Dad's Army "Don't tell him Pike", Only Fools and Horses "play it nice and cool son, nice and cool.. You know what I mean?" Two iconic sketches from two British comedies that stand the test of time. Edited to correct spelling!
They weren't sketches, they were scenes. We may as well involve scenes from films, standup routines, comedy songs and even books. Surely it's best to distinguish sometimes? These were clearly 'sketches'... from sketch shows, I'll guess you know what a sketch show is? Pretty sure Watch Mojo has another list of greatest sitcom moments in which your choices (Ithey'd be among mine as well) were included.
@@carlhartwell7978 point taken. Though would still recommend that those not familiar with the scenes mentioned check them out as examples of classic British TV comedy.
Unfortunatley Dad's Army aren't sketch but situatinal, and that is the issue here, it is not covering sitcoms but sketch. And they don't like it up em. Don't Panic! Don't Panic!
All these faces you have seen are totally famous in UK.....all amazing actors, comedy writers and original thinker. All much loved for years. You would love a whole episode. Each of these sketches belongs to entire Series of weeks of laughter.
"The puppet thing never really caught on in America." A stool sits upon an empty stage. A lone frog puppet walks forlornly out and sits upon the stool. He sings a touching, heart felt, lament about the struggles, trials and tribulations of being green.
The puppets, as you called them were all caricatures of famous figures, politicians and the royal family as it was. The premise of the show was to send up these famous characters, mocking their mannerisms and poking fun at current affairs. In its heyday, it was hilarious!
@@Fifury161 Certainly Spitting Image was aimed only at adults, that I'll grant. But The Muppet Show was aimed at a family audience, it wasn't Fraggle Rock or Sesame Street. The Muppet Show aired during Prime Time, and garnered ratings that would be impossible for child audiences. In the UK for instance I found a source that gives a 7pm time slot for The Muppet Show on BBC 1 right before TOTP in the 90's. They were obviously re-runs in the UK,. It was originally aired on Sunday nights on ITV and regularly had up to 14M viewers a week. The UK must've had a Midwich Cuckoo takeover! It was clearly predominantly a variety programme, suitable for the whole family. It is possible to have a programme that is aimed at both children and adults. Sadly, perhaps,those types of programmes have fallen out of favour. Which _might_ be the source of your confusion? TLDR The Muppet Show was not aimed at children. You should watch it as an adult, you'd probably like it!
It must be over 40 years since Four Candles, but I think a lot of us knew it would top the list. A masterpiece of clever scripting, using wordplay (as a lot of The Two Ronnies did) and Ronnie Corbett's increasing frustration. It'll be funny as long as the English language exists.
Andre Previn: “You're playing all the wrong notes!” Eric Morecambe [obviously insulted and hurt, rises slowly and grabs Previn's lapels, hauling them up so the two are face-to-face]: “I am playing all the right notes.” [pauses, and lightens his tone] “But not necessarily in the right order, I'll give you that, sunshine.”
It was obvious to us Brits what would be no.1 as Four Candles is legend. At the funerals of both men Ronnie baker died first. The coffins entered with alter servers carrying 4 candles. Their Matermind, Crossword, Racing Duck and Crossed lines sketches are hilarious too. The Morcambe and Wise one was great but i would have put either their Singing in the Rain or Andre Preview sketches above this one. Again two legends no longer with us though a lot of their material was the writing genius of Eddie Braben who is often so overlooked as never on screen.
I'd say the 'Four Candles' sketch by The Two Ronnies holds the same position in British comedy lore as 'Who's On First' by Abbott & Costello does in America.
Only Fools And Horses, The Royale Family, Fawlty Towers, Dad's Army, The Fast Show, Father Ted, The IT Crowd, Some Mothers Do Ave 'Em, etc. Can You imagine if he saw the anarchy of The Young Ones?
The Two Ronnies where a stable of British TV for a period spanning 16 years. One of my favorite sketches is the one where they almost break character and discuss how long it took them to memorize their lines. Then then discuss they know their lines so well they could read them in reverse, which they proceed to do - the lines work just as well! If only I could find it & link to it!
'What Time Is It, Eccles?' from The Goon Show. Broadcast in the 1950s and still brilliant today. Features Peter Sellers as Bluebottle and Spike Milligan as Eccles. Excellently surreal sketch.
French and Saunders in the day were amazing with their film parodies, especially the Silence of the Lambs, Mamma Mia, Harry Potter and their Titanic one was epic. Unfortunately trying to find the whole Titanic spoof online is very hard. Jennifer Saunders was so good at looking like every character she played even though they all looked different.
Ronnie Barker was a genius of word play, i good example is a sketch he did called 'Mispronunciation Sketch' or 'The Two Ronnies: Mastermind' or 'The Two Ronnies - Crossed Lines'
Hi Tyler, you must watch the full 4 candles sketch, None of these brief clips did justice to the full sketch. Some of the wordplay sketches on the Two Ronnie's are extremely cleverly written and hilarious. I am sure you would enjoy them.
There are so many other shows better than most of these , although they are good , the last three are undoubted classics but there are a lot missing . Black Adder , Red Dwarf , and Fools & horses come to mind immediately .
@@djtwo2 I fear I may never fully recover from this grave error. My disappointment in myself is immeasurable and no words can adequately express my remorse regarding my inexcusable faux pas. I am mortified that I got to make such a Schoolboy error and I only try to crave your forgiveness for my brief moment of total complete and utter insanity in making this mistake. I have no excuses and I can only apologize, profusely, for my stupidity, once again. You are a good man for pointing this out to me. I'm inconsolable at the moment.....:(
Morecambe and wise are probably the most famous and most popular British comedy double Act ever appearing on television from the early 60s to the 80s (Their 1977 Christmas special got a viewing figure of 28 million. Some of the biggest stars appeared on their TV show including Glenda Jackson, Peter Cushing, Diana Rigg and Elton John. Sadly both are no longer with us Eric Morecambe died in 1984 and Ernie Wise in 1999.
