| Author | Message | ||
     Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Love him or loathe him, he was a true British legend...and his onscreen clowning certainly made my childhood just that little bit sweeter.  | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 92.19.96.119 |
Agreed, Gary. Used to love his head-to-heads with members of the ruling class. Best memory - TROUBLE IN STORE, where he ended up wrestling in a phone-booth over who was using the phone first, and the cable ended up round his neck, throttling him, while the other guy made the call. For a while it was fashionable to dis Norm Wisdom - because he was a tax avoider and all that, but I found him very funny. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.209.217 |
Used to love his films when I was a kid. Still remember seeing 'The Early Bird' when I was knee-high. Cracked me up. Sadly, Russell Brand is still alive. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
Loved the man. RIP, Norman was a gent and a very very funny man. Simon - RB is one of the least funniest SOB's on planet earth. He's as unfunny as his wife to be is incapable of holding a tune | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.209.217 |
Not just me, then... and god help us if he reproduces. Give me Omid Djalili any day, or Dylan Moran. It's kind of the end of an era as well with Wisdom gone- he was the last of a generation of performers who came up through the old music halls. Still, at 95 it's got to be said he had a decent innings. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.68 |
I must be excused from the eulogies, I'm afraid. Mr Wisdom did give rise to a good tale by Chris Fowler. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
Ramsey - you didn't like him as a performer, or is there something more sinister afoot? | ||
| Mbfg (Mbfg) Username: Mbfg Registered: 09-2010 Posted From: 212.219.63.204 |
Dear Norman Wisdom, a man of immense talent and humanity. From a brutal childhood to well-deserved fame. His performnce with the young Bruce Forsyth (love him or hate him he is an extremely talented all-rounder) on a 1960s London Palladium special was stunning. Norman could sing, dance, was immensely acrobatic nd very, very funny. REGARDS TERRY | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.17.252.126 |
Not my cup of tea, I'm afraid, even as a child... but I'll always have a fondness for the man as my Dad is a great fan, and my Mum still ribs him about getting all blurry-eyed and croak-voiced during the sentimental bits when they were dating! I was more a Monty Python kid, so the brand of humour practiced by Norman Wisdom & Jerry Lewis never appealed. Sad to see him gone... | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.68 |
"Ramsey - you didn't like him as a performer, or is there something more sinister afoot?" Purely as a performer - I'm afraid my face stayed stony and my mirth unroused. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
Ah, well, different horses and all that.  | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Stevie - I never rattled myself into a slot when I was younger (and I don't now), so I was able to admire Wisdom and also stuff like Python, Milligan, et al. I always did have eclectic taste. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.77.197 |
Yes, Zed's coming with me next month to see the new Lloyd Webber show. Just after he's watched Rec2. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
Zed - me, too. Comedy like horror, it's a genre which deserves the full-scope of our attention. Gary - and the funny thing is, that's probably not that far from the truth  | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.17.252.126 |
"If it bends it's funny, if it snaps, it ain't funny..." I think, of all the genres, comedy is the most prone to personal taste, as - despite whatever Alan Alda says - there is no quick formula for what makes all of us laugh. For me the OTT gurning antics of Formby or Wisdom or Lewis never as much as raised a chuckle, while the anarchic, cartoonish, black humour of the Marx Brothers, Laurel & Hardy, Bugs Bunny, Tom & Jerry, or the great silent comedians (including Chaplin, even at his most sentimental) had me in stitches every time, as a kid, and even more now. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
Laurel and Hardy, and Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, those guys will make me laugh till the end of time itself. I literally cry tears at the hilarity they inspire. I have a friend who once he watched The Office and Extras, has found it impossible to watch comedy such as League of Gentlemen because it didn't fit into that category. He's got great taste, and is a smart guy, and DOES understand the attraction of these types of comedy for other people, but he just can't/doesn't find them satisfying, whether intellectually or just 'funny', I'm not sure. I think this is really limiting, but as you said, personal taste is the key. I have disagreed with Weber about Ello Ello, and because I simply don't find it at all funny, but perhaps it's also because I have an 'intellectual' dislike of the material. Maybe I'm more like my friend than I care to admit. But I hasten to add, I don't devalue Weber's opinions or tastes, as you said, once again, it really is a matter of taste. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.55 |
It's 'Allo 'Allo Not ello ello And it's one of my all time favourite comedy shows. Get it right man | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.77.197 |
. . . ee shall say zis only wonce. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.77.197 |
