Ummm... no. Not even close, no offense. So, the dead parrot sketch - which was voted in 2004 by Radio Times as the best alternative comedy sketch up to that point. Is hilarious... only 10% due to the writing? Okaaay. I guarantee you John Cleese (who co-wrote it) will disagree with you. And that goes for almost, every great sketch in comedy history. Sadly, the masses do not understand the process. So, since all they see is the actors. They assume that it is the actors that make the scene funny, not the scripts. The actors enhance a scene - that is all (with a few exceptions). Please watch the famous Jerry Seinfeld awards acceptance speech in 2007 when he spoke about actors. Actors are - often - highly overrated. ☮
@@McRocket freshman year of college, a couple of my friends did the parrot sketch for a variety show. It was their favorite bit they'd watched it a hundred times. Did the whole thing word-for-word just as written on the page. It bombed.
@bridgecross No offense intended. But surely you have been on the internet long enough to realize that making unproven claims on social media means little. So, are you and the masses seriously claiming that brilliant comedic series like Father Ted, Monty Python, The IT Crowd, Reds Dwarf (before Rob Grant left), The Simpsons (pre season 11), Seinfeld, Frasier (original), SCTV, Curb Your Enthusiasm, WKRP in Cincinnati, Arrested Development, M*A*S*H*, The Big Bang Theory, 3rd Rock From the Sun, Barney Miller, Mitchell and Webb and the like? That the writing was actually a minor/insignificant reason for their greatness? Come on now. It starts and ends with the writing. Even most actors will tell you that. Actors can definitely enhance/improve a script. And they can definitely wreck a script. But in the vast majority of cases - a funny sketch/show is primarily due to the scripts. But since most people only see the actors and they know little of the creative process? They usually assume it is the actors who create the comedy - not the writers and the producers/directors/crew. ☮
@@bridgecross Believe it. I regularly tell extremely well written jokes.... Let's say, being the "funny guy" is not the thing I am most recognized for 😑
Okay, the special effects for the Armoured Scorpion of Death are well beyond anything I’ve ever seen in a sketch show before. That’s like Terminator 2 quality there.
I wonder one thing. Did he actually not want his machines to be destroyed by that ghastly hammer? Was it all a pretension when he was badgering them unceasingly?
I still absolutely love the sudden sass of "i'm onto you Major Agnew, yeah i got your number" that comes in. Great way to escalate and continue the bits, this show had so many well written and made sketches.
-"One question which obviously leaps to mind professor...professor...erm" -"Death" "Professor Death, is why on Earth you elected to name this contraption of yours 'The Giant Death'...oh I see.
@@flyforce16 He's specifically doing a "mid-atlantic" American accent - the kind that was standard for TV and radio announcers back in the 1940's and earlier. It's an artificial accent - not the way anyone naturally spoke if I recall correctly - and a very affected sound; it also does have some British sounds in it, as it was an attempt by some Americans to sound closer to the "more cultured" British. David Mitchell's actually pretty good at it - but it's not a "standard" American accent, either.
The doom melon has to be the best anti climax. When I first saw this sketch, thought Robert was going to say the Doom melon is ... Well, it's My Lunch...
We're currently so short staffed on the day shift at work, that that Armoured Scorpion of Death Assistant (ASDA), would be really useful where I work.....Can't say where that is obviously!.....As*a!
"The DEATH Star (TM) is a large scale lighting application designed for all your intergalactic illumination endeavours." "Well, surely, the military app..." "NOOOOO, the DEATH Star was supposed to HELP mankind, not DESTROY it"
It may be a parody of the inventor of Dynamite, Mr Nobel. He thought Dynamite would be such a deadly weapon that it would stop mankind from ever wanting to go to war again and.....Well, I don't think I need to tell you what happened next.
@@muradm7748 Oh no, Hiram Maxim had abolutely no peace loving intentions. The idea that a machine gun would give a couple of guys the firepower of an entire army, and thus decrease the size of armies and of casualties, comes from Mr. Gatling, not Maxim.
Nobel wanted the dynamite to be used in mining and building sectors as nitrocglycerin in pure form is unstable so it would save life. He was also of course in for the money as the dynamite made him really rich. The dynamite was used to build bombs and other explosives like mines he was disappointed, bcs his name would be forever linked with that. It is one of the major reason he set up the peace price and the other prices so his name would be linked to help science in the nobel prize fund after his death as his will stated. Anyhow the sketch is really funny lmao.
Mr President: "We can drop these nuclear bombs on select cities in Japa-" Oppenheimer: "NOOOOO! I'M SORRY MR PRESIDENT I MEANT THE NUCLEAR BOMBS TO HELP MANKIND NOT DESTROY IT!"