The best Morecambe and Wise is either Ernie's play wot he wrote: Caesar and Cleopatra with Glenda Jackson (which boosted her career into film comedy and an Oscar), or Eric playing piano with conductor Andre Previn and an orchestra which made Previn a star outside of music circles because he played his (unrehearsed) part so well, including an ad lib.
I'd really recommend that you watch the entire episodes of these to fully "get" them, Morecambe and Wise are innocent and completely hilarious even though it's really old. This is a fun video and I'm glad to have found your channel ✌️
To quote another topical (early 1980s) sketch comedy show Not the Nine O'Clock News: "Whenever two or three are gathered together then they shall perform the Parrot Sketch. It is an ex parrot. It has ceased to be."
Definitely should be some Victoria Wood in here as someone's mentioned! Two Soups, Shoe Shop and swimming the channel 😂 Also the pub game from The Fast Show's Ted and Ralph! 😮🤣 oh and *edit, Catherine Tate Offensive Translator!
There was a tribute show for her and it was said that they did a bunch of takes with her in the ocean, after a while they all went off to lunch and left Victoria Wood out in the water wondering where they'd all gone off to.
I only had a Saturday job in one and would have to agree. Misunderstandings, going into the stores for the wrong thing several times was not an uncommon occurrence and a lot of funny anecdotes came out of that for me. And all before I ever saw the two Ronnie's four candles sketch.
The legend in Britain that we’ve been told on many many occasions over the decades by a variety of comedy actors, comedians and producers; is that, whenever they crossed the pond to promote / sell a successful British comedy show, the shows fell foul of the big American TV execs. The common theme is always “The U.S. public just won’t get this stupid limey humour”, “We need punchlines”, “Our viewers won’t understand those weird accents!”, etc, etc. They always spoke on behalf of and instead of the American public. The sheer amount of brilliant British comedy shows that America missed out on, because of the fearful TV Execs, not willing to take a risk and not giving the U.S. public the credit, they deserve for being able to fill in the blanks, when something is not patently obvious and sussing out good comedy when they see it. We are now having the pleasure of watching John Q Public from Padiddlyboing, Idaho (Little Britain), ‘Reacting’ to our comedy, many many years in some cases, from when they should have been enjoying it.
You have to watch the whole lot of 4 candles with the 2 Ronnie's also My Blackberry isn't working . One half of the duo passed away unfortunately but that episode was loosely based on the 4 candles 😊
All English comedies Tyler. Have a look at Chewing The Fat and Still Game. They are Scottish comedy oh, and Rab C Nesbit. Completely different humour for two countries next door to each other 😂
Love those shows and Naked Video where the character of Rab Nesbit came from I think and the show Absolutely with the actors from Still Game also worked on it, my brother and I drove our poor mother nuts doing the Stoteybrigde accents, especially saying videeoo, good shows from Ireland only halfway on this videeoo so don't know if they are mentioned
The reason Johnny Depp did the show is because he was a huge fan of the show. The two Ronnies worked on a sketch show called The Frost Report with John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Terry Jones, Eric Idle and Michael Palin of Monty Python before they were Monty Python
The Fast Show had sketches, which were between 10 seconds and 3 minutes long. Typically, there would be twenty-seven sketches in a thirty minute show. The longer ones were the Ted and Ralph sketches. Mark Williams (Arthur Weasley) did a couple of series as a downtrodden west country farmer who stepped out of a barn and gave dietary or fashion advice - "This week I've been mostly eating (something random)" or "Season I've been mostly wearing (major fashion house / designer)" - before walking out of shot.
A little anecdote from Fry & Laurie - they still maintain that the blokes they had in to decorate their house stole some of their ideas and became Hale & Pace!
if i remember correctly the little Britain sketch was done in one take as they thought they couldn't improve on the timing as Andy hit the water at the exact moment Lou said e was scared of the water
Technically it's actually a British show. If you look up the history of The Muppet Show, Henson had to come to the UK in order to get the funds to make the show. As a result the British airing got about 2 minutes of extra that was cut for the Americans to make time for all the commercials that they'd have. And I'll emphasize the word "technically"
Mojo ‘10 Best…’ videos never disappoint. They’re always dreadful and this is no exception. No context, too short to give any real flavour, not to mention chopped off punchlines and a hit and miss selection. You’d be better off getting some feedback from your subscribers and then take a longer look at recommendations. I realise copyright gets in the way especially from BBC but other RUclipsrs sometimes get away with it. Try Blackadder World War I. The Crossword sketch from the Two Ronnies and maybe debatable , Gimme Gimme Gimme….
Yes, I am with you there, these very short clips don't give any flavour of the classic shows and sometimes miss the whole point. For example the point of the Morecambe and Wise kitchen sketch was their performance in time to the music and the narrator talked over most of it.
I remember one story about Spitting Image (The one with the Puppets) it was being shown on the Tv in a pub which was being visited at the time by an American tourist who was laughing his behind off at the show until the sketch about the Presidents Brain is missing (Ronald Reagan at that point) at which he got rather back affronted and found the sketch to be insulting. The show also featured Maggie Thatcher as well with her being a Cigar Smoking overly aggressive person.
As soon as I saw what you were reacting to, I knew Four Candles would be there. I actually think there's a direct connecting line between the wordplay-style comedy of that sketch and much of the Two Ronnies' humour and the wordplay of Fry and Laurie, even though in most people's minds F&L are from the young-privileged-student tradition of the Cambridge Footlights and the Two Ronnies are from the classic theatre tradition. At the very least, it shows you how strong a trend wordplay-based humour is in the British comedy tradition. What's interesting is to think about what might be missing? I'd definitely suggest the Class System sketch from the Frost Report in 1966 - coincidentally featuring both of the Two Ronnies and John Cleese. Definitely worth checking out if you haven't seen it before. Another thing I'd say is that I don't think this list necessarily chooses the best sketch from each show. For example, I think the "are we the baddies?" sketch from Mitchell and Webb is much funnier than the Digby-Chicken thing and there's a reason it's become a meme.
