Cord Jefferson on ‘Peep Show’: ‘A Hilarious Brutality’

As part of Variety‘s 100 Greatest Television Shows of All Time issue, we asked 12 of our favorite creators of television to discuss the series that inspire and move them. Check out all the essays, and read our full list of the best TV shows ever made.

I have a theory that “Succession” was the first British sitcom to achieve popularity in the U.S., and it did so by convincing people it was a drama. Americans have long had a difficult time accepting just how bleak the English are willing to get for laughs. Consider the way in which David Brent’s hilariously bald cruelty had to be altered to Michael Scott’s hilariously benign cluelessness for “The Office” to work stateside. When it comes to comedy, many Americans are afraid of the dark, and that’s a shame, because it means many of them still haven’t seen “Peep Show.”

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Built on the classic “Odd Couple” premise — fastidious nerd (Mark) and easygoing slacker (Jez) shack up — “Peep Show” is the first TV show co-created by future “Succession” showrunner Jesse Armstrong. Fans of both can surely see signs of similar DNA: fully realized and hyper-specific characters, elaborate jokes, elegant dialogue and brutality — but a hilarious brutality that sprints headfirst into the deepest failings of life and humanity while simultaneously mocking those failings relentlessly.

If “hilarious brutality” sounds oxymoronic, I challenge you to not laugh at Mark griping to himself about having to buy a plumbing appliance: “A new boiler. Surely the least enjoyable way to spend a thousand pounds. At least throwing the money out of the window you’d see the scrabbling mass, the hate-filled faces.” And here’s Jez after he accidentally runs over a potential romantic partner’s pet: “Mark, if I can just get rid of the dog corpse, there’s a chance I still might get laid here.” I shall not spoil how he eventually deals with the corpse.

In a world in which man-made and natural disasters are only multiplying by the day, it’s important to remember that we haven’t lost everything until we’ve lost our ability to laugh. “Peep Show” is a welcome reminder that, even in the worst of times, with friendship, you can always turn to your bestie and ask them to help you burn a dead dog in order to score a date. (And no, that is still not a spoiler as to how he eventually deals with the corpse.)

Cord Jefferson, an Emmy-winning writer for series including “Watchmen,” “Succession” and “The Good Place,” wrote and directed the new film “American Fiction.”

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