Brit-Com favorites
Submitted by andrea on Wed, 03/21/2001 - 07:19
Tags:
- Blackadder (aka The Black Adder)
- Mr. Bean
- Red Dwarf
- Monty Python's Flying Circus
BLACKADDER was remarkable in taking its characters throught a succession of historical periods. My favorite was the 18th Century Blackadder.
Have you seen any episodes of the Irish comedy (at least, it's set in Ireland) FATHER TED. A favorite of The Pope, I'm sure. One episode is titled "Kicking Bishop [I've forgotten the name] Up the Arse". Father Ted makes a bet with another priest that he will kick the unpopular bishop "up the arse". He lures the bishop to his house by telling him that a miraculous image of his face has appeared on the skirting board. When the Bishop bends over to look at it, Father Ted chickens out. Another priests encourages Ted to try again, saying that the bishop won't believe it really happened if he does it and then acts as if nothing has happened. Sure enough, this works. The arse-kicked bishop leaves in a daze, to take a trip to Rome for an audience with The Pope. When he is introduced to His Holiness he snaps out of his daze, greeting HH with the words "He did kick me up the arse!" He then rages back to Ireland where Ted tries to maintain his bluff despite the huge poster on his wall showing him arse-kicking the bishop. In the final scene we see Ted spinning through the air from the end of the bishop's boot. I laughed 'til I cried. [My apologies to any Catholics who are offended by this post.]
Haven't seen Father Ted that one on our local PBS station. Maybe I can check it out on video sometime.
My favorite Blackadder was the Elizabethan era. Loved Miranda Richardson as the Queen. Blackadder's Christmas Carol, the antithesis of the usual story is also a hoot.
Blackadder is the best - I have a book with the scripts of all four series.
I am in the UK, but did you see the following in the US.
Fawlty Towers (many believe this is the best).
Yes Prime Minster (a favourite of Maggie Thatcher) - again, I have a book of the scripts.
Surely you must have received Fawlty Towers in the USA. John Cleese wrote it and starred in it. Many in the UK consider it the best comedy show ever. Only twelve episodes were ever made (two series) and they have been repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated.
What about Yes Prime Minister? The writing was sheer genius. How was it received in the USA?.
MANY PBS stations aired episodes of Fawlty at night during the 80s. That's how I caught that fantastic show!
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Another of my personal favourites (in the UK), but little-known here and very underrated is 'The Strangerers', about a pair of inept aliens visiting Earth, supposedly under the supervision of a supervisor who is run over by a truck at the very beginning of the first episode. They carry his head around with them in a holdall from then on.
The aliens are of vegetable in nature but have taken on human form. In certain episodes they are learning about their human bodies. Their attempts at sleeping (when their human bodies have become very tired), and at eating (when they have become hungry), and then subsequently toilet activities are hilarious. They visit a burger-bar and one stuffs a burger whole into his mouth but then cannot chew or talk. I shall never forget the scene when one needs to move his bowels and he thinks a snake is trying to climb out of his nether hole, and his fellow alien gets up close to see if he can see what is happening to his bent-over colleague.
They sometimes add 'er' to the end of words (hence the name 'The Strangerers'), such as humaner or burgerer.
The series was created by the makers of 'Red Dwarf', but it seems to have disappeared after the first series.