This take always seems to be controversial among my friends, but I shall seriously die on this hill.
The obsession with Carly, the embarrassing boat trip, the ball sack cat walk, the throwing up over Carly's brother, the graffiti, the hair, the fashion sense, exposing himself to an underage girl.
Don't get me started on the cringe. His constant cringey meltdowns (eg when he tries to lose his virginity), his cringey interactions with girls when sober, his cringey interactions with girls when drunk (eg telling Carly to finger herself infront of him), his family constantly bullying him (deservedly) for his cringey moments.
This idea that he is the most 'normal' one of the four baffles me. The guy is far more of a freak than Jay, Neil and Will combined. You cannot change my mind.
No hate on Simon or the show. He's just the biggest freak.
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I’d say Neil is the most “normal”.
Simon clearly has his own issues as you say but Jay’s issues would likely see him on a register at some point so still think he is the worst.
Neil was your average lad. They definitely continue to dumb him down further as the show went on, but early on, he was just a basic dim lad. Happy in his own world clueless to what's going on around him. He definitely struggles the least to pull because he's the one who tries the least.
What others have pointed out is right. Jay is by far the worst and needs professional help.
Simon is a bit of a dick. He is hopeless, dumb and pathetic. But I think he's written well as a character as we've all known a Simon or at some point been like him. Hopelessly in love with a girl who although is nice and friendly, isn't meant to be with them. Most of the things he's done wrong as listed were encouraged by Jay and the others. The exposure thing was bad but Jay basically gaslit him into believing she was a sex'd up caravan clubber. I hated him the most when he got with Tara and started getting high and mighty over Will and the others because of it.
Beepity beep beep.
Meanwhile will is just an annoying posho
Wannabe posho
Briefcase wanker!
You've just got an accent that makes us think you're clever, but you're not!
With a funny walk.
Do people still laugh at his funny walk?
Nah, I think we see parts of the real Jay when he's with his girlfriend. He's being a typical teenage lad obsessed with sex when he's with his mates. He'd be the type to grow up, marry and have a normal life. Simon on the other hand, he'd be on his bike outside a high school when he's left.
The thing with Neil is that if you rewatch the show / clips and focus on him when compared to the others, he is actually a relatively normal guy, he’s just very simple.
Like a good amount of his jokes come from his simpleness, he doesn’t do anything over the top to make the punchline; that’s just how he is and acts.
In the US version Jay is definitely on a register
Oh god I forgot that was a thing 😭
OoOOooOooOO, girlllFRIENDDDD!
What happened to the girl that Neil got pregnant?
Fully agree 😂 ‘the dead hand gang’ ‘and that game he used to play with his neighbour in the shed…he’s high key a pyscho
Jay for the most part is all talk but yeah he’s got issues. Neil is the most average
Simon literally exposed himself to an underage girl at caravan club though
I mean it weren’t his fault it was jays tbh
But.. Jay said!
Jay said what!?
Also got wanked off by a minor
And kicked in the cock by a minor. So, can't enjoy pleasure without some pain.
ok
I hate that these are still images yet I can almost recall the scenes exactly and how Jay says his lines
he’s just looking at holidays
Jay come downstairs your grandfathers died
As if we haven't all been there 👀
The problem is that if Simon wasn't so good at fucking things up for himself he'd be hanging out with cooler people and he'd actually have had a girlfriend ages before. But he's incredible at fucking things up and saying the wrong things. He was probably doing it since junior school so he was always kind of pushed out of the "cool" group since he was a little kid. I mean, just look at the whole thing with tara. Every week? Not every week....that was just weird. When she talked about gigs it was obvious it wasn't a Take That kind of thing. He could have just said "Oh, cool, I've never been to one but I'd love to go." and NOT said he'd bring the drugs and NOT worn a Pete Doherty hat. Somehow he managed to make a mess of things at every stage.
Lying to impress a girl is one of the more tamer mistakes he’s made lol. He’s done far worse.
