Goodness Gracious Me

1998-2001 Sketch Comedy show performed by British Indians Meera Syal, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir and Nina Wadia. Most sketches were self-parody of British Asians and Asian culture, the reaction of white British people to Asians, or Indian-styled spoofs of western TV shows. Began as a radio series, then became a TV adaption on BBC 1.

Regular characters included:


 * Cheque Please - A tactless playboy who drives his dates away with insensitive behaviour or comments.
 * Bhangra Muffins - Two "street" teenage boys with attitude.
 * Everything Comes From India - A man who believes that everything from shampoo to Superman is Indian or was invented by Indians.
 * Minx Twins - Gossipy teenage girls.
 * Chunky Lafanga - Bollywood superstar.
 * Smeeta Smitten Showbiz Kitten - A Bollywood reporter whose presenting style leaves a lot to be desired.
 * The Coopers - Snobbish nouveau riche couple in denial that they are Indian.
 * Bhangra Man - A superhero who saves people through the power of bhangra dance.
 * Guru Maharishi Yogi - A spiritual "guru" who likes to con money out of his followers.
 * The Competitive Mothers: Exactly What It Says On the Tin

The best remembered sketch from the show, which has won several awards, was "Going for an English" - a parody of the behaviour of drunken Brits in Indian restaurants.

Tropes used in the show include:

 * Berserk Button - Try suggesting that the Kapoors and Rabindranaths - er, Coopers and Robinsons - are anything but 100% English ...
 * The B Grade - "My son got a B!"
 * Catch Phrase - "Kiss my chuddies!", "Cheque please!", "In your dreams, buddy!", "I can make it at home for nothing!", "Chaakde phaate!", "Yes, but how big is his danda?", etc.
 * Catchphrase Interruptus
 * Cloudcuckoolander - The Bhangra Muffins
 * Gag Dub - The "Skipinder the Punjabi Kangaroo" sketch.
 * Gay Bar
 * Large Ham - Chunky Lafanga
 * My Beloved Smother
 * Running Gag
 * Sound to Screen Adaptation
 * The Jimmy Hart Version - All the song parodies on the show.
 * The Unintelligible - Bhangra Man speaks only in Punjabi but is always perfectly understood by English-speaking characters.
 * Truth in Television - The cast based some the characters on the show on people they knew and didn't exaggerate when portraying them, offending those people greatly while doing it.