Benny is playing a young man (:rolleyes:) of indeterminate age going into a pub, singing Twenty-one today, twenty-one today and patting his hands together. He takes a seat and the waitress brings him a pint. Still singing 21 today, he starts patting his pockets, looking for money, getting agitated. The middle-aged lady at the next table pays for his drink, assuming it’s his first, as he’s just reached drinking age. He thanks her, raises his mug to his lips and, looking into the camera (natch), starts singing 22 today, 22 today.
I loved the interview show were everything went wrong. A guest kept giving one word answers, another guest died, Benny accidentally threw his interview notes across the stage. At the end he went,
"I could just keep on going, but the old clock on the wall says we have…
I remember a sketch which had a bunch of women flocking into a building which had a banner reading “HOMES TO LET.” Seconds later, they all run out, pursued by Benny and some other guys as the banner unfurls to reveal that it actually says, “HOMMES TOILET.” (“Men’s toilet” in French.)
From the commercials gone wrong segment he’d regularly do:
“We took these two identical food and oil stained dress shirts and washed them separately, one in the leading laundry detergent and the other in new Fair Deal Ben.”
“And the results?” [shows two pressed and folded shirts laying side-by-side, each still stained]
“Not a hape of the difference.” [box of Fair Deal Ben thrown down on them]
While we’re doing this thread again, let me explain why this is my favorite sketch:
I gave the URL in post #44, but I didn’t say anything about it. I like it because it’s Benny Hill showing why his usual jokes are so insultingly stupid. His sketches have him trying to get somewhere with a pretty girl twenty years younger than him, despite his being not particularly good-looking, so that he wouldn’t have any chance with her even if he was her age. This sketch shows what utter jerks the guys are who insist that they deserve a beautiful woman regardless of what they look like.
The scene is somewhere out in the Wild West. One of the Benny girls is tied to a post. Sheriff Benny enters the scene, and the girl says “Oh, sheriff, I’m so glad you’re here! Black Bart and his gang of ruffians kidnapped me and tied me to this post and then they had their way with me!” Benny starts taking off his belt and replies “This just ain’t yore day, is it?”
Benny is a guest on a talk show, playing an Asian martial artist. The host introduces him, and Benny says in a mock Asian accent “Good heaving heavy body!” The host remarks something like “Oh, are you saying your martial arts skills are effective at throwing people around?” Benny replies “No! I say herro to the people! Good heaving heavy body!”
The little old man is playing a game show participant, and Benny’s playing a stern authoritarian host. He asks the little old man questions that have joke answers. One is “Name the activity a man does standing up, a woman does sitting down, and a dog does with one leg in the air.” The lom replies “Pass.” Benny angrily replies “Pass what?” The lom says “I don’t know the answer.” Benny then says “Shake hands.”
Another bit with the lom, with Benny playing the straight man. I don’t quite remember the dialogue, but the lom said something grammatically incorrect, and Benny shouts “Don’t you know the Queen’s English?” The lom replies “Of course she is.”
There’s one more bit where they parody Ironside, the TV show where Raymond Burr plays a detective in a wheelchair. Benny’s playing Ironside, and the sketch is mainly him mumbling while his cohorts ignore him. The catch on his wheelchair comes loose, and he starts rolling away, still mumbling. Benny rolls down the alleyway, crashing through fruitstands, still mumbling. He rolls through heavy traffic and keeps rolling through more dangerous situations, still mumbling obliviously. I’ve searched for the video and can’t find it. It haunts me after all these years, because I keep thinking I missed something, or it’s just another absurd bit Hill and Monty Python would occasionally throw in.
This episode list says Benny played Ironside twice. Neither segment features the bit you mention so I don’t know what you saw unless it was part of the Grand Wheelchair Rally.
