pull down to refresh
354 sats \ 21 replies \ @elvismercury 20 Sep 2023 \ parent \ on: Stacker Saloon
I used to watch Benny Hill when I was a young kid -- it was on public television late at night for some reason, much British stuff was. Last year I re-watched a couple of episodes w/ my wife. I was cackling, she was ... not amused. Doesn't age well I guess.
My father was convinced that Benny Hill was a genius. I never got the humor, but I enjoyed the breasts.
reply
I still dont get it unless it was just titillation. I preferred the Monty Python sketch ‘this man has chosen the manner of his own death’ from Meaning of Life lol
reply
For me, it's the silly stupidity / farcical aspect combined with titillation.
And yeah, that Monty Python skit was a classic. We rented the VHS around that same era. It was in "comedy." My mother was. Well, you can imagine.
reply
I had the same experience of only being able to find British comedy on PBS: Python, Benny Hill, Fawlty Towers. Obviously pre internet.
reply
Fawlty Towers is one of the great little-known (in the US) treasures in all of television history. God that show was genius. THanks for the reminder.
reply
It’s shown in Europe with a trigger warning for those who find it disrespectful to Germans, Spanish waiters etc.
The true genius was in pulling it after 2-seasons. The UK version of The Office did the same thing and is better than The Office US for that reason IMHO. It’s almost a ‘Bitcoin scarcity quality’ vs ‘printing fiat quantity’ argument.
reply
100%. You can get that when the creatives are in charge. Not sure if you can get it otherwise. An interesting contrast w/ the American version of The Office, where money printer went brrrr for many years after the show should have ended.
Is there some special British sensibility involved in this, too? Hmm.
reply
I think its a British financial indictment. They don’t tend to do long comedy series - they have to get recommissioned and it is hard as there is a very small pool of buyers (they only had 4 channels for a looonng time.)
I feel like my wife and I were were among the few people from U.S. who saw British Office first. Big Ricky Gervais fans. Speaking of which- Extras scene w David Bowie still kills me.
I have to go find some episodes on YouTube now
reply
Basil! 🥄
reply