From the Daily Telegraph:
Here is an interesting statistic. What was the most watched comedy show on British television over the past two years? Now you might think it was The Office, or maybe Little Britain. But it was neither. Twenty Years of the Two Ronnies, a highlights package of skits and bobs from a programme last made in 1986, garnered nearly twice as many viewers as either of those two modern totems of BBC humour.
The problem with The Office (which I quite like) and Little Britain (which I’m not so keen on) is that they require a certain mind-set to be enjoyed. Nothing wrong with that of course and variety is the spice of life but Ronnie Barker (and Morcombe and Wise and others) were clever enough to be able to be funny to the widest audience. As a kid my entire family - me, my sister, parents and grandparents - watched The Two Ronnies. When we went to school the next day all our friends had watched it too.
For the controllers of British television, such ratings must have made sobering reading. A bit like Hollywood studio bosses discovering that, never mind Brad Pitt, it is James Dean who still sets the moviegoer’s pulse racing. Or record company executives finding out that Coldplay are being outsold two to one by the Rolling Stones.
For those convinced that British television is engaged in a depressing downward slide, here was proof positive that they really don’t make them like that any more.
Which in turn makes you wonder: why not? Is this just another case of the pubilc being told what it wants rather than being asked?
Here are a few of Ronnie’s best gags:
“The search for the man who terrorises nudist camps with a bacon slicer goes on. Inspector Lemuel Jones had a tip-off this morning, but hopes to be back on duty tomorrow.” “Have you heard the one about the retired general who said he had not had sex since 1956? His friend said, ‘That’s a long time ago.’ ‘I don’t know,’ the general replied. ‘It’s only 20.27 now.” “There was a strange happening during a performance of Elgar’s Sea Pictures at a concert hall in Bermuda tonight, when the man playing the triangle disappeared.” “We’ll continue our investigation into the political beliefs of nudists. We’ve already noticed a definite swing to the left.” “The man who invented the zip fastener was today honoured with a lifetime peerage. He will now be known as the Lord of the Flies.” “The toilets at a local police station have been stolen. Police say they have nothing to go on.”