I don't know how Tara dated him after the take that line
If he hadn't fucked everything up with her so massively and they'd carried on going out she absolutely would have dumped him for another guy who she had more in common with. Probably slightly older, more into her kind of music, maybe even plays in a band. Someone who actually wears band t shirts rather than a Pete Doherty hat.
I think she was lower sixth? So a year younger than him? And she'd obviously changed a bit in the last year or so from what she's said, so she probably used to fancy him from afar without having any contact with him and realising what he's really like and even then with the Take That line she was thinking "But...it's Simon. I've fancied him for ages. Just go with it. He always seems so cool." the shine would absolutely have worn off. Hell, it was wearing off when he brought his mates to Warwick with him. Probably wearing off when Will made Big Kerry cry (even though it 100% wasn't his fault). She'd put him up on a pedestal and he really did not deserve to be there - and she would have sussed it out pretty quickly.
She also started to see him as a 'project' I think. Getting him to change his already dodgy fashion into albeit something even worse, to try and make him someone else.
The weird thing there was that she was trying to come across quite "rock" but she wasn't trying to dress him in the least bit rock. But then, I think the most rock look she went for was maybe an iron maiden Tshirt so she wasn't really committing to it that much either
Too jazzy?
I knew you were bent for him.
Solid take. Agree completely. Neil for all his faults is probably the most normal of the bunch.
The guy punched a fish to death and fucked Saucy Asda Karen. Neil is a legend in my eyes.
“My cock’s cut”
Simon also smacks his dick because it doesn’t work
I always found that so stupid. Series 3 was a bit rocky for me. The lad clearly wanks often. He'd be well aware of his recharge time.
It's likely nothing to do with recharging at that age, I think the implication is nerves got the better of him
In fairness, it felt like all teenage boys in the late 90s - early 2000s had hair like Simon's
Neil is an idiot but he means well I guess, out of the four he’s the most likeable for me
Hes arguably the only semi decent and normal one. He doesn't want to hurt anyone hes just here for a good time.
Jay is Jay
Simon as discussed on this thread
Will, is actually the next most normal in a strange way but is a bit of a dick as well.
I'd be mates with Neil. Yeah hes a mong and I'd laugh at him but hes not a liar, creep or stuck up. No one else in the group comes close.
The problem with Simon is that he's not necessarily the weirdest, but I'd say of the four he's the least comfortable with who he is.
It's pretty well accepted on this sub that Neil is the most comfortable in his own skin. Will might be an arrogant prick, but he doesn't try to hide what he thinks even when it gets him stripped to his underpants and thrown in a river. Charlotte's initial interest in him came from his own quirky humour. Jay is Jay, and no matter how repulsive he might be, he doesn't shy away from it.
Whereas Simon is just blank. He tries to mould his personality into whatever he thinks will impress the person (usually a girl) he's currently talking to. Aside from some graffiti on her drive, he just follows Carli around like a puppy while doing nothing to actually take the initiative and pursue her. People see him as the most normal and likeable because, more than the other three, he places more importance on being liked full stop than he does on being liked for who he is. In fact, he probably doesn't even know who he is.
I think most of us can look back at our teenage selves and identify with some part of that lack of self-assuredness, and I think Simon is a much better portrayal of the 'straight man' than Will.
Isn't it implied that Jay acts like that mostly to impress his dad? He says when he's talking to Big John he acts out to get attention because otherwise people don't notice him.
Oh fuck off lard arse.
In all seriousness, he clearly does have issues with his dad, which explains a lot of his behaviour, but that's something that almost makes you pity him. Simon interacts with perfectly pleasant people and completely blows it because he just seems so fake (obviously Jay's stories are all fake but I don't think that's the same as Simon being a fake person).
LMAO I saw the first sentence of your notification and I was like, "WHOA- oh."
Yeah, I do see what you mean. I think Simon worries so much about seeming cool because Will, Jay and Neil are always showing him up and his family are always making fun of him, but then he fails to see he's doing it to himself by saying whatever he thinks people want to hear. It's like the harder he tries not to seem like an idiot, the more of an idiot he looks.
