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  • #16
    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.
    I've everything I need to keep me satisfied
    There's nothing you can do to make me change my mind
    I'm having so much fun
    My lucky number's one
    Ah! Oh! Ah! Oh!

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: Benny Hill

      At one didn't Cannon or Ball become a born again Christian & give up performing for a few years?

      I remember Hale & Pace being around until the mid 1990s before slowly fading away by the end of the decade.
      The Trickster On The Roof

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: Benny Hill

        Originally posted by George 1978 View Post
        Regarding the gap between mainstream and alternative, I regard Hale and Pace to almost be on the borderline between the two ...
        To be honest, I always thought of Hale and Pace as being an alternative to comedy rather than alternative comedy.

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: Benny Hill

          Originally posted by Richard1978 View Post
          At one didn't Cannon or Ball become a born again Christian & give up performing for a few years?
          Yes, they were appearing in pantomime at the Alhambra Theatre in Bradford one year and the theatre's chaplain Max Wrigley introduced himself to them both, and talked to them about God and Christianity - the story goes that it was because of the chat with the Reverend which influenced Cannon and Ball into religion and apparently they even introduced some of it into some of their shows. They might have had some in their Bridlington Spa shows, who knows? Should I bought a ticket to find out!

          Hale and Pace were probably an alternative to comedy, but I still watched them - Billy and Johnny were my favourite characters.
          I've everything I need to keep me satisfied
          There's nothing you can do to make me change my mind
          I'm having so much fun
          My lucky number's one
          Ah! Oh! Ah! Oh!

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: Benny Hill

            Originally posted by teepee View Post
            To be honest, I always thought of Hale and Pace as being an alternative to comedy rather than alternative comedy.
            A lot of things in life are alternative to comedy but they are just as funny.
            I've everything I need to keep me satisfied
            There's nothing you can do to make me change my mind
            I'm having so much fun
            My lucky number's one
            Ah! Oh! Ah! Oh!

            Comment


            • #21
              Re: Benny Hill

              When you think how much Eric and Ernie thrived on the repartee of a double act
              its always surprised me that there are so few around today.... like none.... unless you count Ant and Flippin Eck ?

              Maybe todays comics are more independently minded and just dont like splitting the theatre fee....?

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: Benny Hill

                James Corden & Mathew Horne tried being a double act on the back of Gavin & Stacey but it didn't work out so well.
                The Trickster On The Roof

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: Benny Hill

                  Originally posted by silverbirch View Post
                  When you think how much Eric and Ernie thrived on the repartee of a double act
                  its always surprised me that there are so few around today.... like none.... unless you count Ant and Flippin Eck ?

                  Maybe todays comics are more independently minded and just dont like splitting the theatre fee....?
                  You are right - comedy double acts seem to stem from the past, probably because it takes two people to do a double act, and have that straightman-funnyman divide, although in double acts like Hale and Pace, there wasn't really the straightman in that double act. When they appeared on Des O'Connor Tonight, he made the same observation, although Pace was the closes to being a straightman. The Two Ronnies were almost like two straightmen together, although they were two comedians working together. Morecambe and Wise did the "in bed" sketches without a whiff of assumptions that they could be gay, and I think that Cannon and Ball copied them as well as other same-gender double acts.

                  From an alternative comedy perspective, there were French and Saunders, Reeves and Mortimer, and also Mel Smith and Griff Rhys-Jones - again semi-official as they also did separate shows.
                  I've everything I need to keep me satisfied
                  There's nothing you can do to make me change my mind
                  I'm having so much fun
                  My lucky number's one
                  Ah! Oh! Ah! Oh!

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: Benny Hill

                    Originally posted by George 1978 View Post
                    You are right - comedy double acts seem to stem from the past, probably because it takes two people to do a double act, and have that straightman-funnyman divide, although in double acts like Hale and Pace, there wasn't really the straightman in that double act. When they appeared on Des O'Connor Tonight, he made the same observation, although Pace was the closes to being a straightman. The Two Ronnies were almost like two straightmen together, although they were two comedians working together. Morecambe and Wise did the "in bed" sketches without a whiff of assumptions that they could be gay, and I think that Cannon and Ball copied them as well as other same-gender double acts.

                    From an alternative comedy perspective, there were French and Saunders, Reeves and Mortimer, and also Mel Smith and Griff Rhys-Jones - again semi-official as they also did separate shows.
                    Yes that's very true.

                    Fry & Laurie were another semi-official duo, as were Harry Enfield & Paul Whitehouse.
                    The Trickster On The Roof

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: Benny Hill

                      Again, Fry and Laurie are probably more famous for doing their own thing rather than being a double act.

                      Funnily enough, I have always wondered if one had put two comedians and made them work together, which one would be the straight man and which one would be the funny man? Take Frankie Howerd for example - he would have been the funny man to Bruce Forsyth, but the straight man to Tommy Cooper. It depends on who would have worked with who back then.
                      I've everything I need to keep me satisfied
                      There's nothing you can do to make me change my mind
                      I'm having so much fun
                      My lucky number's one
                      Ah! Oh! Ah! Oh!

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: Benny Hill

                        just today on sat tv saw Laurie talking in an american accent....
                        just dont seem right ....

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: Benny Hill

                          Originally posted by silverbirch View Post
                          just today on sat tv saw Laurie talking in an american accent....
                          just dont seem right ....
                          The things actors do to make themselves internationally well-known. Tsk.
                          I've everything I need to keep me satisfied
                          There's nothing you can do to make me change my mind
                          I'm having so much fun
                          My lucky number's one
                          Ah! Oh! Ah! Oh!

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: Benny Hill

                            Rowan Martin were a good double act
                            Dan Rowan and Dick Martin ... famous for hosting the Lagh In cult show from the 60s ...
                            They had a good repartee... which is what a double act is all about

                            Dan the suave straight man and Dick Martin a little bit zany

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: Benny Hill

                              Originally posted by silverbirch View Post
                              Rowan Martin were a good double act
                              Dan Rowan and Dick Martin ... famous for hosting the Lagh In cult show from the 60s ...
                              They had a good repartee... which is what a double act is all about

                              Dan the suave straight man and Dick Martin a little bit zany
                              Good repartee...maybe but the type of sickly American 60s humour which i personally found BLEUGHH!!
                              Ejector seat?...your jokin!

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: Benny Hill

                                Originally posted by silverbirch View Post
                                Rowan Martin were a good double act
                                Dan Rowan and Dick Martin ... famous for hosting the Lagh In cult show from the 60s ...
                                They had a good repartee... which is what a double act is all about

                                Dan the suave straight man and Dick Martin a little bit zany
                                We didn't see too much of them in Great Britain, although they were shown on Sunday night BBC 2 before my time - I am certain that they were made in the United States by the same company that made Sesame Street.
                                I've everything I need to keep me satisfied
                                There's nothing you can do to make me change my mind
                                I'm having so much fun
                                My lucky number's one
                                Ah! Oh! Ah! Oh!

                                Comment

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