There are many classic sketches- the BBC 2 continuity, drunken darts, Two Ninnies (and I like that despite enjoying The Two Ronnies), I Like Trucking, Super Doopa, Question Time, Deaf Telephone....
Ahh the drunken darts.
Fatbelly Gutbucket and Evenfatterbelly Belcher.........
"And in Iran, the search goes on for the Ayathollah Khomeni's contact lens"
The Kate Bush 'tribute' was an uproarious classic, although it seems to be particularly scarce on the internet. "People buy my latest hits, 'cause they liked my latex tits..."
Kate Bush herself was credited as the songwriter on the album version ("Hedgehog Sandwich" if I recall correctly) - in fact I think she adapted one of her own songs ("Violin"?) specially... anyway, she/her publishers may have put pressure to have it removed from t'internet...
Fatbelly Gutbucket and Evenfatterbelly Belcher.........
"And in Iran, the search goes on for the Ayathollah Khomeni's contact lens"
Cut to 1,000s of Muslims at prayer.
I do seem to remember a similarly-themed joke that I think we can safely say will never see the light of day again. It involved Pamela Stephenson reading the news in her Jan Leeming style, and the words "self" and "bashing" but that's about all it's safe to mention concerning it....
I love the Two Ninnies skit. It's comedy bitchery at it's finest. I think it beautifully deconstructs the formula that the Ronnies stuck too for 20 years.
I love the Two Ninnies skit. It's comedy bitchery at it's finest. I think it beautifully deconstructs the formula that the Ronnies stuck too for 20 years.
Ronnie Barker wasn't very happy about it by all accounts. Very accurate though !
Loved the PC Savage SPG sketch. And the list of charges against Winston Kodogo.
Walking on the cracks in the pavement.
Loitering with intent to use a pedestrian crossing.
Wearing a loud shirt in a built up area during the hours of darkness.
Possession of an offensive wife.
You can buy The Best Of "Not The Nine O'clock News" Volume 1 + 2 on dvd.
Volume 1 dvd
Volume One of Not the Nine O'Clock News comprises 98 minutes of early material from the sketch show that ran between 1979 and 1982. Starring Rowan Atkinson, Griff Rhys-Jones, Mel Smith and Pamela Stephenson and coscripted by Richard (Blackadder) Curtis among others, it wasn't especially ground-breaking by the standards of Monty Python or contemporary series such as The Young Ones, but it did provide some pretty blunt belly-laughs at the major social and political concerns of the era: Thatcher, Reagan, police brutality, the prospect of nuclear war.
The latter makes for an excellent Question Time spoof, in which, with the four-minute warning having sounded, a panel of politicians continue bleating on their own agenda ("Three million people are going to die unemployed!").
Atkinson's stuff is among the best here, be it as a hideous young Tory, or as Gerald the Gorilla, now civilised to a fault by the captor who caught him in the wild. ("Wild? I was livid!") The much-repeated bit of him walking into a tree, however, doesn't work as he clearly anticipates the collision.
While the musical elements look inevitably dated and a lengthy sketch on darts players boozing reaches the "Yeah, we get the point" mark long before it reaches its end, it's surprising how topical much of this material remains decades on--a sketch involving an agonising gay vicar springs to mind--while time hasn't eroded the quality of much of the writing
Volume 2 dvd
More memorable sketch-show comedy from the 1980s Not The Nine O'clock News team of Mel Smith, Griff Rhys-Jones, Pamela Stephenson and Rowan Atkinson. Full of spoofs and topical satire this second volume includes the classic scene where Rowan Atkinson is casually walking down the street only to be distracted by the camera crew, which causes him to walk straight into that lamp-post. Also includes the songs I Like Trucking and Nice Video - Shame About The Song.
Other sketches include: Nobble Button, Not the Parrot Sketch, Jenkins' Pee, Nine-to-Five Wildebeest, Schmidt's Old Shag, National Health Beds, University Challenge, Cappucino, Join the Russian Army, Campari and Soda and Non-Diet Pepsi
Ronnie Barker wasn't very happy about it by all accounts. Very accurate though !
I read he wasnt and questions were asked of the BBC hierarchy at the time as to whether it was the right thing to be doing.
Personally, as someone very much brought up on cosy seventies mainstream comedy and light entertainment, that sketch actually shocked me. Having a bit of a go at a duo who were comedy heroes at their peak wasnt something I had seen before. My views on The Two Ronnies are as high as they ever were, but that moment was a watershed from which alternative 80's comedy sprang. It just took a while for me to get used to it.
Oh yeah I mean made from Whales
I like the Two Ninnies sketch despite enjoying the Two Ronnies, Ronnie Barker was a comedy genius IMO.
I saw at as saying that 80's comedy/NTNoCN was different from the Two Ronnies/70's light entertainment, and also the producer said he didn't like innuendo. Why didnt they just say the words?
I can see why Ronnie B. wasn't happy, it is rather cruel. Funny though! The song is spot on.
Ah, thanks to all the people who posted links; these sketches are still hilarious.
Gerald the Gorilla has to my favourite, but all the links on here are great. Never liked the Two Ninnies sketch that some people mentioned; it just seemed to be shouting out swear words for the sake of it.
You mean Every Breath You Take? I don't remember that sketch.
Anyway how could they perform that (am I thinking of a different song?) Wasn't EBYT a hit in 1983?
You mean Every Breath You Take? I don't remember that sketch.
Anyway how could they perform that (am I thinking of a different song?) Wasn't EBYT a hit in 1983?
Loved the PC Savage SPG sketch. And the list of charges against Winston Kodogo.
Walking on the cracks in the pavement.
Loitering with intent to use a pedestrian crossing.
