Frustration as Comedy

In television comedy, the central character must be trapped in the situation.

It’s about degrees of freedom. Removed from the situation in which they are funny (i.e. in which they are trapped), they would have too many degrees of freedom (too much freedom of movement). So it’s about restrictions (really, about restricted ambition).

Therefore, it’s about frustration — Basil Fawlty would not be funny if taken out of the situation, because the comedy comes from his frustration at being trapped (trapped in the hotel – i.e. by his job: no hope of promotion, and at the mercy of the guests; and in his marriage: henpecked, at the mercy of the dragon, Sybil).

Fawlty is trapped in a loveless marriage: i.e. sexual frustration (which needn’t have been a marriage to Sybil, but could be a marriage to anybody as long as she’s a dragon). Mainwaring in Dad’s Army is also trapped in a loveless marriage (by a dragon) [sexual frustration]. And Fletcher in Porridge is trapped in jail [sexual frustration].

Frank Spencer in Some Mothers is in a sense a comedy of innocence. But it’s also a frustration comedy: his ambition to succeed (both in a job and in marriage) is frustrated by his innate incompetance: as an employee he cannot hold down a job, and as a husband he suffers sexual frustration.

Frank’s bungling at work is made credible by his innocence — due to lack of education, or natural stupidity (i.e. to be funny, it must NOT be his fault). In a sense, his frustration in his marriage is also made to seem credible by his innocence.

The ultimate comedy of sexual frustration is Rising Damp, where Leonard Rossiter’s Rigsby is perpetually lusting after the dowdy Miss Jones (Frances de la Tour), who finds him deeply unattractive. Part of the humour comes from the modesty of his ambition, given that the woman he is lusting after is not in fact attractive (which also emphasises his failure, given the lack of any competition for her affections).

Mainwaring is frustrated in his “job” — his role as a soldier — by his military incompetence. His bungling is made credible by his being an amateur – i.e. by a lack of training (i.e. to be funny, it must NOT be his fault).

Mainwaring is also frustrated in his social ambition: he is middle class (again, not his fault), but trapped in that class (because he didn’t go to Public School), when he aspires to be upper class (dreams of being a leader of men). In reality, being middle class he can only lead Jones, who is working class (i.e. lower class). He cannot lead Wilson, who is genuinely upper class (who doesn’t take him seriously). Wilson himself is not frustrated, because he (like Jones!) has no ambition.

The symbol of frustration: the running joke of Mainwaring being repeatedly turned down for membership of the Golf Club (a modest ambition, but even this is beyond him), because he didn’t go to a Public School (a certain elevated social status attaches to Public Schools, because that’s where the aristocracy educate their children).

There is an implication that his (never seen) wife has become a dragon due to his failure: that her behaviour is due to her frustration at his inability to gain prompotion at the Bank, and his failure socially (not only to gain membership of the Golf Club, but also of the members-only social circle to which Wilson belongs).

In Steptoe, Harold is frustrated, because he has an ambition to escape from working class drudgery, but lacks the education that would enable him to do so. His father, Albert, is not frustrated, because he has no such ambition (having already succeeded: he has already escaped, by dumping all the drudgery on Harold).

Harold suffers sexual frustration too: he cannot ‘pull’ a bird, because he has no money due to his failure at work: perpetually ‘skint’ because the rag-and-bone business earns very little.

Yes Minister is very obviously a comedy about frustration: every political initiative or ambition which the minister, Jim Hacker, tries to impliment is sabotaged by the Civil Service, orchestrated by the machiavellian Sir Humphrey Appleby (i.e. to be funny, the failure must NOT be Hacker’s fault).

The very term ‘frustration’ implies that the failure is not the character’s fault: that he is being obstructed by forces beyond his control, e.g. lack of education or training (frustrates success at work), or because his wife doesn’t love him (sexual frustration), or because he’s in jail (frustrates both success in work and in marriage).

In comedy there are usually only two types of ambition (that can be frustrated): success at work, or success in bed. Domestic comedies often water-down the latter, as a more general type of marital failure, with the parents frustrated by the failures of their offspring (such as Sid James in Bless This House).

So, ultimately, frustration equates to failure: a failure of ambition at work or in bed: due to natural stupidity, or to lack of background (didn’t attend the right school), or to being a jailbird — by being in jail, Fletcher (in Porridge) is the ultimate symbol of failure, as that’s a public recognition of failure (i.e. of failure at work).