Benny Hill

[George 1978]

Re: Benny Hill

I think that the only problems that Cannon and Ball had was in the earlier part of their ITV contract - firstly, they were supposed to have sketches within Bruce's Big Night programme in the autumn of 1978, but LWT had so much to cram in two hours that they were bumped out every week. Secondly, the ITV strike between August and October 1979 did no favours for them as their first own series were interrupted by the strike and so again, their sketches could not be transmitted. It wasn't until the start of the 1980s that they took off on Saturday nights. And then in 1986-1987, they did a Hancock-alike sitcom. They soldiered on until 1988, and then joined Yorkshire TV in 1990 for their Casino show which I suppose was their way of trying to replace 3-2-1 and probably had the same production crew involved as they did for Ted Rogers.

I was so close to booking tickets to see Cannon and Ball on my birthday in 2018 when they were at the Bridlington Spa (I love travelling to theatres around the country at the end of August as you might have gathered) - mind you, as Bobby is in his late 70s and Tommy has reached the age of 80, one assumes that the quality of their material wouldn't have been as good as 30 years ago, and that would be saying something. So I went down south and saw something different. One point to make that neither Eric or Ernie never made it to the age of 70, and Morecambe didn't even reach 60.

Writers are another thing - in the 1970s, Morecambe and Wise had Eddie Braben as the main writer - when they moved to Thames, Braben couldn't go with them and had to stay with the BBC until his contracted ended in 1980, and he wrote for little and Large, while it was up to Barry Cryer and John Junkin to script Eric and Ernie's Thames shows when they arrived there in autumn 1978. They made an appearance in The Sweeney because Thaw and Waterman guest appeared on their show.

[silverbirch]

Re: Benny Hill

I think Canon and Ball did have what it takes, they were given a big tv series with
ITV and it kind of flopped... not because of them ... just dont think they
had the writers and nerves prob got to them.... but think they are still doing well in the
theatres even today

Hale and Pace were big on TV then suddenly vanished... never knew why !

[George 1978]

Re: Benny Hill

Despite being a very BBC double act in the 1980s, replacing Morecambe and Wise in that respect, Little and Large won Opportunity Knocks (Hughie Green version of course) and had a series with Thames in around 1976 (as old TV listings would tell us), and then they did a Mutual Exchange with Eric and Ernie and swapped channels - don't forget that Cannon and Ball never did series for the BBC - apart from the odd guest appearance on Jim Davidson's Generation Game. Tommy and Bobby were with LWT Eric and Ernie were with Thames. And then Morecambe passed away.

I never thought of Les Dennis ever being part of a double act - I certainly didn't think (or was too young to think) of entertainers like Lennie Bennett or even Bob Monkhouse as being part of their respective double acts - with Jerry Stevens and Denis Goodwin as their showbusiness partners. Family members such as Mike and Bernie Winters don't count there. Also, the Two Ronnies were not a double act in the same ilk as Morecambe and Wise - can anyone imagine Eric appearing solo in a sitcom like Ronnie Barker did?

Regarding the gap between mainstream and alternative, I regard Hale and Pace to almost be on the borderline between the two - the fact that they were on network ITV but after the watershed in the Spitting Image slot were alternative but in a mainstream way. Fair enough, they started on Saturday Night Channel 4 in around 1986, but I think that they made the move to ITV due to being popular in that "cheer up it's Monday tomorrow" slot. It's like saying that Private Eye is an adult magazine, but it isn't quite. ,

[Richard1978]

Re: Benny Hill

Cannon & Ball and Little & Large were both pushed as the "New Morcombe & Wise" but didn't have the level of talent to do it. Les Dennis & Dustin Gee were a little better but Dustin died too soon. Fortunately Les Dennis managed to be a decent foil to Russ Abbott who was a bit quirkier than most of the "non-alternative" comedians in the 1980s.

As mentioned above, most of the alternative comedians tended to be better on post watershed shows than anything family friendly.

The Goodies seemed to be in an odd middle ground between Monty Python light & the smarter of the end of the pier comedians, often using the chestnut of "double speed film with no dialogue" to good effect.

[George 1978]

Re: Benny Hill

Freddie Starr was just too contrary for TV , he was getting into arguments and disputes with studio bosses
so he went back to the club scene where he was comfortable and in his element.
but those guys from the 60s and 70s..... Eric and Earnie..... Les Dawson..... Cannon and Ball..... Benny Hill.... Dick Emery
were loved by the British public in a way that Ben Elton...Alexie Sayle and those policitally correct cretins never will be

Not to mention eating hamsters.

Mainstream comedians are indeed more family orientated - they are more likely to be seen on pre-watershed BBC 1 and ITV while Ben Elton and the others were on Channel 4 after the watershed. I think that political correctness has got something to do with the fact that mainstream acts are not seen as often as they used to be - I mentioned this on another thread. Even the Dolly Dealers on Play Your Cards Right have been seen in some ways as being sexist.

