Smack The Pony

Smack The Pony

Smack The Pony was a show way ahead of its time. While people have only now woken up to the fact that women can do smutty and odd comedy too with the colossal success of Bridesmaids, Smack The Pony was showing that same side off back in 1999.

Another of Channel 4’s award nominated comedies at the turn of the millennium, Smack the Pony was a scatological sketch show created, starring and written by Fiona Allen, Sally Phillips and Doon Mackichan.

Lampooning everything from stereotypical thoughts of women parallel parking, to the difficulties of bra shopping and the mundanity of working in a call centre, the show was consistently brilliant, odd and had a refreshingly female view on adult comedy at a time when the world of ‘blue-comedy’ was still dominated by male voices.

It was this angle that not only set the show apart but also made it such a big hit with all audiences, not just its young female target. It’s key component was that while it loved to show the hypocrisies of modern womanhood, it never dwindled on the topic, Smack The Pony was far more likely to make jokes at the expense of overzealous shelf stacking of Toilet Duck.

The show wasn’t just a massive hit with audience and critics, but was rather successful awards wise with the show was nominated each year it ran at the TV Baftas and scooping the award for ‘Best Popular Arts’ show at the International Emmys two years in a row.

The show ran for three series and a couple of specials before the cast unfortunately decided to call it a day on the show. The biggest shame is that unlike the stars of so many Channel 4 comedies, the three central figures to Smack The Pony never got the massive springboard effect from the success of the show.

It was only the near constant Sarah Alexander who cemented a future in TV comedy from the show, going on to star in Channel 4’s brilliantly inventive and positively bonkers Green Wing and the BBC’s long running sitcom Coupling, as well as a fleet of other TV roles.

The impact of the show may not have been clear at the time, but the show was just so unique at the time and really put female lead comedy on the map. Regardless of that though, Smack The Pony is just too varied, hilarious and fun to ignore.

 

FemaleFirst Cameron Smith

You can buy The Best Of Smack The Pony right here on DVD.

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