eBay Flute

[benhall.1]

Difficult not to like The Good Life, isn't it? Worthy though it was. Penelope Keith absolutely made it, of course.

[Jayhawk]

I had quite the crush on Felicity Kendal when I first saw the show (I was about 14).

Jerry and Margo both made the show in my opinion. Their interactions to the farm world beside them, and to each other, were hilarious.

I've never seen Dad's Army...I must find a way to get a hold of it. Thanks for the tip.

Eric

[Denny]

yep, Benny got air time

of the others that I've seen
they have all been via NetFlix

well, except Red Dwarf on a PBS fund drive
wasted that day

[emmdee]

Guys, guys... it's Fawlty Towers! As in Basil Fawlty. It's a homonym/pun scenario.

No list of great British comedy would be complete without 3 political masterpieces
Yes Minister / Yes Prime Minister, and The Thick of It.

However, the Yanks gave the world The Simpsons, Frasier, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, for which we should be eternally grateful.
m.d.

[Kirk B]

What about "Only Fools and Horses".

[Ceili_whistle_man]

.....I was almost tempted with the flute (remember it?)...but measuring 65' long I don't think I would have the reach to play the thing.

[jemtheflute]

Guys, guys... it's Fawlty Towers! As in Basil Fawlty. It's a homonym/pun scenario.

No list of great British comedy would be complete without 3 political masterpieces
Yes Minister / Yes Prime Minister, and The Thick of It.

However, the Yanks gave the world The Simpsons, Frasier, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, for which we should be eternally grateful.
m.d.

The Simpsons is comedy? I thought it was documentary!

And things like Friends, Frasier and Fresh Prince of Bel Air, whilst quite clever and certainly amusing at times, definitely come under the Yank toe-curling, sick-bucket-reaching-for school of sit-com humour..... Maybe because (generalisation alert!) they lack the irony and self-deprecation of their Brit equivalents?

[Anyanka]

And again, I find myself with Jem... 'Friends' and 'Frasier' had some fantastically sharp dialogue, but they always had to resort to the stuff of farce. Having said that, a couple of episodes of 'Fawlty Towers' also have toe-curling stuff, such as Polly disguising as a sick Sybil; or the manic hunt for Manuel's "hamster".

One classic Brit comedy so far unmentioned that never went sentimental or farcical, and was always sharp and witty: 'Porridge'. Timeless.

Although my all-time favourite has to be 'Black Books', largely due to the genius of Irish comedian Dylan Moran. Go check it out on YouTube, or buy the obscenely cheap box set.

[benhall.1]

D'ya know, I absolutely couldn't stand Black Books. I kept trying it because people I know said it was brilliant and for me just to give it one more go. I tried. I really tried. Every time I had to switch it off after ... well, I think my record was 5 minutes.

Friends is watchable pap. Frasier, OTOH, was great, IMHO. Not just clever, brilliantly funny and slick. Oh, apart from the ludicrous accent of Daphne's brother. I have no idea what that accent was supposed to be. You'd have thought it should be Machester, but it sounded like a cross between South African and New Zealand. Certainly nowhere near any British accent I've ever heard.

[I.D.10-t]

And things like Friends, Frasier and Fresh Prince of Bel Air, whilst quite clever and certainly amusing at times, definitely come under the Yank toe-curling, sick-bucket-reaching-for school of sit-com humour..... Maybe because (generalisation alert!) they lack the irony and self-deprecation of their Brit equivalents?

Well, it would be difficult to have product placement in an upper class setting doing that now, wouldn't it.

[Kirk B]

However, the Yanks gave the world The Simpsons, Frasier, and Curb Your Enthusiasm, for which we should be eternally grateful.
m.d.

And don't forget that we gave the world Dick Van Dyke as Bert in Mary Poppins. That was a shining moment in cinema.

Kirk

[MTGuru]

Oh, apart from the ludicrous accent of Daphne's brother. I have no idea what that accent was supposed to be. You'd have thought it should be Machester, but it sounded like a cross between South African and New Zealand. Certainly nowhere near any British accent I've ever heard.

If you mean Anthony LaPaglia as Simon Moon ... He's Australian, but he traded his Ozzie accent for Noo Yawk early on. Very convincingly, too. Heck, his NY is better than mine, and I'm from New York. He claims he can no longer do his native accent, and his attempt at Mancunian was just weird. But no weirder than Benny Hill's "American".

[benhall.1]

Benny Hill did American? Presumably in a generic, taking-the-michael sort of way?

[MTGuru]

Benny Hill did American? Presumably in a generic, taking-the-michael sort of way?

The skits were comedic, of course. But I'm sure he intended his accent to be more or less accurate, because it was the characters portrayed that were supposed to be poking fun at the Murkins. He did two, actually: A generic "I'm from nowhere" accent like mine, and a Southern accent like Dale, usually dressed à la Hee Haw or Deliverance. Let's just say that neither would have convinced a US border agent.