Morecombe & Wise and The Two Ronnies are from that classic WW2 generation that started on the stage and in radio. Then transferred to performing on the the new fangled TV at the very start.
You should watch another American called the Squirrel as he does lots of British comedy and every Friday he does a double test Ronnie's as he loves them so much.
When I moved to Canada years ago, I saw US comedies for the first time. Often they were copies of the UK shows, with basically the same stories and scripts. I noticed that many were ones that I had just seen in the UK, but I noticed in MANY cases, extra lines had been added in to explain the jokes!
To be fair almost all British people that are old enough to have seen it are mostly happy that it is gone it was largely a nuisance. Thankless and like herding cats.
It's a derogatory term for actual Britons who voted for Brexit, want to live amongst their native communities, and who don't subscribe to the most appalling lie ever told; 'multiculturalism', which also happens to be the most egregious act of self harm ever committed.
I see the 'Spitting Image' puppets as direct descendants of the Gillray satirical cartoons of the 18th Century. 'Spitting Image' was a great programme. Would love to see it come back onto the screen as there is so much material that could be used today.
They did bring it back in 2020 for two seasons, but in a later time slot unfortunately from what I saw of it they toned down the absurdity and upped the spite
Australian rather than Brit here, but I have a real love for British comedy, especially sketch comedy, and a lot of the shows covered in the list have some great material (in fact I took a lot of cues from many of those shows when writing my own sketch comedies at university). Fry and Laurie, French and Saunders, and Mitchell and Webb are particular favourites of mine. In relation to Spitting Image, the show was all about caricatures of notable public figures and went out of its way to see how far they could push things without getting sued for defamation. The story goes that the show was able to lean so heavily into cutting and absurd parody because no public figure wanted to have to stand in a public courtroom and explain how the puppets were based on them. (Don't know if it's true, but it's a nice thought lol)
Try to check out more stuff from the two Ronnie's. John Cleeves was quite young when the dead parrot was sketched. Much later in life he (and the world) would stumble across making one of the world's greatest sitcoms - Faulty Towers. But be warned - you need to view each episode in its entirety, not just snip bits here and there. And you also need to get to know the characters, so watching the WHOLE series will give you heaps more laughter.
Also Monty Python : The Ministry of Silly Walks, The Argument Sketch. Also with John Cleese : Faulty Towers - Don't Talk About The War. Rowan Atkinson and others on Not The 9 O'Clock News, and The Secret Policeman's Balls benefits.
Of all of these I only know Monty Phyton, love the dead parrot sketch when it turns into the lumburjack song. It speaks to my Canadian heart. I'll look up all the ones mentioned in the comments. Thanks.
Without the "1 sketch 1 show" restriction I do think that a lot more of the Top 10 would be from Monty Python, The Two Ronnies, Morecombe and Wise and the Fast Show.
We don't mind taking risks - in all sorts of creative areas. That's why we produce excellent comedy, music, TV etc.. In the the USA, creativity is often stifled by the all important profit motive. Anything which is viewed as a commercial gamble is vetoed in favour of tried and tested formulaic outcomes, which producers know will satisfy their shareholders. It makes for a fiscally safe, but boring product. Unbridled capitalism crushes artistic creativity.
@@carlhartwell7978 True. But a lot of the comedy in Fork Handles is in the body language. Ronnie Corbett's body language added a great deal to the humour.
I certainly can't disagree with that, why I put Four Candles at No.2 out of ALL other UK sketches (along with many other reasons, writing another main reason), but not above The Dead Parrot Sketch I'm afraid. A great deal of the humour in TDPS is also in the (I would say) acting body language/timing etc. But I think the absurdity levels _might_ be higher in TDPS.🤷 And I think that's its 'draw', certainly for me. Sorry, but the exceedingly more graphic lengths a customer goes to to very clearly show that a parrot is indeed dead (with the shopkeeper insisting it isn't), is far far more absurd than a a shopkeeper simply misinterpreting orders. It has to be. And that's not to say Four Candles isn't absurd (it is wonderfully absurd)... Just not AS absurd. For me!🤣👍 Also, I'm not even sure the wordplay is terribly inferior in TDPS, particularly in how it's delivered. The words work in the way they are supposed to and are delivered superbly by both actors. Truth be told, I go back and forth between which is best... I'm picking TDPS this month!🤣🤣🤣
@@carlhartwell7978 Yes, the surreal comedy of the parrot sketch has made it a comedy classic. The sheer insanity of selling a dead parrot to a customer has immortalised the sketch.
@@clemstevenson And the moment Barker utters 'Got any P's'? Is beyond comprehensibly funny. I've seen it so many times, doesn't matter!🤣🤣🤣 Well, I'm already laughing before that tbh! Just the anticipation. All four actors are extremely good in their roles. All deadpan and believable in unbelievable ways!
I knew four candles would be number 1. It's written by Ronnie Barker, who plays the customer. He wrote under pseudonym Gerald Wiley. Nobody knew it was him writing them. He didn't want them accepted because of who he was. Some sketches of the two Ronnie's were written by Monty python members. Two Ronnie's. Fantastic old school sketch comedy. You should watch more of them.
You'll learn so much more about us AND get more viewers if you actually react to some full episodes of British comedies. Maybe start with The Inbetweeners or the IT Crowd to get a feel for it.
Wanna see an amazing comedy genius from the UK, look up Victoria Wood, especially The Waitres sketch(two soups), and look into one amazing short run show she created called Dinnerladies ❤
Comedy genius to me is John Sullivan's Only Fools and Horses and Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash's The Royle Family. With some Father Ted thrown in for good measure.
Mojo's lists tend to very arbitrary. There are so many sketches and shows, apart from the last three which are classics sketches from classic shows, better than these.
This episode, at least, is fair although it is very subjective. The "factual" episodes WatchMojo produces are anything but! They tend to be poorly researched and factually questionable.
Absolutely (Channel 4, Stoneybridge Olympics sketch and the Taxi sketch), A Bit of Fry & Laurie (Dammit Johhhhn and the US General who told the sergeant his arse was on the line so pull your finger out), Blackadder series 2 for me.
