a million people. You had Blair and Sway and Pop. I'm so sorry. Spice Girls. Amazing 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 the world was going. A very British type of optimism.

Yeah. But part of the optimism, of course, is that mortgages were more affordable, and that is what Lloyd's is dealing with right now. Yeah, last seen in 1996, Lloyds are now offering 5K deposit mortgages to first-time buyers. Search 5K, first-time buyer. 1996 average first-time buyer deposits based on O&S data, subject to status. Your home may be repossessed if you don't keep up repayments. Conditions apply. So that's our top eight.

We've got our semifinals. 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 U.S. sitcoms are not in that top eight. Really? I think so. Yeah, I would say the office, the best sitcom that doesn't feature Steve Coogan or Rick Mail. Wow.

That is high praise indeed. I think against 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 episodes. 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 towards the end?

I don't know that it did actually. We were re-watching it recently, even the kind of that season eight. Did it go season nine? What's his name? That new boss that came in? James Spader. There is a brief, but the final season, I think it really, really brings it back. The final episode is great.

Is superb. Yeah. I think what happens is... they get into that situation that friends did where you just run out combinations of people. In Friends, it was who's dating who, who'd slept with who. In the office, it was whose manager of the office.

It pushes your suspension of disbelief when Ed, um... Yes, when Ed Helms becomes mean. That's when he's going off on a ship, but that's a bit ridiculous. The James Spader era, Idris Elbert era. Will Ferrell. Yeah, Wilfell.

All of that I can live without. I think that final, certainly the second half of the final season, But if you ignore the sort of manager rotation, the dynamic between Dwight and Pam and Jim. Dwight and Jim's battle. That's a really sort of beautiful underplayed love story between Jim and Dwight. Yeah, it really is, isn't it? And I think that thing as well of like, sort of if you compare it to friends, the whole thing is Ross and Rachel will, they won't know.

But actually, you start to really fall with Chandler and Monika's beautiful relationship. And I found that with the US 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.

And doesn't it speak to the quality of the cast that we've not even mentioned Steve Carell yet? I know, I know. One of the best performances, comedic performances I've ever seen. For me, that would be number one. My top four, I'd have US office, Veep, 30 Rock, Brooklyn 9-9.

None of them made it into the... Brooklyn 9-9, if only for Charles Boyle. Yeah, he's amazing. Charles Boyle, I think, is one of the best sitcom characters. Agreed. I wonder if it was a mistake putting Simpsons and Family Guy 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 9th place was Sex and the City. And in 10th place was Brooklyn 9-9. You have to go down to number 13 to find the office, the US 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 Curb Your enthusiasm. Yeah, I love Kirby. And I really, really like always sunny in Philadelphia. Oh, my God, that's unbelievable. For that kind of stupid sense of humor.

The stupidity of everybody. So, sensationly rude. Yeah. I mean, I've watched it so many times. Shall we do our semi-finals and find what the British public voted for? Our first semifinal is Friends. against Big Bang Theory. What do we reckon is going to win on that?

I mean, it's got to be. I think it's going to be a walkover for friends. Got to be friends. Has it got to be friends we think at home as well? Is Friends going into the final? Yeah. It is indeed. Friends is our first finalist.

That's a 7-0 thrashing, isn't it? In the semi-final. I mean, God bless Big Bang Theory. It did well to get through at the semifinals. Yeah. And our other semifinals is all animation, right? We have Simpsons versus Family Guy. We don't love this, do we?

We don't love. Because in my head there's two more deserving teams, but that's no slight on The Simpsons or Family Guy. Are there third place playoffs in this World Cup? Should 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 DVDs. And then I don't know if younger people are still watching The Simpsons. I reckon family guy might have pipped this I would go family guy But for reasons we've 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 Ready Salted Salted And Vinegar You know way

Ready Salted Salted Salton Workers No way Yeah can you believe it That's disappointing Let's find out Is it the Simpsons Or is it family guy

Is it? Simpsons It's the mainstream thing So it's Simpsons v Friends. Friends is the final. I mean that's a tricky one. Two very different teams here. Must be friends.

It's got to be friends. I just think for consistency across the seasons. Yeah. I think the Simpsons at its peak knocks friends into a cock's hat, but in terms of we're looking at it as a brand, as a product, I think it has to be friends. That's what it's meant to the maximum amount of people

for the maximum length of time. There's 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 at seven or eight. It's consistently, as you say.

Even when you knew they were each getting a million dollars an episode. There's like an 18-year-old. He was just my brain exploding at the process. I mean, that's anyone earning that much money. And that was in the 90s. And the constant ability to bring somebody back to being likable was incredibly impressive. Just when Ross had got so insufferable,

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 favourite US sitcom of all time we know it's going to be Friends or the Simpsons what is the winner of the World Cup of US sitcoms it is Friends very well done friends do 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 like they're watching. There might be. You never know, do you? Have you ever met a friend? No, my wife has. Ooh. Yeah. Sort of like the spice girls.

If you go, which one were you? Which one was your favourite one? Who would you like to meet? I think I've met all the spice girls. Are you a Chandler? I would say I'm more Ross I think I'm slightly maybe dull and nerdy and quite pinniquity like that scene where he's staying to the last minute of the hotel

and filling his suitcase full of toilet roll it's very robins there it's very robins just with sachets and tea bags and free sugar wow um maisie 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 Modern Family, which I am going to go and do. I 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, Macy's saying friends and Macy agrees with the British public, World Cup of US sitcoms won by Friends. See you next time. Bye bye.