For many years, my favourite comedy shows, and here I have to keep it in plural for now, as I was never able to separate them, ( and yet the odd thing is, despite a very loose / tenuous link in the form of the Military, they were as different as chalk and cheese ) - these were Bilko and Dad's Army
Bilko I loved Bilko purely for the fact that a card shark / pool hall sheister fitted so well into the ranks of the US Army. Phil Silvers had his character down to the last - never miss an opportunity from reveille to lights out; always remember that an army unit is a captive custom / audience ; someone is bound to have some money, even late in the month, and always remember that the hype is what it is indeed all about - don't run a dance in September - throw leaves in someone's face and call it an Autumn Ball. Bilko himself said the success was down to simply everyone at that period ( late 50s ) havimg someone in the family, or at least had a friend or neighbour who was in the army; now who am I to disagree with such genius, but, I am not sure of that. I really believe it was down to the writing and the casting, starting with Mr Silvers, and then the creation of the rest of the cast - the hard done to Colonel, exasperated with years and years of scams colouring the character of the camp, and in particular, Bilko's very own Motor Pool; the ubiquitous trusty side kicks Henshaw and Barbella, with a slight rub to this, which we will come back to in a sec. Then less central characters who are enemies of Bilko and yet stupid with it; if they fell once for a scam, then, despite swearing never again on top of some blood curdling cry of revenge, they also fell for the next scam. Then, the ever-present idiot-cum-slob - in this case - one Private Doberman. I tend not to like Hollywood / US TV dumbos, Travolta's Horshack, and later on, the Screech character from Saved by the Bell are embarrassing, but, Maurice Gosfield is a delight as the scruffy, podgy, dense-headed Private. I'll never forget the episode where Bilko convinced a visiting comedian that his own material was useless for the camp and the area, got him to make simple references to wood, the pre-prompted audience laughed out loud on cue, then the comedian left, the whole theatre bar one stopped the forced laughter immediately - the bar one was Doberman who was still laughing - classic.
Ok, back to something on Bilko's relationship with Henshaw and Barbella; one of the best things about Bilko is, in the final analysis, he never wanted to hurt anyone really, and if things were going too far and would affect someone adversely, he would kill the scheme dead, much to the annoyance of his side-kicks. So here we do not have the at least a force for tempering the underhandedness of the leader if not an angel on the shoulder, as is the formula in comedy and perhaps serious drama, but quite the opposite; here it is the man at the top who pulls it all back before getting in the killer punch. The new boy, whether officer or ranker, never ever did lose their bank roll to the sheister, not in Bilko anyway. God Bless him.
Clip from Bilko
And onto the other comedy which was my joint favourite for many years : -
Dad's Army Again, the only link with Bilko is tenuous in relation to its lofty position in my bonce. The show dealt with a group of civilians in Walmington-On-Sea who, although holding down day jobs, came together as a Home Guard unit. I rank Dad's Army so highly because of a phenomenal tie up in many ways. Firstly, the conception - the writers, Jimmy Perry and David Croft, in their genius managed to encapsulate and preserve forever the then dying breed of the former generation, themselves brought up in a country of stiff upper lips, Queen and Country - and Empire. I haven't space to explain this too much, but if I say it was the ' I fought for you lot!' brigade, ( or the old major or Colonel with his own pewter mug sat at the end of the bar of The Jolly Ferret ), brought together to entertain us for 30 minutes each week, that goes some way to explaining it. The cast themselves, although having a wide age range from the youngest to the oldest, were at least brought up with the war mentality, if not actually being part of it, and so literally knew what they were doing rather than just reading from the script.
Captain Mainwaring, played to perfection by Arthur Lowe, was a snob, but, and you have to take your cap off to the writers for this, more of a tuppence hapenny snob, in some ways, with a huge chip on his shoulder to boot. He had only really succeeded in his civilian career in banking late in life; and his lowly roots blocked any chance of access to and being accepted by the social elite of his home town of Walmington-on-Sea. This set up his strained relationship with his deputy in the bank, and then deputy in the Home Guard, very nicely indeed. John Le Mesurier played Sergeant Wilson, a far more refined and nicer character than Mainwaring, but, for reasons which are never truly explained, his upper crust ways were not backed up with the trappings one associates with such a refined character; but that did not matter to Mainwaring - he viewed Wilson as someone who managed quite effortlessly and thus undeseverdly at least in his mind, to be nearer the county blue bloods if not part of it. This was borne out on 2 occasions that I can recall ( there may have been more ), but, Wilson gets invited to join the Golf Club, Mainwaring does not, and later, Wilson then gets the title of 'Honourable' inferred upon him; both occasions infuriated Captain Mainwaring.
