Sunshine on Putty: The Golden Age of British Comedy, from "The Big Night Out" to "The Office" (Paperback)

Thompson is biased towards TV, seeing it in some ways as the culmination of a successful comedy career, which might upset fans of the live scene who feel this is the proper environment for comedy. But this is not a simplistic work, and there is some attempt made to, as I say, nod toward the importance of the world beyond the screen. On the other hand, the perspective on TV, both comedy and non-comedy, is illuminating; only half-joking, Thompson imagines figures such as Vic Reeves and programmes such as The Day Today as visionaries who pointed the way to the current era of docusoaps, reality TV and "I'm a celebrity get me out of here!".

The book is both informative and enjoyable, and manages to be even handed about a talented yet questionable entertainer such as Frank Skinner, while occasionally putting the boot in when it comes to worthy causes (See chapter on David Baddiel syndrome). Really not sure about the fairly arbitrary contention that the 2003 Office Christmas special marked the end of a era, though (how?).

Furthermore, he is brilliantly adept at describing different types of funny, and why things are funny, and he knows his subject matter inside out. This is the perfect foundation on which to build his thesis.

"Sunshine on Putty" is an extremely surprising and impressive piece of criticism and far, far more than a comedy retrospective, or a 'behind the scenes' look at British comedy, or interviews with comedians, which I'd thought it was going to be. As well as all this, it tells us an awful lot about contemporary UK culture, both pop-culture and high-culture, and Comedy's pivotal role within it over the last couple of decades, providing wonderfully astute insights, and very persuasive arguments. I certainly think about this period of British Comedy differently after reading Thompson's book.

Thompson's style is key - writing critically about Comedy is tricky: too overly-scholarly and academic and all you succeed in doing is removing all the humour from the subject matter: too jokey and imitative and you lose the chance to make any serious points. Though the extensive use of footnoted asides is a little tiresome (if a point isn't important enough to deserve a place in the main body of the text, why bother with it?), Thompson gets the balance just perfect - always readable, wry, occasionally hilarious, but always erudite and fair as a critic.

This book says far more important things than you might reasonably expect it to, being a refreshing break-down and review of our culture, as much as of Comedy.