I see the confusion... his name is actually spelled 'Deth' though. I guess the president was only told that verbally. His first name is Krul and he comes from a family of engineers. His father was called Imenant.
I just loved Peep Show so much that I couldn't bring myself to watch this at the time. It's p*** yourself funny now though, would have been then if I'd watched it. 😓
Nah, peaceful atom was an earlier idea. It's just that a bomb is, well, a hell of a lot easier to figure out from scratch than an optimal nuclear power setup.
Somewhere, in an alternate universe, Webb and Mitchell make full feature parodies of the Marvel Universe. Now if I can just figure out how to get there.
@aeternamente13 To me he sounds like the stereotypical late 19th Century-early to mid 20th century American, but then again thats only what I've seen from old movies (Psycho, Sunset Boulevard, Double Indemnity, etc).
This sketch is all I could think about during Oppenheimer
''The Jap-zapper device was used to bomb Japan? NOOO I'm going insane!!!''
@@jackdutton3534 More like: NOOOOOO I'll lose my key card.
"This bomb was created to help mankind, not destroy it!"
this comment killed me 😂😂😂 the comparison is hard to unsee
He was a true hypocrite wasn’t he. 😂
This sketch is the perfect illustration that comedy is 90% delivery: "Giant death ray? A...military application?" Just brilliant.
Ummm... no.
Not even close, no offense.
So, the dead parrot sketch - which was voted in 2004 by Radio Times as the best alternative comedy sketch up to that point.
Is hilarious... only 10% due to the writing?
Okaaay.
I guarantee you John Cleese (who co-wrote it) will disagree with you.
And that goes for almost, every great sketch in comedy history.
Sadly, the masses do not understand the process.
So, since all they see is the actors.
They assume that it is the actors that make the scene funny, not the scripts.
The actors enhance a scene - that is all (with a few exceptions).
Please watch the famous Jerry Seinfeld awards acceptance speech in 2007 when he spoke about actors.
Actors are - often - highly overrated.
☮
@@McRocket freshman year of college, a couple of my friends did the parrot sketch for a variety show. It was their favorite bit they'd watched it a hundred times. Did the whole thing word-for-word just as written on the page. It bombed.
@bridgecross No offense intended.
But surely you have been on the internet long enough to realize that making unproven claims on social media means little.
So, are you and the masses seriously claiming that brilliant comedic series like Father Ted, Monty Python, The IT Crowd, Reds Dwarf (before Rob Grant left), The Simpsons (pre season 11), Seinfeld, Frasier (original), SCTV, Curb Your Enthusiasm, WKRP in Cincinnati, Arrested Development, M*A*S*H*, The Big Bang Theory, 3rd Rock From the Sun, Barney Miller, Mitchell and Webb and the like?
That the writing was actually a minor/insignificant reason for their greatness?
Come on now.
It starts and ends with the writing.
Even most actors will tell you that.
Actors can definitely enhance/improve a script.
And they can definitely wreck a script.
But in the vast majority of cases - a funny sketch/show is primarily due to the scripts.
But since most people only see the actors and they know little of the creative process?
They usually assume it is the actors who create the comedy - not the writers and the producers/directors/crew.
☮
@@bridgecross Believe it. I regularly tell extremely well written jokes....
Let's say, being the "funny guy" is not the thing I am most recognized for 😑
I like how he says the sting fires 'helpful bullets' without clarifying why they're helpful at all.
Well, that one should be obvious.. they are veeery helpful in motivating low wage employees.
@@monostripezebras So this is the next generation Amazon Warehouse robot?
Same as peacemakers gun I guess
@@monostripezebras nah they are helpful dealing with karens
@@bugfeatures WAGIE WAGIE
At last a 5 minute version of the "you can't fight in here, this is the war room" joke
Okay, the special effects for the Armoured Scorpion of Death are well beyond anything I’ve ever seen in a sketch show before. That’s like Terminator 2 quality there.
I like how Robert Webb's accent oscillates between German Scientist and James Mason.
sounds kinda like God, or an evil giraffe
"If you were to increase the intensity of its beam....?"
"Intensity? YESSS?"
Best delivery of al ine ever.
NOOOOO! IT WAS SUPPOSED TO HELP MANKIND!
NOT DESTROY IT!!
"NNNNOOOOOO! ZE DOOM MELON...still needs some work."
Oh god, I can't stop laughing.
Are you still laughing?
@@Mahalo_83 yes
I wonder one thing. Did he actually not want his machines to be destroyed by that ghastly hammer? Was it all a pretension when he was badgering them unceasingly?
Oh, I always thought it was “dew melon.” Lol
I still absolutely love the sudden sass of "i'm onto you Major Agnew, yeah i got your number" that comes in. Great way to escalate and continue the bits, this show had so many well written and made sketches.
