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The show lasted six seasons, with a follow-up trilogy of three extra-long episodes.
Came sixteenth in ''[[Britain's Best Sitcom (TV)|Britains Best Sitcom]]''.
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{{tropelist}}
=== Contains examples of: ===
* [[Adaptation Distillation]] -: The US version lasted roughly thirty seconds. ▼
* [[All Men Are Perverts]] -: Well, Gary and Tony without question but there are so many variations that they're worth mentioning too. Averted with minor characters like Ken and Les, inverted every so often with Deborah and Dorothy but the big inversion is with George; he and his wife, [[She Who Must Not Be Seen|Marjorie]], have a jar in which they must put 10p every time one of them has an unfaithful thought. In his several decades of marriage, George has only blown 50p while Marjorie has spent £2386. ▼▲* [[Adaptation Distillation]] - The US version lasted roughly thirty seconds.
{{quote| '''George''': ...Sometimes I feel I should say something, but it ''has'' paid for three caravanning holidays.}} ▼▲* [[All Men Are Perverts]] - Well, Gary and Tony without question but there are so many variations that they're worth mentioning too. Averted with minor characters like Ken and Les, inverted every so often with Deborah and Dorothy but the big inversion is with George; he and his wife, [[She Who Must Not Be Seen|Marjorie]], have a jar in which they must put 10p every time one of them has an unfaithful thought. In his several decades of marriage, George has only blown 50p while Marjorie has spent £2386.
* [[Beard of Evil]] -: A variation, Tony grows a moustache as part of his transformation into a boring postman in the last episode, and shaves it off again at the end when he returns to normal. ▼▲{{quote| '''George''': ...Sometimes I feel I should say something, but it ''has'' paid for three caravanning holidays.}}
* [[Cardboard Pal]] -: When Tony and Gary have fallen out, Gary makes a fake Tony out of a sex doll and Tony's clothes so they can continue having their lager-fuelled conversations on the sofa. ▼▲* [[Beard of Evil]] - A variation, Tony grows a moustache as part of his transformation into a boring postman in the last episode, and shaves it off again at the end when he returns to normal.
* [[Casanova]] -: Tony, until he falls for Deborah, having slept with fifty women and at one point having three girlfriends at once. Gary wants to be one, but is more of a [[Casanova Wannabe]]. ▼▲* [[Cardboard Pal]] - When Tony and Gary have fallen out, Gary makes a fake Tony out of a sex doll and Tony's clothes so they can continue having their lager-fuelled conversations on the sofa.
▲* [[Casanova]] - Tony, until he falls for Deborah, having slept with fifty women and at one point having three girlfriends at once. Gary wants to be one, but is more of a [[Casanova Wannabe]].
* [[Catch Phrase]]: In the script book, Simon Nye grumbles that he was never able to come up with a good one, his attempts including Tony's "Sod you, then" and "I feel like a king".
* [[Christmas Special]] -: Interpolated Dorothy's idyllic-perfect-Christmas fantasy [[Imagine Spot]] with the grittier reality.
* [[Cloudcuckoolander]] -: Ken. Simon Nye notes he was written as an over-promoted, incompetent [[Pointy-Haired Boss]], but John Thompson played him as being borderline mentally ill.
* [[Continuity Nod]] -: Quite a few in the ''episode "Sofa'' episode", all of them in flashbacks. Gary having shorter hair, teenage Tony having longer hair, Gary wearing "the suit" on one of his three unsuccessful dates and Gary wearing his trousers on his head when meeting Dorothy for the first time.
* [[The Couch]]: - orOr rather sofa.
* [[Crazy Jealous Guy]]: Played for laughs with Tony over Debra
* [[Directionless Driver]] -: Gary navigating in "Cardigan".
{{quote| '''Gary''': Hold on, this is a map of ''Dieppe!''}}
* [[Dirty Coward]] -: Gary in the thematically titled episode "Cowardice". After failing to stand up for Dorothy to a road-rager, he hires a company to send an actor to insult her in the bar and he can then pretend to beat up to regain his image. However, [[Hilarity Ensues]] when an ''actual'' thug corresponding to the description insults, Dorothy and Gary manages to beat him up without realisingrealizing he's not the actor.
