"He looks to me like somebody who is up to his designer-stubble in stolen moments of illicit love." - Daisy, Keeping Up Appearances
That is just one of the best lines every written in a TV comedy.
(Of course it gets even better if you know that Daisy is saying this about her ill-dressed and overweight husband sitting glued to the TV like usual.)
I am re-watching the entire series now. A triumph for British comedy. I must write more about it.
This one walks a little too far into the slapstick for my general liking of it. Having said that I did watch (and still watch on blessed PBS) Last of the Summer Wine. You can't get more slapstick than that.
ReplyDeleteOh, and that fat slob of a husband was in "The Yellow Submarine" playing the voice of Paul. I knew him best for his role as the Ogdens lodger in Corry (The Street - Coronation St that is).
Are you sure you mean "slapstick"?
ReplyDeleteFrom the dictionary:
"slapstick:
Comedy characterized by broad humour, absurd situations, and vigorous, often violent action. It took its name from a paddlelike device, probably introduced by 16th-century commedia dell'arte troupes, that produced a resounding whack when one comic actor used it to strike another. Slapstick comedy became popular in 19th-century music halls and vaudeville theatres and was carried into the 20th century by silent-movie comedians such as Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Mack Sennett's Keystone Kops and later by Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, and the Three Stooges."
I think only a very tiny percentage of Appearances gets into slapstick or physical comedy. 95% of it verbal and character based.
Hyacinth is always getting into situations where she ends up with her clothes in disarray, people stuck in closets, window cleaners falling of ladders etc.
ReplyDeleteSure, most of the episodes are 80% double entendre, but 10-20% slapstick. I don't mean of the Jerry Lewis level, but still, very physical comedy.
I very much enjoy Patricia Routledge as Kitty in Victoria Wood as Seen On TV and in the plays by Alan Bennett. But Hyacinth is too much.
I have a low threshold for slapstick at times.
I love Keeping Up Appearances, it belongs to my list of favorite British programs. Along with others like 'Allo, 'Allo and Are You Being Served?
ReplyDeleteI did not know Are You Being Served. But I've just ordered the first one for rent.
ReplyDeleteFunny enough I have trouble getting into 'Allo 'allo. Strange because it's very popular, and I tend to like most comedy.
I cannot believe you have not seen Are You Being Served. It was a long running classic, starting as B&W in the late 60's. The used to run it daily here on PBS. That is every weekday for about 10 years.
ReplyDeleteWell, it was never shown in Denmark.
ReplyDeleteI just got the first disc in the mail.
I tend to not be too enthusiastic about films and especially TV shows from before the eighties, though I always try them. We'll see how it goes.
There was a follow up series in the 90's, "Grace and Favour", but that seemed to stretch the point.
ReplyDeleteIf you are looking into such thing, you owe yourself some "Round the Horn" or "Beyond Our Ken". These are two classic radio comedy shows. Again, from before the 80's but still worth checking out for good language.
The French equivalent for slapstick is "cream pie humour". Three guesses what this has to do with B&W silent movies. ;-)
ReplyDeleteQuite so.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of slapstick, I think of that, and of the Three Stooges, not Hyacinth.
I think my original statement was "little too far into the slapstick for my general liking".
ReplyDeleteI will insist that it is too slapstick for me. If someone were to walk up to me and say define Slapstick I'd say "three stooges" or "Jerry Lewis".
I still prefer the wit and the smut. Maybe it's just a phase, but if I had a choice between Reginald Perrin and Appearences I know which I'd be watching.
I tried several episodes of Reginald Perrin, and I gave up. Didn't hold my interest.
ReplyDeleteI was interested at first, because it seemed it was about a man sick of his life, and about to change it. But then it started to seem like he would never get around to seriously change his life, and I lost interest.
You should also try Waiting For God, another English one. It's set at a retirement home but is quite funny.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, avoid the Are You Being Served? movie. The sexual jokes of the show are funnier because they can't say anything outright. They don't have that problem with the movie, and it kind of loses something.
I tend to not be too enthusiastic about films and especially TV shows from before the eighties,
ReplyDeleteWhy's that exactly? There was a lot of great comedy being done before the 80s, which was I think not comedy's best decade.
(Thanks, I'll try Waiting For God.)
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should say the nineties, but I wanted to include Cheers at least.
I am not sure why. I think most seventies comedy seems so sad and bitter. Or too silly.
I am not sure why. I think most seventies comedy seems so sad and bitter. Or too silly.
ReplyDeleteWhat - even Slap Shot?! Slap Shot, silly? Now that's just crazy talk! ;-)
Btw, I forgot: You may have seen it already, but you might enjoy As Time Goes By. I don't know if it would be your cup of tea. I wouldn't say it was exactly laugh-out-loud, side-splittingly funny, but it had it's moments.
"I am not sure why. I think most seventies comedy seems so sad and bitter. Or too silly."
ReplyDeleteWas The Goodies sad or bitter? Marty Feldman?
