Mammoth Series 2 Review – It’s Subversively Exciting to Laugh at These Offensive Jokes | culture

YYou can put the end of political satire at the door of government upheavals stranger than fiction. You can attribute the disappearance of popular culture to a broken zeitgeist and the decline of mainstream art. However, there is no obvious reason for the scarcity of jokes about contemporary society in comedy. Perhaps it has something to do with the decline in graphic display; Perhaps it’s simply because there’s so little funny content on TV overall (during the 2000s, the BBC’s comedy output almost halved). Whatever the reason, when we get a chance to laugh at modern mores, maybe we should take it.

Re-enter Mammoth, an old-school sitcom from Welsh comedian Mike Poppins. The 53-year-old actor stars as Tony Mammoth, a physical education teacher who was buried by an avalanche during a school ski trip in 1979. Nearly half a century later he was discovered – it’s beautiful, global warming! -With his middle-aged body and ancient values ​​perfectly preserved. Yes, we can laugh at Alpha’s outdated ostentatious tastes and borderline offensive views. But the beauty of this series is that the comedy flows both ways: when Mammoth looks aghast at the things that are considered normal in 2020s Britain, it can be hard to deny that he has a point.

In the first series, our hero enjoyed short-lived fame before returning to work at his former school, where his old, desperate style involved dangerous games (“Two words: British Bulldog”), serving pina coladas to mothers at parents’ evening and sitting in his Ford Capri smoking a pipe while his class played football in the cold. In the backseat on that occasion was a kind and passive student named Theo, who insisted that carpal tunnel syndrome caused by video games prevented him from participating in sports. Mammoth soon meets Theo’s always grumpy mother, Mel (Sian Gibson of Peter Kay Motors). Soon after, a distinctive necklace provided evidence that these two may have been more to the mammoths than just a pair of irritant.

Now we’re back for another three-episode outing, as Mammoth continues to spend time with his new family — Mel turns out to be his daughter and Theo is his grandson — and his old friend Roger (Joseph Marcil of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air fame), while reliably causing headaches for fellow PE teacher Lucy. He still gives terrible advice — when Theo becomes a lifeguard, Mammoth advises him to take Dexedrine to avoid falling asleep on the job — and stays true to the more absurd hallmarks of unreconstructed masculinity (see: a 50-year-old grudge against a man who once criticized his parking lot).

However, the series’ send-up of masculinity is at its best when it is most foundational: Mammoth’s unwavering confidence, for example, or his astonishing selfishness. It’s better when he’s right. When the protagonist struggles to understand current tastes, like a love interest who thinks vacation is doing yoga in a draft-exposed hut before foraging in the woods, there’s a devastating thrill to being alongside a mammoth.

Such is the rush of nostalgia this show offers, you can’t help but follow its wavelength: there’s something so comforting about seeing Mammoth take up Cinzano’s case or settle down to watch Minder, even if you didn’t live through the 1970s yourself. Despite Bubbins’ impeccable deadpan, the show is fueled by its creator’s sincere obsession with the knot; Capri is his real car. It’s fitting that this new series sees Mammoth bond with a younger Michael (Al Roberts, whose awkward cuteness always nets him a gold award) who also has a love of the 70s. But some gaps are unbridgeable: the look on Mammoth’s face when Michael orders a non-alcoholic beer is priceless.

The mammoth’s appeal rests almost exclusively on Poppins’ shoulders, which is a good thing because a) the guy has funny bones and b) this is clearly his brainchild. But the other characters pale in comparison. Sometimes that’s the point: Joel Davison’s Theo is a low-energy sunflower who is the complete opposite of his grandfather. But others are less attractive. Mel’s perpetual state of extreme intensity is very one-note. Often times, the spell of the mammoth world is broken by dialects. Davison is largely imperceptible, while Gibson – who hails from North Wales – has an accent that can be associated with northern England, and bears no resemblance to that of Barry-born Babins.

At the heart of the mammoth is a very satisfying joke, but by the end of this second series it starts to wear a little thin. Of course, there’s always the possibility that the mammoth will evolve, perhaps into a man who puts others first, takes safety seriously and fills his fridge with non-alcoholic beer. But where would the fun be in that?