And it's a goodnight from me too

August 25, 2008 12:12 PM

Any Top 100 list of UK comedy shows has the famous Two Ronnies "Four Candles" sketch in the top ten. Silly word play, songs and Ronnie Barker's fabulous timing, made them TV blockbusters for 16 years. Presenting a brief youtube linkdump...

Mastermind : Answering the question before last
Round of Drinks (ignore the painful preable)
Swear Box
Crossed Lines
Aldershot Brasss Ensemble
Second Guesser
Your Nuts My Lord
Father of the Bride

and finally, the Two Ronnies + Stephen fry reworking an old Frost Report sketch...
I look up to him

posted by twine42 (13 comments total)

My godfather's neighbour was actually in that brass ensemble (being from around the Aldershot area). Every time that sketch is played on TV, the ensemble gets money from the rights. I wouldn't say that the ensemble is rolling in money, but considering that it's one of the more popular Two Ronnies sketches, they do alright out of it.

Ronnie Barker was brilliant - make sure you catch Porridge and Open All Hours (Porridge being the better of the two series, IMHO).

Some clips on YouTube from the Beeb here, although they're not necessarily the funniest. Well worth picking up the DVD.
posted by djgh at 12:57 PM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

Great stuff that I never would have seen otherwise. Thanks for posting this.
posted by joedan at 1:11 PM on August 25, 2008

The Two Ronnies are brilliant. That mastermind sketch is hilarious. I remember seeing it for the first time when I was about 7, I used to be allowed to stay up late to watch them on telly.
posted by handee at 1:13 PM on August 25, 2008

With a bum tit, how's your father, whoops... tickle a dildo.
posted by cillit bang at 1:42 PM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

Sorry, I need some bleedin' 'elp 'ere. I know what a billhook is (basically a machete variant) -- but what could the misunderstanding be? A man named Bill Hooks? (Searching yields naught.) Also, what could "saw tips" mean?

"Mastermind" is brilliant.
posted by dhartung at 1:43 PM on August 25, 2008

Swedish Made Simple is one I highly recommend.
posted by vacapinta at 1:44 PM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

He sees billhooks as "bollocks" (literally testicles, figuratively "garbage" or "nonsense").

I remember this sketch from back in the day! Though I thought then and now that the punch line was weak, it's a great sketch still.

There are others I remember even more fondly - a great one which starts with Corbett saying something like, "Hello, pleased to meet you," and Barker responding, "It wasn't my fault, she shot herself in the head and buried herself under the stairs."
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 1:59 PM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

bollocks
posted by unSane at 2:01 PM on August 25, 2008

Also, see Barker's excellent performance in "Robin and Marian" which is unfortunately not on YouTube etc.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 2:03 PM on August 25, 2008

My dad got some fancy Irish digital TV and apparently watches the Two Ronnies every night. Driving my mother up the wall. It's great stuff though, has held up really well.
posted by jamesonandwater at 3:20 PM on August 25, 2008

The Mastermind sketch is great, and I'd never seen it thanks. Apparently simple, but damned hard to do it so well.
posted by Wolfdog at 3:20 PM on August 25, 2008

Barker wrote many of these sketches (as Gerald Wiley)
posted by A189Nut at 5:20 PM on August 25, 2008

MetaFilter: It's a Duck!
posted by Smart Dalek at 6:02 PM on August 25, 2008 [1 favorite]