[silverbirch]

Re: Benny Hill

Freddie Starr was just too contrary for TV , he was getting into arguments and disputes with studio bosses
so he went back to the club scene where he was comfortable and in his element.
but those guys from the 60s and 70s..... Eric and Earnie..... Les Dawson..... Cannon and Ball..... Benny Hill.... Dick Emery
were loved by the British public in a way that Ben Elton...Alexie Sayle and those policitally correct cretins never will be

[George 1978]

Re: Benny Hill

There were plenty of terrible old-school comics making a living telling lazy mother-in-law jokes and doing racist impressions too. Some of them are still at it.

The good ones were able to reinvent themselves and are still doing just fine. Tarby, Les Dennis, Jimmy Cricket, Barry Cryer, Jethro, Tom O'Connor... all still working as much or as little as they like. Frank Carson, Bernard Manning, and Bruce Forsyth worked until as close to they they died as their health allowed. Benny Hill died the day his new contract arrived from Central TV, having just turned down offers from two other ITV franchises.

Sure, we don't see them on TV much any more, but television comedy has always represented the most fashionable cross-section of what's happening everywhere else... whether that was comedy clubs, working men's clubs, cruise ships, or even radio or (nowadays) podcasts.

They tried to make Freddie Starr a Benny Hill replacement when he got a Central TV contract - all I saw of him was a couple of Bank Holiday specials on ITV which I suppose might have been a blessing in disguise in hindsight.

But yes, those who are still around such as the ones you mentioned are either retired or doing cruises or the theatre. I liked Bobby Davro, Russ Abbot, Cannon and Ball (well, someone had to stick up for them), and to a degree, Brian Conley. If you ever travel around the country to see them in pantomime, it's as if they have never gone away, although the irony is that these pantos that are aimed at children who weren't even born when they appeared regularly on the TV.

[silverbirch]

Re: Benny Hill

why does nt someone go into the shows of Benny... the Two Rons..... Dick Emery etc
and make vid clips of their sketches.... say 3 or 4 mins each ... maybe date them by year ...

seperate the tv gold from the dross

[numpty]

Re: Benny Hill

Ben Elton and his talentless chums of the early 80s 'alternative comedy' movement were extremely fortunate to be able to make a living. Most of the acts were nothing more than shambling on stage and screeching 'Maggie Thatcher' or, in Jo Brand's case, 'I love chocolate, I hate men'. Lazy beyond belief. And to think of all the old-school comics who were thrown on the scrapheap after spending decades working the clubs and honing their craft. Still makes my blood boil.

There were plenty of terrible old-school comics making a living telling lazy mother-in-law jokes and doing racist impressions too. Some of them are still at it.

The good ones were able to reinvent themselves and are still doing just fine. Tarby, Les Dennis, Jimmy Cricket, Barry Cryer, Jethro, Tom O'Connor... all still working as much or as little as they like. Frank Carson, Bernard Manning, and Bruce Forsyth worked until as close to they they died as their health allowed. Benny Hill died the day his new contract arrived from Central TV, having just turned down offers from two other ITV franchises.

Sure, we don't see them on TV much any more, but television comedy has always represented the most fashionable cross-section of what's happening everywhere else... whether that was comedy clubs, working men's clubs, cruise ships, or even radio or (nowadays) podcasts.

[George 1978]

Re: Benny Hill

Benny was hilarious but of a different era

I thought that Mr Bean was supposed to be a replacement for Hill in a way that they were mostly acts who hardly spoke and were famous for visual comedy, as well as the fact that they were both contracted to Thames TV for their comedy shows.

[George 1978]

Re: Benny Hill

Mind you, I liked his 1971 Christmas hit - I always thought he was a one hit wonder but he had a few minor hits in the 1960s as well.

Benny Hill and Frankie Howerd were great friends so the tragedy that they both passed away in 1992 within days of each other - while bizarrely, Hill payed tribute to Howerd just before he passed on, and it came two days after Hill himseld died.

[George 1978]

Re: Benny Hill

He was trying to be the Charlie Chaplin of his generation but couldn't quite do it - he was overweight and got a load of sub-Page Three women chasing him.

[Richard1978]

Re: Benny Hill

Ben Elton and his talentless chums of the early 80s 'alternative comedy' movement were extremely fortunate to be able to make a living. Most of the acts were nothing more than shambling on stage and screeching 'Maggie Thatcher' or, in Jo Brand's case, 'I love chocolate, I hate men'. Lazy beyond belief. And to think of all the old-school comics who were thrown on the scrapheap after spending decades working the clubs and honing their craft. Still makes my blood boil.

It's just a case of things moving on, & younger people being more interested in comedians they could related to better, being 2 generations behind by the end of the 1980s.

[tex]

Re: Benny Hill

Benny was hilarious but of a different era

[teepee]

Re: Benny Hill

Ben Elton and his talentless chums of the early 80s 'alternative comedy' movement were extremely fortunate to be able to make a living. Most of the acts were nothing more than shambling on stage and screeching 'Maggie Thatcher' or, in Jo Brand's case, 'I love chocolate, I hate men'. Lazy beyond belief. And to think of all the old-school comics who were thrown on the scrapheap after spending decades working the clubs and honing their craft. Still makes my blood boil.