After watching Yes Minister for a while, you begin inevitably to catch on to Sir Humphrey's convoluted conveyances and begin to hear instead clear speech.
scary isn't it - but I had to watch them a lot to actually cotton on. There's still a few references that even today I don't get - but I'm not British either
So sorry Bernard (Derek Fowlds) never seemed to get full recognition of his amazing acting, as can be seen that he can do the same scripts, yet the other two got the awards.
Bernard had a difficult part to play, watching from the sidelines as Hacker and Sir Humphrey jousted verbally before delivering the punchline. You just knew that Bernard would repeat _verbatim_ Sir Humphrey's verbose salutations unless stopped! Comedic gold- we shall never see its like again... and more's the pity.
@@favesongslist Well, especially the BAFTA awards we're all gobbled up by Nigel Hawthorne who probably benefitted the most from the show. But Derek Fowlds enjoyed a lot making the show with Hawthorne/Eddington and built a decent career on it... and he is still loved by the audience for this part...I don't think he has any regrets...
@@notroll1279 @No Troll I was not implying in anyway he had any regrets. Just saying he was just as fine an actor as the others and yet never got a single award as far as I know unlike the other two main leading roles did.
@EmptyThrone Add a listing of code to every paragraph? You rob yourself about 1001 words with every diagram you include. Don't let that happen. Include the diagram and the words.
This is actually quite cute. Sir Humphrey, who, half the time seems to have quite a low opinion of the Minister and disagrees with him, actually wants to wish him a happy Christmas! It shows a very sweet side to the character.
I do think Humphrey quite liked Hacker. He obviously cared most about the Service, but Hacker saved his backside on more than one occasion when he could’ve easily thrown him under the bus! 😂
Nigel Hawthorne, one of the most impressive memories in the history of show business. Imagine being able to remember EVERY one of these long speeches AFTER they were aired.
I think he had to read this one, because it was something special they were asked to do, while taping an episode of Yes, Minister. He simply didn't have the time to memorize it, like he usually did.
@@ulkien For all of the main episodes of the series he remembered his dialogue. However this small scene was quickly written and recorded in addition to one of the episodes of series three in 1982, so Nigel didn't have enough time to learn it, so cue cards had to be used.
Paul Eddington's facial expressions are almost as remarkable as Nigel's memory. He used to use his face rather than deliver lines, and here that works perfectly. He actually says -- not to put too fine a point on it -- "What's he talking about?" constantly while Hawthorne is talking. Brillo!
It was never aired as part of Yes Minister. Back in 1982 the BBC had the (rather nice) idea of asking all of the sitcoms they had in production to produce an extra Christmas-themed vignette for broadcast over the holiday period.
2019? Complete amateur. It’s 2021 and I’m fondly partaking in this by no means disagreeable level of gratification which in retrospect may be deemed to alleviate any sorrowful cognitive conditions and apportions merriment almost too obscene to contemplate
Margaret Thatcher used to do the washing up in the flat they had in 10 Downing Street and Dennis her husband used to shout "It;s starting Margaret!" and she'd come rushing out with her marigolds on to watch it.
@Tristan Lane utter right wing bollocks. Spot the dickhead who doesn't know anything. Nothing to do with the Chinese as they were still a very closed country in the 80s dealing with the aftershocks of the end of the gang of 4 and Mao's legacy. She and her cabinet destroyed the industrial capacity of the UK for the sole benefit of her neoliberal funders and to get revenge for being ousted from government by striking miners in the early 70s. What a fact free zone your braincell is
I never saw this before (Jan 2020). It is great, I am now watching the series again and again. The only regret is that they only did few series for each one : Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister. I wish they did more. It is pure gold comedy, never ever gets old.
The best television programme ever, with a suplative cast, who's adroit use of language stimulated the celebral cortex to such an extent as to cause vast amounts of mirthfulness at all seasons not just the adjacent one of traditional festivity. Never guess that I used to be a senior servant of The Crown.
