The Armando Iannucci Shows

The Armando Iannucci Shows
Title screen of episode 2. In the series, the castle-like building (Highfort Court, Kingsbury) is Armando's house.
Created by	Armando Iannucci
Starring	Armando Iannucci
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	8
Production
Running time	approx. 24m30s (per episode)
Release
Original network	Channel 4
Original release	30 August (2001-08-30) – 18 October 2001 (2001-10-18)
Chronology
Followed by	Time Trumpet

The Armando Iannucci Shows is a series of eight programmes directed by Armando Iannucci and written by Iannucci with Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil. It was shown on UK's Channel 4 from September to October 2001. Each episode focused on specific themes relating to human nature and existentialism, around which Iannucci would weave a series of surreal sketches and monologues.

Recurring themes in the episodes are the superficiality of modern culture, our problems communicating with each other, the mundane nature of working life and feelings of personal inadequacy and social awkwardness. Several characters also make repeat appearances in the shows, including the East End thug, who solves every problem with threats of violence; Hugh, an old man who delivers surreal monologues about what things were like in the old days; and Iannucci's barber, who is full of nonsensical anecdotes.

Iannucci has been quoted as saying it is the comedy series he is most proud of making. He told The Metro in April 2007 "The Armando Iannucci Show [sic] on Channel 4 came out around 9/11, so it was overlooked for good reasons. People had other things on their minds. But that was the closest to me expressing my comic outlook on life."

The show is also notable for its use of music, the quality of its direction and the often extensive use of CGI effects. A DVD of the series was released on 4 September 2006 after years of wrangles due to music rights issues.

Most of the sketches and characters in The Armando Iannucci Shows were one-offs, but a few characters did recur:

Each episode is themed around a certain subject. The following episode order is according to the DVD which had its contents significantly reshuffled from the original broadcast timeline.

Armando believes that the imagination is a wonderful thing, allowing us to come up with any image, such as the cast of Cats being shot at dawn. Everyone attempts to try to become more imaginative, such as profane gardening and improving suicide notes. However, the greatest worry is people starving to death due to there being too many golf sales.