This reminds me of when I went into Tower records in the mid 90s and asked a young salesperson where are their 45s? He looked at me like I had two heads and said, we don’t sell guns here.
I known what you mean a few years back I went into a music shop and asked to look at their drum machines(my old one had broken). The three blokes behind the counter looked at me and burst out laughing.....technology had moved on a bit more than I had thought it appears.
@@Limpuls It appears music shops just don't stock em for the purpose I want over here.....which was just to put it through my guitar amp. None uses em anymore outside of studios. It appears everything is done through a PC. My old one used to be able to be programmed through my footpedal. Yeah they do sell types of drum machines but their for keyboard players.....and as you say studios. I found one on eBay that works great....even if its a bit old.
@@dodibenabba1378 Now that was a brilliant bit of kit, the loop station was small compact and easy to use. You know, I might just get one for messing about on. Cheers 😀
Best thing about this is how surprising accurate it is, Hi Fi shops are consistently terrible for this, its like if you don't go there with less than $20,000 and a degree in the stuff you shouldn't be there
+Tom Charlton I doubt it Tom - if you did you wouldn't get confused by modern technology, which from your original statement seems to be the case. The fact your have four grandchildren is entirely irrelevant. My point, which despite being a self-proclaimed mastermind, you have spectacularly missed, is that just because one is over 50 one does not have to be clueless when it comes to technology. Your comment merely perpetuated the appalling ageism that bedevils this society. Oh, and for the record, I have an IQ of 161 and studied at four universities, Cambridge among them, so you must have one hell of a little finger.
Well I'm 13 and I knew what most of the stuff was, and this is 40 year old technology now so I don't think it's that ridiculous to expect people to have a basically grasp of modern sound technology when trying to buy some.
@@tjfSIM Agreed, I worked in a HiFi shop for years. When there aren't customers we are constantly playing with all the gear and the settings. We know what is total shit and will die after a year, no amount of WhatHifi stars change the fact *cough* modern Pioneer AVRs and Q Acoustics *cough*
This skit reminded me of when I was in school, and half my class were computer and tech nerds. I was never that interested in technology, so every time I listened to their conversations it could have as well been rocket science for me. One time they made fun of me for thinking that GeForce was the name of a Video Game. :P
or .. they think they do. I just built a valve amp and it sound fucking superb !! 80 year old technology, most of the valves I used were US made in 1951, each one cost about three quid !
When I was at Leicester University around the time this sketch came out, a fellow student reckoned there was a hi-fi shop in the city where they were exactly like this.
This just shows how timeless the genious of Not the Nine O'clock News is. This was a sketch applicable to 1980's audio / visual shops. Fast forward to today - it could be a local computer shop run by Gen Y knobheads. Brilliant!
Having been in the trade at one time many years ago I know one or two sales people that were like this although not quite so blatant , the vast majority were knowledgeable. helpful and enthusiastic . The sketch always tickle's me , thanks for posting.
The "no clues" line was perfectly timed in the writing - it was just as the audience would be sure that the sketch was about the salesmen "testing" the customer's knowledge
This is the funniest sketch in the history of the world. Christ, I feel sorry for "grandad" - I am EXACTLY like him whenever I have to deal with computer matters.
But I wouldn't be embarrassed. I just want a portable telephone (from the Greek, "distance SOUND"), not a pocket computer which happens to have a telephone function included; and if they can't supply one I'll go somewhere else.
@@davidw1518 yeh, good luck with that...i think portable phones still need some computer like IC’s, even if rudimentary. They’re not a landline/walkie talkie
My brother told me he went into a HiFi shop in Reading about this time and had a near identical embarrassing experience, the 'assistants' wearing thin leather ties and cowboy boots. I think he left without buying the gramophone.
This is like when you take your one year old mobile phone into a "mobile phone repair shop" to get it repaired, and the staff say "I'm not sure we can repair something that old, they don't make the parts anymore".
We had a stereogram at one time back in the day. It was a sound system that looked like a cabinet on its side. A turntable,and yes it could play 78s,an analogue radio tuner and a tape deck. Sounded ok. Happy times.
I remember going into a HI-FI shop many years ago. The salesman made no eye contact with my wife and addressed all his comments to me. My wife was a music teacher and was every bit as interested in what we intended to buy as I was. Needless to say we left the store empty--handed. The store closed within a year or two.
@@LPCLASSICAL Not gonna lie, being in this hobby for a couple of years, the number of women in it is almost negligible compared to the number of guys. So it's not too unusual for ppl assume that.
I know it is not on the DVD... but the end is missing. I CLEARLY remember from seeing it in '83 that in the end Mel gets light salad dressing all over him and he leaves the shop meeting his wife outside who also got dressing all over her saying "It didn't go to well with the records either". Not to spoil the joke, guys, but the editors of the DVD did not pay sufficient respect to old Mel
I believe the compilations were overseen by the producer John Lloyd, who may simply have felt the original ending wasn't all that good. Having seen it on RUclips, I'm tempted to say I agree.
