Tristram Shapeero understands how much comedy can happen on the face of the person listening. We rate his work on Peep Show highly: the point-of-view framing makes private cowardice painfully visible, though the embarrassment can become tiring.
Fi1m perspective
In Peep Show (2003), a neutral face can look threatening because the voice in our ear is interpreting it for its own convenience. Directors Tristram Shapeero and Jeremy Wooding keep that point-of-view format working throughout a conversation, rather than spending its effect on the first close-up. We laughed, then wanted a little distance, because each ordinary exchange makes us feel so uncomfortably inspected. Shapeero’s work here is sharp, patient comedy direction, attentive to what a face can do while somebody else supplies the excuse.
His British directing work includes the second series of I'm Alan Partridge, as studio director in 2002, followed by Green Wing (2004) and Pulling (2006). On Peep Show, he directed twelve episodes across series two and three. David Mitchell and Robert Webb give the excuses their due, but the direction also keeps us attending to the people receiving them. Our admiration is for how Shapeero uses the programme’s established format; it need not depend on treating him as its inventor.
The move to Los Angeles in 2009 brought a sustained run of American single-camera sitcoms. On Community, he directed 24 episodes between 2010 and 2014 and produced two seasons. He also directed the pilot of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015), a job that meant starting a programme rather than joining one already running. That combination suggests a director trusted both to establish a comic rhythm and to maintain it. It is useful work, even when the programme’s format is more immediately recognisable than the person directing it.
The limitation is there in Peep Show too: relentless embarrassment can make another well-judged exchange feel like more than we need. The performances and writing keep it worth the discomfort, but we would not confuse sustained pressure with an obligation to watch several episodes at once. Shapeero helps make the awkwardness last as long as the joke requires. Start there, and leave a little time afterwards for a conversation without access to anybody’s thoughts.
Biography
Tristram Shapeero is an English television director and producer. He began his career in British television in the late 1980s, working as a runner and assistant director before directing episodes of comedy series including Smack the Pony, Gimme Gimme Gimme, Brass Eye, Absolutely Fabulous and I'm Alan Partridge (2002). He directed series 2 and 3 of Peep Show (2004–2005), all episodes of Pulling, and half the episodes of Green Wing (2004–2007).
Shapeero relocated to Los Angeles in 2009. He has since directed episodes of numerous American comedy series, including Parks and Recreation, Community (where he also served as producer for two seasons), Veep, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, New Girl and Never Have I Ever. He directed the feature film A Merry Friggin' Christmas (2014).
He has received eight BAFTA nominations for his directing work on British series. Shapeero was born in Somerset and grew up in Bath.
