I Laughed My Socks Off.....................

..........when I first heard this

''If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?"

Steven Wright

The Face Says It All

Earlier today I was thinking how some of our comic legends are funny from the very moment you set eyes on them. They need say nothing. They are irresistibly daft.

Without too much thought I came up with the above four : Tommy Cooper, Ken Dodd, Stan Laurel, and Marty Feldman. All have, in the nicest possible sense, funny faces, and used them to great effect in their performances.They all had other comic genius beside looks, but hey, what a start when your clock is hilarious too !

Alas, only Doddy is still with us, packing theatres and as funny as ever he was.

Said In Jest - # 1

''Don't panic! Don't panic!" - Corporal Jones in Dad's Army.

"I don't believe it!" - Victor Meldrew in One Foot In The Grave.

''And it's goodnight from me..." - "And it's goodnight from him!" - Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker in The Two Ronnies.

'' I have a cunning plan '' - Baldrick in Blackadder.

"It's the way I tell 'em!" - Frank Carson

"Drat and double drat!" - Dick Dastardly in Wacky Races.

Nice Bins

Men Behaving Badly was a rude, crude British sitcom from the 1990's notable for the quite awful social graces of the two male characters, Gary and Tony. It ran from 1992 to 1998 and consisted of 42 episodes in 6 series and had some wonderful comic moments. Here, Tony has to wear glasses for the first time as he is short-sighted. The lads are joined by Gary's girlfriend Dorothy (recovering from an operation) and Deborah from the flat upstairs. This clip is not at all rude but is funny. Poor Tony is well and truly on the receiving end as Gary decides to enjoy every moment..................

Charlie Williams - Me Old Flower

In the early 70's, Charlie Williams was a household name and one of Britain's funniest and most loved comedians. He was unusual at the time for a number of reasons, partly because comedy was his second career, he had previously been a professional footballer, but mainly because he was black. And in the early 70's black people had no presence on UK TV. He also had the broadest of Yorkshire accents, which meant he was novel and definitively original. I truly believe few people had ever considered that this mixture of skin colour and voice could possibly go together. He delivered his jokes in a gentle, almost charming way, with a slight hesitant delay and cheeky grin. His material drew hugely on his own humble beginnings, deeply rooted in working class England and this was a large reason for his amazing popularity. He also joked about his own colour, something that had never been tackled before, his famous line to hecklers being 'If tha don't shut up, I'll come and move in next door to thee'. This was typical Charlie Williams - saying what he knew the white man was thinking and fearing. Some believe this merely added to the prejudice and negativity directed at black people at that time of racial tension. Others saw him as a pioneer - he was Britain's first black comedian. In 2000 this was finally recognised when he gained a lifetime achievement Black Comedy Award, having 'broken down barriers'.

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Charles Adolphus Williams was born on the 23 December 1927. He was mixed race, his father was a Barbadian who had moved to Yorkshire, become a greengrocer and married a local girl. Charlie was brought up in the village of Royston on the Barnsley Canal. He was a teenager during the war and at 14 worked at Upton Colliery where he turned out for the works football team. His talent was such that at 19 he signed as a professional for Doncaster Rovers. It took the centre half a number of seasons to break into the first team but he eventually did so in 1955 and by the time he retired in 1959 he had played 171 games for the Rovers. Just as he was Britain's first black comic he was also just about Britain's first black footballer, certainly a rarity in an exclusively white dominated sport. He is remembered as a hard defender, solid rather than spectacular. When asked if he was ever any good at football he replied 'No. But I was good at stopping those that were ' ! He scored just one goal in his career, ironically against Barnsley.

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His entry into showbiz was as a singer with The Jeffrey Trio, where Charlie sang the songs of his hero Nat King Cole. His patter between songs was so funny that he eventually dropped the music for comedy and plyed his trade on the tough Northern working men's club circuit. Without a huge amount of talent, he would not have survived. His big break came in 1971 when he was given a regular TV spot on Granada's The Comedians, a programme for stand up comedians. The material in the series was largely racist or sexist and would not be acceptable on our screens today. But it brought Charlie into our homes each week and his infectious laugh and warm manner made him an instant hit. His jokes observed British working class life perfectly, easy for Charlie given his own up-bringing. 'So I said to the boss ' I've worked here for twenty years and this is the first time I've asked for a raise'. The boss said ' I know - that's why you've worked here for twenty years'. His catchphrase was ( in his lovely Yorkshire accent ) 'me old flower'.

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Charlie had a few good years in the limelight during which time he also had his own Granada series It's Charlie Williams and published an autobiography 'Ee-I've Had Some Laughs'. He also hosted the game show The Golden Shot for a short while. But by the second half of the 70's, Charlie's material was getting less acceptable for prime time TV and he largely returned to working the clubs. He retired in 1995 and was awarded the MBE in 1999 for his charity work. Charlie Williams died on the 2 September 2006 after a long illness.

