Humour !

Perhaps the funniest ever ?

The Two Ronnies and the irascible storekeeper in the ironmongery shop (translation DIY shop)

I can understand why that has been voted the favourite Two Ronnies sketch. I know what you mean John, it always cracks me up too. I think quite a few of their sketches fall into that category and I imagine they split tjeir sides with laughter as soon as the camera and mic were tunrd off.

Topspeed,

Many thanks for that link. I hadn’t seen that masterpiece for some long time. Perfection. How both Ronnies kept straight faces is utterly beyond me. I howled.

Perhaps the funniest ever ?

The Two Ronnies and the irascible storekeeper in the ironmongery shop (translation DIY shop)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7LKJXvf_do

Pretty darn excellent ! :applause:

I like the Ever Decreasing Circles six inch nail episode. Believe it or not there is still a shop like that in Menai Bridge. Bit of a long way to go though for one nail.

Perhaps the funniest ever ?

The Two Ronnies and the irascible storekeeper in the ironmongery shop (translation DIY shop)

Big celebrations on the 18 June. 200 hundred years since we put one over on the French little corporal.

Yes, exactly, that’s always been my favourite line in the film!

And, as it happens, to understand it, it requires you to know who the other ‘corporal’ was, that he was called ‘the little corporal’ and how he came a ‘cropper’…..and that Hitler was a corporal (in the First World War) too!

I wonder how many people who watch the film don’t know who the Ambassador is talking about?

The other little corporal would have been Napoleon Bonaparte. I imagine the cropper would be a reference to Waterloo.

Happy Easter ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci0pI97PEes

I wonder how many people who watch the film don’t know who the Ambassador is talking about?

I think that will be very age related.

Still I expect there will be a lot on TV in June if only just to annoy the French. 😀

CD Have to say that did go over my head.:sleeping:

That’s sick bro: init.

…something about ‘the last little corporal that tried it came a cropper’.

Yes, exactly, that’s always been my favourite line in the film!

And, as it happens, to understand it, it requires you to know who the other ‘corporal’ was, that he was called ‘the little corporal’ and how he came a ‘cropper’…..and that Hitler was a corporal (in the First World War) too!

I wonder how many people who watch the film don’t know who the Ambassador is talking about?

That was not aimed at you that was reinforcing what you said…

I know, I understood your post, I was attempting (and failing) to make a joke…

…commenting (or attempting to comment) about your earlier comment that I missed in the style of one of the pilots from the series of Armstrong and Miller sketches! 🙂

I have absolutely no problem with Mitchell and Webb mocking the Nazis or the SS; in fact it is a traditional way of us British dealing with our enemies. Of course it is essential that, before we start making comedy out of so serious a period of history, we understand it fully.

The only thing that really occurred to me when I first saw the sketch was that the writers must not be aware of the regimental badge of the (British) 17th/21st Lancers!

I agree with what you said about humour being the British way of dealing with our enemies.
Brings to mind the British ambassador to Switzerland in The Battle Of Britain when talking to t.he German diplomat. Can’t remember the wording exactly but something along the lines of “Don’t you presume to dictate terms to us until your are marching down Whitehall and even then we won’t listen.” and something about the last little corporal that tried it came a cropper.

I think I see it now

If that is not seen then the point has been missed entirely, just like many didn’t get what Alf Garnet was about. Typical “Outraged of Tunbridge Wells”

That was not aimed at you that was reinforcing what you said and referred to people in general who thought it was disrespectful etc. As I said, sorry if it came across wrong it wasn’t intentional.

Not quite sure here, I was just agreeing with you.

Clearly must have come across the wrong way but I am sorry I still don’t see it, however, I apologise, as I said I was agreeing with you and emphasising the point.

That’s exactly my take of it…

Sorry, missed your subtly made point…..you should be, like…..compensated for that!

My tastes in comedy have changed quite a lot over the years.

I used to love Faulty Towers, but often find it embarrassing to watch now.
Blackadder is still a favourite. Although looking at it now, I find that it’s not Rowan Atkinson I find particularly funny,
but the cast around him.
On the few times I watched Allo Allo, I didn’t find it funny at all, more like a kids programme.
Dad’s Army, still a timeless classic.

One of my favourite comedians is Billy Connolly. I just love the way he observes life in general.

…I’ve always taken them as mocking the ‘youth’ of today.

The humour, for me, comes from the contrast between how ‘hard’ the youth of today find their lives and how those of a similar age dealt with the ‘hardship’ that was influencing their lives in 1940!

it isn’t disrespectful but a statement of our times, init.

That’s exactly my take of it CD. If that is not seen then the point has been missed entirely, just like many didn’t get what Alf Garnet was about. Typical “Outraged of Tunbridge Wells”

I would suggest that if you find the Mitchell and Webb sketch offensive then you are weak minded, too readily offended…

I have absolutely no problem with Mitchell and Webb mocking the Nazis or the SS; in fact it is a traditional way of us British dealing with our enemies. Of course it is essential that, before we start making comedy out of so serious a period of history, we understand it fully.

The only thing that really occurred to me when I first saw the sketch was that the writers must not be aware of the regimental badge of the (British) 17th/21st Lancers!

Humour is a very subjective emotion in the sense being discussed here. And what is rib-ticklingly funny to one will leave another unmoved. Finding humour in oppression and misfortune and making fun of minorities goes back to the Greeks and it is guaranteed that someone somewhere will be offended by it sometime. From Aristophanes all the way to Spike Milligan, Benny Hill, Lenny Bruce, Hicks, Monty Python and Russell Brand some people will have been offended but the majority have laughed. That’s all that matters.

I tend to agree. Laughter is a physical response you cannot control, after all. That doesn’t stop people laughing at things because they are ignorant of the subject matter, however. Spike Milligan’s Indian character in Curry and Chips, regarded nowhere as the pinnacle of his career as an entertainer, would not be funny to the majority of people today because we know too much about India and its people. There is no novelty left in that sing-song accent because 1) it doesn’t apply to India as a whole and 2) you can hear Indian people all over the UK who have adopted the local dialect.