Too silly, yes. But that's why we love them. :-)
If you only include the 80's for Cheers, then that implies "The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy" is before your time too.
ReplyDeleteThe 70's and 80's had other good offerings, Barney Miller, Taxi, WKRP in Cincinatti, Rosanne and Newhart from the US. Then from the UK, Dad's Army, Yes Minister, Porridge, Open All Hours, To The Manor Born and The Good Life (aka Good Neighbors).
Just thinking on, I tired of Britcoms, that's all we seemed to see when I was a kid. Hyacinth was probably the nail in the coffin, but I really should give her another try. Thinking of all the other shows I used to enjoy, she should fit in.
As for more modern shows. I used to watch "Drop the Dead Donkey" but there was some vitality added by the shows script including news up to that day itself. Nightingales was one of the last sit-coms I watched regularly before I left the UK. Though I like Red Dwarf, I only like it if I see one or two episodes every six months.
I think I almost prefer my comedy on the radio, Tales from the Mausoleum Club, Unnatural Acts, Hitch Hikers, Whose Line is it Anyway, Saturday Night Fry, The Lander Reports (or was it This Is David Lander). Radio 4 used to give us an hour every Saturday night which would keep us in stitches.
Good luck with you voyage into British Comedy - oh and Reggie is flagging by episode 3 or 4, then really turns around.
I must be old and jaded, because I can't take modern sit coms. There are funny things in Will and grace, and Frasier, there is an uneasy truth to The Office (UK version). I've drifted more to shows like "Freaks and Geeks" and "Northern Exposure".
Waffle waffle blah blah...
"Reggie is flagging by episode 3 or 4, then really turns around"
ReplyDeleteGood to know. I gave up after episode 4, I think. I'll give it a chance. And "As Time Goes By" too.
Most of all this was never shown in Denmark when I grew up, see. I've seen Hitchhiker on DVD (of course).
I've seen some of, and given up on, "Yes Minister", Porridge, Open All Hours, Rising Damp.
I've tried Red Dwarf a couple of times, because I can't believe that a show which is both comedy AND science fiction can't be for me. But I thought it to be a complete failure.
Hmm, Reggie is probably not going to work for you seeing what else has failed.
ReplyDeleteRed Dwarf I find too much. if you want funny Sci Fi, then I'd avoid "Home Boys in Outer Space" but check out Firefly.
Alex said:
ReplyDeletebut check out Firefly.
I loved Firefly. It came out about the time when it seemed every show I liked was being canceled - The Tick, Family Guy (even though it came back; we had no reason at the time to think it would), Greg the Bunny, and a few others.
A lot of people hated Firefly for some reason, but I loved it. It had just the right balance of humour and seriousness, which is hard to get right.
Oh, and btw, As Time Goes By stars both Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer.
"The Tick, Family Guy, Greg the Bunny"
ReplyDeleteAll wonderful shows!
I prefer Family Guy to American Dad for some reason. Was that Fox that kept ditching shows. Family Guy has been axed about 5 times now. It always vanished mid season.
ReplyDeleteYep, that was Fox. They made a great joke about it in Family Guy's first episode after it returned.
ReplyDeleteI prefer Family Guy too, but I do get a kick out of American Dad - due in large part to the character of Roger the Alien.
American Dad was pretty good. But I think it was basically an attempt to remake Family Guy. The alien is the dog, and so on.
ReplyDeleteAlso, while I really like FG, I think they are often too cynical. For instance the constant harsh digs at other comedy shows.
eolake said:
ReplyDeleteBut I think it was basically an attempt to remake Family Guy. The alien is the dog, and so on.
Roger the Alien is like Data to Family Guy's Mr. Spock. The same type of character, but not really the same. Brian is a wannabe actor, wannabe writer, wannabe singer and pretends to be all cultured and shit, but Roger admits to liking really trashy stuff. Bad movies, trash TV, etc., and while he's a drinker he'll drink pretty much anything - he's no Sideways wine snob.
I find him funnier than Brian. Also, at least the daughter on American Dad isn't the hideous outcast that Meg is.
How could we forget "King of the Hill". It's less cynical and aggressive than family guy. Not as brash as "The Simpsons"
ReplyDeleteHow could we forget "King of the Hill". It's less cynical and aggressive than family guy. Not as brash as "The Simpsons"
ReplyDeleteIt is also, for the most part, more realistic. It is meant to take place in the real world. I like the craziness of The Simpsons or Family Guy, but King of the Hill is a nice change. At the time it came out, it wouldn't have flown as just a kind of Simpsons clone. It probably helped pave the way for other animated series. The Simpsons alone wouldn't have done it, as brilliant as that show can be. Without King of the Hill, The Simpsons might have been thought an aberration.
Thanks, I'll check it.
ReplyDelete"God, The Devil, And Bob" is good.
Watch our new Amish sitcom. Even more fun than slapping a stick.
ReplyDeleteUnless the stick is your own, but then you'd have to go to confession!