# What Happened to Benny Hill? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2011, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-benny-hill/593608 "2011-08-22T02:20:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![monkeylucifer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@monkeylucifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monkeylucifer)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-benny-hill/593608/41 "2011-08-24T22:51:51Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > That works so well with “holocaust.” > > Joe Also with a search for [“Tea Party Rally”](http://bennyhillifier.com/search.php?q=tea+party+rally) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-benny-hill/593608/42 "2011-08-24T23:12:31Z")
It airs on a local station here (Detroit area) late night on the weekends. I just coincidentally happened to catch part of it last weekend. I was a little bemused that they seemed to run disclaimers quite often when returning to the show. I remember when some cable station used to run this show in the middle of the afternoon when I was a little kid. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-benny-hill/593608/43 "2011-08-25T00:37:24Z")
Because this sketch makes fun of Benny Hill’s habit of ogling young, pretty women who nobody in real life who looks like him would have a chance with, this is one of the few sketches I really enjoy: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/qCYpk0ivqjo/hqdefault.jpg "Benny hill wishing well") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCYpk0ivqjo) ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-benny-hill/593608/44 "2011-08-25T01:10:55Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > I wouldn’t call the Carry On films “cultural treasures”, but Benny Hill was just a TV show, while the Carry On series were actual films. Yes, films made on a crappy set in Shepperton rather than in Hollywood, but still a much bigger deal. The Carry On series featured notable British comedy actors of the day, bigger names than Benny Hill. Perhaps an appropriate American comparison would be between the film _It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World_, with its all-star cast, and whatever sitcom was popular in the US in 1963. > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > _The Dick Van Dyke Show._ DvD is far better than _It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World_. Benny Hill seems to me to be the Brit equivalent of U.S. vaudeville humor. Dated? Sure. Lowbrow? Absolutely. Funny? Sometimes. Done right, vaudeville will make me laugh. So will Benny Hill. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-benny-hill/593608/45 "2011-08-25T02:28:21Z")
> [@Bakhesh](#): > > What is it with you guys and Benny Hill anyway? In the UK, it is widely regarded as the worst TV comedy show ever. The worse the better! How do the Brits feel about Monty Python? …Esp when they poke fun at the Queen? Benny Hill is to sexual innuendo as the Three Stooges are to high-class society! Both are classic! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-benny-hill/593608/46 "2011-08-25T10:12:23Z")
> [@SirRay](#): > > I have recently watched a number of Carry On films from different eras - the earlier ones (say before ‘Carry On Doctor’, such as Carry On Constable or Carry On Regardless) seem funnier (a lot funnier) than the later ones such as Carry on Behind or Carry On Abroad (from the 1970s), which seemed mostly to be proto-Benny Hill/proto-Man About the House/proto-Are You Being Served ‘sex’ comedies based on misunderstandings. The earlier Carry Ons, for all their faults, are still decent comedies. > I am not entirely sure what to think about ‘Carry On Columbus’, which was really pretty bad (OK, giving the Indians Yiddish accents was kinda cool), but that was a product of the 1990s. > > Benny Hill had some potential, some lines stand out in my memory after all these decades: “They were cheering and waving because they weren’t going” “Preserve Wildlife, Pickle a Squirrel today!”, the English civil war messenger skit (alas, that too fell into the 1970s English Comedy troupe of men-in-drag ), and a few others…the rest were randy nurses, girls being chased, and the old-man being smacked on the head… > > OK, maybe one more good Benny Hill joke: > Benny Hill hosting a quiz show: > [To Contestant #1, a very attractive & stacked lady] > Host: What is the name of the major tennis tournament held in London? > Host: [makes sound like “Wimble” while pretending to sneeze] > Contestant #1: Wimbledon! > > [To Contestant #2, an average looking man] > Host: How many people attended Wimbledon last year? > Contestant #2: 10,000 > Host: I’m sorry, it was 10,002. Thank you for playing. > > [To Contestant #3 - Jackie Wright, the bald old man] > Host: What were their names and addresses?" Actually, the 3rd question was: Q: “And, Jackie, can you give me their names and addresses?” A: “No I can’t, and that’s a correct answer!” ---
