I saw that reviewed by Mark Kermode earlier today. It looks great.

Fallible wrote:

The_Piper wrote:

Fallible wrote:

The_Piper wrote:Johnny English. My god Mr Bean should stick to roles that don't have him talking.

Someone hasn't seen Blackadderrrr!

I never even heard of it.

It came way before Mr Bean. Hugh Laurie is also in it, way before House. And then there's Stephen Fry.

I don't know those actors. I've heard the names but that's all.
Thanks for sharing, but I don't find those clips very funny. Perhaps it's like Seinfeld, where the better you know the characters and story, the more funny it is. Maybe if I could more easily understand their accents too.
And people here denigrate the audience laughing in Seinfeld?

It's cool


Next; "worry dolls"

The_Piper wrote:

Fallible wrote:

The_Piper wrote:

Fallible wrote:

Someone hasn't seen Blackadderrrr!

I never even heard of it.

It came way before Mr Bean. Hugh Laurie is also in it, way before House. And then there's Stephen Fry.

I don't know those actors. I've heard the names but that's all.
Thanks for sharing, but I don't find those clips very funny. Perhaps it's like Seinfeld, where the better you know the characters and story, the more funny it is. Maybe if I could more easily understand their accents too.
And people here denigrate the audience laughing in Seinfeld?

I don't think I ever have...audience laughter was par for the course in 80s and 90s comedy in the UK.

We differ quite a lot on what we find funny, you and I. Blackadder is a mixture of very dry wit, pun, innuendo and slapstick, like in the first clip here. I've only recently become aware that pretty much everything we say over here is said with a note of sarcasm (if someone even simply says 'nice day, isn't it', it's more than likely that the weather is shit), but surely a gag involving someone bearing the brunt of a demonstration of the different strengths of punches, repeatedly falling over and getting booted up the arse is funny the world over. OK it might add a different dimension if you know the butler (Blackadder) and the Prince Regent have swapped places in that skit and so the butler is punching his master in the face with much enjoyment while his master has to just take it, but still, casual violence and pratfalls are staples of comedy.

You're the first American I've come across who doesn't know House. Anyway, the character of Blackadder is always (apart from the first series) the intelligent, switched on - although put-upon - one who highlights the idiocy of his 'betters' with his wit and dead pan stares - that's why I brought it up to begin with in relation to your comment. People elsewhere often only know Rowan Atkinson from Mr Bean, which is OK, but when I see it said that he's better off sticking to roles he doesn't talk in, I want to say that's just not correct for anyone who's seen him in pretty much anything else where he does talk, and eloquently. I'd go so far as to say that he's known for his wordplay and unique delivery. Johnny English is an anomaly.

Incidentally, the characters in those clips all have varying strengths of upper class English accents. Although I'll concede that Miranda Richardson is adding a French affectation to hers, as I think was the fashion in the Georgian era.

to be fair, i think the johnny english films are by far the worst things rowan atkinson's done...

personally, i love his old secret policeman's ball solo spots & not the 9 o'clock news, as well as slackbladder....

this is a more recent version of the headmaster taking the register...

true stories continue - wonderful....good cast..kids are amazing.



well deserved Academy nod. Unimaginable.

Mr.Church

Not as wonderful as many claim but good movie about friendship.

Fallible wrote:_snipped for space-

I don't think I ever have...audience laughter was par for the course in 80s and 90s comedy in the UK.

We differ quite a lot on what we find funny, you and I. Blackadder is a mixture of very dry wit, pun, innuendo and slapstick, like in the first clip here. I've only recently become aware that pretty much everything we say over here is said with a note of sarcasm (if someone even simply says 'nice day, isn't it', it's more than likely that the weather is shit), but surely a gag involving someone bearing the brunt of a demonstration of the different strengths of punches, repeatedly falling over and getting booted up the arse is funny the world over. OK it might add a different dimension if you know the butler (Blackadder) and the Prince Regent have swapped places in that skit and so the butler is punching his master in the face with much enjoyment while his master has to just take it, but still, casual violence and pratfalls are staples of comedy.

You're the first American I've come across who doesn't know House. Anyway, the character of Blackadder is always (apart from the first series) the intelligent, switched on - although put-upon - one who highlights the idiocy of his 'betters' with his wit and dead pan stares - that's why I brought it up to begin with in relation to your comment. People elsewhere often only know Rowan Atkinson from Mr Bean, which is OK, but when I see it said that he's better off sticking to roles he doesn't talk in, I want to say that's just not correct for anyone who's seen him in pretty much anything else where he does talk, and eloquently. I'd go so far as to say that he's known for his wordplay and unique delivery. Johnny English is an anomaly.

