# The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fall-and-rise-of-reginald-perrin/832625>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 16, 2019, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fall-and-rise-of-reginald-perrin/832625 "2019-04-16T15:27:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fall-and-rise-of-reginald-perrin/832625/21 "2019-04-17T01:59:19Z")

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One, two, three, four…leave them waiting at the door

Five, six, seven, eight…always pays to make them wait

COME!  
Also, since we live near the airport, we are constantly remarking how we must be in the flight path again.

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**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fall-and-rise-of-reginald-perrin/832625/22 "2019-04-17T02:28:40Z")

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I remember thinking “Reginald Perrin” was a very funny show when I watched it on PBS. A few years ago, I noticed that the local library had Season 1 on DVD, so I borrowed it; I thought it was moderately amusing, but not as funny as when I was a teenager.

I also remember doubling over with laughter over the quasi-spinoff “Fairly Secret Army” when I watched it on PBS, but now I’m afraid that I wouldn’t find it nearly as funny.

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**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fall-and-rise-of-reginald-perrin/832625/23 "2019-04-17T03:55:08Z")

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> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#):
>
> On the TV show his middle name is “Iolanthe”, after the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. There’s a scene where he muses to himself that if he had been born a month later his name would have been “Reginald Pirates of Penzance Perrin”.

Then he was mis-informed. The next comic opera in sequence was “Princess Ida” so he would have been Reginald Princess Ida Perrin, which sounds a lot better. Perhaps not as funny.

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**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fall-and-rise-of-reginald-perrin/832625/24 "2019-04-17T04:15:22Z")

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> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#):
>
> I may have to read the books. Anyone read them?

I have. The books contain a couple of nasty sub plots that the TV show wisely leaves out. It explains for example the disappearance of Reggie’s son Mark, while in the TV show he’s a Chuck Cunningham. You might like it better if you avoid reading them.

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**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fall-and-rise-of-reginald-perrin/832625/25 "2019-04-17T18:59:42Z")

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Forgive me my sins, but the blackface scene with CJ had me falling off my chair laughing.

(He has it just on his face, not his neck, ears or hands, and his pretending to be Jamaican or whatever it was was so over the top comical and offensive at the same time.)

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