From the rest of the cast we get snapshots of life and its inherent social hierarchy which punctuated the era. Private Godfrey, played by a very very old Arnold Ridley, actually let us in on life years before, not just the wartime in which the series was set; but we also got delightful images of tea and cucumber sandwiches and upside down cakes and cream scones in a cottage garden, enjoyed by the charming but ineffective Godfrey and his 2 older doting sisters. This scene would be fitting for any Edwardian drama, and cleverly provided a link to what was, and shows what many ( supposedly ) held dear in the light of invasion by an enemy. At this point, maybe yours too, my own socialist leanings have to be suspended in the name of art. Ok, space again means some judicial grouping has to be, but hopefully, I can impart the flavour of the show nonetheless. Two characters represented the limitations of supplies during the war; Corporal Jones, or in the dayime - the local butcher - the episodes where he slyly pulls out a little pack of sausages from under the counter for his favourite customers only for others to see and then cause a scene are priceless. He was also a veteran of 'the last lot' and it did not take too much of an excuse to regale the lads with tales of the Great War, and even more so, the Sudan. Then of course, you cannot have war time Britain without a spiv / wide boy. Private Walker had the lot: coupons, nylons, cigarettes, chocolate, whiskey, and more. For 99.9% of the time, this was seriously frowned upon by Mainwaring, unless he found himself short of whiskey. He would harumph, then pay the grossly inflated price. But, Walker was a good member of the squad, and this was his redeeming feature. And of the rest? Well, we had an idiot boy, Pike, who never really knew why his boss and sergeant was staying in his house with his mother, nor did the penny drop after years of calling the said Wilson, 'Uncle' Arthur. Also, there was a Sassenach hating dour Scot - an undertaker by the name of Frazer. He hated Mainwaring and all he stood for and delighted in catching him out and calling his bluff. He was also at times more the actor John Laurie than the character, when he went into his 'lonely winter nights on the Loch / a castle / at sea' regaling the troop with a chilling tale, sometimes para' to their current predicament, and which ended with the spine tingling conclusion 'we're all doomed'. There was also the less central characters; a gruff uncouth greengrocer and ARP Warden - Mr Hodges - despised by Mainwaring and the whole squad, but in turn Hodges hated them and Mainwaring in particular; then there was an effeminate Vicar and his Sextant, who both seemed to resent the war in general and Mainwaring in particular, purely because the church hall was commandeered as the Home Guard's meeting place and parade point. Then, the very occasional but brilliant Captain Square and his own lackies - regular soldiers who looked down on their Home Guard opposites; the main funny here was that in 9 years, Square never did say Mainwaring's name correctly, always Main and Waring rather than the phonetic Mannering.
Finally on this, I would just like to add that Dad's Army was one of the few exceptions when it came to transferring to the big screen; most British sitcoms that did this, bombed, but not this; it is a good film, starting again at the outbreak of the war and covering the first year or so, culminating in the Squad's capturing of German airmen.
Clip from Dad's Army
Right, those were my joint favourites for many years, but, they were edged out ever so slightly a few years ago by an absolutely brilliant spin off of an existing US comedy Cheers and this was of course...
