I'm not quite sure why the BBC has commissioned a film from Sara Pascoe as part of their new online Comedy Shorts series. Surely they should have commissioned a whole series straight off the bat. Pascoe is one of comedy's freshest voices. Smart, funny and original. A law should be passed making her compulsory viewing.
In Sara Pascoe vs Monogamy our hero explores traditional notions about the differences between men and women when it comes to sex and relationships. Forget your usual gender wars cliches, Pascoe has done her research and has some new ideas. Received theories suggest that men want lots of sex to reproduce lots of times, women want less sex. Pascoe disagrees - hence she opposes the idea of monogamy – and she explains why here.
So far so scientific. Did I also mention that her ten-minute quickie is laugh-out-loud-and-disturb-the-neighbours funny? The set-up is mainly a date in a pub with Navin Chowdhry but we also get flashbacks to Pascoe's earlier boyfriend, a Robbie Wlliams lookalike, plus a cameo from Pascoe's mum offering her blunt views on the matter. Pascoe's jazz musician father Derek (who did the music here) split with her mother when Sara was young. Ever since than "a stressed offbeat still reminds me of abandonment," says their comedian daughter.
This is a busy little bit of genius. There are cartoons, addresses-to-camera, reflections on Henry VIII's romantic style, sperm having a fight and much more. If Adam and Eve couldn't make a go of it in Paradise, suggests Pascoe, what hope is there for the rest of us? Mt favourite bit? It's hard to choose but maybe an animated Richard E Grant.
Also on old school TV on September 13, BBC2, 9.45pm.
Spencer Jones – The Mind of Herbert Clunkerdunk review here.