Charlie was undoubtedly a very funny man. He was mild and affable. And we loved how he laughed at his own jokes. The audience listened as if drawn to a magnet.

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''This little lad was telling his teacher about their new house. 'It's smashin' teacher' he says. 'Ive got a room of my own, my brothers got a room of his own, and my two sisters have rooms of their own. But poor old mum - she's still in with Dad.'"

And finally a one liner that was typical of his act :

"My mother-in-law is a terrible cook. In fact she's got the only dustbin in her street with ulcers!"

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Charlie..............you were a good 'un. In fact, Charlie me old flower, thee were a right good 'un !

I Didn't Know That - # 2

You stumble across all kinds of things you didn't know whilst researching for a blog :

Andrew Sachs, who plays Manuel, the Spanish waiter in Fawlty Towers, was in fact born in Berlin, Germany.

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The name of Albert and Harold's horse in Steptoe & Son was Hercules. He died in a 1970 episode on Goldhawk Road, of a heart attack, whilst out on the round. He was 39 years old.

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That much loved 'modern stone age family' were originally to be called The Flagstones, then very nearly became The Gladstones, before producers Hanna-Barbera finally settled for The Flintstones.

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The character Lenny Godber in Porridge was an Aston Villa fan.

John Inman - RIP

Born : Preston 28 June 1935

Died : London 8 March 2007

Are You Being Served ? , Grace and Favour, Take A Letter Mr Jones.

Fred, Barney and Winston

When The Flintstones first hit the American ABC channel in 1960, it was at prime time and largely directed at an adult audience. Which accounted no doubt for its tie up with sponsor, Winston. Their slogan proclaimed a 'Winston tastes good like a cigarette should'. The clip above shows Fred and Barney taking a relaxing cigarette break, whilst the wives, Wilma and Betty, do all the work ! Winston ceased their asssociation with The Flinstones in 1963 when Wilma fell pregnant with Pebbles. By this time the cartoon series had caught the imagination of younger American viewers anyway, with criticism growing that the advert was a bad influence on children. To me, The Flintstones has always been a kids programme, albeit one with a great attraction for all age groups. Which made this clip all the more incredible when I first saw it. How the world has moved on, thankfully.
Posted by heyharri at 20:56 1 comments

Duty Free

Duty Free was a Yorkshire Television produced comedy which ran between 1984 and 1986. I want to find the right word to describe it. Not hilarious. Not brilliant. Not ground breaking. I shall settle for splendid. Yes it was a splendid programme. Funny in a farcical, theatrical way. And very well characterised, as all successful comedies are.

It ran for a total of 22 episodes over three series, plus one Christmas special. It was written by Eric Chappell , of Rising Damp fame, and Jean Warr and came out of a stage play entitled We're Strangers Here. It is set in Spain, at the San Remo Hotel in Marbella to be exact. This might account in some part for the very definite warm feeling you get after watching a thirty minute episode. Many scenes are set in the evenings, with the characters enjoying a relaxing drink as the sun goes down on another day. The producers are able to create a real holiday feel. Which really is amazing because all filming for all 22 episodes actually took place in Leeds ! The comedy is classical farce; wardrobes, wrong bedrooms, mis-understandings, lies, disguises, and come uppances.

There are four main characters in Duty Free, two married couples to be precise. Firstly David and Amy Pearce (Keith Barron and Gwen Taylor). David has been made redundant from his job as a draughtsman and decides to spend some of his pay-off on a holiday. Amy is his loyal wife. They have been married a long time. She loves him but knows him far too well to trust him. They are from Yorkshire, come from a working class background and have never been abroad before. When they get to the San Remo they meet couple number two, Robert and Linda Cochran ( Neil Stacey and Joanna Van Gyseghem). Robert is a successful businessman, determined but colourless. Linda is attractive and longing for just a little excitement in her life. They are from the Home Counties, well off financially. And when two marriages of contrast come into such close proximity, the inevitable happens. David falls in love with Linda.

But Duty Free is no love story. Because as the love kicks in so does the farce. David and Linda contrive all kinds of situations to get time alone together. The absurdness of the show is that for a number of episodes Amy and Robert don't seem to notice what is going on, despite the fact that the hanky-panky is taking place right under their noses. There is a small potted tree in the hotel reception for instance which was often used as a camouflage in order for the lovebirds to steal a quiet moment together. Viewers needed to ignore the fact that Amy or Robert were often just a few feet away and the tree had little foliage for anyone to successfully hide behind. As the days go by (the first series consisted of seven episodes - one for each day of the first week of the holiday) David virtually abandons Amy, as he and Linda decide they will leave together and start a new life. He is by this stage shown to be a shallow and selfish individual. Amy meantime is the betrayed woman, undeserving of what is about to befall her. Linda is swept away, and is going to take her chance to find happiness. Robert is oblivious to everything. And then it all goes wrong for David. The truth comes out. They are caught. Amy seeks revenge by disgracing David. She gets Linda believing he is a conman and only after her money. She puts hotel property in the case he has packed and he is subsequently questioned by Spanish police for theft. David then dresses as a woman so he can escape which certainly does not impress Linda. Robert simply hits him. And when all the dust settles Linda has decided she is probably better off with the solid Robert anyway.

