The funniest show on TV is finally back this week

BE PREPARED to laugh. Not just the occasional giggle, we’re talking about full-throated guffaws that leave you heaving for breath.

REMEMBER comedies? The ones that made you clutch at your side, fighting that stitch and heaving for breath?

While one of the great trends of this era of brilliant TV is that comedies don’t have to be straight-up guffaw-fests anymore, it’s also the case that TV shows that aim for a high laughs-per-minute ratio tend to be those sticking to a tired sitcom formula.

Not Catastrophe.

The UK comedy is so clever, so brilliantly written, and so, well, funny. It’s also back on TV this week after a prolonged break.

As part of the revamp of ABC2 into ABC Comedy, the third season of Catastrophe is part of the network’s Wednesday night line-up.

Created, written and starring Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney, Catastrophe was a confident barnstormer from the first moment, the story of two mismatched people thrown together after a one-night stand pregnancy.

The characters, also named Sharon and Rob, are an incredibly honest and witty pair with the stingiest of barbs, often reserved for each other. That’s what happens when you have two abrasively loveable people with no filter, it’s almost like they’re pure ids.

Building a family and a romance together under those circumstances is a challenge for anyone, and when you add kids’ poop, odd mates and bonkers in-laws into it, it’s a recipe for … um … catastrophe.

One of Carrie Fisher’s final performances.

The late Carrie Fisher has been a recurring guest star as Rob’s mother and her appearances in Catastrophe season three are among the legend’s final screen moments. The addition of fellow Star Wars actor Domhnall Gleeson as a well-meaning recruiter is a particularly deft touch.

The third season picks up after Rob and Sharon almost call it quits and she spends a night on the town with a young man — she can’t remember whether she shags him or not. Reconciliation is afoot but there’s that tricky morning after pill receipt to explain.

Meanwhile, Rob, now jobless and with a sexual harassment accusation hanging over him, relapses and has his own demons nipping at his heel.

The humour is at its finest and jokes range from Brexit to boat turds to Alan Turing. Never has a proclamation that one is going to Burger King produced so much full-throated howls of laughter — it’s all in the delivery.

It’s not until a couple of episodes in when you realise the show has lulled you into a very dark place, inspired by a particularly troublesome time in Delaney’s own life. The twistiness of lies, damn lies, is what propels this season.

While Catastrophe has never been a sunshine-and-rainbows affair — you are dealing with deeply, deeply flawed people — this seamless shift reinforces why it really is one of the best shows on air. That you get to cackle all the way through is a bonus.

Catastrophe season three will air on ABC Comedy on Wednesday nights at 9.30pm from December 6. It will also be available on ABC iView thereafter.

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