-"One question which obviously leaps to mind professor...professor...erm"
-"Death"
"Professor Death, is why on Earth you elected to name this contraption of yours 'The Giant Death'...oh I see.
Yep, those are the lines we just heard in the thing we just watched.
@@JackVermicelli 闭嘴
@@JackVermicelli Yeah, but they were very good. So good that it was easy to forget to do the accent for that line :D
That moment when the General realizes what he's spent all his appropriation on.
@@mikhailiagacesa3406 I mean, the line item was probably "Scientific Research for Death Projects".
Oh my god, David Mitchell's American accent is atrocious. I love it.
I think it's pretty good
@@flyforce16 He's specifically doing a "mid-atlantic" American accent - the kind that was standard for TV and radio announcers back in the 1940's and earlier. It's an artificial accent - not the way anyone naturally spoke if I recall correctly - and a very affected sound; it also does have some British sounds in it, as it was an attempt by some Americans to sound closer to the "more cultured" British.
David Mitchell's actually pretty good at it - but it's not a "standard" American accent, either.
It's so bad that it borders on Irish lol
@@timlicht2670 No, it's just balls.
@@Vesnicie No, he's right. It's a mid-Atlantic accent. This character is obviously based on Franklin D. Roosevelt - that's how he spoke.
I can't believe the production work that went into this simple sketch
"No!!!! I created the laser-wielding armoured scorpion of Death to help mankind, not destroy!"
"No!!!! I created the laser-wielding armoured scorpion of Death to help mankind, not destroy!"
"No!!!! I created the laser-wielding armoured scorpion of Death to help mankind, not destroy!"
"No!!!! I created the laser-wielding armoured scorpion of Death to help mankind, not destroy!"
No, I created the atom bomb to help mankind not destroy it.
Robert Oppenheimer (probably)
"No!!!! I created the laser-fitted armoured scorpion of Death to help mankind, not destroy!"
"It shoots helpful bullets!" xD
Weeeeelllllll bullets _are_ general helpful, to someone.
I love the beginning. "You should not be here. This is private property."
The doom melon has to be the best anti climax. When I first saw this sketch, thought Robert was going to say the Doom melon is ... Well, it's My Lunch...
Same
It’s a Gallagher joke!
The Deaeth ray sketch is very good. There was a guy round our way used to sell life insurance his name was Deaeth. His wife was a marriage celebrant
Oppenheimer 2 seconds after inventing the nuke
Every science major in an ethics class.
I was interested in the implications of the doom melon to help mankind....for good, of course.
"It fires helpful bullets!"
Gonna tell my kids this was Oppenheimer. XD
I love that the kept in the crazy flubbed line of "laser plated armoured scorpion of death"
He actually says "Laser fitted armored scorpion of Death", so there was no flub! (Death had a captial D, since it is his name)
We're currently so short staffed on the day shift at work, that that Armoured Scorpion of Death Assistant (ASDA), would be really useful where I work.....Can't say where that is obviously!.....As*a!
I feel like this one sketch could be it's own show XD
My great uncle actually invented the barcode scanner, so he must have worked with Professor Death.
I like that the president of the US rides in a car with the steering wheel on the right
"Oh I see !" that killed me 😀
Mitchell and Webb are unique. Such a good sketch...
Interesting man, that Professor Death; I hope he shows up again
This sketch accounts for 90% of the M&W budget lmao
The Armored Scorpion Of Death from a British sketch show has better CGI than a modern Marvel film
I wonder if he had the original designs for the DEATH Star.
"The DEATH Star (TM) is a large scale lighting application designed for all your intergalactic illumination endeavours."
"Well, surely, the military app..."
"NOOOOO, the DEATH Star was supposed to HELP mankind, not DESTROY it"
@@captain_kadaver He'd need an extremely large mallet to destroy that invention.
NO! The death video was uploaded to help mankind, not to destroy it!
XD
The unlimited energy bomb is actually terrifying.
terrifyingly WONDERFUL!
Not sure if its a good idea to bash it with a hammer
I have become Death, savour of worlds.
Scanning material still was useful for quartermasters in maintaining inventories.
Sketches that really make you laugh.
the last line just kills me, the writing is so good.
This is literally the entire plot of _Oppenheimer._
Not quite literally!
This might be the cleverest thing ever committed to film
That Deathscorpion would be great for clearing minefields and dealing with ordinance.
The budget on this one!
This is the most important video in the world.
But does it have military applications?
If you really think about it, this is basically how the govt and Nikolai Tesla interacted with each other.
It may be a parody of the inventor of Dynamite, Mr Nobel.
