Simply Perfect

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Blistering performances.

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.

"The Two Ronnies" is one of the funniest comedy/variety shows in British comedy history. Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett created some of the funniest sketches that were shown on television. Both were blessed with a natural wit. They complimented each other in a similar manner to Laurel and Hardy, in that they were as physically different to each other as could be but still worked so well together. Barker was the brains behind the series and wrote and collaborated on most of the material. The series lasted from 1971 to 1987 and goodness knows how many sketches. I laugh so hard every time I see them and that level of creativity only comes along once. The approach to the comedy was always to focus on character and on dialogue. Both Ronnies were very clever in their comic timing and knowing how to give the dialogue a double meaning when the sketch called for it. It was to the advantage of both comedians that they were trained as straight, dramatic actors as they created many different characters and to be as hilarious as they were. They played policemen, washer women, Canadian Mounties, officer workers, butlers and others. I enjoyed the spoofs they made in those serial programmes, simply brilliant. The song numbers they performed, they got away with because they made the songs amusing. The Two Ronnies are without doubt one of the funniest comedy teams in history, along with Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers, Will Hay and Moore Marriott and Graham Moffat and Morecambe and Wise.

Other British variety TV shows I've seen such as "Monty Python's Flying Circus", "Dave Allen At Large", and "The Benny Hill Show" had both good and bad parts. But I've seen this show several times and I never saw one joke that made me laugh. In fact, I found the whole show plain stupid.These two performers appeared in other British shows and they did okay, but they bombed in this show. Who wrote their material? It seems that whoever did must have made a bet as to who could come up with the stupidest and unfunniest jokes possible.

It may come as a surprise to some to learn this but I am not really an avid fan of 'The Two Ronnies'. Already I can vision your jaws opening 'Tex Avery' style in amazement. Don't get me wrong, some of the sketches I find genuinely well written and performed, others I feel are overlong and unfunny.Each episode commenced with Barker and Corbett sitting before a studio audience, cracking off gags ( which Barker prefaced with ''And in a packed programme tonight!'' ) before moving on to sketches and musical items. Some of the best sketches included Corbett walking into an ice cream parlour and asking for such ludicrous flavours as salt and vinegar or cheese and onion, much to the bewilderment of the proprietor. A very funny 'Mastermind' spoof had Barker as Magnus Mackisson and Corbett as a contestant whose chosen subject is 'Answering Each Question Before Last'. There was also a hilarious 'Top Of The Pops' spoof entitled 'Plop Of The Flops' which featured a blacked-up Barker in drag as Big Momma belting out 'I'm Your Big Fat Momma And I'm Blacker Than A Black-eyed Pea!'. The best of all of course was 'Four Candles' in which a none too bright customer asks a shopkeeper for fork handles but the shopkeeper mishears him and thinks he is asking for four candles. The comic misunderstanding escalates from then on. 'The Two Ronnies' was also home to the famous 'Phantom Rasperry Blower Of London Town'.Less amusing were many of the musical items, as well as Corbett's dire armchair monologues. Appearing as guests were Robin Bailey, Stratford Johns, Claire Nielsen, Josephine Tewson, John Clesse, Julia McKenzie and Patricia Routledge to name but a few. Musical acts included The Nolan Sisters, Elton John, Barbara Dickson, Chas & Dave and Lyndsey De Paul. Ronnie Barker wrote many of the sketches himself under the pen name Gerald Wiley.There was no denying that 'The Two Ronnies' was hugely popular but personally I could only take it in small doses. Even so, it is miles funnier than some of the more recent guff that taints our screens today, namely 'Little Britain'.