I feel I should really hate 'Allo 'Allo, but actually it ain't bad at all. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.55 |
It's a broadly played farce with plenty of puns and wordplay. what's not to love? | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.77.197 |
It is what it is. I agree. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
Ello Ello or Allo Allo...all the same to me...what's not to love..'broadly played farce with plenty of puns and wordplay' - THAT. I'm just saying I agree with Steve that it really IS a matter of taste. I know that's obvious. Just saying like. But hey, I loved the Brittas Empire, so what do I know. Gary - I guess you were a fan of Never the Twain (: | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.77.197 |
Genius! Any show which can get away with several series by being so lame has to be something special. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.55 |
I loved Brittas as well - up until the last series. That was really quite poor compared with what had gone before. Why don't the Beeb ever repeat it? They do with all their other comedy shows. Good as they are Dad's Army and Only Fools are getting tedious they've been on so often. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.55 |
Mind you, I've always hated Peter Kay and Shittle Britain. Phoenix Nights is one of the least funny things I've ever watched. As for walliams and Lucas, whoever told them they were funny deserves to be skinned alived and dipped in a vat of salt and vinegar crisps. That pile of crap is repetive the first time you watch it. Compared to shittle Britain Harry Hill has lots of different jokes... I just don't get the apeal behind the Mighty Boosh either. It's the only comedy show at the apollo where I ever got so bored I went back to the first aid room to read my book and play with the blu-tak face on the light switch. | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 82.38.75.85 |
Just to bring us back to Norman Wisdom, it's sad to see him go - like someone said above, it's the end of an era for that kind of comedy. But he never was my cup of tea either - I just didn't find him funny. But no argument with the assertion that he was a true comedy legend. RIP, Norman. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
Weber - I don't find Little Britain funny, just wee moments. But Peter Kay I thought was superb in Phoenix Nights, as was the whole cast, but I thought the spin-off was awful. A very good friend of mine said I should give The Mighty Boosh a try, and I did, but I felt as if it were retreading the same comedic area as Vic and Bob, and with less conviction. Probably one of the most horrendous comedy shows of all time was Keeping Up Appearances. For me it was the epitome of class culture comedy, where glaring caricatures and hideously outdated stereotypes run amok on prime time TV. Usually I don't draw lines in the 'sand of comedy'. If it's funny, I couldn't care less if the writers or actors are graduates of Footlights repertoire, or if they were on the bins the week before. Funny is funny. But KUA was just one more signpost towards mediocrity and banality. Having not lived in England/Britain for more than ten years, the question is, would people say it's got any better? When I think of shows like Peep Show, The Office, Spaced, even Black Books, my answer would be yes, but who's to say? | ||
| Seanmcd (Seanmcd) Username: Seanmcd Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 217.39.93.223 |
I loved Norman's movies as a kid and I loved all that gurning and falling around. Physical slapstick humour always had an appeal for me as a child. The exaggerated expression on the clown's face communicated everything to me that I needed to know about his emotional state in any situation. Norman did this really well. Stan Laurel was the master, of course, but Norman's facial expressions made me laugh too for the same reasons. I don't think i've seen a Norman Wisdom movie since I was 6 or 7. So I may not find them just as funny anymore. Whereas I know I do and will still love L&H to my grave. The litmus test I suppose would be if my kids find him funny. Also, 3,000,000 Albanians can't be wrong can they? Ok then... | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.171.129.68 |
I'll echo Zed's original comments here. I think Will Hay is still the man when it comes to black and white British comedy films, though, and did produce pieces that had crime/horror elements to them, spooky atmospheres. Ghost of St Michael's and Oh, Mr Porter especially. George Formby - perhaps oddly - was more politically on the money in some ways in real life, causing outrage in South Africa when he toured there and insisted on mixed race audiences and being as happy to have fun with black kids as well as white ones. Turned out nice again. But Norman was pretty much a straight down the middle thoughtful clown, and it's hard to imagine the world's any better for him not being around. Mr Grimsdale! | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.152.74.159 |
Reading further up the thread I see Ramsey has beaten me to it with what I wanted to say. I, too, never found Mr Wisdom funny in the slightest, but Christopher Fowler's story 'Norman Wisdom & the Angel of Death' is a favourite of mine. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.17.252.126 |
Like I said above, I have a great personal fondness for Norman Wisdom as a man, and indeed, George Formby as well, but their broad comedy schtick just didn't do it for me. Will Hay is another matter, though, and I always found his old movies - particularly the spooky ones - very entertaining, in an obvious kind of way. I wouldn't hesitate to have them in my DVD collection. |