Damon Beesley understands how men make fools of themselves for the approval of other men. We rate his work with Iain Morris highly, though The Inbetweeners also shows how little attention his comedy can spare for girls.
Fi1m perspective
A boy shows off, his friends encourage him, and an ordinary conversation becomes something he will regret. In The Inbetweeners (2008), Damon Beesley and Iain Morris understand that the audience for adolescent showing off is usually other adolescents. Trying to attract girls gives the boys something to talk about; impressing one another keeps them talking. We recommend the series because its insults are sharply timed and its suburban sixth-form troubles need so little embellishment.
We laughed, then felt uncomfortable at how readily we had joined in, because the boys take such pleasure in one another’s embarrassment. Beesley and Morris make that pleasure recognisable without making their characters admirable. The gross-out jokes are sometimes blunt, but they belong to boys trying to embarrass someone else before their own turn comes. The girls get too little attention, however, and that limits what the series can tell us about the people these boys are so keen to impress.
He also contributed scripts to Flight of the Conchords (2007), where Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement’s deadpan performances become funnier when the songs arrive. The ordinary plots sometimes leave too long between numbers, though we still recommend the series. Beesley’s contribution is part of a shared achievement here; The Inbetweeners gives us a firmer basis for judging his writing.
The Inbetweeners film (2011) took his writing into features, and The Inbetweeners 2 (2014) was his first feature as director. He then wrote and directed his first solo project, White Gold (2017), a comedy-drama about double-glazing salesmen in 1980s Essex. The setting suits his interest in sales patter and competitive men: adult employment offers another place to boast. With fewer jokes per minute, it marks a change of pace from the sitcom.
There is no need for Beesley to abandon these enclosed male worlds. We would like him to give the people outside the boasting circle as much attention as those inside it. Start with The Inbetweeners, provided an evening with boys trying to humiliate one another is what the household has agreed to.
Biography
Damon Beesley (born 28 November 1971) is an English writer, director and television producer. He is best known for co-creating the E4 sitcom The Inbetweeners (2008–2010) with writing partner Iain Morris, on which he also served as writer and director. He wrote episodes of the HBO series Flight of the Conchords (2007–2009).
Beesley and Morris met while working as producers on Channel 4's The 11 O'Clock Show. They later founded Bwark Productions. Beesley directed, wrote and created the BBC Two series White Gold (2017–2019). His other credits include directing and writing The Inbetweeners 2 (2014) and creating The First Team (2020). The Inbetweeners won the British Comedy Award for Best New TV Comedy in 2008, and Beesley received Writers Guild of America Award nominations for his work on Flight of the Conchords.
