Yes and No

...oo vudge welcome...

>Once upon a time, I used to view the footage of TV's
>Hilarious Del Boy falling through the bar literally as it
>was presented. A short sequence, with a man falling a short
>distance. Now, thanks to repeated overexposure and
>persistent lampooning, the sketch has reached epic
>proportions in my mind; an overhead view of an endless
>plummet into the darkness of a seemingly bottomless pit,
>descending from the bar-room floor into the very depths of
>nothingness, a look of terminal terror on Del's face as the
>audience roar with deafening laughter.
>
>Has anyone else encountered this effect?
>
>
What worries me more is the existential trauma I imagine Trigger experiencing as he ponders the sudden absence of Del...

Just look at the expression on his face. "Where is Del?" it appears to be saying. "What has happened to him?" "Will he ever return?" "Why is everyone laughing?" "Del has vanished. Will I vanish also?" "Is God so cruel?"

>What worries me more is the existential trauma I imagine Trigger experiencing as he ponders the sudden absence of Del...
>
>Just look at the expression on his face. "Where is Del?" it appears to be saying. "What has happened to him?" "Will he ever return?" "Why is everyone laughing?" "Del has vanished. Will I vanish also?" "Is God so cruel?"

Glad someone else has noticed this - I always thought that was the funniest part of the Delboy Falls Through Bar sequence.
>

But Del Boy! The falling! The bar!


It works on so many levels!

I'm more interested in how the barman feels about it - the one who leaves a couple of moments before Del falls through. After all it was he who carelessly left the bar hatch up, allowing Del to fall into the pits of Hell.
Does he feel no remorse? Or is it the sound of his laughter that echoes so loudly in our national ears?

I sincerely hope he was disciplined.

He was fired, I hear.

Questions were asked in the House reagrding the implementation of a stringent package of measures to ensure that disasters like Mr Trotter's fall would never happen again.
The chief executive of Scottish and Newcastle breweries resigned as a token gesture, and thanks to a pressure campaign, all bar hatches now have Automatic Bar Hatch Protection Systems, making it impossible for a market trader to pass them at red.

>Has anyone else encountered this effect?

I never found it funny and am puzzled as to why everyone else does.

Rumour is that Mr Derek Trotter is currently suing the wine bar & brewery via one of those compensation companies that constantly advertise on television.

there's an ad on the back of some TV guide advertising the full set of only fools and horses videos.

one of the major selling points: "see del falling through that bar over and over again"

I reckon someone like Mark Wallinger should make the Del Boy falls through the bar sequence into a infinite loop, then unveil it as an installation at the Tate Modern. Turner Prize in the bag...

>I reckon someone like Mark Wallinger should make the Del Boy falls through the bar sequence into a infinite loop, then unveil it as an installation at the Tate Modern. Turner Prize in the bag...

How about showing it in reverse, with Del Boy rising upwards, as if by magic?

The RT would label it a *classic surreal comedy moment* - rather than just playing a tape in reverse, as they used to do in *Fast Forward*.