The fourth series of Dave Gorman's TV show Modern Life Is Goodish starts airing this week on Dave. The show is a stand up routine with a twist, in which Gorman pulls apart elements of everyday life and runs real-life experiments to prove his points. His ever-intrigued, whimsical take on life might just be something we need on Television more than ever.
Modern Life
2016 has been a difficult year, full of political turmoil and depressing news stories. Brexit has cast a shadow over the year meaning that now, over four months after the referendum, there are constant questions of 'are we fed up with it yet?'.
The US election currently holds the world on tenterhooks. The refugee crisis continues to be critical. The news can be a bleak place and Comedy often has to keep up with this. Though new series of comedies poking fun at the news are exciting, sometimes Have I Got News For You et al are just reminders that the world can be horrible, even when it can be laughed at.
Modern Life Is Goodish is a more optimistic kind of comedy, but one for the internet age. On his website, Gorman describes the first series as "broadly about the misinformation and nonsense we have to wade through daily in this technologically advanced, wonderful - yet flawed - world of ours". The concept perhaps does not sound very comedic, but the show uses powerpoint presentations and amusing anecdotes to make the point that life may be flawed, but it is also pretty alright.
Is it still relevant?
Though focused on technology usage for the most part, Black Mirror this is not. Anyone looking for a show exposing technology habits and taking a hard look at the future may be disappointed. Those willing to see how the comments from internet articles on a controversial topic can be turned into a 'found poem' (as Gorman calls them) set to a string quartet are more in luck.
It is Gorman's focus on that which is relatable - such as questioning the stupidity of small print or fixating on celebrities' internet presences - that makes Modern Life Is Goodish particularly, well, good. His rants are similar to one's friends might have down the pub, but if those friends had the budget of a TV show to prove their points.
At an hour long, episodes run a little longer than most TV comedy. However, previous series suggest that having new episodes of Modern Life Is Goodish may provide the perfect antidote to all the bad news and uncertainty of today.
