Funboys season two

Co-creators and writers Rian Lennon and Ryan Dylan return alongside co-stars Lee R James and Ele McKenzie for the second season of Funboys. Although a year has passed since the gang last appeared on our screens, they’re still the same group of oddball 20-somethings living their wonderfully bland lives in the fictional Northern Irish town of Ballymacnoose. Lennon and Dylan tap into the same deadpan humour and silliness throughout the four-part series as the gang get involved in all manner of bizarre hijinks. Those who fell in love with the whimsical absurdity of the previous season will have a blast with their highly bingeable second outing.

Funboys taps into a specific vein of comedy where everything is purposefully a little shoddy and delivered with a knowing wink. It’s a style that Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace excelled at in the 2000s, and, more recently, Sam Campbell did it brilliantly with Make That Movie. The first episode of Funboys‘ latest season, for example, sees Callum (Dylan) work as a historical re-enactor, where he becomes attached to the most obviously fake son put to screen. In a later episode, Jordan (Lennon) painfully impersonates a video game character, feebly vaulting over fences and stashing a butter knife up his sleeve. Fans of that game will even get a kick out of the show’s knock-off version of it.

The main laughs, though, come from the script’s overly sentimental approach to each episode’s off-the-wall premise. While every cast member brings an earnest sincerity to their roles, none do this better than James, who plays the trio’s more sensible friend, Lorcan. His encouraging speeches and heartfelt one-liners are as wholesome as they are ludicrous, with these faux-feel-good moments being another of the comedic layers at play. McKenzie is likewise very funny throughout as Lorcan’s English girlfriend Gemma and gets plenty of moments to shine. Steve Coogan also makes a scene-stealing cameo as Philip, Callum’s boss, who takes his role-playing a 19^th-century landlord incredibly seriously.

Funboys is utterly stupid in the best way possible. It’s a parody of cheesy sitcoms where nothing of note ever happens, and everyone is an idiot. The second series continues the show’s trend of offbeat humour to delightfully silly effect, carried by an exceptionally talented cast. The only real shame is that four episodes is too short a time to spend in Ballymacnoose.