There was once a burgeoning comedy scene in American cinema, with everything from garish parody films like the ‘Scary Movie’ franchise or the Wayans Brothers filmic career, to more heartfelt comedy from creators like Mike Shur in ‘The Office’ or ‘Parks and Recreation.’ Incredibly enough, while comedy films haven’t disappeared entirely here in the states, you’ll find most of the conversations this year around large-budget studio “comedies” have the word “romantic” in front of it. That male comradery from the days of ‘Old School’ might be dated in practice, but it has left an abyss in its absence.

Luckily, the United States is rapidly becoming one small part of a growing filmic culture, and a long-standing sphere of stage and screen both is in Great Britain, home of the original ‘Office’ show amidst many decades of world-class film and TV (though perhaps this is obvious to some). Surely, some of the greatest satire ever created was from one or more of said British isles. Taking place off of that center isle in Wales are the highjinks of one Brian and his robot Charles, who Brian constructs as one of his many mad inventions.

The comedy duo was formed as an act by Chris Hayward (the puppeteer for Charles) and David Earl (the actor who plays Brian) with a key ingredient added by Rupert Majendie. The characters were discovered by Earl and Majendie one night during an internet radio show, where Rupert called in to the show using only a text-to-speech software to communicate.

The end product has that signature dry wit, but with a dose of a ‘Frankenstein’-inspired plot: one that’s been softened over the years with children’s entertainment like ‘Flubber’ or ‘Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang’ (both seminal to my early childhood development). I therein had a natural inclination to adore this film, and between this setup and the twee-indie execution, it was a great marriage of tastes.

The soft and kind tone feels very natural to its material, but that kindness has been remarkably absent from film culture as of late– sensibly enough, the creators seem to hardly distinguish their stage performance to the film ‘Brian and Charles’ that resulted. In fact, I haven’t seen this feeling executed since Richard Ayoade directed ‘Submarine’ in 2010, a wonderful teen comedy that feels equally timeless and effervescent as this.

It’s, then, maybe needless to conclude that this is the greatest comedy film I’ve seen this year. It sits next to Adamma Ebo’s ‘Honk for Jesus: Save Your Soul’ today on Peacock, which couldn’t be a better test for how different these styles of comedy are. While ‘Honk for Jesus’ attempts biting satire and leans heavily on themes of cancel culture and homosexuality, Brian’s “Monster”, Charles, certainly couldn’t care less about either one of those topics. For starters, he’s far too taken with cabbages.

‘Brian and Charles’ is an awkward fit on a sci-fi blog, but its not a terribly great time for comedies of its ilk at all. It’s reverent, and sweet without repentance while depicting a small town with a similar homeliness to ‘Schitt’s Creek’ or Inisherin, from McDonagh’s ‘Banshees of Inisherin,’ but with none of the ironic tilt that comes with it. It could also be argued to be the most true, having far more in common to Mary Shelley’s version of science fiction than it has to much else in our modern vernacular. Maybe if Shelly had been reared on Pee Wee Herman, she too would have created ‘Brian and Charles.’