Incidentally, the characters in those clips all have varying strengths of upper class English accents. Although I'll concede that Miranda Richardson is adding a French affectation to hers, as I think was the fashion in the Georgian era.

Ok I've seen a few minutes of House. I think knowing who is the Prince and not in the first clip does add another dimension of humor, but yeah, the punching bit wouldn't amuse me either way anyway. I did use to laugh at Three Stooges for instance when I was a kid, but it wasn't so much the violence that I liked. (I can't remember the show anymore to say what I did like about it)Cartoons, same thing. I think it was the one-liners that I liked. Hence my Fletch fandom now. That's a very dry, witty, sarcastic humor imo, with a light dose of slapstick thrown in.

The woman in the second clip was hard to understand, but the other character too, made my brain have to work extra to process what they were saying. I actually didn't pick up on the French affectation, and I'd never heard the term "Georgian" before. I'm very non-British. Some of my favorite music (and Monty Python) are British, it's not that I have anything against liking British things, but some intricacies certainly go over my head about everyday British pop culture.
That clip had one part that amused me, when he wanted to change the words, and then scribbled out the words on the paper. The entire scene with the wee-nosed woman was lost on me. The audience roared with laughter when she said a pixie may have given it to her. I don't know why that was funny. Then Blackadder says "He continues" and the audience laughed again for some reason. She said the Prince has a reputation of a "boy house dingle dangle" ? I don't know what she said, but the dingle dangle I heard right, and I don't what that means. Etc.
Sorry to dissect the 2 clips you posted. I'm sure there would be things in that show I'd find funny. In fairness to myself, I did write about Johnny English/Rowan "In fairness to him, the movie had no chance of being good, no matter who played English."
Rowan Atkinson was not funny in that movie. I'd only seen him in Mr. Bean before that, which I loved, it was hilarious. I did see the Mr Bean movie, which I thought was terrible. They used the same exact jokes as the show.

Snowden ....well done...gripping.

Well this was definitely NOT a true story .....but certainly okay....



Good music too. Unexpectednn

Macdoc wrote:Well this was definitely NOT a true story .....but certainly okay....



Good music too. Unexpectednn

worth watching then? had my eye on it for a while and not got round to it

The_Piper wrote:
I don't know those actors. I've heard the names but that's all.
Thanks for sharing, but I don't find those clips very funny. Perhaps it's like Seinfeld, where the better you know the characters and story, the more funny it is. Maybe if I could more easily understand their accents too.
And people here denigrate the audience laughing in Seinfeld?

I watched the first clip, if I had no context I might not find it that funny either. I think it's helpful for Blackadder to know who the characters are since their social roles are part of the humor. Knowing something about the time period and general historical events is also adds to it. Even in that short clip, there were a bunch of gags based on messing with historical events. There's a lot of crass humor as well, but it's better in the context of those other elements. I think you should just start watching season 2 from the beginning, I think you'd get into it if you can follow what they're saying. It's on Netflix if you've got that, you can even watch it with subtitles

She said ''boy cow's dingle dangle' by the way, Pipez.

Aaand that was me posting. It's been a while since I forgot to log him out, I suppose we were due a cockup.

The_Piper wrote:

Fallible wrote:_snipped for space-

I don't think I ever have...audience laughter was par for the course in 80s and 90s comedy in the UK.

We differ quite a lot on what we find funny, you and I. Blackadder is a mixture of very dry wit, pun, innuendo and slapstick, like in the first clip here. I've only recently become aware that pretty much everything we say over here is said with a note of sarcasm (if someone even simply says 'nice day, isn't it', it's more than likely that the weather is shit), but surely a gag involving someone bearing the brunt of a demonstration of the different strengths of punches, repeatedly falling over and getting booted up the arse is funny the world over. OK it might add a different dimension if you know the butler (Blackadder) and the Prince Regent have swapped places in that skit and so the butler is punching his master in the face with much enjoyment while his master has to just take it, but still, casual violence and pratfalls are staples of comedy.

You're the first American I've come across who doesn't know House. Anyway, the character of Blackadder is always (apart from the first series) the intelligent, switched on - although put-upon - one who highlights the idiocy of his 'betters' with his wit and dead pan stares - that's why I brought it up to begin with in relation to your comment. People elsewhere often only know Rowan Atkinson from Mr Bean, which is OK, but when I see it said that he's better off sticking to roles he doesn't talk in, I want to say that's just not correct for anyone who's seen him in pretty much anything else where he does talk, and eloquently. I'd go so far as to say that he's known for his wordplay and unique delivery. Johnny English is an anomaly.

