ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the manner in which the parody of a variety of popular and/or subcultural music practices and the professional personality and music of veteran English pop performer Cliff Richard, is central to the series and its humour. As R. Coyle and P. Morris have identified, parody, referentialism, and diegetic/non-diegetic ambiguities are key aspects of the comic effects of music in film. These three aspects are also key to The Young Ones' televisual humour. With regard to diegetic performances, humour also derives from an aspect identified by L. Giuffre and M. Evans, whereby "songs performed within the film's diegesis are perceived as comic due to aspects of lyrics, performance, instrumentation, and/or musical style". The Young Ones, a BBC television situation comedy program originally broadcast in two series in 1982–1984, is notable for the variety of ways in which it uses music for comic purposes and for the extension of these into related audio-visual production.