Im 14 and I love it. I am a huge RA fan and had to watch it because of him , now im hooked. It was so sad about Mel. 60 is too young :( People should live to 80 atleast , if not longer. Although he did smoke like a chimney.
It was available here in the States back in the day. Still recall a folk singer singing, 'I believe the Ayatollah can tell a good joke, but I can't believe Ronald Reagan is president...'
Rowan Atkinson is a giant in comedy. Like Ronnie Barker he can do multiple personalities and be equally convincing as an one of them. If you tried to guess his real life persona you would get it wrong unless you knew him personally. He is also for me the King of facial comedy. He can tell you everything you need to know about the character he is performing purely from facial expression. I can think of nobody who can do this better.
@thewomble1509 could Barker create a universaly recognised comic icon that barely speaks a word? Atkinson uses body language in a way Barker couldn't imagine. That's talent my friend that Barker doesn't possess.
It’s so funny because there’s an element of truth in it. I always feel a little apprehensive when I go into a specialist retailer. Someone should write a similar sketch about electricians, plumbers and contractors.
Remember dad telling me about fax machines in the late 70s. Seemed like utter witchcraft. Back then he also had a hole-punched Nat West cash point card that could only give you £10. The machine kept the card and then the bank sent it back in the post. Good times.
@@ixaldorran7867 About £50. 10 years earlier, £100. 10 years before that, £200. Our pound coin has already been made up to look like a 1930's-60's threepence. In 10 years time, the post No-Deal-Brexit £ will be worth a chocolate button.
This is just how people were like in the 80s in electronics shops. At least they knew their stuff then, unlike today when they can barely say the product name
They were very wrong. Turntables will always be around. Even when no one will know what a CD or TAPE is. Interesting joke about the Dolby though as some LPs actually used a noise reduction. It was DBX.
Jeff Krong - Yes, but at that time it seemed like they would disappear. You can never predict what will become retro in the future. Take electronic instruments as an example: Organs from the 70's are worthless today while synthesizers from the same age are ridiculously overpriced. Or how about bellbottom jeans vs. duckfeet shoes? Maybe I should keep my VHS collection :-)
+organfairy If you wanna keep the VHS's you should get those you can in Betamax format or play them over to that format as that has finally gone out of production this year (seriously, they made betamax blank tapes till this year). The titles that are so rare they dont exist on other medium at all, like special editions or really rare esoterics movies, should be your best bet. I you like old tech in general like this, you should check out TechMoan's channel. Brilliant walkthrough of past techs and also a good buyers guide if you are serious about getting some nostalgia stuff. I don't count vinyl as nostalgia though, its more like topend niche now with the prices I saw recently (£30 for a new LP...). Must admit I couldn't own one myself anymore, too impatient for it now, but loved the physical aspect of it back in the 80'ties.
I still have nearly all my cassettes from the 80s but never listen to them. I suppose if I asked for a cassette player in a shop I would get the same reaction in this video "OH you want to play your Duran Duran cassettes granddad ?" "Actually I do"
Tapes are actually seeing a bit of a resurgence, being put out by niche, independent labels because of their aesthetic qualities (plus it's easy and convenient to knock out a few hundred copies).
I remember going into an electronics shop on the Tottenham Court Road and buying a Philips turntable, a Panasonic amplifier and a couple of Wharfdale speakers back in 1976! I was 20 years old. I can understand the poor fellows predicament 😂😂
Great video, i felt the same when i went to DIXONS. I asked for a Blackberry on Orange,an Apple and an Eggs Box, he said i want to be at the fruit shop! I felt a right Melon.
Remember Dolby A, and Dolby B? ( There may even have been a C as well.) I must have spent about five years being drawn to the tape deck and pressing each one alternately, trying to discern the difference between them. One of them simply muffled the sound and increased the base, and the other muffled the sound more and did something completely indeterminate to the base. Then came graphic equalisers. With this invention you could find your own personally preferred degree of sound muffle and deadening base to boot. This was not an age of trebble.
I worked in a specialists Hi Fi shop when I left school and the manager was just like Rowans obnoxious character in this sketch, and would even belittle people when they asked for advice on a unit and would call them everything under the sun when they walked out of the shop empty handed.
Oh how I miss _"Not the Nine O'Clock News"_ ... and why does the BBC (almost) *never* repeat it, when we get endless re-runs of stupid and unfunny sitcoms that nobody liked the first time round? Anyway... this is definitely a candidate for "Funniest "Not"... Sketch Of All Time" (can't really choose - there are so many) - I used to listen to it on an old audio tape, before video recorders existed, and it's actually just as funny without even seeing the actors. Of course, it helps that I'd seen it once already - but still, how many comedy acts today would be as funny if you removed the visuals and just left the audio? "Not..." was just pure genius - often copied, never equalled (of course, Monty Python, being the grandfather of all British comedy, is in a class of its own and doesn't count ;) )
Exactly, same thing happens over here in Belgium. Re-runs of stupid sitcoms that are dominated by a fake laughing machine and are not funny at all. We also had local fun-stuff that would qualify in the 'I want to see that again' department but no... weird preferences that these broadcasters have. I remember watching this show when I was really young when I stayed over at my grandmother. She passed away in '85 so that is a long time ago. Thank God for RUclips !