As a Finnish kid these tirades were a great avenue for improving my English. I made point of understanding their train of thought in real time until I was almost sure of what the hell he was talking about... 😅
Stroke of genius! Although I would suspect and even be so bold as to wager, that Sir Humphrey Appleby as portrayed by the late Sir Nigel Hawthorn with the assistance of the screenplay writers would have phrased my compliment in a somewhat lengthier parlance that tends to obfuscate the true meaning of the message by a proverbial cloud of partially burnt organic material.
but it has to be delivered in the fullness of time, when the moment is ripe, free from an unsympathetic mind that the message is received in the mode of which it is transmitted.
You could see what was coming in the end, and that made it even funnier. Classic look on Humphrey's face saying, well of course that's what I'm saying.
I wonder if I might crave your momentary indulgence in order to discharge a, by no means disagreeable, obligation which has over the years become, more or less established practice within government circles as we approach the terminal period of the year, calender of course not financial; in fact, not to put too fine a point on it, week 51; and submit to you, with all appropriate deference, for your consideration at a convenient juncture, a sincere and sanguine expectation, indeed, confidence; indeed one might go so far as to say hope, that the aforementioned period may be, at the end of the day, when all relevant facts have been taken into consideration, susceptible of being deemed to be such as to merit a final verdict of having being, by no means, unsatisfactory in its overall outcome and in the final analysis, to give grounds for being judged, on mature reflection, to have been conducive to generating a degree of gratification which will be seen in retrospect, to have been significantly higher than the general average…
He didn't, you can see him looking a bit to the side, where he's post probably reading it from something. This is a special sketch, so he probably didn't have the time to learn the script.
@AliceTRoyal Don't know whether all you guys know this, But Nigel Hawthorne AKA Sir Humphrey Appleby actually did most of these long rhetorical speeches in one take. AMAZING
They really should. But at the same time, I kinda get the impression they want this show buried. Perhaps it's still too bitingly relevant and the BBC of today is a shell of its former self when it comes to comedy. Never seems to be on UK Gold or anything which should be the perfect home for repeats.
Nah, the BBC have always been quite proud of Yes Minister/Prime Minister. But it’s well over 30 years old now. The BBC have put up quite a few clips of it on RUclips themselves. As to it not appearing on tv channels like Dave... that’s probably because it would go right over the heads of most Dave viewers
@@greva2904 Oh definitely not Dave. It's too good for Dave. Not that stuff on Dave is bad (I for one love Red Dwarf and Bottom). UK Gold is a natural home for it.
186 words ! Sir Humphrey: Oh thank you, Bernard. Minister just one thing. I wonder if I might crave your momentary indulgence in order to discharge a by no means disagreeable obligation. Which has, over the years, become more or less established practice within government circles as we approach the terminal period of the year. Calendar, of course, not financial, in fact, not to put too fine a point on it, Week Fifty-One, and submit to you. With all appropriate deference, for your consideration at a convenient juncture, a sincere and sanguine expectation, indeed confidence, indeed one might go so far as to say hope, that the aforementioned period may be, at the end of the day. When all relevant factors have been taken into consideration, susceptible of being deemed to be such as to merit a final verdict of having been by no means unsatisfactory in its overall outcome and, in the final analysis, to give grounds for being judged, on mature reflection. To have been conducive to generating a degree of gratification which will be seen in retrospect to have been significantly higher than the general average.
+Peter Wong The Brits are nowhere close either. This was the most atypical of shows, and is difficult enough to create that only 39 episodes were possible over 8 years. It is very, very hard to create a show like this, even if there are only 3 major characters.
T G , they had another lovely series on the subject. For radio this time. It was called "Men from the ministry" and it ran from the 60s to the 80s. The show was about 2 clumsy public servants and it had a lot of witty jokes and crazy plots. Some episodes of Yes Min are inspired by situations from the radio show ( when they meet the African president. There is also one about a WWII army base in Scotland that was turned into a business by the soldiers who were never discharged because a public servant misplaced the file- it turns out to have been Sir Humphrey- this is a recurrent theme in Men from Min.) The difference between the two is that Yes Min is much more in touch with reality and more serious than the radio show.