* [[Embarrassing Nickname]]: In the last episode, all the postmen have nicknames - Tony's is "Nobby No-Mates". Another has one produced by a chain of logical connections:
{{quote| '''Tony:''' He's been bitten by so many dogs, they call him Costello.<br />
'''Gary:''' Er... why?<br />
'''Tony:''' Abbott and Costello. Russ Abbott. Russ. Jack Russell, little dog. }}
* [[Friend Vs Lover]] -: The central focus of the show. One episode uses it as the title - "Your Mate Vy Your Bird".
* [[GilliganThe CutGhost]]: -Clive, Averted"Gary's dueOnly toOther SimonFriend". NyeOften dislikingreferred themto, but never seen save for a singlebrief exampleglimpse in the"Wedding" episode(where he''Thes Goodplayed Pubby Guide''the writer Simon Nye in a cameo).
* [[The Ghost]] - Clive, "Gary's Only Other Friend". Often referred to, but never seen save for a brief glimpse in "Wedding" (where he's played by the writer Simon Nye in a cameo).
** Also, George's wife Marjorie.
* [[Gilligan Cut]]: Averted due to Simon Nye disliking them, save for a single example in the episode "The Good Pub Guide".
* [[Hey It's That Guy]] - Debra's friend Stewart in the season 2 episode ''How to dump your girlfriend'' is Robin Hood from ''[[Maid Marian and Her Merry Men (TV)|Maid Marian and Her Merry Men]]''.
* [[Ho Yay]] -: There always seemed to be ''something'' between Tony and Gary, for all they talked about girls. [[Word of God]] [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2002/oct/21/broadcasting.tvandradio confirms it] saying "''Men Behaving Badly'' was about a same-sex relationship. Everyone latched on to the lad thing, but to me there was always a significant homoerotic content in the relationship between Gary and Tony. You always got the impression that they'd rather be left alone together, but that was something that they could never admit to themselves."
** When Gary is soon to be married (later called off):
{{quote| '''Tony''': Gary...if ''I'' was a girl...with a girl's bottom and everything... would you marry me?<br />
'''Gary''': ''(stares at him for a moment in an awkward silence, then answers instantly)'': Course mate!<br />
'''Tony''': Cheers mate! }}
* [[I Coulda Been a Contender]] -: Meta version: writer Simon Nye grumbled in the published script book that he inadvertently invented ''[[The Royle Family]]'' ahead of its time with the episode ''"Watching TV''".
* [[Inherently Funny Words]]: Simon Nye thought this about words such as "shed" and "cheese", inserting them wherever he could. Also, the names of the foreign beers in "The Good Pub Guide":
{{quote| '''Gary''': What's this Indonesian one called?<br />
'''Tony''': Er..."Binky".<br />
'''Gary''': It's not as good as Sod, but it's better than that Russian one, what was it?<br />
'''Tony''': Er..."Plop". }}
* [[Jerkass]] -: All of the main characters have their moments. Dorothy being the most prolific.
* [[Medium Awareness]]: In ''"Sofa''", Gary and Tony seem to be very aware of the flashbacks and knowingly trigger them by looking upwards towards the ceiling.
* [[My Local]] -: The Crown.
* [[Non Sequitur]] -: One of the main sources of humourhumor.
{{quote| (Gary and Tony have been discussing Dorothy's new boyfriend Jamie<br />
'''Tony:''' What a bastard<br />
'''Gary:''' Who, Jamie? Yeah!<br />
'''Tony:''' No<br />
'''Gary:''' My mate Clive? Yeah!<br />
'''Tony:''' No<br />
'''Gary:''' Les? <br />
'''Tony:''' No - Tony Blackburn! }}
* [[Porn Stash]]: - atAt least three separate episodes (and possibly more) -:
** Once in seasonSeason 4 when Tony's girlfriend dumps him when she finds it. The episode is even ''called'' [[Refuge in Vulgarity|"Pornography"]].
** Once in the "Last Orders" trilogy where Gary and Dorothy are trying for a baby and Gary trying to overcome his impotence when trying to perform on demand is used as an excuse to "get a picture of the whole genre"."
** In the last episode, Dorothy, probably in a [[Shout -Out|throwback]] to the seasonSeason 4 episode, finds Tony's old stash. Then, in the absolutely last scene...