+Nell Smith They don't repeat it for the same reason they cut the 'Going to the oval' scene from any re-showings of Fawlty Towers, the subject matter has been deamed offensive in some way so they would have to cut certain sketches to avoid having it taken off TV, which in turn would annoys those of us who remember it or have it on DVD in full. For those of us that have it on DVD, just watch it there whenever you like :D
Funniest Not... sketch was Gerald the Gorilla 🦍. "I've quite got into Johnny Mathis.." "Yes, don't I know it! 'When a Child is Born' blaring out at all hours when I'm trying to do some work..." "Look, the production on that album is amazing...!
That's right its an Andrew Marshall/David Renwick sketch. Former went on to do "2 point 5 children" the other gave us Victor Meldrew. Wish they'd release the "Burkiss Way" on CD, it was often just as funny as Python.
I was at Kitchen a while back, asking this young man (probably younger than me, I was like 23) whether they had any blenders. He looked up and down for a few moments, almost as if he was trying to get a peek at some of the humongous zits protruding out of his face, and the non-existing shelves in the ceiling and concrete ground, as he mumbled "Blenders..." to himself. Then suddenly he said "I don't know, lemme check! ... *MOOOOM! Do we have any blenders?* He yelled it so loud that practically the entire store could hear it. I shit you not I had to run out of there because I couldn't help but laugh at the irony of it all, seeing as I was struggling to find part-time work at the time. The point of this tale is that I would shop the shit out of this store instead, where it would be entertaining not because of incompetence, but rather due to severe small-dick complexes in the air. Peace out all!
Grandad here. Got my first deck! in 1958. 20 years later my first hi fi, still got the Pioneer deck. 4 years later my first computer, one of the earliest. 15 years later with a doable PC, my first web site and put our business online. Don't knock Grandads, we were there when it wasn't easy like these days.
There was a shop In our Town, when Dolby Pro-Logic came out, and tried to pass It off to a Customer as, true Surround Sound. That would a dream of the future back then.
I collect 78 records and Victrolas, the American equivalent of the grammophone. There's actually a surprising large number of fellow collectors in my country.
Wonderful skit. Was the first skit I saw from "not the nine o clock news". I've always thought that Rowan Atkinson looked very good in that rosy shade of pink. Thanks for uploading :D
This sketch (along with the Two Ronnies Mastermind sketch) first appeared in the BBC Radio 4 show The Burkiss Way, so presumably this was written by either Andrew Marhsall or David Renwick
Sort of right. In order to avoid aliasing during the digital sampling proces the sampling frequency has to be twice that of the highest audio frequency (Nyquist criteria). This is why CDs are genrally sampled at 43kHz when the maximum audible signal is 20kHz. Higher maximum recorded frequency requires higher sampling rate and therefore higher data rate, (and incidently kBps genreally means kilobits per seocnd, not kilobytes, there's a factor of 8 difference)
Well 20kHz is the limit of human hearing. It's unlikely to get music with notes that high per se, but any sound has many frequencies within it. When you pluck a string, it vibrates at the fundamental freq, but also multiples of that freq. The perceived note is the lowest freq, but the balance of the different freq's determines the texture of the note. It's called Harmonic Series. So, the higher freq ranges do affect the overall sound of the music.
I got my first record player around the same time this was made. I didn't get the amp. I plugged that Philips record player to Old Philips tube radio which got phono input. And that turntable had also 78 rpm speed and flip style stylus with second needle for 78 records.
I had a mate who used to work in a Norweb electrical shop 30 years ago and he did encounter customers who were, should we say, a bit behind the times technology wise. He had one customer who wanted to buy a 20 inch black and white television as her model from the seventies had worn out and couldn't understand why they were no longer sold, and wanted to raise a complaint about the lack of black and white television sets. Obviously my mate took this in good grace and explained why there was no market for black and white televisions, but the old lady was still determined she'd have a 20 inch black and white set.
20kHz and above you can't hear, but frequencies just below that do have an effect on the overall sound and are present in any note (except maybe those made by synths). Put it this way, have a fiddle with an equalizer and try turning down the highest frequencies. If you have a good ear you will notice a difference. Not everyone would, which is why some people are fine listening to music on crap speakers, but audiophiles (such as people who work in hi fi stores...) and sound engineers would.
Imagine going into a Mobile ( sorry Smartphone ) Phone Shop now. I went into one once with my Lawyer in order to read the Contract small print. I now have two tin cans and tight fishing line phone calls. Works a treat.
