We all like to hark back to the 'good old days', but in the case of British comedy it's surely true isn't it?
Try to name the funniest British programme on TV made in the last 10 years - what's the first thing that pops into your head?
It's not that easy, is it? There have been some brilliant comedies - like Gavin and Stacey, Fleabag, Extras and The Thick of It. And there's quality from the US too, like Master of None, Veep, Modern Family, Curb your Enthusiasm and Orange is the New Black. But they're not British.
Now do the same thing for the 1990s - bet you can bang out classic after classic. It was a decade of comedy greatness.
1. Father Ted
How can a plot which features a Catholic priest trying to expose match-fixing at a King of the Sheep festival be anything less than magnificent?
So good, loads of people still use "feck" to swear. You'll also still hear "Drink!" and "Ah, go on" knocking about today.
It only ran from 1995 until 1998 but Father Ted Crilly, Father Dougal McGuire, Father Jack Hackett and Mrs Doyle are still regularly on TV today on Dave and More 4. Because it's amazing. One of the best TV programmes ever.
2. Shooting Stars
The ultimate in surreal comedy, Shooting Stars featured the Dove from Above (as well as occasional substitutes The Crow from Below and Donald Cox, the Sweaty Fox).
There were useless prizes, regular score updates from George Dawes and Vic Reeves shouting "UVAVU!".
Now, true or false - cupboard doors open outwards (from the perspective of a trapped cat)?
3. The Royle Family
Every line in The Royle Family was a low-key, but absolutely top class, gem. It was exceptional comedy of the sort no-one had really done before, set entirely inside the family sitting room (with the odd venture to the kitchen).
4. Men Behaving Badly
Two blokes in a flat, drinking too much and unsuccessfully trying to woo the women of their dreams - what was there that could possibly go wrong.
5. Absolutely Fabulous
Heavy-drinking, drug-abusing best friends Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone were the perfect creations for the boozy nineties. Saffron, June Whitfield as Edina's sarcastic and thieving mother, and Edina's brainless personal assistant, Bubble, were all brilliant characters too.
6. Mrs Merton
As well as The Royle Family, Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash wrote Mrs Merton too. After a pilot in 1993, the series ran from 1995 to 1998. She told Match of the Day presenter Des Lynam: "I think you're the Tom Cruise for menopausal women - we're like putty in your hands!"
And her question to Debbie McGee - "So what first attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?" - was once voted the greatest comedy put-down on British TV.
7. Bottom
Anarchic, violent, gratuitous and absolutely hilarious, Bottom ran from 1991 to 1995. Edward Elizabeth Hitler and Richard Richard, two flatmates who live on the dole in Hammersmith, battered and taunted each other - and shared details of their tragic attempts at relationships with the opposite sex.
Here's an exchange that sums it up:
Richie: What on earth are you eating?
Eddie: Lard.
Richie: You are eating... lard.
Eddie: Yeah, well I'm hungry but I'm too drunk to cook.
8. Red Dwarf
Rimmer, Lister, Cat, Kryten and Holly all languishing in space three million years from now. Red Dwarf ran through the decade (with a gap in the middle) and gained a cult following that's still going strong today. With good reason - it's a brilliant programme.
But here's a good fact about one of the show's best ever episodes, Gunmen of the Apocalypse. Janet Street-Porter, then a senior figure at the BBC, tried to kill it, appalled by the ambitious script and cost. She sent a memo to the production team ordering them to cease filming and do an episode that was less "stupidly expensive" instead. Unfortunately for her, the episode had already been completed by the time the memo arrived. It went on to win an Emmy.
9. One Foot in the Grave
Six series and seven Christmas specials of One Foot in the Grave ran over 11 years, from early 1990 to late 2000.
Altogether now: "I don't believe it!"
10. I'm Alan Partridge
If they made Alan Partridge now, it would be the funniest, cleverest thing on TV all over again. While lots of the programmes on this list really do belong firmly in the decade they were made, Partridge would lord it over the best 2017 could offer.
Here are words from the mouth of Partridge that are brilliant in every way.
11. The Day Today
There were only six episodes of The Day Today, which spawned both Brass Eye and Alan Partridge. Every single one of them was immense from start to finish.
Their news stories included Lybia stealing Crete at night and homeless people being clamped.
12. French and Saunders
French and Saunders ran for 20 years between 1987 and 2007, was hugely popular and was reportedly given one of the highest budgets in BBC history.
13. The League of Gentlemen
Surreal black comedy unlike anything we'd ever seen on TV before, the League of Gentlemen debuted in 1999, only just making this list. Characters like Papa Lazarou, Tubbs and Edward, Herr Lipp and Pauline Campbell-Jones made you laugh - but you were also slightly terrified at the same time.
14. Rab C Nesbitt
Featuring a barely comprehensible main character who was both an unashamed alcoholic and a "sensitive big bastard", Rab C Nesbitt ran through the 1990s after the first episode in 1988.
15. The 11 O'Clock Show
When a programme provides the big break for two writers and actors who are still among the biggest names in comedy in the world today, you've got to take it seriously.
Both Ricky Gervais and Sacha Baron Cohen first came to attention on The 11 O'Clock Show. Cohen's Ali G was actually replaced by Gervais' obnoxious character. Both have been enormous successes ever since.
16. Big Train
Big Train was created by the writers of Father Ted, so it was always going to be surreal - and funny. Broadcast in 1998, one of its best-known sketches was The World Stare-out Championship Final.
17. Drop the Dead Donkey
Broadcast between 1990 and 1998. Drop the Dead Donkey was a satire about a TV news company set in the offices of GlobeLink News and revolving largely around the ongoing battle between editor George Dent and chief executive Gus Hedges.
18. Harry Enfield and Chums
Harry Enfield's creations are a roll call in comedy genius. Wayne and Waynetta Slob, the Scousers, Smashie and Nicey, the Old Gits, Tim Nice but Dim, Kevin the Teenager - every single one is outstandingly funny. I wonder where he got his ideas from. Hmmm...
