You're absolutely right.
Does the list only include British comedy moments?
Expect to see the eight hundred and fifty seventh reissue of the 'chandelier' episode occupying the main display racks in HMV tomorrow, then.
>You're absolutely right.
>
>Does the list only include British comedy moments?
Yep, I think so. I've just found out what came second. Any guesses anyone?
Yes, that's right, the one where Del Boy falls through the bar.
>Just saw that the scene where Del Boy drops and smashes a big glass chandelier has been voted the "funniest comedy moment ever" by an 'expert' panel comprising of Victoria Wood, Ronnie Barker and a couple of other people.
>
Thing is, the actual chandelier falling isn't nearly as funny as the bit where Grandad comes down, delighted with his handiwork, and says, "Ooooh, did you drop it?" (They will doubtless not include this bit in the clip, as it requires the audience - who are stupid, after all - to understand a line of dialogue.)
I think Ab Fab is 3rd, with Eddie falling into a flowerbed. Hmm.
Then Captain Mainwaring ('Don't tell him Pike') is number 4.
Ho-hum.
A far funnier John Sullivan sight gag than either the chandelier bit or the thing with the bar, to my mind, was the bereavement/diving-board/small yappy dog sequence from the first episode of Sitting Pretty. Of course, Sitting Pretty taken as a whole wasn't funny, whereas OFAH was. But if the whole show is going to influence people's decisions, what's the point in going down to the level of individual "comedy moments" in the first place?
I read that the whole survey was run and organised by the Radio Times, and that the BBC shows did exceptionally well - of course the fact that the RT is a BBC plug rag has nothing to do with it, although I'm expecting they'll release it as a BBC video in time for Xmas - Just collect the tokens in the RT.....
Incidentally, there was far better moments in Father Ted than the *I'm not a Nazi* moment chosen by the panel - Was this deliberate?
OH god. I can't believe that Delboy falling through the bar has been voted as one of the funniest comedy clips - or rather, i can, but shouldn't have to. It is, lets face it, terrible. Perhaps the BBC should release a video of the clip on a continous loop for three hours. Just send a cheque for £17.50.
> Perhaps the BBC should release a video of the clip on a continous loop for three hours. Just send a cheque for £17.50.
Once it's out on DVD, they'll be able to offer different viewing angles: "What Trigger Sees", "From Behind The Bar", "Delboy's POV", along with commentary from David Jason on "just how hard it is to actually fall over, whilst suppressing the reflex to save oneself from falling with an outstretched arm."
DJ got so good at this reflex-suppressing business during filming, that he now doesn't blink if you squirt vinegar in his eyes or gag if he gets something lodged in his throat.
But as the actual hitting-the floor bit was obscured by the bar counter itself, why would he need to, eh?
His arm would have started to move before it went out of view.
I think that this was one of the Funniest.......Ever - until they decided to repeat it
as often as possible, loosing the surprise element and therefore the comedy.
MM
It was all done on a computer anyway.
Endless repeats of TV's hilarious Del Boy falling through the bar.
Alexei Sayle's joke about his brilliant Mr Bean parody 'Monsieur Aubergine' being spoilt by the gushing announcer beforehand.
Spot the difference.
>
>His arm would have started to move before it went out of view.
>
>I think that this was one of the Funniest.......Ever - until they decided to repeat it
>as often as possible, loosing the surprise element and therefore the comedy.
>
>MM
I might be wrong but was this "Del Boy" sight gag not ripped from a Comic Strip Episode? The title escapes me, but it involves Edmundson and Mayall in Richie and Eddie characters (do they have any others?), drinking heavily throughout whilst attempting to "Kill Nicholas Parsons". The scene was in a derilict flat and had 'Richie' gazing through a fourth floor window that he thinks is glazed. He turns to 'Eddie' and proclaims "Things are looking up!", whilst stretching out his elbow to lean on the window, only to fall straight through it.
As for the original posting, these compilations are never going to please us all. But I'm in agreement that Victor "Flora" Meldrew confusing a small dashound with a telephone is surely the weakest "Funniest Comedy Moment Ever???", er, two.
You mean "Didn't You Kill My Brother?", in which Mayall and Edmondson are a pair of hitmen, inadvertently contacted by someone who wants to hire a minicab, with instructions to "take out Nicholas Parsons". I never saw it, but the bit you mention was used in the trailer.
My recollection of the Comic Strip suggest it was probably the only funny bit in the whole thing. Ok, that's unfair. "Dirty Movie" was reasonably Ok, "Bad News" was Ok but derivative, and of course there was The Strike, which was The Really Good Comic Strip Film, that supposedly justifies all the others.
>You mean "Didn't You Kill My Brother?", in which Mayall and Edmondson are a pair of hitmen,
No, that's "Mr Jolly Lives Next Door."
"Didn't You Kill My Brother" is Alexei Sayle's flawed masterpiece about a pair of ganster twin brothers, one of whom goes to prison and gets lots of qualifications.
>You mean "Didn't You Kill My Brother?", in which Mayall and Edmondson are a pair of hitmen, inadvertently contacted by someone who wants to hire a minicab, with instructions to "take out Nicholas Parsons". I never saw it, but the bit you mention was used in the trailer.
No, no, no. DYKMB was Alexei Sayle's contribution to the 1988 series; Mayall and Edmondson ran an escort agency in "Mr Jolly Lives Next Door"... Mr Jolly being Peter Cook (the hit-man), and the intended recipient of the 'take out' instruction. Parsons thinks Rik'n'Ade are the winning couple in an "evening with Nicholas Parsons" competition, Rik'n'Ade think he's a client... hilarity ensues (no, it really does).
>My recollection of the Comic Strip suggest it was probably the only funny bit in the whole thing. Ok, that's unfair. "Dirty Movie" was reasonably Ok
Oh, come on. "War", "Fistful of Travellers Cheques", "Gino: Full Story and Pics"... marvellous stuff. It hasn't dated nearly as badly as The Young Ones either.
> "Bad News" was Ok but derivative
Not that old chestnut about "Spinal Tap" again? Were they not both filmed during 1982 (and written much earlier presumably), and hence one couldn't really be said to have inspired the other? Or am I missing something here? Other metal mockumentaries? Did Mike McKean and Chris Guest do their characters on 70s TV, that Richardson et al might've seen? I'm sure this Tap/Bad thing has been done to death...
> and of course there was The Strike, which was The Really Good Comic Strip Film, > that supposedly justifies all the others.
Well, I'm not having that - the Comic Strip team had put out hours of excellent stuff before the 'Pacino IS Scargill' thing was ever conceived. The BBC stuff was mostly rubbish, however.
Yeah, you're probably all right, I'm not going to argue over it.
Surely the poll of 'Funniest Moment Ever' proves that a lot of people are liars?
Namely the people who claim, when recollecting some mundane incident (eg. an oven glove falling off at an inopportune moment): "Oh, it was the funniest thing I ever saw / heard / said..." Yet they never vote for these moments in polls, and thus stand exposed as the hypocritical windbags they truly are...
I am led to belive - though I am by no means certain about this - that Spinal Tap originated around 1980, and did shows like Saturday Night Live.
I vote for them!!!
Actually, you can create an even funnier comedy moment yourself, folowing these simple instructions:
1. Play through video of the chandelier scene.
2. Now set the video playing in reverse mode.
3. Enjoy the hilarious site of 3 men staring forlornly at a broken chandelier, then going to wait beneath another expecting it to fall, then being surprised as the first spontaneously reassembles and defies gravity to reattach itself to the ceiling!
Classic TV...