Wearing a loud shirt in a built up area during the hours of darkness.
Possession of an offensive wife.
Don't forget
"Possession of curly black hair and thick lips."
And the vicar trying to 'change' gays.
""And if you've tried aversion therapy, and tieing metals weights to your private parts....... and it hasn't worked it means that ..................................... god justs wants you to have a rotten life. God's like that. He HATES poofs!"
The two studio pundits agreeing that the only way to deal with soccer hooligans was to "cut their goolies off."
And please don't forget the piss take of the god Squad
over reacting to Monty Python's Life of Brian.
Comments
Ahh the drunken darts.
Fatbelly Gutbucket and Evenfatterbelly Belcher.........
"And in Iran, the search goes on for the Ayathollah Khomeni's contact lens"
Cut to 1,000s of Muslims at prayer.
I do seem to remember a similarly-themed joke that I think we can safely say will never see the light of day again. It involved Pamela Stephenson reading the news in her Jan Leeming style, and the words "self" and "bashing" but that's about all it's safe to mention concerning it....
Can't find a link for it though
K
Casting Rowan as an almost total mute in a silent movie - brilliant
Still I'm sure it was very lucrative for him, what with needing no translation and being able to air in any country in the world
Ronnie Barker wasn't very happy about it by all accounts. Very accurate though !
Walking on the cracks in the pavement.
Loitering with intent to use a pedestrian crossing.
Wearing a loud shirt in a built up area during the hours of darkness.
Possession of an offensive wife.
Definitely. I'm too young to remember it when it was originally on but my brother recently bought the DVDs.
Exactly. It was a global success for that reason.
Volume 1 dvd
Volume One of Not the Nine O'Clock News comprises 98 minutes of early material from the sketch show that ran between 1979 and 1982. Starring Rowan Atkinson, Griff Rhys-Jones, Mel Smith and Pamela Stephenson and coscripted by Richard (Blackadder) Curtis among others, it wasn't especially ground-breaking by the standards of Monty Python or contemporary series such as The Young Ones, but it did provide some pretty blunt belly-laughs at the major social and political concerns of the era: Thatcher, Reagan, police brutality, the prospect of nuclear war.
The latter makes for an excellent Question Time spoof, in which, with the four-minute warning having sounded, a panel of politicians continue bleating on their own agenda ("Three million people are going to die unemployed!").
Atkinson's stuff is among the best here, be it as a hideous young Tory, or as Gerald the Gorilla, now civilised to a fault by the captor who caught him in the wild. ("Wild? I was livid!") The much-repeated bit of him walking into a tree, however, doesn't work as he clearly anticipates the collision.
While the musical elements look inevitably dated and a lengthy sketch on darts players boozing reaches the "Yeah, we get the point" mark long before it reaches its end, it's surprising how topical much of this material remains decades on--a sketch involving an agonising gay vicar springs to mind--while time hasn't eroded the quality of much of the writing
Volume 2 dvd
More memorable sketch-show comedy from the 1980s Not The Nine O'clock News team of Mel Smith, Griff Rhys-Jones, Pamela Stephenson and Rowan Atkinson. Full of spoofs and topical satire this second volume includes the classic scene where Rowan Atkinson is casually walking down the street only to be distracted by the camera crew, which causes him to walk straight into that lamp-post. Also includes the songs I Like Trucking and Nice Video - Shame About The Song.
Other sketches include: Nobble Button, Not the Parrot Sketch, Jenkins' Pee, Nine-to-Five Wildebeest, Schmidt's Old Shag, National Health Beds, University Challenge, Cappucino, Join the Russian Army, Campari and Soda and Non-Diet Pepsi
I've just found this on YouTube:
England My Leotard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMjCq6ye_ZM
I read he wasnt and questions were asked of the BBC hierarchy at the time as to whether it was the right thing to be doing.
Personally, as someone very much brought up on cosy seventies mainstream comedy and light entertainment, that sketch actually shocked me. Having a bit of a go at a duo who were comedy heroes at their peak wasnt something I had seen before. My views on The Two Ronnies are as high as they ever were, but that moment was a watershed from which alternative 80's comedy sprang. It just took a while for me to get used to it.
I like the Two Ninnies sketch despite enjoying the Two Ronnies, Ronnie Barker was a comedy genius IMO.
I saw at as saying that 80's comedy/NTNoCN was different from the Two Ronnies/70's light entertainment, and also the producer said he didn't like innuendo. Why didnt they just say the words?
I can see why Ronnie B. wasn't happy, it is rather cruel. Funny though! The song is spot on.
"Oh vagina oh vagina o-ver China Town"
Gerald the Gorilla has to my favourite, but all the links on here are great. Never liked the Two Ninnies sketch that some people mentioned; it just seemed to be shouting out swear words for the sake of it.
Mmm. Well, didn't really work for me.
I remember thinking how portent it was.
Super Duper.:D
Anyway how could they perform that (am I thinking of a different song?) Wasn't EBYT a hit in 1983?
But I can't see it ever happening because of a combination of Chris Langham's involvement and mass Daily Mail-generated hysteria...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPUE9xpxjcc&feature=PlayList&p=AA5BDF62541200EC&index=5
It was in Spitting Image, that's why.
Don't forget
"Possession of curly black hair and thick lips."
And the vicar trying to 'change' gays.
""And if you've tried aversion therapy, and tieing metals weights to your private parts....... and it hasn't worked it means that ..................................... god justs wants you to have a rotten life. God's like that. He HATES poofs!"
The two studio pundits agreeing that the only way to deal with soccer hooligans was to "cut their goolies off."
And please don't forget the piss take of the god Squad
over reacting to Monty Python's Life of Brian.