Simon’s the most realistic and ‘normal’ for the 00s typical schoolboy in that era that wasn’t too cool or privileged.. trust me as I was one and looking back was way too much like Simon for my liking!
just finger yourself infront of me
All of them are realistic but exaggerated for comedic effect
in Simon's case, he's the really socially awkward one, and I'd say his weirdest and cringiest moments are most teenage boys' worries and fears amped up to 10.
A lot of teenage boys often worry about looking like a twat in front of a girl they're trying to impress, and Simon's weird moments around that are the "worst things that can happen" scenario.
Jay's just obsessed with sex, Neil is missing a few braincells and Will is just a tory. Simon on the other hand...
I'm with you.
Jay is a bit past obsessed, hes an actual sex pest
Will is a Blair era Labour voter through and through
I never understood the argument that Simon was the most normal one out of the 4 either. He was a likeable character but also kinda creepy at the same time.
Its Neil and not even close. He is a moron dont get me wrong but that doesnt make someone not normal. Neil wouldnt be caught dead slapping his cock, or bullshitting the way Jay does, or flopping on top of Charlotte like a fish.
I agree, i really think Neil is the purest at heart he just takes life as it comes and does not have any bad hidden intentions for anyone, jay is funny but is a compulsive liar and pervert
Will clearly is just a narcassist
And simon just gives me the creeps
I would agree, he just seems more normal because he’s the ‘best looking’ whereas will and his beaky nose and accent that just makes him sound clever is more unusual.
Neil is the most normal. Second is Simon but as you said above, he has really odd moments and is neurotic. Will is also very weird (clearly has Asperger’s like me) but hilarious, I would pick him above Simon personality wise, despite him being an annoying know it all at points.
Jay probs is the strangest personality wise, but to be fair his personality traits are probs down to how he’s been sexually abused and his dads mental abuse. I think he just wants people to like him because his dad bullies him and his mum (as we seem to see) doesn’t really stick up for him. I do feel very sorry for Jay, but he def needs counselling as his sexual behaviour isn’t normal.
I agree. He’s definitely the one I would say most likely has something very wrong with him. Yes, Jay has a bit of darkness in his backstory, but it all sort of ties together to show why he’s the way he is. Simon actually seems to have the most stable home life, but despite this seems the most highly strung and unable to process things well. I’d say he can also be the most unpleasant of the lads. Still love him though.
I think will is the most normal, but maybe cos he’s the narrator so we get more of an insight into his head than the others
Haha I've said that since the show aired
Simon really really annoyed me in the first film I'll give you that
I kind of felt like that woman he eventually got with in the first film turning out to be a total psycho by the time of the second film, was the makers' way of giving him a bit of karma for all the times he'd behaved like a dickhead in the series and first film
1 - I’d argue Will is actually the most normal, but everyone misses that because he’s posh and fancies himself as an intellectual, and stupidly wears the school blazer instead of the blue jumper so stands out. Besides the cock wig incident (which can be attributed to him simply being nervous) I can’t think of much he does that is genuinely weird. He can be very needy with girls, but is never obsessive like Simon or Jay.
2 - Neil would be the most normal had they not fully lobotomised his character by the second movie.
3- Simon is pretty damn weird. I swear in the first movie they even had some scenes where he had some schizophrenic style visions of Carli in Malia, but is just some random blonde girls. Even little things like shouting and waving with his dick in a sock, or him asking Carli if she still wanted that lift whilst his car was clamped and being attacked by an angry Chinese dude (there wouldn’t have been enough room for her anyway); the logic of such actions is something that you’d expect from Neil. He spent more time revising for Carli’s subjects that he didn’t even take than his actual A-levels. Getting drunk on his own and breaking into Carli’s house and nearly noncing her brother. He’s fully obsessed.
4 - Jay’s parents never should have stopped sending him to that shrink.
Simon absolutely bombed Carli’s brother, dude grabbed a fistful before realising who it was
Hmmm
My order of least to most weird probably goes:
Will Neil Jay Simon
Agreed
I mean to be fair half of that stuff happened when he was flat out pissed and the fashion thing was a complete accident
I know a sewedish guy simin i know him
Yeah Simon is so turn the other way while watching a train wreck lol