What WAS the name of that little saxophone ditty? Was it original to the show, or did Benny swipe it from somewhere?
Anyone else remember that similar-sounding “goofy” music that Red Skelton played during his TV show during the mime segments? That one sounded a bit more kazoo-like…
Uke
The sax ditty was Yakkety Sax.
I don’t remember the Red Skelton thing.
Loved Benny Hill! The whole gang - little Jackie was hysterical. The other two regulars, I can’t remember their names but they were great too. Hill’s Angels I could do without, (from a comedy perspective, that is.) Seems to me if you liked Benny Hill, you probably liked the Three Stooges, too.
Well, if someone were selling the complete 3 stooges on DVD, I’d buy it and watch it. A few times. :+)
Can’t- sorry! I did confuse the names…duh! I’m just spacey lately…
Also, Jinx…
Really? There was a song like that? I thought I made it up and so did everyone else on the board. I guess I’d better credit it right now so the members of “Sweet” don’t get upset.
Sheesh…
Zette
Love is like popsicles…you get too much you get too high.
Not enough and you’re gonna die…-(Sweet)
Click here for some GOOD news for a change Zettecity
To Gilligan:
Bob Todd was the taller, balding, older man.
Henry McGee was the announcer/straight man (for Fred Scuttle, etc.) Dark hair, often with a funny facial expression.
Jackie Wright, of course, was the little bald guy.
Helen Herron (sp?) was the older woman, who had her own sexy appeal.
Sue Upton often appeared as one of Hill’s Angels, but also as Wonder Gran.
[url/]www.bennyhill.com
Let me try that again: www.bennyhill.com
Well that brought back some childhood memories! Now my brain is echoing with “Yakety Sax”.
I’m with Lucretia, I thought it was funny as a kid, now I just yawn.
Quand les talons claquent, l’esprit se vide.
Maréchal Lyautey
The show credits only listed Benny Hill as the writer or song writer. If that is true he was prolific as well as funny. “Can I go 'round again?” is a great, funny, philosophical song. As late as the early 80’s I knew people who would catch his live shows in England. Was he one-of-a-kind or the most popular member of a british vaudeville tradition?
I remember a comedy team called “The Two Ronnies,” which occasionally appeared on PBS in the US…their humor was ALSO based on bonking into each other, making lewd double-entendres, dropping heavy weights on their feet, and ogling large-chested blondes.
Vaudeville? Wouldn’t this style of humor verge on “burlesque” ?
Uke
I’m amazed.
I’d heard that Benny Hill was popular in the US, but never really believed it till I read this thread.
He was, at one stage (late 70s) one of the most popular TV comedians here. He even had a No. 1 hit single, Ernie, the Fastest Milkman in the West. He seemed to fall from grace in the 1980s, though. Comedy became generally more political and left-wing: Ben Elton, The Young Ones, Alexi Sayle, Lenny Henry, French & Saunders, Fry & Lawrie were the mainstays of TV comedy in the 1980s. Have you heard of any of them in the States? I’d be interested to know.
As for the Two Ronnies, now you’re talking. Very funny as a double act and Ronnie Barker has done some great stuff without Corbett. In particular, Porridge, a sitcom set in a prison and Open All Hours, about a shopkeeper in the North of England.
I’d always thought that Americans didn’t “get” British humour. Seems that I’m wrong?
TomH - in my crowd, Britcoms are the best coms. I have the complete “Young Ones” on VHS (recorded by me, not all of the episodes are available commercially yet), with bits of French & Saunders and The Comic Strip mixed in. My friends and I had a “Slags vs. Hawaiians” party and the Slags won.
Some mornings, it’s just not worth chewing through the leather straps.
– Emo Phillips
TomH—
In the New York area, channel 21 often runs “Britcoms,” especially on weekend nights. So we have become quite familiar with the best and worst of British comedy of the past 20 or so years: Waiting for God, Keeping Up Appearances, Are You Being Served, Red Dwarf, etc., etc.
Of course, some British shows become real cult hits here, like AbFab and Blackadder.
Last time I was in London, I noticed that so-called “classic” U.S. shows like Happy Days and Three’s Company are being run there—do Brits know that 98% of Yanks consider those shows to be total crap?
I don’t believe it. This is really great: you like our comedy. You even have a word for it: Britcoms. That’s great.
I didn’t even mention the Comic Strip, because I thought it was too obscure. And Blackadder as well. I have heard it rumoured that Red Dwarf is quite successful in the US, but audiences think that “vindaloo” is a made-up word like “smeg”. Is that true?
Eve, We did get Happy Days in the 70s, but I haven’t seen it on TV since then (maybe some repeats in the early 80s). I’ve never heard of Three’s Company.
Off the top of my head, the US comedy shows we get now are: Friends, Frasier and some crappy stuff for kids like Fresh Prince of Bel Air (I quite like Will Smith otherwise). I’m sure there are others, but I can’t think of them.
As for:
We suspected it, but were too polite to mention it.
I like all kinds of humor, but Benny Hill?
No.
TomH, let me weigh in as one American who thinks Britcoms rock. When we were in Misawa, Japan, we used to get Star TV out of Hong Kong, (before the godless commies got it), and I was exposed for the first time to the many Brit shows that many U.S. shows were based on. Almost without exception, I found the Brit shows to be much wittier.
The trend continues even today…I think the original Brit version of “Whose line is it Anyway?” to be much funnier than the American version currently showing.
I’m a juvenile sexist pig but I still think it’s the stupidest show I’ve ever seen next to Mr Bean. mind you, I’m sure there are some that are dumber, but I just don’t watch it
The only thing a nonconformist hates more than a conformist is another nonconformist who does not conform to the prevailing standards of nonconformity.