Like many sitcoms it took a little while for Duty Free to make a mark with TV audiences. The second series followed week two of the holiday. But in order to make much sense of it you needed to understand what had happened in the first seven episodes so they were repeated. It was at this stage that the programme sparked into popularity. The stories became more rounded and involved different guests in the hotel. The under-current of David and Linda's affair remained throughout but the humour also included lots of revenge from Amy. David also shows signs of wanting to live his life as the Cochrans live theirs, including a switching of his political affiliations from Labour to Conservative, which appalls Amy. David gets his much deserved come uppance in most episodes.

Series three is set 18 months later. David and Linda have secretly agreed to return to the San Remo without their partners. David convinces Amy he has to get away for a break and is going with an old work colleague. Robert is in Rome for the week on business. At last they are alone together. Until Amy turns up. She has found out that Davids work colleague had been dead for three years!! Roberts trip to Rome is aborted because his company have been taken over and he decides to surprise his wife in Spain. And so we are treated to one final series. A well remembered episode involved the appearance of Judith Chalmers, making an edition of her holiday programme 'Wish You Were Here'. At one stage she has decided to interview the Pearce's to get their views on the San Remo Hotel. David puts on a very plummy voice in front of the camera and has told Amy she must do likewise. She doesn't of course and we are treated to a superb piece of acting from Gwen Taylor, who says her lines in a wonderfully broad Yorkshire accent. It was yet another example of her getting one over her husband. ( I do adore so much of Gwen Taylor's comedy work and will blog more on this another time).

One Christmas special was made and for this the programme makers did actually venture to Spain. Except that is for Gwen Taylor who was committed to another project in London so recorded her parts there. At the height of the shows popularity, Yorkshire Television had many requests from the public for information on the San Remo. As I have already said it was merely a TV production set in Leeds ! There was one other character who appeared in the series throughout. Carlos the Spanish waiter (played by Carlos Douglas) did not say too much but his facial expressions told us that he always knew exactly what David Pearce was up to.

Unfortunately, Duty Free is not remembered by everyone. In the 2004 poll for Best British Sitcom it finished in 71st place. In my opinion it was much better than that. It had something about it that made it highly watchable and enjoyable. It could have been the presence of the four main actors, who I can only describe in the same way as I described the show itself - splendid. The plots were largely ludicrous. It was a bit like watching pantomime sometimes. Maybe the trick was simply its setting ; if watchers could not afford a week in Spain they could at least grab half an hour there once a week. On 12 March 1984 it attracted the most viewers of any TV programme for that week, with 16.7 million, and in 1987 it was nominated for a BAFTA. For me it remains to this day, one of the most agreeable sitcoms ever made.

The Reliant Regal

Such has been the popularity of Only Fools And Horses over the years, many things from it have left a mark on British comedy and culture. And none more so than the Trotters' three wheel company vehicle. Often referred to incorrectly as a 'Robin' it is in fact a Reliant Regal Supervan III. Three different vans were used during the long history of the series and yesterday one of them was available to purchase at auction. Experts expected it to raise around £20,000 but the hammer finally came down at £44,227.

The choice of the Regal by the writers of OFAH was a good one, as three wheeled fibreglass vehicles were already considered eccentric. I guess any transit van would have been alright but the sheer sparsity of our little yellow friend added even more to our belief that Del and Rodney were never going to make it big. Whilst their flat could often be seen littered with clobber, the payload of their works van would have been relatively small. But more than enough for the Trotters though goodness knows how many trips would have been needed when shifting stock. The writers kept faithful to the Regal all the way through the series, including the famous scene where Del and Rodney realise they have in fact become millionaires. Such is their joy, the van can be seen rocking from side to side in a busy High Street !! It was great that no attempt was made to replace it with a more practical vehicle at any time. Nor were the Trotters to own cars. All none working activities also required use of the van. The Reliant will forever be associated with the series. As the programme reached iconic status, so too did the van.

There are many famous scenes in which it is featured, including the Batman and Robin sketch. In another episode Rodney is out in it with a girl and gets involved in a chase with joy-riders. The van is seen at full pelt with a terrified Rodney behind the wheel and smoke bellowing from the back. Another well loved story saw it crammed with blow up dolls, with viewers witnessing them inflating through the rear door window. A great gag was the livery on the van itself : '' Trotters Independent Trading Company - New York, Paris, Peckham''.

The price paid at auction is no small amount - but rarely would such a marvellous piece of authentic TV memorabilia become available. Rodney once said 'But Del , its only got three wheels' to which Del jokingly replied ' Exactly Rodders. Think of the money we'll save on tyres'.