Photograph: BBC/Open Mike Productions Oh God, it's such an extraordinary relief to watch a new British sitcom without having to stick your feet between your teeth in agony. Having taken quite a lot of time to expunge the trauma of Blessed, Wild West - or any of the random seconds of Two Pints of Lager I may inadvertently have stumbled over when scrolling up the channels before screaming in agony and stabbing out my eyes - I've stopped watching them except from behind a book.
So thank God for Jack Dee. The book descended over the course of last week's episode (the press going through his bins) and wasn't even required for the latest one (losing all the teaspoons in the house).
Thank goodness. I've hated Jack Dee for a long time. It's not his fault, he's a perfectly good comic, but 14 years ago I accidentally bought time-clashing tickets at the Edinburgh festival and had to decide which to pass on to my parents and which to take. Given my usual perspicacity, it was my parents who saw Bill Hicks' last ever Edinburgh show, while I sat through an hour of Dee imitating grumpy dogs who watch you paint.
I originally assumed Lead Balloon was a remake of Curb Your Enthusiasm (and you hope that if they're not paying royalties they do at least send Larry David a particularly nice muffin basket for Hanukah). Alternatively it could have been like one of those moany Grumpy Old Men things they trot out at Christmas so Rory McGrath can tell you about his arse disease.
But it's simply funny and, more important, it is confident that it's funny. The plotting is smart, and they have really worked to avoid any lazy gags.
This is like watching the beginning of My Name is Earl or Scrubs; comedy shouldn't feel safe, but you should feel you are in the hands of someone who knows what they're doing. Even the wackily foreign au pair, a horrible stalwart of crap BBC sitcoms, is funny. In fact, even the STROPPY TEENAGER, the cliché that shouts "CRAP SITCOM AHOY", is funny.
And that's quite an achievement, don't you agree?