Incidentally, the characters in those clips all have varying strengths of upper class English accents. Although I'll concede that Miranda Richardson is adding a French affectation to hers, as I think was the fashion in the Georgian era.

Ok I've seen a few minutes of House. I think knowing who is the Prince and not in the first clip does add another dimension of humor, but yeah, the punching bit wouldn't amuse me either way anyway. I did use to laugh at Three Stooges for instance when I was a kid, but it wasn't so much the violence that I liked. (I can't remember the show anymore to say what I did like about it)Cartoons, same thing. I think it was the one-liners that I liked. Hence my Fletch fandom now. That's a very dry, witty, sarcastic humor imo, with a light dose of slapstick thrown in.

The woman in the second clip was hard to understand, but the other character too, made my brain have to work extra to process what they were saying.

The other character was Edmund Blackadder.

I actually didn't pick up on the French affectation, and I'd never heard the term "Georgian" before. I'm very non-British.

It's the name for the period in British history when the George kings were on the throne - 1714-1830. The George in this show is the Prince Regent, George IV, who stood in for his father, George III, because he became mentally infirm. The Prince Regent was known for his extravagance and frivolity. There was also a craze for all things French among the posh bastards at this time (French Revolution had happened earlier and many posh bastards had escaped to here); French fashions were very popular, French was spoken to impress and some people even manufactured a French accent for themselves. The female character was either doing that, or was one such refugee who had given herself an English name.

Some of my favorite music (and Monty Python) are British, it's not that I have anything against liking British things, but some intricacies certainly go over my head about everyday British pop culture.
That clip had one part that amused me, when he wanted to change the words, and then scribbled out the words on the paper. The entire scene with the wee-nosed woman was lost on me. The audience roared with laughter when she said a pixie may have given it to her. I don't know why that was funny.

Because of the sickly sweet, infantilised, cutesy language which shows the woman to be a complete upper class drip; drip as in weak and ineffectual. She's presenting herself as a parody, the perfect meek and helpless little girl which it was perceived an upper class man might want to marry - useless and limp and soppy, completely out of touch with reality and certainly would never have done a day's work in her life, and at the same time she is seen as a completely pathetic and ridiculous cliché by everyone now. She overdoes it quite a lot, deliberately. It's relevant to what follows, but you don't need to know that to find it funny. We all know the caricature of the woman who acts 'wike a widdle girl' in front of men, don't we?

Then Blackadder says "He continues" and the audience laughed again for some reason.

They're laughing because she's just put on this ridiculous display of 'widdle girl', and then it cuts to Blackadder completely dead pan and unmoved by it, who simply gives a slight pause, then continues reading the letter as though nothing had happened. He's remaining outside of the outrageous frivolity, not engaging or colluding with it, and at the same time highlighting just how stupid and puerile it is. There is a huge amount of this in the show. I hadn't perceived it as particularly subtle until now (we all do this shit - sometimes no facial expression at all is all that's needed to express incredulity), but maybe it is. Blackadder's character spends a lot of his time making clear his feelings about others with just blank looks or slight facial movements, or seemingly ignoring the stupid thing they've just done or said altogether. Wow, this really lose a lot of its humour when it's explained.

She said the Prince has a reputation of a "boy house dingle dangle" ? I don't know what she said, but the dingle dangle I heard right, and I don't what that means. Etc.

Yep - boy COW's dingle dangle. Basically he's known to be a massive dick.

Sorry to dissect the 2 clips you posted. I'm sure there would be things in that show I'd find funny. In fairness to myself, I did write about Johnny English/Rowan "In fairness to him, the movie had no chance of being good, no matter who played English."
Rowan Atkinson was not funny in that movie. I'd only seen him in Mr. Bean before that, which I loved, it was hilarious. I did see the Mr Bean movie, which I thought was terrible. They used the same exact jokes as the show.

I'm not fond of Mr Bean, probably because he'll always be sardonic and eloquent to me and much more than just an elasticated face, none of which is evident in that show. I just try to forget that Johnny English ever even happened.

Jesus.

Do you kill and dissect rainbows a lot, Fall?

Writing credits for the Blackadder series include Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson (first season), and the subsequent seasons by Curtis and Ben Elton.
The highly acclaimed fourth and final season Blackadder Goes Forth is my favorite, with Elton's style of writing showing strongly. The same sort of wry humor is to be found in his excellent novels as well as in the TV series The Thin Blue Line (also starring Rowan Atkinson). I Ben Elton's writing.

Mazille wrote:Jesus.

Do you kill and dissect rainbows a lot, Fall?

No.

Errr, we're called "gays".

Ah thawt yew wuz cawld ho-mowseckshewals.