Just go into any local indipendant pc shop and you will get the same welcome. -_- Im glad i know what im talking about as i can just out talk them mwahwahwa, Arrogance loses you customers any fool can tell you that yet shops like Hifi shops or like i say PC shops will still talk down to people.
Nowt changed in 40 years ~ I've uploaded Flanders and Swan "Song Of Reproduction" (1957) which seems to have inspired this sketch, a song about the dawn of "Hi-Fi" and the same 'condescending expert opinion' on rumble filters, woofers and tweeters.
This reminds me of when I went into Tower records in the mid 90s and asked a young salesperson where are their 45s? He looked at me like I had two heads and said, we don’t sell guns here.
I known what you mean a few years back I went into a music shop and asked to look at their drum machines(my old one had broken). The three blokes behind the counter looked at me and burst out laughing.....technology had moved on a bit more than I had thought it appears.
@@Clem_Fandango11 I don't get what they were laughing at. Producers still use hardware drum machines as new ones are being made every year.
@@Limpuls It appears music shops just don't stock em for the purpose I want over here.....which was just to put it through my guitar amp. None uses em anymore outside of studios. It appears everything is done through a PC. My old one used to be able to be programmed through my footpedal.
Yeah they do sell types of drum machines but their for keyboard players.....and as you say studios. I found one on eBay that works great....even if its a bit old.
@@Clem_Fandango11 Get a Boss loop pedal mate there's an old school one on there, I've got the rc3. 😊
@@dodibenabba1378 Now that was a brilliant bit of kit, the loop station was small compact and easy to use. You know, I might just get one for messing about on. Cheers 😀
Best thing about this is how surprising accurate it is, Hi Fi shops are consistently terrible for this, its like if you don't go there with less than $20,000 and a degree in the stuff you shouldn't be there
+Tom Charlton speak for yourself, don't generalise all over-50s as clueless.
+neilinlondon1ive probably got more brains in my little finger grow old gracefully 🙈
+Tom Charlton I doubt it Tom - if you did you wouldn't get confused by modern technology, which from your original statement seems to be the case. The fact your have four grandchildren is entirely irrelevant. My point, which despite being a self-proclaimed mastermind, you have spectacularly missed, is that just because one is over 50 one does not have to be clueless when it comes to technology. Your comment merely perpetuated the appalling ageism that bedevils this society. Oh, and for the record, I have an IQ of 161 and studied at four universities, Cambridge among them, so you must have one hell of a little finger.
+Tom Charlton it's also interesting that you equate keeping up with technology with growing old disgracefully. What a peculiar attitude.
Well I'm 13 and I knew what most of the stuff was, and this is 40 year old technology now so I don't think it's that ridiculous to expect people to have a basically grasp of modern sound technology when trying to buy some.
1:14
"What sort of output are you looking for?"
"What sort have you got?"
"Aaaah. No, no clues." Lol! 😂
'' oh, blonde, leggy, about 130 pounds, and curvey....single, NO Obesity / NO kids......(yet.....)
Fast forward 35 years and customers know more than the sales staff when it comes to anything to do with technology.
In the chain stores maybe - go into an independent Hi-fi shop and you'll find a different animal.
@@Toolpusher No one with any sense goes into Curry's to actually buy something, unless they need it that day.
@@tjfSIM Agreed, I worked in a HiFi shop for years. When there aren't customers we are constantly playing with all the gear and the settings. We know what is total shit and will die after a year, no amount of WhatHifi stars change the fact *cough* modern Pioneer AVRs and Q Acoustics *cough*
This skit reminded me of when I was in school, and half my class were computer and tech nerds. I was never that interested in technology, so every time I listened to their conversations it could have as well been rocket science for me. One time they made fun of me for thinking that GeForce was the name of a Video Game. :P
or .. they think they do.
I just built a valve amp and it sound fucking superb !!
80 year old technology, most of the valves I used were US made in 1951, each one cost about three quid !
I love the way which Rowan Atkinson says 'Grammophone'
When I was at Leicester University around the time this sketch came out, a fellow student reckoned there was a hi-fi shop in the city where they were exactly like this.
sounds like Richer Sounds (across from the railway station).
@@grantgrove6800 Is that still there? I remember they had some seriously expensive kit in there!
This just shows how timeless the genious of Not the Nine O'clock News is. This was a sketch applicable to 1980's audio / visual shops. Fast forward to today - it could be a local computer shop run by Gen Y knobheads. Brilliant!
"Genious"
30 years on and I can still quote every line.
Genius!!!!!!
Having been in the trade at one time many years ago I know one or two sales people that were like this although not quite so blatant , the vast majority were knowledgeable. helpful and enthusiastic . The sketch always tickle's me , thanks for posting.
I bought a smart tv recently and can absolutely sympathise with Mel Smith
One of my all time favorite sketches.