Frasier Played by Kelsey 'Sideshow Bob' Grammer. Firstly, and more to do with the producers and writers - the show was ( and still is courtesy of the repeats / reruns ) the best exponent of the artistic maxim Less is More. There is more crammed into the 18 to 20 minutes of air time than any other comedy which squeezes the ads by weighing in at the 25 minute plus mark. But of course, there has to be more reasons why it is the tops. It is a highly unusual situation where a down to earth policeman ( retired in the show ) with no airs and graces ( but, not a slob ), has two sons who are the personification of, to be harsh - snobbery - or to suspend this and look at it from their point of view - culture, refinement, standards, appreciation of the best, ( snobbery to you and me, perhaps. ) But, it was all down to their ( late ) mother not their father; she too apparently had an appreciation of art and culture, the best things in life, but, was by all accounts, not a snob. It seems as if the two boys simply took all this to an extreme, and it was an extreme which saw each boy struggle badly in school when it came to doing boyish things like climbing trees and riding bikes, they knew not how, but, they both had high IQs, a recipe for disaster for any kids like this in the State Sector. But, fast forward to where we see them: they have lost their mother, Frasier gets a divorce from Lilleth, moves back from Boston ( Cheers ) to live with his father and work as a radio psychiatrist at the local radio station. Niles, ( David Hyde Pierce ) Frasier's brother, lives nearby with his wife whom he does not love, Maris, and instead, and it is done brilliantly and somewhat covertly in the show, is quite taken by his father's live-in nurse and helper, Daphne. The show's ongoing theme is that of both brothers but centering on the eponymous Frasier, struggling to cope with any situation they see as beneath them, but, are also piggies in the middle as they struggle to gain acceptance by the country club set. Two episodes deal specifically with this; one is literally a private club set in an old manor house, trouble is, one gets accepted by accident, the other rejected due to the job he is believed to hold, but the club committee have got them mixed up. Frasier is offered membership, Niles shakes his hand and wishes him well, but, he cannot stay away and in the end, arrives at the club to tell them all he would not want to join such a place anyway ( and worse ), just as Frasier becomes aware of the error, he makes a few attempts to stop Niles going into a diatribe on the snobbishness of the club, but does not succeed. Niles rips into the chair and committee, Frasier finally tells him, then Niles begs to stay, and both are shown the door. The other similar scenario is a reworking of an old joke which goes nowhere : they join a private Health Club only to see members passing them with better looking club gear, walking through a doorway at the end of the room. It turns out that within the club, are degrees of membership, and to progrees means you have to pay for the privilege. Trouble is, it does not happen once but several times; they eventually join the Platinum Club, walk through this particular door, and find themselves out in the street, short of several hundred dollars, and unable to get back in at all. And what is good about Frasier, the show and the man ( and the actor ) deals with flashbacks and updates on Cheers very well indeed. In one episode Diane gets Frasier to agree to attend a rehearsal of a play she wrote about the Cheers years and about her short relationship with Frasier. But, the characters in Frasier's mind are not quite right and walks onto the stage to correct them all, when he has done so, he turns and walks out the fake exit of the mock up of the bar, he realises his error, comes back in, smiles, and says , 'sorry, force of habit'. Brilliant.
Clip from Frasier
And now onto something completely different ...
Monty Python's Flying Circus The 7 man team of John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam, or the Pythons as they have become collectively known as, were and still are the best exponents of off the wall comedy. They took the unstructured humour of Spike Milligan and the Goons, the biting wit and mocking of the Establishment perfected by Beyond the Fringe and TW3, added their own twists and touches, and of course Terry G's animations, and they quickly established themselves to be far and away the most imaginitive exponents of whacky humour on the planet. They did and still do leave all others coughing on their dust. As for Brian, he is not the Messiah, he is a very naughty boy, so wrote Arthur Two Sheds Jackson. Oh, Terry G is to be considered as listed twice as he is so fat now, hence 'the 7 man team'.
Clip from Monty Python's Flying Circus
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin Leonard Rossiter's portrayal of a man tired of life, or to be more accurate, tired of Mr Average, tired of commuting, tired of suited civil servants reading the Times, tired of the same old same old. His way out? To 'die' and then opt out, only for that to go wrong, then he opens up a shop selling useless objects, The Grot Shop. Trouble is, his twisted cocking a snoop at society does not work, and this is shown no more brilliantly than when he hires what he perceives to be an idiot in the form of an Irish Navvy ( '...you thought you had hired an eejut from the land of the bogs and the little people' so said the Navvy ). Turns out he had a brilliant business brain and helped the Grot shop to be a runaway success. What also helped the show to be so good, were his long suffering wife, his sponging brother in law whose stock phrase was ' I had a cock up on the catering front' if he needed money for food, and various cock ups on various fronts depending on what he needed money for, he also happened to be the leader of his own private army to protect the country from going to the dogs. Then his old boss, CJ, played by John Barron, his stock phrase was ' I didn't get where I was today..' this was followed by some ridiculous conclusion, sometimes tied in to deny a request from Reginald or other workers. CJs two lackies did nothing but say 'great!' and 'super!' to any and all of CJ's suggestions which are really dictats. Highly original show, loved by millions.