Oh, Sir Humphrey. I take my hat off to you, sir. In fact, in the final analysis, at the risk of sounding undignified, I think it might be reasonably true to say...that I rather love you. XD
Sublime British comedy at its very best. Sadly it can be no more and we are left wondering and scratching our heads at the dross which passes for 'comedy' today. Still, we can always dip into clips such as these and reflect upon a golden age.
WONDERFUL!!! SIR HUMPHREY IS THE GREATEST!!! DECEMBER 27TH IS MY BIRTHDAY AND I GOT THE SWEETEST GIFT!!! THANK YOU FOR PLACING THIS VIDEO! I STILL KEEP LAUGHING! IT MADE ME VERY, VERY HAPPY. THANK YOU!
I wonder if I might crave your momentary indulgence in order to discharge a, by no means disagreeable, obligation to mention that Bernard deserves his 20% leaving the aforementioned humphery with a most agreeable 40% of the total , not inconsiderable , balance...
The scale of words these men have just to say a simple word like "lie" or asking for a spare key is just beyond me. And it is comedic genius I must say.
This is the first time I noticed the angle of his eyes, it appears he is reading this from queue cards. Which is perfectly fine, of course. It would be preposterous to memorise it all.
Yes, Nigel did read this off cue cards, as this sketch was very quickly written and recorded during the recording as an episode of series three Yes Minister in 1982, there was no time for Nigel to lean the dialogue. The one and only time he had to read it off cue cards, which the writers said annoyed him, as he liked learning the script.
Absolute masterpieces both 'Yes Minister' and 'Yes Prime Minister'. In a similar way to Dads Army - the cast was spot on. Almost all of the stuff in these series is still very relevant. If you search - 'Yes Prime Minister EEC RUclips' Thier comments on what is now the EU is sidespliting and explains virtually all about it - please take time to have a look everyone! Merry Christmas all and happy new year. RSN.......
Nigel does look to me to be reading this one from a prompter for once. He stumbles on some words too which is unheard of. Must have been a very late decision to film this sketch as a one-off with no time to learn it. Still marvellous!
Развлечения
After watching Yes Minister for a while, you begin inevitably to catch on to Sir Humphrey's convoluted conveyances and begin to hear instead clear speech.
scary isn't it - but I had to watch them a lot to actually cotton on. There's still a few references that even today I don't get - but I'm not British either
That’s true. Also the writers quite often reuse the same fillers, ‘not to put too fine a point on it’, so you learn to tune them out lol.
Now think about the people who actually work in government and how often they hear it.
Frightening, isn't it!
Should have been a real Government Minister, find him more entertaining than the real thing😂
You just know Bernard would have repeated the whole speech verbatim if he hadn't been stopped. Priceless, absolute gold.
So sorry Bernard (Derek Fowlds) never seemed to get full recognition of his amazing acting, as can be seen that he can do the same scripts, yet the other two got the awards.
I agree.
Bernard had a difficult part to play, watching from the sidelines as Hacker and Sir Humphrey jousted verbally before delivering the punchline. You just knew that Bernard would repeat _verbatim_ Sir Humphrey's verbose salutations unless stopped! Comedic gold- we shall never see its like again... and more's the pity.
@@favesongslist Well, especially the BAFTA awards we're all gobbled up by Nigel Hawthorne who probably benefitted the most from the show.
But Derek Fowlds enjoyed a lot making the show with Hawthorne/Eddington and built a decent career on it... and he is still loved by the audience for this part...I don't think he has any regrets...
@@notroll1279 @No Troll I was not implying in anyway he had any regrets. Just saying he was just as fine an actor as the others and yet never got a single award as far as I know unlike the other two main leading roles did.
this is the type of lingo i used in my homework when i was supposed to make them a certain length and at uni
Ikr?! I do the same with my university papers :L Thank you, Humpy! :L
+lazypizzaguy haha me too :D
That was sneaky, low, underhand, and should be condemned outright! However as I did the same thing myself, I can't be the one to do it! 😁
People say I write well sometimes like a lawyer. I tell them I was taught to speak bureaucracy fluently by the best there is.
@EmptyThrone Add a listing of code to every paragraph?