So funny!!! I wasn’t born around the time The Nine O’clock News was broadcast, so getting to watch all clips on RUclips is fantastic. I’m hooked x
well hello there
The "no clues" line was perfectly timed in the writing - it was just as the audience would be sure that the sketch was about the salesmen "testing" the customer's knowledge
This is the funniest sketch in the history of the world. Christ, I feel sorry for "grandad" - I am EXACTLY like him whenever I have to deal with computer matters.
These days it would be a guy walking into a smartphone shop and saying, "I'd like to a buy a... erm... mobile telephone."
TEL-O-PHONE.... I don't think we've got any tel-o-phones 'ere, grandad!
@@Wagoo "Well what's that?" "That is an iPhone 11 Pro with 5G smartphone, unless I'm very much mistaken""
But I wouldn't be embarrassed. I just want a portable telephone (from the Greek, "distance SOUND"), not a pocket computer which happens to have a telephone function included; and if they can't supply one I'll go somewhere else.
@@davidw1518 yeh, good luck with that...i think portable phones still need some computer like IC’s, even if rudimentary. They’re not a landline/walkie talkie
Do You want a Samsung, a Galaxy, or an Apple. No I don't want Groceries, I want a Mobile Telephone, a smart one!.
That smug look on Rowan's face and chewing gum at the same time!
Bet if I walked into a phone shop this would happen to me...
My brother told me he went into a HiFi shop in Reading about this time and had a near identical embarrassing experience, the 'assistants' wearing thin leather ties and cowboy boots. I think he left without buying the gramophone.
Jccjcj de djcjcffkcckf😤🥉🏆🤔🤩😌😜🤗🤭😏😌😄😃😀🤒
@@jonz2984 leather tie, the pinnacle of good taste.
This is like when you take your one year old mobile phone into a "mobile phone repair shop" to get it repaired, and the staff say "I'm not sure we can repair something that old, they don't make the parts anymore".
Llljjjjjjjj
Apple is more likely to pull garbage like that, I think. They're maddeningly greedy.
R.I.P. Mel.
Perhaps one of the funniest comedy sketchs I ever saw. Great memories.
Atkinson is mesmerising. A comic genius
I had a very pleasant surprise last week when I met Gruff Rhys Jones whilst visiting a small town near where I live in West Wales. Nice guy!!
We had a stereogram at one time back in the day. It was a sound system that looked like a cabinet on its side. A turntable,and yes it could play 78s,an analogue radio tuner and a tape deck. Sounded ok. Happy times.
I remember going into a HI-FI shop many years ago. The salesman made no eye contact with my wife and addressed all his comments to me. My wife was a music teacher and was every bit as interested in what we intended to buy as I was. Needless to say we left the store empty--handed. The store closed within a year or two.
That happens even now - hifi sales staff assume a woman hasn't a clue about hifi.
@@LPCLASSICAL Not gonna lie, being in this hobby for a couple of years, the number of women in it is almost negligible compared to the number of guys.
So it's not too unusual for ppl assume that.
@@magik97 yes I know. I never ever at all the hifi shows I went to - never saw a female audiophile
that is kinda funny actually XD
Needless to say, I had the last laugh. #accidentalpartridge
I know it is not on the DVD... but the end is missing.
I CLEARLY remember from seeing it in '83 that in the end Mel gets light salad dressing all over him and he leaves the shop meeting his wife outside who also got dressing all over her saying "It didn't go to well with the records either".
Not to spoil the joke, guys, but the editors of the DVD did not pay sufficient respect to old Mel
I believe the compilations were overseen by the producer John Lloyd, who may simply have felt the original ending wasn't all that good. Having seen it on RUclips, I'm tempted to say I agree.
I'm sure he leaves and meets his wife who's been elsewhere and also has a bag on her head.
Haha, that's brilliant, never saw that part.
this sketch put me off replacing my old wind-up.
Bah, edison cylanders all the way
Nothing changes, just like going into Carphone Warehouse to buy a phone.
Best comedy show ever on British television . Loved it
Im 14 and I love it. I am a huge RA fan and had to watch it because of him , now im hooked. It was so sad about Mel. 60 is too young :( People should live to 80 atleast , if not longer. Although he did smoke like a chimney.
It was available here in the States back in the day. Still recall a folk singer singing, 'I believe the Ayatollah can tell a good joke, but I can't believe Ronald Reagan is president...'
One of The BEST sketches EVER!
Funniest part of this is Griff Rhys Jones just laughing at everything without saying anything 😂😂
Rowan Atkinson is such a versatile actor!
Rowan Atkinson is a giant in comedy. Like Ronnie Barker he can do multiple personalities and be equally convincing as an one of them.
If you tried to guess his real life persona you would get it wrong unless you knew him personally.
He is also for me the King of facial comedy. He can tell you everything you need to know about the character he is performing purely from facial expression.
I can think of nobody who can do this better.
Spot on! That's why nobody else could have done m r bean the way he did
He couldn't tie Barker's shoelaces.
@@thewomble1509Mr Bean is known worldwide in all cultures the same way Charlie Chaplin was. Barker was great but not in the same league.