Tyler, I couldn't find your video about PB&J's, so I'm posting this comment here. In Britain we have both Jam and Jellies but we don't differentiate between them, they're all jam. I have never come across grape jelly in this country, do you have marmalade in the US, its a jelly made of orange, lemon or lime jelly with shreds of peel included?
A good selection of British comedy 😂. There’s actually at least one other spoof from French & Saunders that I consider hilarious too, it’s their take on Titanic 🤣😉. Many more of course by other players too over the years.
Have you heard of One Foot on the Grave , you should watch it all the way ,Four candles ,see what you think if you watch Red Dwarf ,we had endless comedies,try another Dave Allen!!
The *Silence of the Lambs* reminds me of the *Saturday Night Live* skit *Nightmare on the Plane* (or whatever, parodying *Twilight Zone* ), with *Jude Law* and *Limp Bizkit* . 😅
Leaving out Spitting Image, what Tyler doesn’t appreciate is that the writer(s) are also the actors in the sketch performances, which is another thing which separates much of British comedy writing from American. Even though Morecambe and Wise had Eddie Braben as their main writer, the sketch is all about their timing and dance skills, going back to their origins in variety. The two Ronnies’ sketch, was the course written by Gerald Wiley, a.k.a. Ronnie Barker.
Tyler, you have your "Comment" setting on this video set to reject comments containing links. If you change that, people can post you links to videos. That would save you time, and enable you to make a good series of reactions. For example the Fry and Laurie sketch is called "The Understanding Barman - A Bit of Fry and Laurie - BBC", but I daren't try to post the link. I tried posting the link to "Four Candles" but YT rejected the comment. Best Wishes. ☮
You can not call yourself a reactor to British stuff until you do it to the 4 candles sketch, it's a must.
Here here
Or the mastermind sketch, even the f u n e t sketch is worthy of mention
@@balthazarasquith Absolutely, written by David Renwick of One Foot in The Grave fame.
@@carlhartwell7978 oh cool I didn't realise he wrote it, the bloke is a legend
@@balthazarasquith Certainly is.
Dad's Army "Don't tell him Pike",
Only Fools and Horses "play it nice and cool son, nice and cool.. You know what I mean?"
Two iconic sketches from two British comedies that stand the test of time.
Edited to correct spelling!
They weren't sketches, they were scenes. We may as well involve scenes from films, standup routines, comedy songs and even books. Surely it's best to distinguish sometimes? These were clearly 'sketches'... from sketch shows, I'll guess you know what a sketch show is?
Pretty sure Watch Mojo has another list of greatest sitcom moments in which your choices (Ithey'd be among mine as well) were included.
@@carlhartwell7978 point taken. Though would still recommend that those not familiar with the scenes mentioned check them out as examples of classic British TV comedy.
They aren't sketches though. They're scenes in a sitcom.
Unfortunatley Dad's Army aren't sketch but situatinal, and that is the issue here, it is not covering sitcoms but sketch. And they don't like it up em. Don't Panic! Don't Panic!
Definitely both should have made the cut. This top ten list sucks.
All these faces you have seen are totally famous in UK.....all amazing actors, comedy writers and original thinker. All much loved for years. You would love a whole episode. Each of these sketches belongs to entire Series of weeks of laughter.
It's impossible to grasp how good they are unless you watch each sketch in full.
"The puppet thing never really caught on in America."
A stool sits upon an empty stage.
A lone frog puppet walks forlornly out and sits upon the stool.
He sings a touching, heart felt, lament about the struggles, trials and tribulations of being green.
I was thinking exactly that, The Muppets weren't exactly 'small fries'🤣
As soon as he said I thought the same thing...
The puppets, as you called them were all caricatures of famous figures, politicians and the royal family as it was.
The premise of the show was to send up these famous characters, mocking their mannerisms and poking fun at current affairs.
In its heyday, it was hilarious!
Worth pointing out that the Muppets comedy was aimed at kids, whereas the likes of "Spitting Images" where aimed at adults and was satirical
@@Fifury161 Certainly Spitting Image was aimed only at adults, that I'll grant. But The Muppet Show was aimed at a family audience, it wasn't Fraggle Rock or Sesame Street.
The Muppet Show aired during Prime Time, and garnered ratings that would be impossible for child audiences.
In the UK for instance I found a source that gives a 7pm time slot for The Muppet Show on BBC 1 right before TOTP in the 90's. They were obviously re-runs in the UK,. It was originally aired on Sunday nights on ITV and regularly had up to 14M viewers a week. The UK must've had a Midwich Cuckoo takeover!
It was clearly predominantly a variety programme, suitable for the whole family.
It is possible to have a programme that is aimed at both children and adults. Sadly, perhaps,those types of programmes have fallen out of favour. Which _might_ be the source of your confusion?
TLDR The Muppet Show was not aimed at children.
You should watch it as an adult, you'd probably like it!
It must be over 40 years since Four Candles, but I think a lot of us knew it would top the list. A masterpiece of clever scripting, using wordplay (as a lot of The Two Ronnies did) and Ronnie Corbett's increasing frustration. It'll be funny as long as the English language exists.
A total, total classic sketch
News for the dyslexic was hilarious.
What was!@@susieq9801
Ronnie Corbett and Harry Enfields sketch “my blackberry isn’t working” is also worth watching
🎉🎉
Morecambe & Wise with Andre Previn is my favourite!
Agreed - 100% their finest hour.
Andrew Preview 😅
Oh my yes!
The best
Andre Previn: “You're playing all the wrong notes!”
Eric Morecambe [obviously insulted and hurt, rises slowly and grabs Previn's lapels, hauling them up so the two are face-to-face]: “I am playing all the right notes.” [pauses, and lightens his tone] “But not necessarily in the right order, I'll give you that, sunshine.”
