Karry
Best movie of this year hands down!
Pluskylang
Great Film overall
Senteur
As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.
filmtechnz
I have just spent an evening watching a selection of this marvellous television series and I can honestly say I haven't laughed so much in years. Right from "And Here is the news" to "and it's goodnight from him" I don't think I stopped laughing in every episode I watched. And what is more is that both Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett actually looked as though they were enjoying themselves (as I am sure they were), as they presented their show. When you compare the brilliance of this pair to the modern day comedians (if I may call them comedians), there is just no comparison. Theirs is a magic we may never see again.
screenman
And now, here is the news: There was a collision today in the English Channel between one ship carrying red paint, and another ship carrying blue paint.Both crews have been marooned.That's just the sort of simple, hilarious gag that typified the 'Two Ronnies'. For 15 memorable years they were a televinstitution.Originating for the most part in a 1960's pre-Python program called 'The Frost Report', they worked alongside that other irreplaceable icon of British comedy: John Cleese. Together, they performed an upper, middle, and lower class take on a variety of situation sketches in David Frost's program. Each gave barely a hint of what was to come.Both of these men were funny. Separately, they had substantial ratings in other regular sit-coms. But together, a special chemistry developed that was only ever matched by that other equally irreplaceable duo: Morcambe & Wise.Television has never been the same since their retirement. More modern comedians have challenged their family-friendly hour with foul-language and gross-out humour. They have supplanted rude with crude. Although the Ronnies could have you in stitches, there was nothing that you couldn't let you children hear, even if it was a little close to the bone sometimes.Ronnie Barker's grasp of complex script was bordering upon genius. Autocues were almost unheard of in his game. Watch them in sketches that mocked mastermind, or 'spoonerisms' and you'll know what I mean. Anyone remember the classic 'four candles' sketch?Look what passes current today for light entertainment and grieve. Now, comedy is about the kind of cruelty, coarseness, and vulgarity that evolved on the 'fringe' circuit or student campus. And - there being no adequate substitute for these incomparable heroes of humour, this has now become mainstream.It's an indictment of the times, I suspect.I'm sure that if we'd known it would be 'goodnight from me and goodnight from him' forever; we'd have cherished this treasure so much more.How I pity those who never saw them at first-hand.
world_of_weird
For sixteen years, big Ronnie Barker and little Ronnie Corbett hit hard on the nation's funny bone with their gently subversive, often wonderfully rude comedy routines, which lampooned countless aspects of British life - pompous authority figures, eccentric middle class guests at dreary cocktail parties, shabby men (with distinctly surreal private lives) putting the world to rights over a beer or ten, ghastly restaurants with rude waiters and incompetent chefs, bumptious politicians, leery rock stars and deeply suspicious doctors. Although often regarded as a "safe" series, The Two Ronnies' best sketches often strayed toward decidedly bizarre and ridiculous Monty Python territory, which isn't surprising as several of the Pythons (together with genius upstarts like Marshall and Renwick) wrote for the series - that's when the great Ronnie Barker wasn't providing the bulk of the material himself under a number of unlikely pseudonyms! (Remember Gerald Wiley? That was him.) The musical numbers can seem dated to modern eyes, but the country and western parodies from 'Big Jim Jehosophat'(Corbett) and 'Fatbelly Jones'(Barker) were always a joy, wrapping dozens of double-entendres around some genuinely catchy tunes, as were the lesser-seen spoofs of Chas and Dave, Status Quo and even Kid Creole and the Coconuts! As with many of the 'old school' comedians, the Two Ronnies' work has endured far better than many of the 'alternative' comedians who tried to push them aside - not only that, they're still being repeated. So where's Ben Elton now?
Brendan Richards
Ronnie Barker (the tall, well-built one) and Ronnie Corbett (the short but funny one) star in what I can undoubtedly say is the funniest TV program that I have ever seen in my life.The show usually started off with a short news item (read by both Barker and Corbett), then it was followed by some sketches (including Corbett's trademark "armchair moment", where he tells funny stories whilst going off track at the same time), and then a spoof on a serial program. Finally, it closed with the now famous catchphrase: "It's goodnight from me... And it's goodnight from him."My all-time favourite sketch is the spoof on popular UK quiz show "Mastermind", where the contestant (played by Corbett) is asked questions based on the subject "Answering The Question Before Last" ("What would you use a ripcord to pull open?" ... "Large flies." ... "Correct. What sort of person lived in Bedlam?" ... "A parachute." ... "Correct. What is a jock strap?" ... "A nutcase." (Get the picture now?)Well, in the words of Corbett and Barker (sort of): It's goodnight from me, and it's goodnight from you.