@@hiramhackenbacker9096 Popularity and talent are not always directly connected.
@thewomble1509 could Barker create a universaly recognised comic icon that barely speaks a word? Atkinson uses body language in a way Barker couldn't imagine. That's talent my friend that Barker doesn't possess.
I remember this from when it was originally shown around 1980.
Alan Heath alright grandad chill out
yeh how I larrft along with Rowan and Griff.
Rick Grimes get to bed you little prick
It’s so funny because there’s an element of truth in it. I always feel a little apprehensive when I go into a specialist retailer. Someone should write a similar sketch about electricians, plumbers and contractors.
Remember dad telling me about fax machines in the late 70s. Seemed like utter witchcraft. Back then he also had a hole-punched Nat West cash point card that could only give you £10. The machine kept the card and then the bank sent it back in the post. Good times.
That sounds like madness! But then I guess £10 was like totally £100 back then.
@@ixaldorran7867
About £50. 10 years earlier, £100. 10 years before that, £200. Our pound coin has already been made up to look like a 1930's-60's threepence. In 10 years time, the post No-Deal-Brexit £ will be worth a chocolate button.
Faxes were in the 80s and well into the 90s.
Fax machine? what about teleprinters?
@@flipper2392 teleprinter?
This is just how people were like in the 80s in electronics shops. At least they knew their stuff then, unlike today when they can barely say the product name
Cheers for this Mel!
Genius that was one of my favourite sketches of theirs..
I have allways said that Rowan is the best comedian ever for all time and this clipe just prove that im as right as hell
I just love this sketch
This reminds me of the time where I wanted to buy a turntable. That was in the 1990's and everybody thought records were a thing of the past.
They were very wrong. Turntables will always be around. Even when no one will know what a CD or TAPE is. Interesting joke about the Dolby though as some LPs actually used a noise reduction. It was DBX.
Jeff Krong - Yes, but at that time it seemed like they would disappear. You can never predict what will become retro in the future. Take electronic instruments as an example: Organs from the 70's are worthless today while synthesizers from the same age are ridiculously overpriced. Or how about bellbottom jeans vs. duckfeet shoes? Maybe I should keep my VHS collection :-)
+organfairy If you wanna keep the VHS's you should get those you can in Betamax format or play them over to that format as that has finally gone out of production this year (seriously, they made betamax blank tapes till this year). The titles that are so rare they dont exist on other medium at all, like special editions or really rare esoterics movies, should be your best bet.
I you like old tech in general like this, you should check out TechMoan's channel. Brilliant walkthrough of past techs and also a good buyers guide if you are serious about getting some nostalgia stuff. I don't count vinyl as nostalgia though, its more like topend niche now with the prices I saw recently (£30 for a new LP...). Must admit I couldn't own one myself anymore, too impatient for it now, but loved the physical aspect of it back in the 80'ties.
I still have nearly all my cassettes from the 80s but never listen to them. I suppose if I asked for a cassette player in a shop I would get the same reaction in this video
"OH you want to play your Duran Duran cassettes granddad ?"
"Actually I do"
Tapes are actually seeing a bit of a resurgence, being put out by niche, independent labels because of their aesthetic qualities (plus it's easy and convenient to knock out a few hundred copies).
fantastic - i love this sketch and I knew the audio from the Hedgehog Sandwich LP long before seeing the video!
You need watch this again
Thank me later
LMFAO and it was GREAT! to see this epic bit of comedy again....
I remember going into an electronics shop on the Tottenham Court Road and buying a Philips turntable, a Panasonic amplifier and a couple of Wharfdale speakers back in 1976! I was 20 years old. I can understand the poor fellows predicament 😂😂
Wharfedale speakers, nice score!!
If this doesn't make U laugh then U have to see a doctor or psycholog. This most be the Top 1 from this gang. Oggi from Sweden
Great video, i felt the same when i went to DIXONS. I asked for a Blackberry on Orange,an Apple and an Eggs Box, he said i want to be at the fruit shop! I felt a right Melon.
Nope, you get wrong comedian there
Now I feel old when I say to people I STILL prefer my old CDs .
Even though cd's are still the current main physical media for music.
When people see my cd and mp3 collection they're like "but Spotify..."
@@NautilusMusic how do u collect mp3s
@@chesterma6321 legally of course 😎
? ....hmm I may just goto the spare bedroom - full of legacy devices , and find my Sony Cassete , pocket sized player. It is light blue....early 80's
Remember Dolby A, and Dolby B? ( There may even have been a C as well.)
I must have spent about five years being drawn to the tape deck and pressing each one alternately, trying to discern the difference between them. One of them simply muffled the sound and increased the base, and the other muffled the sound more and did something completely indeterminate to the base.
Then came graphic equalisers. With this invention you could find your own personally preferred degree of sound muffle and deadening base to boot.
This was not an age of trebble.
I worked in a specialists Hi Fi shop when I left school and the manager was just like Rowans obnoxious character in this sketch, and would even belittle people when they asked for advice on a unit and would call them everything under the sun when they walked out of the shop empty handed.