It was obvious to us Brits what would be no.1 as Four Candles is legend. At the funerals of both men Ronnie baker died first. The coffins entered with alter servers carrying 4 candles. Their Matermind, Crossword, Racing Duck and Crossed lines sketches are hilarious too. The Morcambe and Wise one was great but i would have put either their Singing in the Rain or Andre Preview sketches above this one. Again two legends no longer with us though a lot of their material was the writing genius of Eddie Braben who is often so overlooked as never on screen.
I'd say the 'Four Candles' sketch by The Two Ronnies holds the same position in British comedy lore as 'Who's On First' by Abbott & Costello does in America.
Reaching to two ronnies sketches is a must. There is so much golden stuff of theirs
I've a feeling Tyler's head would explode if he was to react to, let's say, Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie or even better the Royle Family.
Only Fools And Horses, The Royale Family, Fawlty Towers, Dad's Army, The Fast Show, Father Ted, The IT Crowd, Some Mothers Do Ave 'Em, etc. Can You imagine if he saw the anarchy of The Young Ones?
The Two Ronnies where a stable of British TV for a period spanning 16 years. One of my favorite sketches is the one where they almost break character and discuss how long it took them to memorize their lines. Then then discuss they know their lines so well they could read them in reverse, which they proceed to do - the lines work just as well! If only I could find it & link to it!
'What Time Is It, Eccles?' from The Goon Show. Broadcast in the 1950s and still brilliant today. Features Peter Sellers as Bluebottle and Spike Milligan as Eccles. Excellently surreal sketch.
An absolute classic. Perfect timing and insane logic. I'd put it in the top ten.
French and Saunders in the day were amazing with their film parodies, especially the Silence of the Lambs, Mamma Mia, Harry Potter and their Titanic one was epic. Unfortunately trying to find the whole Titanic spoof online is very hard. Jennifer Saunders was so good at looking like every character she played even though they all looked different.
And 'Rebecca' (by Daphne de Maurier).
Thier GoggleBox impressions are spot on, Jennifer can morph in to anyone.
"Whatever happened to baby Jane?"
I'm not sure they hold up in 2023 though.
The four candles however, timeless.....
Clips don’t do the sketches justice, you need the whole thing
You can't have the 10 Greatest British Comedy Sketches without including a least one sketch from 'Only Fools and Horses'!!
Ronnie Barker was a genius of word play, i good example is a sketch he did called 'Mispronunciation Sketch' or 'The Two Ronnies: Mastermind' or 'The Two Ronnies - Crossed Lines'
Two soups, by Victoria Wood should be on this list. (Yes I know shes not actually in the sketch)
Numerous retakes were required due to cast having laughter fits.
Came here to say that! And the 'Shoe Shop' sketch! "I can't go in the sun without a Woman's Realm on ma head!" 🤣🤣🤣
Just said this!! Glad I'm not alone in the love for it ❤
I agree! - Two Soups is pure genius, brilliantly scripted (reputedly on one side of A4 paper!) and beyond-brilliantly acted.
"Two Soups" - classic, wonderfully acted. Just a joy to watch, love it.
worth checking out Gerald the Gorilla- Not the 9 o'clock news, absolute classic
Oh yes! So many 😂 The hi-fi shop, Marc Almond interview, Kate Bush! 🤣🤣🤣
And of course Constable Savage!
Hi Tyler, you must watch the full 4 candles sketch, None of these brief clips did justice to the full sketch. Some of the wordplay sketches on the Two Ronnie's are extremely cleverly written and hilarious. I am sure you would enjoy them.
Don't bother James, he never reads these comments!
Dad's Army, Porridge, Dinnerladies, The Vicar of Dibley are a few more to add on to David Smith's list.
There are so many other shows better than most of these , although they are good , the last three are undoubted classics but there are a lot missing . Black Adder , Red Dwarf , and Fools & horses come to mind immediately .
Fawlty Towers,The Office, and Alan Partridge also spring to mind,immediately..:)
@@Isleofskye None of those mentioned are specifically "sketch shows", which is the context of the video.
@@djtwo2 I fear I may never fully recover from this grave error. My disappointment in myself is immeasurable and no words can adequately express my remorse regarding my inexcusable faux pas. I am mortified that I got to make such a Schoolboy error and I only try to crave your forgiveness for my brief moment of total complete and utter insanity in making this mistake. I have no excuses and I can only apologize, profusely, for my stupidity, once again. You are a good man for pointing this out to me. I'm inconsolable at the moment.....:(
@@djtwo2 Yeah - I was thinking of the chandelier episode in Only Fools and Horses, but then realised it didn't fall into the category being rated.
Only Fools and Horses 100%. The comedy ages like a fine wine.
Morecambe and wise are probably the most famous and most popular British comedy double Act ever appearing on television from the early 60s to the 80s (Their 1977 Christmas special got a viewing figure of 28 million. Some of the biggest stars appeared on their TV show including Glenda Jackson, Peter Cushing, Diana Rigg and Elton John.
Sadly both are no longer with us Eric Morecambe died in 1984 and Ernie Wise in 1999.
The best Morecambe and Wise is either Ernie's play wot he wrote: Caesar and Cleopatra with Glenda Jackson (which boosted her career into film comedy and an Oscar), or Eric playing piano with conductor Andre Previn and an orchestra which made Previn a star outside of music circles because he played his (unrehearsed) part so well, including an ad lib.
Not forgetting Caprain Blackadder explaining to Baldrick how the 1st Worl War started
I'd really recommend that you watch the entire episodes of these to fully "get" them, Morecambe and Wise are innocent and completely hilarious even though it's really old. This is a fun video and I'm glad to have found your channel ✌️
The 2 Ronnies is an absolute must watch uk comedy genius
Literally anything with Ronnie Barker is UKTV Gold.
The best of Fry and Laurie are a must! And I agree with everyone else... 4 candles is the best!
Meny famous people were on the Morecombe and wise show i use to look forwards to there christmas specials.
To quote another topical (early 1980s) sketch comedy show Not the Nine O'Clock News: "Whenever two or three are gathered together then they shall perform the Parrot Sketch. It is an ex parrot. It has ceased to be."