Clip from The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads It is no surprise that the 2 stars, Rodney Bewes ( Bob ) and James Bolam ( Terry ) no longer speak, the parts they played seemed to echo their real life personalities and relationship. This was a great great great piece of work; daily life in a former industrial giant, 2 friends growing up, drifting apart, then brought back together again by fate. Although a comedy, I suspect many a man of this era felt a lump in their throat when thinking back to friends they thought they would have as friends forever, only for it to be far from the case. A little like the old man in The Family Way.
Clip from Whatever happened to the Likely Lads
Steptoe and Son Starring Wilfred Bramble as the uncouth slob of a father, and Harry H Corbett, the artistically and culturally repressed son; together they are Steptoe and Son - Rag and Bone Men. For this, I have to admit that what is left to show, is mostly 'past it'. A very serious victim of BBC tape wiping in the 60s and 70s, and I feel very ( and pointlessly ) angry at this. Now, just like the Beatles short time at the top as a group, it is not about time in the ordinary sense of the word, it is about time as in progress; what happens over a certain period of time / what the artist in question did in the time they had to do it, against the backdrop of progress generally. The 60s saw a massive shift away from a grey depressed Britain to one with literally and figuratively, a brighter future. When Steptoe and Son, a tale of a London rag and bone - father and son company, hit the screens in 1962 as part of a weekly round of plays, it was an instant hit and went on to be its own series and was a phenomenal success. The trouble was, its peak years were still in the last vestiges of 'greyness' all around, and the social comment which always helps a comedy show be more than just this, was very highly evident; although business men of sorts, the father and son were still on the us side of 'us and them', and all this is now lost. Of the tapes that have survived, these are set in far better times anyway and could no longer be a true witness to such social polarity. But, if you can, please do watch the original Playhouse Theatre pilot. It sets the trend of the son, with more artistic and cultural leanings than his position allows, threatening to leave his father and the rotten hole which is both their home and heart of their business, such as it was, and to go off for a better life. Here's the most poignant bit: he loads up the cart with his stuff, only for the father to take the horse away. The son - ( and the viewer is left with not so much the reality of a man trying to escape his impoverished surroundings, but more of a frustrated dream of the same ) - pushes on the now horseless cart; it was never going to go anywhere and the son well knew this, but, if only ...
One final note on this; like many comedy partnerships, the onscreen chemistry comes with its own reaction; like with the Likely Lads, the two did not get on in real life, for very much the same reasons as the father and son did not get on well on the show. Sad, but there you are.
Clip from Steptoe and Son
Ok, all of the above were and still are, far and away the best comedies ever seen on UK TV, ( yes, 2 are US shows we know this ... ), but now comes a fair few comedies which I did enjoy, they were just not as top notch as the ones listed so far.
Porridge Superb prison comedy starring Ronnie Barker, Richard Beckinsale, Fulton Mackay, Brian 'Foggy' Wilde, and more.
Clip from Porridge
Terry and June ( Had other names over the years but most know it by this ) Starring Terry Scott and June Whitfield as Terry and June ( original! ) Medford. Much maligned by critics and sadly, many ordinary Joe's alike, but, I don't care. I thought this knew its territory, and stuck to it well. Middle Class suburbia with all the trappings. The real appeal was in the stupidity of Terry Scott's Terry Medford, especially when abused and harangued by his boss, Sir Dennis Hodge, played magnificently by Reginald Marsh; if I said ex-military colonial blusterer, you get the idea. The plots were thin, but it didn't matter. My favourite is when Terry's planned session / shoot to take a portrait style photograph of his boss is ruined when Sir Denis realises Terry's camera is Japanese. Non-PC we know, but, given the boss's character, fitted in well. June Whitfield also played the long suffering wife, June Medford, exceptionally well.
Clip from Terry and June
One Foot in the Grave Starring Richard Wilson and Annette Crosby. The life and times ( and trials ) of a pensioner who seems to get his just deserts ( and sometimes unjust to be fair ). Victor Meldrew ( Wilson ) is not just a curmudgeon, that is unfair to curmudgeons, he hates officialdom with a vengeance and each episode sees him get in all sorts of crazy situations, with his anger only making things worse. The episode where he has to get up quickly in the middle of the night and go into the garden and ends up wearing a dead hedgehog for a slipper just about says it all.
Clip from One Foot in the Grave
And here endeth my list of favourite TV comedies. Classics every one, in my opinion anyway.
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