Name the shop.
When I was at school drama class some students did the sketch live with the salad cream the room stank for hours it was horrible lol
They'd charge you 5p for the bag these days (1:51)
but these 5p will save the planet!!
No paper ones are free 😂😂
Not if you take your own, plastic bags, which is the whole point, they are making us do.
It’s ok, it’s a paper bag, they can still be used free to belittle customers whilst also being biodegradable.
Not a paper one
@METALLICAOWN If I'm not mistaken, he was about 24 at the time.
It’s like shopping in Curry’s 😂
Oh yes! 🤣👍
Yes true! Same as PC World’s and Vodafone.
Oh how I miss _"Not the Nine O'Clock News"_ ... and why does the BBC (almost) *never* repeat it, when we get endless re-runs of stupid and unfunny sitcoms that nobody liked the first time round? Anyway... this is definitely a candidate for "Funniest "Not"... Sketch Of All Time" (can't really choose - there are so many) - I used to listen to it on an old audio tape, before video recorders existed, and it's actually just as funny without even seeing the actors. Of course, it helps that I'd seen it once already - but still, how many comedy acts today would be as funny if you removed the visuals and just left the audio? "Not..." was just pure genius - often copied, never equalled (of course, Monty Python, being the grandfather of all British comedy, is in a class of its own and doesn't count ;) )
Exactly, same thing happens over here in Belgium. Re-runs of stupid sitcoms that are dominated by a fake laughing machine and are not funny at all. We also had local fun-stuff that would qualify in the 'I want to see that again' department but no... weird preferences that these broadcasters have.
I remember watching this show when I was really young when I stayed over at my grandmother. She passed away in '85 so that is a long time ago.
Thank God for RUclips !
+Nell Smith They don't repeat it for the same reason they cut the 'Going to the oval' scene from any re-showings of Fawlty Towers, the subject matter has been deamed offensive in some way so they would have to cut certain sketches to avoid having it taken off TV, which in turn would annoys those of us who remember it or have it on DVD in full.
For those of us that have it on DVD, just watch it there whenever you like :D
Would that be an audio tape with an amp? With a single stroke watt locator or triple? And the video recorder, was it ICV or STV? Did it have nobblers?
@@telemachus53 Was it an AUTOMATIC video recorder? Using special tape?
Funniest Not... sketch was Gerald the Gorilla 🦍.
"I've quite got into Johnny Mathis.."
"Yes, don't I know it! 'When a Child is Born' blaring out at all hours when I'm trying to do some work..."
"Look, the production on that album is amazing...!
Perfect send up of the snobbery around hi fi...."Aaah...no clues !!"
Rowan looks so young!
He was 24 i think when this was done?
That's right its an Andrew Marshall/David Renwick sketch.
Former went on to do "2 point 5 children"
the other gave us Victor Meldrew.
Wish they'd release the "Burkiss Way" on CD, it was often just as funny as Python.
Many audio shops are still like it today.
I was at Kitchen a while back, asking this young man (probably younger than me, I was like 23) whether they had any blenders.
He looked up and down for a few moments, almost as if he was trying to get a peek at some of the humongous zits protruding out of his face, and the non-existing shelves in the ceiling and concrete ground, as he mumbled "Blenders..." to himself.
Then suddenly he said "I don't know, lemme check! ... *MOOOOM! Do we have any blenders?* He yelled it so loud that practically the entire store could hear it.
I shit you not I had to run out of there because I couldn't help but laugh at the irony of it all, seeing as I was struggling to find part-time work at the time.
The point of this tale is that I would shop the shit out of this store instead, where it would be entertaining not because of incompetence, but rather due to severe small-dick complexes in the air.
Peace out all!
The 45 people who disliked this video never got their Gramophone’s!!!
Grandad here. Got my first deck! in 1958. 20 years later my first hi fi, still got the Pioneer deck. 4 years later my first computer, one of the earliest. 15 years later with a doable PC, my first web site and put our business online. Don't knock Grandads, we were there when it wasn't easy like these days.
@trickykid73 Thanks. What is great about B&W is they make quality gear at all price points
Don't think we've got any CD players here granddad.
Or mini disc's Grandad.
But they have got record players.
Soon it’ll be “don’t think we’ve got any MP3 players here grandad”
love the video mate
keep up with the hard work
@grazul that is "Jungle Rock", by Hank Mizell - a minor hit in the 1970's - watch it on youtube
Rowan Atkinson is rocking those leather pants!!!
There was a shop In our Town, when Dolby Pro-Logic came out, and tried to pass It off to a Customer as, true Surround Sound. That would a dream of the future back then.
Absolutely brilliant
I collect 78 records and Victrolas, the American equivalent of the grammophone. There's actually a surprising large number of fellow collectors in my country.
