This show has well drawn characters, funny lines and excruciating situations.
Problem is, I watch it despite Simon Amstel, not because.
He doesn't seem to grasp that just saying words while a camera is rolloing is not the same as acting, and that when he comes close to killing scenes because of his lame delivery, he isn't playing himself; he's not actually playing anybody.
If somebody else played Simon (suggestions?) then it would be near perfect.
"Simon is playing his stand up self and his 'family' are like props for his routine. His delivery did get better as the series went on, I thought."
I've not seen the stand-up stuff, just NMTB. Even now you've told me that, his performance still sems to me to be quite limp. It just slightly frustrates me that this could have been a minor classic, and it's just not quite there because of his performance.
Also, the family strike me as more than 'props' (I know you didn't mean it quite like that). They seem as though they would be far funnier without him, than he would without them.
I've seen his standup, he's pretty bad at that. He isn't actually a comedian so much as a bully, if you think about it, the laughs he gained on NMTB and popworld were all him insulting someone or going too far with the audience loving every second of it.
His lack of acting in Grandma's House is pretty bad, but either he gets better or you just get used to it.