Definitely should be some Victoria Wood in here as someone's mentioned! Two Soups, Shoe Shop and swimming the channel 😂 Also the pub game from The Fast Show's Ted and Ralph! 😮🤣 oh and *edit, Catherine Tate Offensive Translator!
Swimming the Channel was amazing, it showed such genius!
There was a tribute show for her and it was said that they did a bunch of takes with her in the ocean, after a while they all went off to lunch and left Victoria Wood out in the water wondering where they'd all gone off to.
My father used to work in an Ironmongers Shop, and told me Four Candles was not comedy, it was real life. 🤣🤣🤣
I only had a Saturday job in one and would have to agree.
Misunderstandings, going into the stores for the wrong thing several times was not an uncommon occurrence and a lot of funny anecdotes came out of that for me.
And all before I ever saw the two Ronnie's four candles sketch.
There are tons more shows that could have made the list I think. British shows are so wonderful.
The legend in Britain that we’ve been told on many many occasions over the decades by a variety of comedy actors, comedians and producers; is that, whenever they crossed the pond to promote / sell a successful British comedy show, the shows fell foul of the big American TV execs. The common theme is always “The U.S. public just won’t get this stupid limey humour”, “We need punchlines”, “Our viewers won’t understand those weird accents!”, etc, etc. They always spoke on behalf of and instead of the American public.
The sheer amount of brilliant British comedy shows that America missed out on, because of the fearful TV Execs, not willing to take a risk and not giving the U.S. public the credit, they deserve for being able to fill in the blanks, when something is not patently obvious and sussing out good comedy when they see it.
We are now having the pleasure of watching John Q Public from Padiddlyboing, Idaho (Little Britain), ‘Reacting’ to our comedy, many many years in some cases, from when they should have been enjoying it.
You have to watch the whole lot of 4 candles with the 2 Ronnie's also My Blackberry isn't working . One half of the duo passed away unfortunately but that episode was loosely based on the 4 candles 😊
You really have to watch the fork handles / four candles sketch. It's genuinely iconic.
French and Saunders are part of an interwoven 'royal family' of British comedy over the last 30+ years
Fawlty towers, Black Adder, Some mothers do 'ave 'em, Keeping up appearances. The two Ronnies were terrific.
Dad's Army, Porridge, Open All Hours, Fawlty Towers, The Young Ones also. The greatest by a light-year is Only Fools and Horses.
All English comedies Tyler. Have a look at Chewing The Fat and Still Game. They are Scottish comedy oh, and Rab C Nesbit. Completely different humour for two countries next door to each other 😂
Love those shows and Naked Video where the character of Rab Nesbit came from I think and the show Absolutely with the actors from Still Game also worked on it, my brother and I drove our poor mother nuts doing the Stoteybrigde accents, especially saying videeoo, good shows from Ireland only halfway on this videeoo so don't know if they are mentioned
@MsKaz1000 I forgot about Nsked Video, that was great. I need to go and hunt some down now 😁👍
Don't forget to put the subtitles on for Rab C Nesbit 😂. American's wouldn't understand a word of it without them
@@mariandavis7953 😆😆😆😆
The reason Johnny Depp did the show is because he was a huge fan of the show. The two Ronnies worked on a sketch show called The Frost Report with John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Terry Jones, Eric Idle and Michael Palin of Monty Python before they were Monty Python
these clips do nothing to show how god and funny the shows are
The Fast Show had sketches, which were between 10 seconds and 3 minutes long. Typically, there would be twenty-seven sketches in a thirty minute show. The longer ones were the Ted and Ralph sketches.
Mark Williams (Arthur Weasley) did a couple of series as a downtrodden west country farmer who stepped out of a barn and gave dietary or fashion advice - "This week I've been mostly eating (something random)" or "Season I've been mostly wearing (major fashion house / designer)" - before walking out of shot.
A little anecdote from Fry & Laurie - they still maintain that the blokes they had in to decorate their house stole some of their ideas and became Hale & Pace!
if i remember correctly the little Britain sketch was done in one take as they thought they couldn't improve on the timing as Andy hit the water at the exact moment Lou said e was scared of the water
'We don't do puppet sketch shows' you had the Muppets show...
Technically it's actually a British show. If you look up the history of The Muppet Show, Henson had to come to the UK in order to get the funds to make the show. As a result the British airing got about 2 minutes of extra that was cut for the Americans to make time for all the commercials that they'd have.
And I'll emphasize the word "technically"
It's apples and oranges though. Spitting Image was satire.
Love it Tyler love it. Some of my favourites.on hear. Not seen your channel in a while I hope life is treating you well my friend
Mojo ‘10 Best…’ videos never disappoint. They’re always dreadful and this is no exception. No context, too short to give any real flavour, not to mention chopped off punchlines and a hit and miss selection. You’d be better off getting some feedback from your subscribers and then take a longer look at recommendations. I realise copyright gets in the way especially from BBC but other RUclipsrs sometimes get away with it. Try Blackadder World War I. The Crossword sketch from the Two Ronnies and maybe debatable , Gimme Gimme Gimme….
If only he read his comments.
Yes, I am with you there, these very short clips don't give any flavour of the classic shows and sometimes miss the whole point. For example the point of the Morecambe and Wise kitchen sketch was their performance in time to the music and the narrator talked over most of it.
Mojo = shite 😐
Most thoroughly agreed, and there's no way you can appreciate the original sketches because the bloody narrator talks all over them.
spike milligan was a comedy god! big love to all people :)
I remember one story about Spitting Image (The one with the Puppets) it was being shown on the Tv in a pub which was being visited at the time by an American tourist who was laughing his behind off at the show until the sketch about the Presidents Brain is missing (Ronald Reagan at that point) at which he got rather back affronted and found the sketch to be insulting. The show also featured Maggie Thatcher as well with her being a Cigar Smoking overly aggressive person.