**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-benny-hill/593608/47 "2011-08-25T10:23:47Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > The worse the better! How do the Brits feel about Monty Python? …Esp when they poke fun at the Queen? Benny Hill is to sexual innuendo as the Three Stooges are to high-class society! Both are classic! 😃 Monty Python is pretty popular. Much of it still holds up, and the films are absolute classics. When it comes to the Queen, most brits have a sense of overwhelming indifference to the monarchy (unless there is a wedding on), so queen based humour is fine. Its a good point about the attitudes towards BH and the Carry on films. Both contain a lot of ‘dirty old man’ humour. I think the main difference is that Benny Hill outstayed its welcome, culturally. It was running well into the eighties, which was the era of political correctness. Carry Ons had already bitten the dust, and were remembered with more nostalgia. Apparently, when “the Benny Hill show” was cancelled, Benny simply could not understand why. His show made ITV a lot of money in exports, and he couldn’t understand that the comedy landscape had changed. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-benny-hill/593608/48 "2011-08-25T17:41:19Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > Actually, the 3rd question was: > Q: “And, Jackie, can you give me their names and addresses?” > A: “No I can’t, and that’s a correct answer!” Well, oops, that’s what happens when I hurriedly cut and paste from a untrusted website. I knew the old bald guy had won by some quirk in the last question, and that the Host (Benny) was pissed since the attractive woman would have won a trip for two to an exotic resort, and the host figured she’d take him since she had no boyfriend (or something like that). > [@](#): > > Its a good point about the attitudes towards BH and the Carry on films. Both contain a lot of ‘dirty old man’ humour. I think the main difference is that Benny Hill outstayed its welcome, culturally. It was running well into the eighties, which was the era of political correctness. Carry Ons had already bitten the dust, and were remembered with more nostalgia. Carry On indeed had petered out by the late 1970s (I think Carry On Emmauelle), but as I stated before oddly it came back in 1992 with Carry On Columbus, which, while it wasn’t painfully unfunny, certainly wasn’t on par with the earliest (1950s/1960s) Carry Ons. And since, according to Wiki, the long-planned ‘Carry On London’ was shelved after Peter Rogers’ death in 2009, I guess the Carry On series is well and truly ended And speaking of Wiki, it states the [Benny Hill show](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Hill_Show) ran in various forms from **1951** to 1991! 1951? How closely did the Benny Hill show of that era mirror the later era of Benny at his Peak (say mid-1970s). Or is the Wiki article just incorrect on the dates? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-benny-hill/593608/49 "2011-08-25T21:24:28Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Because this sketch makes fun of Benny Hill’s habit of ogling young, pretty women who nobody in real life who looks like him would have a chance with, this is one of the few sketches I really enjoy: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCYpk0ivqjo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCYpk0ivqjo) But that’s just it- Benny Hill knew better than anyone that the young, gorgeous girls he lusted after would never give him the time of day! All of Benny’s attempts to score with cute girls end disastrously, and he invariably has to run for his life (from the cops, from the girls’ muscular boyfriends, whoever) to the tune of “Yakkity Sax.” If Benny had gotten to score with a gorgeous young thing, that WOULD have been creepy. But he never did. Benny Hill’s saving grace is that the joke is always on HIM. I recall one sketch where Benny is supposed to be an actor auditioning for an erotic role. He gets to HEAR the casting director on the phone saying, “I asked for a young stud- the one you sent me is 45 and fat!” Does that sound like Benny had any illusions about his own attractiveness or sex appeal? ---
**Author:** ![longPath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@longPath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/longPath)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-benny-hill/593608/50 "2011-08-25T22:34:36Z")
Benny Hill runs on Vision TV in Canada. Often, just prior to Father Ted. That’s about the only reason I watch it. It seemed a lot funnier back in the day. Then it occurred to me that it may be a “modern” version of Music Hall type entertainment which probably fell out of favour when moving pictures took over. I like it a bit better now. (except for the “pat the old, bald guy on the head” shtick) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-benny-hill/593608/51 "2011-08-25T23:14:14Z")
[This is what happened to him](http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/h/Benny%20Hill/grave.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-benny-hill/593608/52 "2011-08-25T23:38:46Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > DvD is far better than _It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World_. This. I have no idea why that movie is regarded so highly. Or regarded as funny. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-benny-hill/593608/53 "2011-08-25T23:51:00Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > This. I have no idea why that movie is regarded so highly. Or regarded as funny. It brought together a larger number of veteran comedians and comedic performers than ever before in a big-budget movie created for the ultimate motion-picture experience (Cinerama) at the technical peak of that kind of entertainment. A Blu-Ray disc on a big screen home TV pales in comparison. I don’t think it ever achieved its goals, but that was the laudable intention. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-benny-hill/593608.md?page=2)