You rob yourself about 1001 words with every diagram you include. Don't let that happen. Include the diagram and the words.
This is actually quite cute. Sir Humphrey, who, half the time seems to have quite a low opinion of the Minister and disagrees with him, actually wants to wish him a happy Christmas! It shows a very sweet side to the character.
To be fair, he was choking it out. The insincere git
I do think Humphrey quite liked Hacker. He obviously cared most about the Service, but Hacker saved his backside on more than one occasion when he could’ve easily thrown him under the bus! 😂
Nigel Hawthorne, one of the most impressive memories in the history of show business. Imagine being able to remember EVERY one of these long speeches AFTER they were aired.
He didn't have cue cards???!?
You can actually see him reading the cue cards non-stop in this sketch. Still well done though.
I think he had to read this one, because it was something special they were asked to do, while taping an episode of Yes, Minister. He simply didn't have the time to memorize it, like he usually did.
Paul Eddington who plays the minister said he could remember all his speeches and it's the part he would have loved to play .
@@ulkien For all of the main episodes of the series he remembered his dialogue. However this small scene was quickly written and recorded in addition to one of the episodes of series three in 1982, so Nigel didn't have enough time to learn it, so cue cards had to be used.
Epic ...... "Yes Minster" and "Yes Prime Minister" were the two greatest TV Comedy Series ever produced. True Classics .... brilliant stuff.
And a lot of truth in there as well.
100% agree. Funny, witty, well.acted, well.written and probably completely accurate.
Agreed.
I love the way Bernard nods wisely as though he agrees with every word
Bernards blowing the whistle at the end is the chef’s kiss. Perfection.
Paul Eddington's facial expressions are almost as remarkable as Nigel's memory. He used to use his face rather than deliver lines, and here that works perfectly. He actually says -- not to put too fine a point on it -- "What's he talking about?" constantly while Hawthorne is talking. Brillo!
Paul Eddington was brilliant.
Its so sad that in later life this brilliant brave man would develop skin cancer affecting his face... RIP
Brilliant! Top marks to Sir Nigel for memorising this speech, and also, don't forget, to the writers who created this masterpiece in the first place.
I'm a HUGE fan of Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister yet I have never seen this before. Thank you so much!
It was never aired as part of Yes Minister. Back in 1982 the BBC had the (rather nice) idea of asking all of the sitcoms they had in production to produce an extra Christmas-themed vignette for broadcast over the holiday period.
Same here !!! Thank you all for sharing ...
I'm still enjoying this in December 2019,absolutely wonderful!
2019? Complete amateur. It’s 2021 and I’m fondly partaking in this by no means disagreeable level of gratification which in retrospect may be deemed to alleviate any sorrowful cognitive conditions and apportions merriment almost too obscene to contemplate
Ah, this was PRICELESS!!!! :D
One of the best written shows ever!
I didn't expect to see Doomcock here, but there you go
Amen my lord :D .
That some of the live audiance were howling with laughter fit perfectly.
This show deserved a Nobel prize in literature.
May your administrative wing be equally as baffling to us commoners, my Lord.
Humphrey - the man without a full stop.
Thank you gentlemen for sharing your talent with the world. R.I.P
My sentiment exactly
True talent.
@@simoncollins493 the best
Ha, ha, very true. My goal for next christmas is to memorize the whole thing and go around reciting it to people.
It’s been 11 years, have you succeeded?
Now THIS is the English language! I’ve only just come across this clip - a lovely surprise amongst the dross of 2021.
I never get tired of watching this. So brilliantly funny.
They could never revamp this show as all three actors are irreplaceable.
Yay for Bernard at the end. :3
That was very cute, I think. :P I imagine Humphrey has some problem writing Christmas cards to people though!
Only because these days are apt to be so small! :-)
Margaret Thatcher used to do the washing up in the flat they had in 10 Downing Street and Dennis her husband used to shout "It;s starting Margaret!" and she'd come rushing out with her marigolds on to watch it.
>and she'd come rushing out with her marigolds on to watch it
Fun fact, that's all she wore.
That's not really a fact I'm afraid.
Darth KEK that and it’s more terrifying than fun.