As soon as I saw what you were reacting to, I knew Four Candles would be there. I actually think there's a direct connecting line between the wordplay-style comedy of that sketch and much of the Two Ronnies' humour and the wordplay of Fry and Laurie, even though in most people's minds F&L are from the young-privileged-student tradition of the Cambridge Footlights and the Two Ronnies are from the classic theatre tradition. At the very least, it shows you how strong a trend wordplay-based humour is in the British comedy tradition.
What's interesting is to think about what might be missing? I'd definitely suggest the Class System sketch from the Frost Report in 1966 - coincidentally featuring both of the Two Ronnies and John Cleese. Definitely worth checking out if you haven't seen it before. Another thing I'd say is that I don't think this list necessarily chooses the best sketch from each show. For example, I think the "are we the baddies?" sketch from Mitchell and Webb is much funnier than the Digby-Chicken thing and there's a reason it's become a meme.
You need to see Monty Python's Holy Grail, then you can say you've lived.... :)
Four candles, an iconic sketch. I love it x
Will still be funny in 100 years.
You HAVE to find and view the Two Ronnies - Four Candles sketch!
Morecombe & Wise and The Two Ronnies are from that classic WW2 generation that started on the stage and in radio. Then transferred to performing on the the new fangled TV at the very start.
Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry at their best is still Jeeves and Wooster, highly underrated show imo.
If you like Hugh Laurie, I would definitely recommend watching Blackadder 3, he is hilarious in that, and also Blackadder 4.
The woman who played Hannibal Lector played the griffindor ghost in the Harry Potter films (not the first one that actress died)
You should watch another American called the Squirrel as he does lots of British comedy and every Friday he does a double test Ronnie's as he loves them so much.
When Ronnie Barker died the coffin had "4 candles" on top as a tribute to him.
You need to find the sketches and make a playlist to then watch and react to those I feel to gain a true appreciation
Another thing that defines British comedy is that we don't explain our jokes
When I moved to Canada years ago, I saw US comedies for the first time. Often they were copies of the UK shows, with basically the same stories and scripts. I noticed that many were ones that I had just seen in the UK, but I noticed in MANY cases, extra lines had been added in to explain the jokes!
@@brentwoodbayThat basically sums up modern film and tv. They assume the audience are imbeciles.
"Little Britain" is a derogatory nickname for UK, because OUAT the British Empire was the most powerful on earth, and those days are gone.
To be fair almost all British people that are old enough to have seen it are mostly happy that it is gone it was largely a nuisance. Thankless and like herding cats.
It's a derogatory term for actual Britons who voted for Brexit, want to live amongst their native communities, and who don't subscribe to the most appalling lie ever told; 'multiculturalism', which also happens to be the most egregious act of self harm ever committed.
@@sacredgeometryAgreed but I'd rather Little Britain than the gutless liberal imbeciles Walliams and Lucas have become today.
Philomena Clunk is one you should look at. Also The Carry on Film series.
Cunk on Britain and Cunk on Earth were brilliant but if you want a short sketch to see if it’s your kind of thing watch Cunk on Christmas 😂
I see the 'Spitting Image' puppets as direct descendants of the Gillray satirical cartoons of the 18th Century. 'Spitting Image' was a great programme. Would love to see it come back onto the screen as there is so much material that could be used today.
They did bring it back in 2020 for two seasons, but in a later time slot unfortunately from what I saw of it they toned down the absurdity and upped the spite
Yeah, 'Ron Weasley's Dad' (Mark Williams) is one of the comedians in the fast show.
(Where I first saw him, and remembered him, from).
Australian rather than Brit here, but I have a real love for British comedy, especially sketch comedy, and a lot of the shows covered in the list have some great material (in fact I took a lot of cues from many of those shows when writing my own sketch comedies at university). Fry and Laurie, French and Saunders, and Mitchell and Webb are particular favourites of mine.
In relation to Spitting Image, the show was all about caricatures of notable public figures and went out of its way to see how far they could push things without getting sued for defamation. The story goes that the show was able to lean so heavily into cutting and absurd parody because no public figure wanted to have to stand in a public courtroom and explain how the puppets were based on them. (Don't know if it's true, but it's a nice thought lol)
That worked for Charles Dickens.....
Plus Fawlty Towers was a hit with me as well...
Try to check out more stuff from the two Ronnie's.
John Cleeves was quite young when the dead parrot was sketched.
Much later in life he (and the world) would stumble across making one of the world's greatest sitcoms - Faulty Towers.
But be warned - you need to view each episode in its entirety, not just snip bits here and there.
And you also need to get to know the characters, so watching the WHOLE series will give you heaps more laughter.
You need to watch some of the Two Ronnie's sketches. Very clever, although it seems very simple. Timing is excellent.
Also Monty Python : The Ministry of Silly Walks, The Argument Sketch. Also with John Cleese : Faulty Towers - Don't Talk About The War. Rowan Atkinson and others on Not The 9 O'Clock News, and The Secret Policeman's Balls benefits.
But that's just contradiction - no it isn't.....
should try to watch the full clips of what they showed.
Of all of these I only know Monty Phyton, love the dead parrot sketch when it turns into the lumburjack song. It speaks to my Canadian heart. I'll look up all the ones mentioned in the comments. Thanks.
Without the "1 sketch 1 show" restriction I do think that a lot more of the Top 10 would be from Monty Python, The Two Ronnies, Morecombe and Wise and the Fast Show.
The Best way to enjoy British comedy.......................Is NOT to talk all the way through it.
Take a watch of the "Dead Parrot Sketch" and " Four Candles "
We don't mind taking risks - in all sorts of creative areas. That's why we produce excellent comedy, music, TV etc.. In the the USA, creativity is often stifled by the all important profit motive. Anything which is viewed as a commercial gamble is vetoed in favour of tried and tested formulaic outcomes, which producers know will satisfy their shareholders. It makes for a fiscally safe, but boring product. Unbridled capitalism crushes artistic creativity.
Four candl candles is great, you should watch it.
Armstrong and Miller’s airmen sketches, Mary Whitehouse experience - “That’s you that is” Big train “Jockeys and the artist formerly known as Prince”.
