Tacey's genius is that SHE knows that WE know, personally, at least one of her characters if not several. I'm still trying to figure out which one I am. American Tourist comes closest. 🤪
When I was in High School I think the Tracey Ullman Show came on and Tracey Takes on later, but it always seemed so funny, like unbelievably. But my parents never encouraged me to watch it. I would say " who's that" and they would say "Tracey Ullman" but I'm not sure if they explained it. I never ended up watching it regularly, but I wish I did.
Mummy was probably faking just to be mean... but Kay has been reinterpreted multiple times in multiple shows. She started off on a British sketch show, “Saturday Live” back in 1985. On the original Fox Show, she worked for a paper products distribution company and spoke to Mummy on the phone. She was bullied by her co-workers and lived in Rhode Island. In “Tracey Takes On” she worked in a bank and lived in Van Nyes. Mummy communicated via a buzzer. In “Tracey Ullman’s Show”, Mother is seen on-screen for the first time and she’s 103. They live in England and Kay is now an 80 year old who’s never worked. Kay was in her early to mid 40s in her earlier incarnations. So the character is always changing to suit the show.
The problem is that she’s a brilliant British comedienne on American television, so by definition everything has to be dumbed down. Even when she tried to do commentary of any kind, it had to be as base level as possible. Even people like Bill Burr have to open their intelligent bits with unnecessary shock value that adds nothing, but it makes Americans feel free.