She also destroyed the North
Thatcher was even in a short live sketch with Hawthorne and Eddington. It's on YT.
@Tristan Lane utter right wing bollocks. Spot the dickhead who doesn't know anything. Nothing to do with the Chinese as they were still a very closed country in the 80s dealing with the aftershocks of the end of the gang of 4 and Mao's legacy. She and her cabinet destroyed the industrial capacity of the UK for the sole benefit of her neoliberal funders and to get revenge for being ousted from government by striking miners in the early 70s. What a fact free zone your braincell is
I never saw this before (Jan 2020). It is great, I am now watching the series again and again. The only regret is that they only did few series for each one : Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister. I wish they did more. It is pure gold comedy, never ever gets old.
Excellent love yes minister
I have managed to get hold of the DVD of Yes Minister and Yes prime minister
As a writer I can say, that is amazing and humbling, i hope to one day be half as good
Ì will vote "Yes Minister," the greatest comedy ever written and produced. Thank you writers, producers.
The best television programme ever, with a suplative cast, who's adroit use of language stimulated the celebral cortex to such an extent as to cause vast amounts of mirthfulness at all seasons not just the adjacent one of traditional festivity.
Never guess that I used to be a senior servant of The Crown.
So you speak bureaucracy fluently
whose*
*superlative*
Oh man, I do so miss these gentlemen.
As a Finnish kid these tirades were a great avenue for improving my English. I made point of understanding their train of thought in real time until I was almost sure of what the hell he was talking about... 😅
that's not a sketch, that's the longest greeting card ever..
A season’s greeting card that lasts longer than the actual season.
I bet lol
I need to get this into a Christmas card. Oh, man if I could cite that from memory, I would just say it all the time
Haha, brilliant!
Stroke of genius!
Although I would suspect and even be so bold as to wager, that Sir Humphrey Appleby as portrayed by the late Sir Nigel Hawthorn with the assistance of the screenplay writers would have phrased my compliment in a somewhat lengthier parlance that tends to obfuscate the true meaning of the message by a proverbial cloud of partially burnt organic material.
Glad that cloud is only proverbial.
👏🏾
but it has to be delivered in the fullness of time, when the moment is ripe, free from an unsympathetic mind that the message is received in the mode of which it is transmitted.
You could see what was coming in the end, and that made it even funnier. Classic look on Humphrey's face saying, well of course that's what I'm saying.
I wonder if I might crave your momentary indulgence in order to discharge a, by no means disagreeable, obligation which has over the years become, more or less established practice within government circles as we approach the terminal period of the year, calender of course not financial; in fact, not to put too fine a point on it, week 51; and submit to you, with all appropriate deference, for your consideration at a convenient juncture, a sincere and sanguine expectation, indeed, confidence; indeed one might go so far as to say hope, that the aforementioned period may be, at the end of the day, when all relevant facts have been taken into consideration, susceptible of being deemed to be such as to merit a final verdict of having being, by no means, unsatisfactory in its overall outcome and in the final analysis, to give grounds for being judged, on mature reflection, to have been conducive to generating a degree of gratification which will be seen in retrospect, to have been significantly higher than the general average…
+Ade Adebimpe how did they learn it all.
He didn't, you can see him looking a bit to the side, where he's post probably reading it from something. This is a special sketch, so he probably didn't have the time to learn the script.
This makes so much more sense when read, rather than heard.
Are you saying "Happy Christmas"?
Did you notice he almost never made a move with his eyes? Hats off, if he was reading that with steady eyes.
Everytime Hacker ends up looking as conufzzled as one can be, ending up saying " What's he talking about?! ", I lol my ass off!
@AliceTRoyal
Don't know whether all you guys know this, But Nigel Hawthorne AKA Sir Humphrey Appleby actually did most of these long rhetorical speeches in one take. AMAZING
@john edwards Why did you feel the need to be negative?
That trio was fantastic, never before gvt has been so accurately portraited, in Gt. Bt and in my own country as well.
Watching on Christmas Day 2022!
Frankly, watching sir Humphry Appleby talking helped me a lot with the PR side of my career. Seriously.