He thought Dynamite would be such a deadly weapon that it would stop mankind from ever wanting to go to war again and.....Well, I don't think I need to tell you what happened next.
you confuse dynamite with maxim gun
But nukes, they work for that instead right? 😋👀🙃
@@muradm7748 Oh no, Hiram Maxim had abolutely no peace loving intentions. The idea that a machine gun would give a couple of guys the firepower of an entire army, and thus decrease the size of armies and of casualties, comes from Mr. Gatling, not Maxim.
Nobel wanted the dynamite to be used in mining and building sectors as nitrocglycerin in pure form is unstable so it would save life. He was also of course in for the money as the dynamite made him really rich. The dynamite was used to build bombs and other explosives like mines he was disappointed, bcs his name would be forever linked with that. It is one of the major reason he set up the peace price and the other prices so his name would be linked to help science in the nobel prize fund after his death as his will stated.
Anyhow the sketch is really funny lmao.
Mr President: "We can drop these nuclear bombs on select cities in Japa-"
Oppenheimer: "NOOOOO! I'M SORRY MR PRESIDENT I MEANT THE NUCLEAR BOMBS TO HELP MANKIND NOT DESTROY IT!"
More accurate than Oppenheimer.
Look like a scene straight out of C&C Red Alert 2!
I see the confusion... his name is actually spelled 'Deth' though. I guess the president was only told that verbally.
His first name is Krul and he comes from a family of engineers. His father was called Imenant.
The writers of this one must have played a lot of command & conquer.
The president drives around in an imported British automobile.
James had the best line in this
Unlimited power bomb?
that scorpion could be used at children's parties
Now I kind of wish I could find a mad inventor of slightly german descent and ask if his name may indeed be Professor Death
especially if his mother is welsh
It's a James Mason impression.
@cetnikz
Rob wasn't trying to do an American accent, it's supposed to be the accent of a stereotypical evil scientist accent, i.e eastern European.
My favourite Mitchell and Webb sketch "NOOOOOOOOO"
It's so good I had to watch it twice!
Maybe it's the Mills in me, but military applications pops into my mind first.
Helpful bullets are ballistic missiles which will provide, to the target, quite irresistible advice.
Professor Death Pulitzer Peace Prize Winner.
Basically,opennheimer
Oppenheimer:
Never loading my gun unless the bullets are helpful.
I for one want to see the finished doom melon.
To be fair, the doom melon would have killed them all when smashed, so it's probably good that he was unable to finish it.
Mitch's American accent is pretty good!
They gotta get that scorpion together with ED209 from Robocop 🤣
Two people want his inventions used for evil. Poor Professor Death.
If only more scientists exhibited that level of integrity.
Sometimes you can help mankind by deleting a certain subsection of it, however.
"A giant death ray? Military application?"
I feel he has overestimated the power of an average hammer.
2025 and more relevant than ever 😂
I just loved Peep Show so much that I couldn't bring myself to watch this at the time. It's p*** yourself funny now though, would have been then if I'd watched it. 😓
When it beeps, I always lose kt 😅😊
Music in the beginning reminds me of Mass Effect
@aeternamente13
Judging by his attire and the fact that he seems to be US President, I think he's supposed to be Harry S Truman.
the helpful bullets are obviously to help people not abuse the self checkout lane to just get free stuff.
This was literally the first idea that was dreamed up when we split the atom. "We can make a bomb out of it!"
Nah, peaceful atom was an earlier idea. It's just that a bomb is, well, a hell of a lot easier to figure out from scratch than an optimal nuclear power setup.
"Still needs some work" made me LOL
Somewhere, in an alternate universe, Webb and Mitchell make full feature parodies of the Marvel Universe. Now if I can just figure out how to get there.
Why I oughta… 👋
So good hahaha
i want my own Doom Melon!
Him and Dr. Mobius would get along.
The doom melon... still needs some work...
Lol the guys from peep show. awsome
awwww
I was expecting David Mitchell aka Mr. Haggerstone to ask Professor Death if he has a license for inventing things or a permit to do such stuff 😂
What piece of music is playing at the beginning? Is there a collection of stock movie soundtracks?
I've only just noticed that their American car is right hand drive.
@aeternamente13
To me he sounds like the stereotypical late 19th Century-early to mid 20th century American, but then again thats only what I've seen from old movies (Psycho, Sunset Boulevard, Double Indemnity, etc).
Agnu is my best friend in Kenshi!
I got a doom melon for Christmas
khaenri'ahn engineers when making the ruin guards, probably
Helpfull bullets lol
Why did the mussel of the giant death ray recoil when it fired?
Also why are there shells ejected whenever a rifle fires on the GI-JOE cartoon?
1. Because its CGI.
2. Because it's a cartoon.
Why is he hammering on a bomb?
The doom melon