| Genre: | Stand-up comedy |
| Director: | Paul Wheeler |
| Presenter: | Dave Gorman |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Num Series: | 5 (+1 highlights series) |
| Num Episodes: | 36 (+3 highlights episodes) |
| Executive Producer: | Jamie Isaacs Iain Coyle (Series 2–3) |
| Producer: | Nick Martin James Fidler |
| Runtime: | 45 minutes |
| Company: | Liberty Bell |
| Network: | Dave |
Dave Gorman: Modern Life Is Goodish is a British comedy television show that ran for five series between 2013 and 2017, with a revival series due on U&Dave in 2024.[1] It was broadcast on Dave and presented by Dave Gorman. The series mainly consisted of Gorman presenting comedic PowerPoint presentations in which he attempts to argue that modern life is neither bad nor good, but "good...ish". The series began on 17 September 2013. A fifth series began airing on 31 October 2017.[2] Gorman announced on 18 December 2017 that the show would conclude after the final episode of series 5 aired the following night.[3] In July 2024, it was announced that four brand-new hour long specials had been ordered by UKTV for their rebranded Dave channel.[4]
Each episode sees Gorman present a stand-up show using PowerPoint, on a particular theme about modern life. Examples include celebrity culture and social media. Each episode features a recurring section called the "Found Poem", in which Gorman reads out a selection of bizarre comments left on news websites, all covering a particular story. Gorman performs the Found Poem with a lone spotlight shining on him, while accompanied by the Billroth String Quartet[5] (Billroth Ensemble from Series 4) playing 'Sarabande' from George Frideric Handel's Keyboard suite in D minor (HWV 437). The title of each episode comes from a line out of the Found Poem.[6]
The programmes were recorded at the Tabernacle, Notting Hill. The episodes were recorded in pairs. Prior to the final recordings, Gorman did "dry run" performances of each episode's content in small theatres. Gorman frequently rewrote portions of the performance after the dry runs.
The show was labour-intensive to create; in the final three weeks before taping a pair of episodes, Gorman would work for over 100 hours a week. The heavy workload was one of the contributing factors to the decision to end the show in 2017. Another factor was Gorman's decision to tour in 2018.
The show's title is similar to that of the 1993 Blur album Modern Life Is Rubbish. When asked if the title was an intentional reference, Gorman said 'I think it's a Blur reference if you want it to be. The "rubbish" version, I think, comes to mind anyway. I just like that'.[7]
| Series | Episodes | Original broadcast | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series premiere | Series finale | |||
| Series 1 | 6 | 17 September 2013 | 22 October 2013 | |
| Series 2 | 8 | 9 September 2014 | 28 October 2014 | |
| Series 3 | 8 | 8 September 2015 | 27 October 2015 | |
| Goodish Hits | 3 | 11 May 2016 | 25 May 2016 | |
| Series 4 | 6 | 8 November 2016 | 13 December 2016 | |
| Series 5 | 8 | 31 October 2017 | 19 December 2017 | |
Series 4 of Modern Life Is Goodish was confirmed on 7 August 2015. The series contained only 6 episodes because Gorman took a break to look after his expected baby. The show began airing on Dave on 8 November 2016.
Series 5 of Modern Life Is Goodish was also confirmed on 7 August 2015; the series contained 8 episodes. It was confirmed on 18 December 2017, by Gorman, that there would be no sixth series.