PERFECT Sir Humphrey yuletide offering! 😆😆😆
I got lost half way through his loquacious lollygagging blabber. Hahaha
Absolutely brilliant… British comedy at its best….. only Brits will understand this.. makes you proud..
I love how he was grinning all through that.
whenever someone calles Sir Humphrey 'Humpy' I start laughing hysterically
I demand fully restored blu-ray Yes Minister and Yes Prime-Minister! Will the BBC ever do it do you think?
Hopefully they still have the film masters
They really should. But at the same time, I kinda get the impression they want this show buried. Perhaps it's still too bitingly relevant and the BBC of today is a shell of its former self when it comes to comedy. Never seems to be on UK Gold or anything which should be the perfect home for repeats.
Nah, the BBC have always been quite proud of Yes Minister/Prime Minister. But it’s well over 30 years old now. The BBC have put up quite a few clips of it on RUclips themselves.
As to it not appearing on tv channels like Dave... that’s probably because it would go right over the heads of most Dave viewers
@@greva2904 Oh definitely not Dave. It's too good for Dave. Not that stuff on Dave is bad (I for one love Red Dwarf and Bottom). UK Gold is a natural home for it.
@@greva2904 not any more. It's now considered thatcherite for its depiction of an irredeemable corrupt civil service.
186 words ! Sir Humphrey: Oh thank you, Bernard. Minister just one thing. I wonder if I might crave your momentary indulgence in order to discharge a by no means disagreeable obligation.
Which has, over the years, become more or less established practice within government circles as we approach the terminal period of the year. Calendar, of course, not financial, in fact, not to put too fine a point on it, Week Fifty-One, and submit to you.
With all appropriate deference, for your consideration at a convenient juncture, a sincere and sanguine expectation, indeed confidence, indeed one might go so far as to say hope, that the aforementioned period may be, at the end of the day.
When all relevant factors have been taken into consideration, susceptible of being deemed to be such as to merit a final verdict of having been by no means unsatisfactory in its overall outcome and, in the final analysis, to give grounds for being judged, on mature reflection.
To have been conducive to generating a degree of gratification which will be seen in retrospect to have been significantly higher than the general average.
After "...just one thing:" there is only one period in the very end, all the rest are commas, as always it's just one grammatically correct sentence.
Simply Brilliant!! Humphrey's approach is subtle and drives home a loud point in his impeccable style.
Oh the sheer beauty of the English language!!!
Priceless
I love his directness.
the look on the Minister's puzzled face is always so precious! and funny
They sure don't make 'em like this anymore..
Splendid!
PURE , British wit, such intelligent comedy,the Americans are nowhere close!!!!
+Peter Wong The Brits are nowhere close either. This was the most atypical of shows, and is difficult enough to create that only 39 episodes were possible over 8 years.
It is very, very hard to create a show like this, even if there are only 3 major characters.
+Peter Wong absolutely!
T G , they had another lovely series on the subject. For radio this time. It was called "Men from the ministry" and it ran from the 60s to the 80s. The show was about 2 clumsy public servants and it had a lot of witty jokes and crazy plots. Some episodes of Yes Min are inspired by situations from the radio show ( when they meet the African president. There is also one about a WWII army base in Scotland that was turned into a business by the soldiers who were never discharged because a public servant misplaced the file- it turns out to have been Sir Humphrey- this is a recurrent theme in Men from Min.)
The difference between the two is that Yes Min is much more in touch with reality and more serious than the radio show.
Veep is as close as America will get.
You may very well think that, I couldn’t possibly comment.
Oh, Sir Humphrey. I take my hat off to you, sir. In fact, in the final analysis, at the risk of sounding undignified, I think it might be reasonably true to say...that I rather love you. XD
To crown it all, Bernard blowing that thing, genius
This is how I got through my essays at uni and why I occassionally make 3 hour long videos
This is how we all write our essays when we need to reach the word count
People say I speak bureaucracy fluently I just tell them I was taught to by the best.
Sublime British comedy at its very best. Sadly it can be no more and we are left wondering and scratching our heads at the dross which passes for 'comedy' today. Still, we can always dip into clips such as these and reflect upon a golden age.