{{quote| '''Dorothy (to her newborn baby)''': This is Tony... you're going to have his old room where he's had lots of adventures... most of them involving ''Razzle'' magazine!}}
* [[Refuge in Vulgarity]]: - inIn the second installment of "Last Orders", the hotel is the... Groyne View.
* [[Seinfeldian Conversation]] -: A lot of the sofa conversations at the end of the episode are like this.
* [[Sexy Whatever Outfit]] -: Gary and Dorothy [[Epic Fail|attempted]] this kind of roleplaying, but...
{{quote| '''Gary:''' I asked Dorothy to dress up as ''(sniggers)'' [[Naughty Nurse Outfit|a nurse]].<br />
'''Tony:''' ...[[Shaped Like Itself|She]] ''[[Shaped Like Itself|is]]'' [[Shaped Like Itself|a nurse]].<br />
'''Gary:''' ...Yeah, it didn't work really. And she asked me to dress up as a farmer and come and rescue her.<br />
'''Tony:''' ...Are you sure she didn't say "fireman"?<br />
'''Gary:''' ...Yes, she did actually. Quite embarrassing really. [[Noodle Incident|I've still got the smock]]... }}
* [[Stalker Withwith a Crush]] -: Tony towards Deborah.
* [[Surrounded Byby Idiots]] -: Gary towards George and Anthea.
** Dorothy towards Gary and Tony.
*** Deborah towards Gary and Tony.
**** Well, ANYONE towards Gary and Tony.
* [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]] -: Averted when Ken replaced Les as the landlord of the Crown; they devoted an episode to the shift, and Ken was written as a very different character.
* [[Terrible Interviewees Montage]] -: In the first episode of the second series, where Gary's looking for a new flatmate. The interviewees include an incomprehensible Geordie, a catatonic man (played by writer Simon Nye) and a seemingly normal man who turns out to have a disturbing fetish.
* [[The Unfair Sex]] -: Diminished in the later series' but very frequent early on. One particular episode has Tony mending the fence in the back garden three times and Gary fetching something from the chemist to cure Dorothy's indigestion twice -- ''in the middle of the night in their pyjamaspajamas'' -- while the girls ignore their partners' devotion and sit on Deborah's bed to discuss how the prospect of marrying an elderly millionaire is looking more and more attractive.
* [[Unwanted Glasses Plot]] -: Not only does Tony refuse to wear them, due to mockery from everyone else, but he has equally huge problems with contact lenses. In the end , he simply decides to go without. ▼* [[Throw It In]] - Most of the really juvenile parts of the show's humour were ad-libbed by the cast, such as the "Wanker Song", and Gary's line when Tony complains about "why does Debs like (her latest boyfriend) when he's got a face like an arse?" Gary: "Maybe he's got a huge knob?" Also at one point Gary has spent the night watching porn in bed, and Dorothy then comes home, climbs in and settles down, oblivious. The actress decided that she would then raise her head to reveal a tissue stuck to the side of her face.
* [[Waxing Lyrical]] -: When Tony is persuading Gary he should get back together with Dorothy. ▼▲* [[Unwanted Glasses Plot]] - Not only does Tony refuse to wear them, due to mockery from everyone else, but he has equally huge problems with contact lenses. In the end he simply decides to go without.
{{quote| '''Tony''': She loves you, mate. [[The Beatles|And with a love like that, you know you should be glad]].}} ▼▲* [[Waxing Lyrical]] - When Tony is persuading Gary he should get back together with Dorothy.
* [[Weirdness Censor]] -: Gary's office workers George and Anthea in the last episode. "No, I can't see that happening", constantly repeated when he tells them the office is closing down, in a faintly creepy, unthinking way. ▼▲{{quote| '''Tony''': She loves you, mate. [[The Beatles|And with a love like that, you know you should be glad]].}}
▲* [[Weirdness Censor]] - Gary's office workers George and Anthea in the last episode. "No, I can't see that happening", constantly repeated when he tells them the office is closing down, in a faintly creepy, unthinking way.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:British Series]]
[[Category:Britains Best Sitcom (TV)]] ▼[[Category:Britcom]]
[[Category:Dom Com]]
[[Category:Men Behaving Badly]]
[[Category:TV Series]]
▲[[Category: BritainsBritain's Best Sitcom (TV)]]
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