Wonderful skit. Was the first skit I saw from "not the nine o clock news". I've always thought that Rowan Atkinson looked very good in that rosy shade of pink. Thanks for uploading :D
OMG this one of my best guy friends reminds me SO much of Rowan AtkinsoN! he even LOOKS like him!!
@kingofpunk1977 Yeah in the US it's the customers who are rude and condescending towards the retail workers.
Lots of equivalents to this. Computers, guitar shops, plumbers, builders---the list goes on.
This sketch (along with the Two Ronnies Mastermind sketch) first appeared in the BBC Radio 4 show The Burkiss Way, so presumably this was written by either Andrew Marhsall or David Renwick
SpecialK999 -
"The Burkiss Way........."
Ah, now you're talking !
Whatever DID happen to Eric Pode of Croydon, I wonder.............................?
"No clues!"
Brilliant!
Sort of right. In order to avoid aliasing during the digital sampling proces the sampling frequency has to be twice that of the highest audio frequency (Nyquist criteria). This is why CDs are genrally sampled at 43kHz when the maximum audible signal is 20kHz. Higher maximum recorded frequency requires higher sampling rate and therefore higher data rate, (and incidently kBps genreally means kilobits per seocnd, not kilobytes, there's a factor of 8 difference)
I used to have a Decca radiogram that played 16, 33, 45 and 78 rpm. Wish I hadn't taken it to the tip.
Well 20kHz is the limit of human hearing. It's unlikely to get music with notes that high per se, but any sound has many frequencies within it. When you pluck a string, it vibrates at the fundamental freq, but also multiples of that freq. The perceived note is the lowest freq, but the balance of the different freq's determines the texture of the note. It's called Harmonic Series.
So, the higher freq ranges do affect the overall sound of the music.
Loved the guy! Long and funny history. RIP.
It was a radio show they did during the 70's. Apparently there's MP3's available.
Google "The Burkiss Way".
I got my first record player around the same time this was made. I didn't get the amp. I plugged that Philips record player to Old Philips tube radio which got phono input. And that turntable had also 78 rpm speed and flip style stylus with second needle for 78 records.
I had a mate who used to work in a Norweb electrical shop 30 years ago and he did encounter customers who were, should we say, a bit behind the times technology wise. He had one customer who wanted to buy a 20 inch black and white television as her model from the seventies had worn out and couldn't understand why they were no longer sold, and wanted to raise a complaint about the lack of black and white television sets. Obviously my mate took this in good grace and explained why there was no market for black and white televisions, but the old lady was still determined she'd have a 20 inch black and white set.
Just had a grammophone shopping experience at Best Buy. This time the variables were Amazon Firestick, HD, 4K, compatible apps and chromecast.
Ohh about 3 , no no 2000 , no no 500 , erm 30 , yes 30.
Brilliant.
RIP Mel
I used to sell this sort of gear for a local electrical store late 80s. Happy days.
@grahamwebb2000 Not sure but I don't think you'd find a 2000W hi-fi amp. At least not back then.
20kHz and above you can't hear, but frequencies just below that do have an effect on the overall sound and are present in any note (except maybe those made by synths). Put it this way, have a fiddle with an equalizer and try turning down the highest frequencies. If you have a good ear you will notice a difference. Not everyone would, which is why some people are fine listening to music on crap speakers, but audiophiles (such as people who work in hi fi stores...) and sound engineers would.
Yes, but the 20 kHz and above frequencies will probably be suppressed in amplitude....and in any case your ear filters them out
Play nicely with angel's big man, you gave joy to many and very few ever manage that.
Imagine going into a Mobile ( sorry Smartphone ) Phone Shop now.
I went into one once with my Lawyer in order to read the Contract small print.
I now have two tin cans and tight fishing line phone calls.
Works a treat.
I love the way this tallented genius suppresses his native Geordie accent!
I saw this at the time, laughed my socks off,to a fifteen year old it was sharp.
Or Sony.
They should make an update of this, show Rowan Atkinson going into a shop and saying "I'd like to buy a compact disk player", and have chaos ensue...
the staff are like that here in Poland, especially if you're a woman
Naprawde? Szkoda 😥
Rowan in this video though….😍😍😍
He was so handsome!
Just go into any local indipendant pc shop and you will get the same welcome. -_- Im glad i know what im talking about as i can just out talk them mwahwahwa, Arrogance loses you customers any fool can tell you that yet shops like Hifi shops or like i say PC shops will still talk down to people.
I remember seeing this a few years ago on BBC, I was wetting myself. It's my favourite comedy sketch I can think of.
Who are all those extremely young performers?
(My goodness, where does the time go?)
Ha ha ha! I loved it!
I love it
Nowt changed in 40 years ~ I've uploaded Flanders and Swan "Song Of Reproduction" (1957) which seems to have inspired this sketch, a song about the dawn of "Hi-Fi" and the same 'condescending expert opinion' on rumble filters, woofers and tweeters.
Reel to reel tape were expensive to buy in early '80s - Some still are.
genious!!! best of this show!