Here here this was just great no one might understand him now it may be related to the comprehensive education !
Stephen Phillip . Oh I miss those days!
Tom Greene
Your post’s sentiments and its execution seem to be somewhat at odds with each other.
@@kelman727 Hear! Hear!
Check out The Thick Of It
I was 6 months old when this aired.
i was WAY off, i thought he came in to see if he was getting a christmas bonus, that was absolutely hilarious
Thanks Dr Nelly Kamunde...KSL...very informative on legal writing and drafting
A happy Christmas to you too Humpy! And I love the final noisemaker from Bernard.
WONDERFUL!!! SIR HUMPHREY IS THE GREATEST!!! DECEMBER 27TH IS MY BIRTHDAY AND I GOT THE SWEETEST GIFT!!! THANK YOU FOR PLACING THIS VIDEO! I STILL KEEP LAUGHING! IT MADE ME VERY, VERY HAPPY. THANK YOU!
Pure genius Paul Eddington
gotta love that humphery, he"s half the show.
I wonder if I might crave your momentary indulgence in order to discharge a, by no means disagreeable, obligation to mention that Bernard deserves his 20% leaving the aforementioned humphery with a most agreeable 40% of the total , not inconsiderable , balance...
It was 'Merry Christmas' in those days.. and A Happy New Year!
How on Earth have I gone so long without ever having seen this?
Good question for us all.
They were so amazed at the setup they forgot to laugh at the punchline
Thank God for consistency. I was looking for this clip for sometime now. Lol
That is comedy at its best.
Imagine memorizing this and using it at meetings when the time is appropriate. Most would prob think you are off your rocker.
This expresses my wishes perfectly.
Such great comedy no matter how old 🤣🤣🤣🤣
The scale of words these men have just to say a simple word like "lie" or asking for a spare key is just beyond me.
And it is comedic genius I must say.
Baffling! HOW does he do it !! 👍
As always...BRILLIANT!!!
This is the first time I noticed the angle of his eyes, it appears he is reading this from queue cards.
Which is perfectly fine, of course. It would be preposterous to memorise it all.
Yes, Nigel did read this off cue cards, as this sketch was very quickly written and recorded during the recording as an episode of series three Yes Minister in 1982, there was no time for Nigel to lean the dialogue. The one and only time he had to read it off cue cards, which the writers said annoyed him, as he liked learning the script.
SOMEONE PUT THIS ON A GREETING CARD, PRONTO
Pure brilliance!!! 👍😎
Brilliant 👌
Made my year
Worth trying to remember some of this for those who dislike mention of Christmas.
Brilliant. This is why we still haven't got a Digital Britain.
Love this, and yes I agree with you Chris!
chris conder And do not need a digital Britain. :)
what on earth does a digital britain mean? we're all on or off? it makes nonsense!
Wonderful .
He was starting to lose it mid part, you can see his smirk emerging; classic series greatly missed.
Absolute masterpieces both 'Yes Minister' and 'Yes Prime Minister'.
In a similar way to Dads Army - the cast was spot on.
Almost all of the stuff in these series is still very relevant.
If you search -
'Yes Prime Minister EEC RUclips'
Thier comments on what is now the EU is sidespliting and explains virtually all about it - please take time to have a look everyone!
Merry Christmas all and happy new year.
RSN.......
I hear sir Humphy when visiting america loved tp stop at taco bell
@MichaelKingsfordGray a reference to the movie Demolition man
Merry Christmas!
Prose meets Terms and Conditions.
Now that's how you ask for a Christmas bonus!
Priceless!!!
Yeah, he's absolutely FANTASTIC.
haha love this show, never gets old ; - )
he really improves your attention span...good old Humphrey
Brilliant.
Happy Christmas to everyone!
Nigel does look to me to be reading this one from a prompter for once. He stumbles on some words too which is unheard of.
Must have been a very late decision to film this sketch as a one-off with no time to learn it.
Still marvellous!
Legends say this is the longest Merry Christmas in the British history 🤣
Me when my manager asks what I did yesterday
Completely brilliant.
One of a kind.