Favourite 70's British comedies

[Funky Dude]

I'm a big fan of old British comedies and here are my favourites:



Man About The House - I love how George Roper (Brian Murphy) hides dirty magazines in various places around the house and Mildred always finds them. And I like how Robin Trip tries desperately to crack onto Chrissy. A funny bit to mention is when George goes up to sulk in the attic and read his dirty magazines he complains to himself about Mildred and goes with a funny voice "nag nag nag" "nag nag nag". Another funny bit was when George was fixing the pipe under the sink and Jo pours coffee into the sink and George's face gets covered in coffee.



George & Mildred - A great spinoff from Man About The House. I piss myself laughing when George always borrows things from Jeffrey Formile (Norman Eshley) and always ends up wrecking them. Also I love how he teaches Tristram Formile his slang language. And Jeffrey really hates George and I like how when he's pissed off with George he says angrily "MR ROPER!!!" to George. A funny bit to mention was when George's bodgey carpenter friend Jerry tries to install a shower he knocks a hole in the wall while Jeffrey was having a bath and George pops his head through and sees Jeffrey standing on the bath nude with a towel on and George goes "Oh, hello son".



The Goodies - Those three guys Bill, Tim and Graham are hilarious. I love the "Kitten Kong" episode where Tim gets stuck up in the tree and they leave him there, and the funniest bit was when they were collecting looney animals putting them in the basket, they tried to stuff an oversized anaconda snake into a small basket, I was pissing myself laughing when they were wrestling with the big snake. Also the "Clown Virus" episode I love the bit where Tim goes "I Don't Want To Be A Clown" and when he cries water squirts out of his eyes.



Fawlty Towers - John Cleese (Basil Fawlty) is absolutely hilarious in this show. He goes absolutely insane trying to run the Fawlty Towers hotel. I love how when he was in a big hurry his red car breaks down and he goes "YOU STUPID CAR, I'M GONNA GIVE YOU A THRASHING!!!" and grabs a tree branch and whacks the bonnet with it. Also I the episode when his wife was in hospital, she kept on calling Basil and when Basil was in a real mess with the fire drill thing and the phone rings he picks it up and goes "RAAAAHHH RAAAAHHHH!!!!!" and slams it down. Also the episode when some Germans dine at Fawlty Towers, Basil just couldn't help himself and ends up mentioning the war, Hitler and does the Nazi march in front of them. And how could I forget his assistant Mandwel the Spanish waitor, he drives Basil insane and I like how Basil keeps on trying to instruct him to things and Mandwel always gets it wrong because he doesn't understand English that well.



Bless This House - Sidney James who plays as Sid Abbot is really hilarious. I love how when he sees something rude, he gets a second look and goes "ha ha ha". And I like how he calls teeth "choppers". Also when Betty (Trevor's wife) comes over Sid says "Here comes Moby Dick". Also I like how she yells out in a see-saw voice "TREEEEEVVVVVVOR!!!". Also I like how Mike always calls Sid a drag everytime Sid puts on his classical music.



On The Buses - This show is hilarious especially when Jack Arthur and Stan Butler always gets their bus inspector Blakey pissed off and Blakey goes "I hate you Butler, I hate you I hate You I hate You". The funniest thing about Blakey is when he sometimes gets the better of them two trouble maker bus drivers Stan and Jack he really gets his jollies I mean he gets his jollies and does a really really weird goofy laugh. A really funny episode was when Jack became assistant bus inspector and he told Blakey what Stan gets up to i.e. Stan arrives late and sneaks through the toilet window, he steals buns from the canteen and mucks around during bus duty, and when Stan sneaks through the toilet window and turns around to see Blakey standing there getting his jollies with his goofy laugh and goes "Heh heh heh I got you now", and when Stan puts his hand through the canteen window to steal some buns Blakey slams it down and does his goofy laugh again, and when Stan takes a gorgious looking girl out somewhere during bus duty, when Stan walks around the corner and surprise surprise he runs into Blakey and Blakey really really gets his jollies and he's soooo happy and goes "Heh heh heh heh, I got you this time, I got you now" while he does his goofy laugh, this episode made me laugh myself to tears. I swear Blakey is the punchline of this comedy, he has the weirdest laugh.



Monty Python's Flying Circus - I love those comedy sketches, especially the bit where they were whacking each other over the head with mallets, and another funny sketch was when a priest was going insane smashing plates over his head saying "Looney looney looney, looney looney looney". Also I love the "Search For The Holy Grail" movie, especially when the French was launching animals over the barracks of the castle onto the guys who are after the holy Grail, and I was laughing like mad when they launched a big fat cow over the barracks.



I wonder if any of these programs aired in USA back in the 70's?

[Boodikka]

Hi Funky! You've mentioned 2 of my favorites:

"Monty Python" (Nudge Nudge, Ministry Of Silly Walks, Fish Dance and Cheap Scots Poet were my favorite sketches) and "Fawlty Towers".

Others I enjoyed:

1)"Rising Damp"....Leonard Rossiter in a Fawlty Towers variant.

2)"Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin"...Rossiter again; this was remade here in 1983 as "Reggie" (starring Richard Mulligan)

3)"Are You Being Served?"

[delboy]

What about Dad's Army?



It's still as funny today as it was 30 odd years ago.

[Funky Dude]

What about Dad's Army?



It's still as funny today as it was 30 odd years ago.

I forgot about mentioning that show, thanks for reminding me. I watched it on UKTV a few years ago and it is certainly hilarious, one really funny bit I can remember is when they were setting up a missile launcher (or I think it was a cannon), anyhow the silly guys aimed it towards the Colonel's arse while he was standing there and I think when they were about to fire the Colonel turned around and freaked.

[Anonymous]

Check out David McGillvrey's excellent book DOING RUDE THINGS for wondeful info on low rent Brit comedies and excessively mild soft core sex films such as CONFESSIONS OF A DRIVING INSTRUCTOR.



jussi

[Move2This]

I agree, Man About the House was a great series. I always thought the character of Jo, the blonde girl, played by Sally Thomsett was the funniest (probably unintentionally), simply because she had the worst lines and was the epitome of the dumb blonde. I remember in one episode she'd "lost the recipe for toast"!



Not sure what Sally's doing these days, though she did pop up as a "talking head" in a retrospective TV programme on the 70s in the UK. Anyone know what she's up to?

[jpp]

hey funky dude...did u watch the australian show "return to eden" in the 80's ?? with the actor angelo d'angelo..

anyone watch the scottich kids show "super gram" ...really weird...

[funkg]

mine would include;

mind your language

the fosters (lenny henry, norman beaton)

are you being served

love thy neigbour



a couple of these may seem non p.c but beleive me growing up as a child in a predominatly white area of london at the time any black faces on tv was welcome however un p.c!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: funkg on 2002-01-04 02:43 ]</font>

[NickNack]

I have two faves:



Are You Being Served would be # 1. I can watch this over and over and over... and laugh every time.



The second is Keeping Up Appearances. Hyacinth Bucket (that's "boo-kay") will have you screaming, either with laughter or total frustration.



Nicky