h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've been watching 'Detectorists' which was buried on BBC2 at 10 o'clock on a weekday. Written by McKenzie Crook and staring himself and Toby Jones. It has no laugh track, there is a story running through the series and does sad pretty well. There are no histrionics and no slapstick.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detectorists

There aren't many comedies that I can think of in this vein. The IT crowd relies on goofiness, My Family relies on the canned laughter.

Rev falls into the right category. Car Share is the right sort of thing (but I'm not a Peter Kay fan).

Have I missed a gem out there?

PP.

Did you see last year's Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency series? While it had very little to do with the original DNA story (nothing really at all, other than the name and the concept of an holistic detective), it was quite fun to watch.

I found Crossroads pretty funny - that had no laughter track.

Cruise of the Gods is my top pick (it's usually what I buy for secret Santa at work, not that I'm on a crusade or anything).

It's a single TV drama written by Tim Firth (IIRC). Don't be put off by Steve Coogan and James Corden being in the cast.

It's particularly enjoyable if you've ever been part of a 'fan' community.

Mol

Maybe on Netflix or Hulu, Zach Galifinakis' _Baskets_ is an excellent, dark comedy. The title character, Baskets (a clown), is a pathetic fellow who fails a Parisian clown (cloon?) school, gets in a loveless, green card marriage with a Parisian woman and returns to his home of Bakersfield, CA and gets the only clown job he can find, as a rodeo clown. In a breakout role, Louis Anderson plays his supportive, but troubled mother.

http://youtu.be/75J5FEq6Jn0