I am not a huge fan of reality shows attempting comedy by pranks or by stupid, immature challenges of the MTV mindset. Usually this is because I have had the personal experience of dealing with the same types of idiots who star in these shows and who have no respect for private property, business or the personal well-being of others. These kinds of juvenile assholes are rewarded for bad behavior that we wouldn't normally accept and of course influence other wannabe assholes who have no guiding parents to turn off the damn TV and show them that having fun involves more than harrassing golfers or eating a sno-cone of your own piss (yes, I'm referring to the JackAss Movie). Johnny Knoxville is not an actor, he's a spoiled asshole who doesn't do any real work for a living and has got his acting gigs through noteriety and a bad boy image. I'm all for exploiting your own personality or even lack of personality for profit but it would be nice to see some reward given to talent and not the same dick that probably teased me in High School.

With that out of my system, I'm happy to say that Ed vs Spencer is the kind of reality show that is truly funny because of character clashes and not because of random destruction or stupid stunts. Of course as a cartoonist, I completely understand why this show works and why character clashing is essential to any show with humor. These two guys are like a modern day vaudeville act. Yes, there are stupid stunts but they inflict their pain on each other much like a Looney Tunes cartoon or Itchy and Scratchy cartoon (though Itchy always wins, how fair is that?). And if they lose they suffer a humiliation at the hands of the other. For the most part, innocent bystanders are not affected--I said for the most part, Ed is a "professional twat" as he describes himself and can be embarrassing and annoyoing in public.

In the first episode, the boys challenge each other to see who is more attractive to women. In America they would have probably gone for the date-a-sexy-model angle, but since this is a BBC import they were smart. The challenge involves dating 3 "real" women of different ages. One young, one middle-aged, and one who is elderly. Spencer begins by taking the elderly woman out and right-off-the-bat we can see how responsible this man is. He treats her with respect, takes her to places you might expect seniors to hang out at and treats her like a gentleman.

Ed on the other hand takes out his first date, the youngest woman--and blows it. I'm not sure if he was doing it on purpose or trying to be cute or thinking that young girls like adolescent hijinks, but going to a pub, downing a beer and farting aren't that impressive to a date no matter what their age. After Ed thoroughly disappoints his first date and the challenge continues you are able to witness the nature of this devious man and what makes this show so enjoyable to watch. Ed cheats while Spencer always plays it straight. I won't reveal how as I don't want to ruin the rest of the show for first time viewers.

And that's why this show works, because it's more of a character show than a reality show. Spencer is the responsible, upstanding, play-it-by-the-rules gentleman and Ed is the slobbish, cheating, slacker who reminds you of the irresponsible pothead you roomed up with in college. You would think that Spencer wouldn't stand a chance against a cheater--but he most certainly does. In many of the episodes he wins and never lowers himself to Ed's standards of "fairplay." Other episodes include: Who can survive longest in the woods; Who can gain the most weight; Who can stay handcuffed to each other for the longest amount of time (brutal show) and other pointless challenges. And for each challenge there is a humiliation. I don't want to give any of them away but some of them are pretty horrid with a touch of torture.

The results of this concept are hilarious. It has the feel of a reality show but with characterization and that's what makes this series a winner. Most likely it will go overboard as Ed and Spencer try to outdo each other and the challenges become more intense, but I'll keep watching until they finally screw the formula up.