I think they're great, and am encouraged to see that BBC2 have a season on over Christmas, with some full-length features, but (better still) loads of shorts. They're all on at about eight in the morning, though, so VCRs are required.

They haven't been on TV for years, though. (1993 is the last time I can remember any showings.) Any particular reason why that might be?

Laurel and Hardy are the best, the absolute frigging best. The shorts are incredible, often perfect. Ollie was just the coolest, most heartwarming and loveable performer.

In the film "Blockheads" (the one where Stan is a soldier who doesn't know WWII has finished) there's a scene where Ollie glimpses a picture of Stan (whom he hasn't seen since the War ended) in a newspaper. He snatches the paper off the woman holding it and does, not a double take, but more like a *quintuple* take. This floors me completely. It's the only piece of comedy I can think of where, when you re-wind to watch it again, it gets funnier.

Every year the first thing I look for in the Christmas edition of TV Twat magazine are the early morning films on BBC2. There's usually a Chaplin season. Glad it's L&H this time around. Time for re-assessment.

Woody Allen season on FilmFour next week, where they actually bother to show scarce stuff. Yay!

Bent

Isn't the thin one the father of Clint Eastwood?

Speaking of Peter Sellers [who was?], Channel 5 are showing Being There around Christmas at 3 in the afternoon. Bit early for Shirley MacLaine's masterbation scene, but never mind. I'm sure they'll cut it, which will be brilliant because the film was too long anyway and the programmers at C5 know more than the director of the movie.

[p.s. I'm being sarcastic]

>Every year the first thing I look for in the Christmas edition of TV Twat magazine are the early morning films on BBC2. There's usually a Chaplin season. Glad it's L&H this time around. Time for re-assessment.

I honestly _did_ think that you meant Lee and Herring for a second!

Seriously though, Laurel And Hardy's films are still amusing now, which is more than can be said for many or most of their contemporaries. However, even they aren't as enduringly brilliant as the incomparable Jacques Tati. "Mon Oncle" is my second favourite comedy film after "This Is Spinal Tap".

However, I cannot lavish any praise on Laurel And Hardy's animated adventures...

Oh lord, Jaques Tati. I have a much worn tape of most every one I could hijack from the BBC.

I love Monsieur Hulot's Holiday, and I am the only person in the world to notice that the sound of the door in Guest House Paradiso is the same as the sound of the door in Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (Rik and Ade have sang Tati's praises several times. As has Eric Sykes, incidentally).

I'm also the only person to spot the Fawlty Towers reference in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie.
And I'm PROUD ,dammit!!!

*sound of someone getting pretentious*

Was it just me, or did anyone else think that Alexei Sayle's fantastic 'Monsieur Aubergiene' sketches were a sly reference to the fact that he believed Rowan Atkinson had nicked Mr Bean very badly from Monsieur Hulot?

Just a thought.

Laurel and Hardy are fantastic. I have rarely seen anything of theirs I didn't chuckle at. Yet somehow Chaplin is revered by legions of critics- but I've yet to see anything by him that raises even the barest of smiles.

Oh- and TJ, you don't have that last series of Alexei Sayle's Stuff (with the M. Aubergine sketches) on tape do you...?

>Oh- and TJ, you don't have that last series of Alexei Sayle's Stuff (with the M. Aubergine sketches) on tape do you...?

If only...

>
>>Oh- and TJ, you don't have that last series of Alexei Sayle's Stuff (with the M. Aubergine sketches) on tape do you...?
>
>If only...
>
>

Bugger.

For many years I was a member of Sons of the Desert, with fez, sash and all. I still very much value the comedy of Laurel and Hardy. I think they are good.



Apparently, my mother went, with my grandad, to see them, when they came to England. She doesn't remember, though.

I'm pretty sure the Stan Laurel = Clint Eastwood's dad stuff is a myth.

I went to a "Sons of the Desert" meeting once. Very, very scary. I expected them all to sacrifice a goat at the end, while gurning in a James Finlayson stylee.

"Music Box", "Helpmates" (AKA "The One Where They Fix Up a Boat", "Tit For Tat" - pure magic.

When the BBC showed some "2 reelers" about ten years ago, the Independent's TV guide always used the same line its listing, no matter what the film:

10.20: Laurel & Hardy. "Brats" The hapless duo are forced to babysit. The hit each other and fall over.

10.40: Laurel & Hardy. "Oliver the Eighth" The hapless duo fall under the spell of a murderous gold-digger. They hit each other and fall over.

Someone was obviously taking the piss, but it didn't matter.

Buster Keaton is the best. Especially, 'Sherlock Junior'. There is a dream sequence where he gets up leaving his sleeping body lying on the floor and takes his boater from the hat peg leaving his terrestrial hat on the peg - just like the Pythons did with their cars in 'The Meaning of Life' some 60-ish years later.

Jacques Tati rules too.

I was only 7, but Monsuier Aubergiene used to make me laugh until I cried. esp. The bit where he threw the tampons at the woman in the supermarket.

Then again, I also used to find Jasper Carrot's 'wiggy' sketches funny too.

>Buster Keaton is the best. Especially, 'Sherlock Junior'.

Keaton is the only other star of that era that I can find funny- I saw Safety Last and thought it far too long- but The General is hilarious, and touching at points too.

Can't wait to see 'Way Out West' again. James Finlayson should be part of any comedy curriculum, particularly if his name is spelt wrong beneath a picture of him looking cross.

>I was only 7, but Monsuier Aubergiene used to make me laugh until I cried. esp. The bit where he threw the tampons at the woman in the supermarket.

Condoms, I think. He was peturbed that none of them seemed big enough. He resolved the problem by nicking the plastic covering from a great big French loaf.

It's the shot of him pushing 20 supermarket trolleys in a row that does it for me.

>Then again, I also used to find Jasper Carrot's 'wiggy' sketches funny too.

The first was the best - mixing the ingredients for a cake within his front apron pocket, then turning away from the camera indignantly (as if this were somehow a private act).

I seem to remember seeing a documentary about The Simpsons in which Dan Castellanetta said that he got Homer's famous 'Doh!' from James Finlayson in the Laurel and Hardy films.

Been there, done that.

It's still interesting, though.

Anyone bought any of the L&H DVDs? Are they worth a punt?
I was put off by them including the colourised versions of the films as "bonus" (read "minus") material...

A little cut and paste from tomorrow's R4 schedule:

11:00pm Me and My Pal
Mark Radcliffe presents a two-part tribute to Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, one of cinema's best-loved comedy duos. In this programme he traces Stan's comic genius back to his roots in the UK and his early days in America.
Repeat