The Four Candles sketch involved a cleverer use of language than the Dead Parrot sketch, such as "got any peas?" as opposed to "got any Ps?"
Maybe, but comedy isn't all about language.
@@carlhartwell7978 True. But a lot of the comedy in Fork Handles is in the body language. Ronnie Corbett's body language added a great deal to the humour.
I certainly can't disagree with that, why I put Four Candles at No.2 out of ALL other UK sketches (along with many other reasons, writing another main reason), but not above The Dead Parrot Sketch I'm afraid.
A great deal of the humour in TDPS is also in the (I would say) acting body language/timing etc. But I think the absurdity levels _might_ be higher in TDPS.🤷 And I think that's its 'draw', certainly for me.
Sorry, but the exceedingly more graphic lengths a customer goes to to very clearly show that a parrot is indeed dead (with the shopkeeper insisting it isn't), is far far more absurd than a a shopkeeper simply misinterpreting orders. It has to be.
And that's not to say Four Candles isn't absurd (it is wonderfully absurd)... Just not AS absurd. For me!🤣👍
Also, I'm not even sure the wordplay is terribly inferior in TDPS, particularly in how it's delivered. The words work in the way they are supposed to and are delivered superbly by both actors.
Truth be told, I go back and forth between which is best... I'm picking TDPS this month!🤣🤣🤣
@@carlhartwell7978 Yes, the surreal comedy of the parrot sketch has made it a comedy classic. The sheer insanity of selling a dead parrot to a customer has immortalised the sketch.
@@clemstevenson And the moment Barker utters 'Got any P's'? Is beyond comprehensibly funny. I've seen it so many times, doesn't matter!🤣🤣🤣
Well, I'm already laughing before that tbh! Just the anticipation.
All four actors are extremely good in their roles. All deadpan and believable in unbelievable ways!
I knew four candles would be number 1. It's written by Ronnie Barker, who plays the customer. He wrote under pseudonym Gerald Wiley. Nobody knew it was him writing them. He didn't want them accepted because of who he was. Some sketches of the two Ronnie's were written by Monty python members. Two Ronnie's. Fantastic old school sketch comedy. You should watch more of them.
The narrator spoke over all tge best bits!
You'll learn so much more about us AND get more viewers if you actually react to some full episodes of British comedies. Maybe start with The Inbetweeners or the IT Crowd to get a feel for it.
It's gonna be a copyright issue, though isn't it?
You need to watch Donald Trump scenes on the show Spitting Image. Its hilarious 🤣🤣🤣
Wanna see an amazing comedy genius from the UK, look up Victoria Wood, especially The Waitres sketch(two soups), and look into one amazing short run show she created called Dinnerladies ❤
Comedy genius to me is John Sullivan's Only Fools and Horses and Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash's The Royle Family. With some Father Ted thrown in for good measure.
You should definitely watch the 2 Ronnies
Check out Black Adder, Hugh is in the 4th series, Goes Forth and Series 2 as Prince Regent ....
This compilation really butchered the sketches and made them uber unfunny.
Mojo's lists tend to very arbitrary. There are so many sketches and shows, apart from the last three which are classics sketches from classic shows, better than these.
This episode, at least, is fair although it is very subjective. The "factual" episodes WatchMojo produces are anything but! They tend to be poorly researched and factually questionable.
Absolutely (Channel 4, Stoneybridge Olympics sketch and the Taxi sketch), A Bit of Fry & Laurie (Dammit Johhhhn and the US General who told the sergeant his arse was on the line so pull your finger out), Blackadder series 2 for me.
No mention of Blackadder or Red Dwarf or Dad's Army.
All great IMHO.
Not a sketch show
Tyler, I couldn't find your video about PB&J's, so I'm posting this comment here. In Britain we have both Jam and Jellies but we don't differentiate between them, they're all jam. I have never come across grape jelly in this country, do you have marmalade in the US, its a jelly made of orange, lemon or lime jelly with shreds of peel included?
A good selection of British comedy 😂. There’s actually at least one other spoof from French & Saunders that I consider hilarious too, it’s their take on Titanic 🤣😉. Many more of course by other players too over the years.
Have you heard of One Foot on the Grave , you should watch it all the way ,Four candles ,see what you think if you watch Red Dwarf ,we had endless comedies,try another Dave Allen!!
I wonder what Tyler would make of the Bitties sketch from Little Britain 😅
The *Silence of the Lambs* reminds me of the *Saturday Night Live* skit *Nightmare on the Plane* (or whatever, parodying *Twilight Zone* ), with *Jude Law* and *Limp Bizkit* . 😅
You missed that Dawn French is the 'fat lady' in Harry Potter (prisioner of Azkaban)
The second 'fat lady' - first played by Elizabeth Spriggs; but Dawn French certainly excelled in the role.
Leaving out Spitting Image, what Tyler doesn’t appreciate is that the writer(s) are also the actors in the sketch performances, which is another thing which separates much of British comedy writing from American. Even though Morecambe and Wise had Eddie Braben as their main writer, the sketch is all about their timing and dance skills, going back to their origins in variety. The two Ronnies’ sketch, was the course written by Gerald Wiley, a.k.a. Ronnie Barker.
It’s not Christmas unless Morecambe and Wise, the two Ronnies and bottoms holy episode is on the telly
I can't believe 'Two Soups' by victoria Wood didn't make the list. It's far better than some of the ones on the list.
Tyler, you have your "Comment" setting on this video set to reject comments containing links. If you change that, people can post you links to videos. That would save you time, and enable you to make a good series of reactions. For example the Fry and Laurie sketch is called "The Understanding Barman - A Bit of Fry and Laurie - BBC", but I daren't try to post the link. I tried posting the link to "Four Candles" but YT rejected the comment.
Best Wishes. ☮
You need to watch the Monty python dead parrot it’s hilarious ❤️🇦🇺🐨🐨🇦🇺
Americans might not like puppet comedy much but I think you'll find the Muppets was fairly successful in the US.
Four Yorkshiremen not on here? Criminal!