So is Vic and Bob the most important act in British Comedy?

 

 

On BBC 3 now

very good show gave a good overview of british comedy from the 60s to now

didnt get why ben elton was supposed to be funny? cringeworthy on that chatshow!

didnt get why ben elton was supposed to be funny? cringeworthy on that chatshow!

 

Ben Elton was at the forefront of the Alternative Comedy scene in the 1980s and co-wrote two of the 1980s greatest Comedy shows - "The Young Ones" and "Black Adder". He was also the host of a legendary C4 Prog called "Saturday Night Live" (which later became "Friday Night Live" when it switched nights) which was a showcase for some of the cream of the Alt Comedy crop of the day, fantastic stuff. At his best Elton was a comedy tour de force, a real rabid Rottweiler in his day, I know it's hard to believe now because he's such a complacent, upper-middle-class, sell out tw@t; but believe me, back in the 80s he was as sharp as a fukkin' razor....

 

I would certainly agree that Vic and Bob are one of the most important acts in British Comedy, but for me, probably the most important Sea Change and what changed the face of British comedy forever was the Alternative Comedy scene of the late 70s/early 80s, which was a direct by-product of the Punk scene - Alexei Sayle, Ben Elton, French and Saunders, Jerry Sadowitz, The Comic Strip, The Young Ones, etc. If it hadn't been for these guys none of your Vic and Bobs, Little Britains, League of Gentlemens, Green Wings or Ricky Gervais' would be around today....

 

Of course earlier you had your Goons and your Monty Pythons, but these were oddities, unique and quite apart from the Traditional kind of "Seaside Humour" that was around at the time, its influence was only really felt later in the face of the Alternative Comedy scene; in terms of sheer seismic impact, the Alt Comedy scene is more important because it really did directly change the face of UK comedy pretty much forever....

No - (the godfather of Alternative comedy) the late Peter Cook deserves the honour!

http://chilled.cream.org/graphics/cook.jpg

I would certainly agree that Vic and Bob are one of the most important acts in British Comedy, but for me, probably the most important Sea Change and what changed the face of British comedy forever was the Alternative Comedy scene of the late 70s/early 80s, which was a direct by-product of the Punk scene - Alexei Sayle, Ben Elton, French and Saunders, Jerry Sadowitz, The Comic Strip, The Young Ones, etc. If it hadn't been for these guys none of your Vic and Bobs, Little Britains, League of Gentlemens, Green Wings or Ricky Gervais' would be around today....

 

Of course earlier you had your Goons and your Monty Pythons, but these were oddities, unique and quite apart from the Traditional kind of "Seaside Humour" that was around at the time, its influence was only really felt later in the face of the Alternative Comedy scene; in terms of sheer seismic impact, the Alt Comedy scene is more important because it really did directly change the face of UK comedy pretty much forever....

 

 

I totally agree with you, except maybe The LofG bit. They got their influences from films.

 

I would say The Two Ronnies were very important in comedy too. Certainly The League Of Gentlemen mention them in their commentary.

Edited April 20, 200619 yr by Misfit

double post.

Edited April 20, 200619 yr by Misfit

I don't really like Vic and Bob, the 2 Ronnies always do it for me :lol:

 

But they are past now :(

Ben Elton was at the forefront of the Alternative Comedy scene in the 1980s and co-wrote two of the 1980s greatest Comedy shows - "The Young Ones" and "Black Adder". He was also the host of a legendary C4 Prog called "Saturday Night Live" (which later became "Friday Night Live" when it switched nights) which was a showcase for some of the cream of the Alt Comedy crop of the day, fantastic stuff. At his best Elton was a comedy tour de force, a real rabid Rottweiler in his day, I know it's hard to believe now because he's such a complacent, upper-middle-class, sell out tw@t; but believe me, back in the 80s he was as sharp as a fukkin' razor....

 

I dont know what to make of 'The Young Ones', but then again i suppose it's different if you watched it when it came out and know of the politics of the time and if you are viewing the programme watching reruns on bbc4 now? i suppose it was very revolutionary in the 1980s, but looking at it now and not just saying it looks dated :lol: some of it works some of it doesnt. was it all writen separately by Ben Elton, Rik Mayall, and Lise Mayer and then stuck together? as on wikipedia it just says their names with 'additional contributions by Alexei Sayle (mostly his own performances)'.

I would certainly agree that Vic and Bob are one of the most important acts in British Comedy, but for me, probably the most important Sea Change and what changed the face of British comedy forever was the Alternative Comedy scene of the late 70s/early 80s, which was a direct by-product of the Punk scene - Alexei Sayle, Ben Elton, French and Saunders, Jerry Sadowitz, The Comic Strip, The Young Ones, etc. If it hadn't been for these guys none of your Vic and Bobs, Little Britains, League of Gentlemens, Green Wings or Ricky Gervais' would be around today....

 

Of course earlier you had your Goons and your Monty Pythons, but these were oddities, unique and quite apart from the Traditional kind of "Seaside Humour" that was around at the time, its influence was only really felt later in the face of the Alternative Comedy scene; in terms of sheer seismic impact, the Alt Comedy scene is more important because it really did directly change the face of UK comedy pretty much forever....

 

 

 

100% agreement scott.... that is exactly how it was...

 

 

not peter cook... (thisispop) SPIKE MILLIGAN was the godfather of alternative comedy...

I totally agree with you, except maybe The LofG bit. They got their influences from films.

 

I would say The Two Ronnies were very important in comedy too. Certainly The League Of Gentlemen mention them in their commentary.

 

But the likes of The Young Ones, The Comic Strip, etc made it possible for the League Of Gentlemen to get their brand of comedy across much more easily; I honestly cannot see how LoG can fail to be influenced by The Comic Strip in particular as The Comic Strip was doing the whole bizarre, twisted comedy-wrapped-in-a-film format about 15 years or so earlier... I dont really see The Two Ronnies influence in LofG at all to be honest (well, maybe there's a bit of "Phantom Raspberry Blower" in LofG, but that's about it...). Look at Comic Strip films such as "Five Go Mad In Dorset", "Five Go Mad On Mescalin", "Strike", "Supergrass", "GLC", "Didn't You Kill My Brother", "A Fistfull of Travellers Cheques", "Mr Jolly Lives Next Door", etc and you will see the genesis of things such as "The Office", "Max and Paddy's Road To Nowhere", "Nighty Night", LofG, etc....

 

There's a complete set of all Comic Strip films on DVD box-set, I would highly recommend it to you...

I would say The Two Ronnies were very important in comedy too. Certainly The League Of Gentlemen mention them in their commentary.

 

a large part of the show was how comedians in the 70s were a reaction to those in the 60s, and how the alternative comedians in the 80s were a reaction to the those in the 70s, but since vic and bob there is no reaction and anything goes.

 

(Alexi Sayle was telling a story how the only one who tried to do the comedy store was an old time comedian called Lenny Bennit. He tried his routein at the comedy store and the audience just gonged him off. However it says today everything in comedy is valid and the pivital point was vic and bob)

But the likes of The Young Ones, The Comic Strip, etc made it possible for the League Of Gentlemen to get their brand of comedy across much more easily; I honestly cannot see how LoG can fail to be influenced by The Comic Strip in particular as The Comic Strip was doing the whole bizarre, twisted comedy-wrapped-in-a-film format about 15 years or so earlier... I dont really see The Two Ronnies influence in LofG at all to be honest (well, maybe there's a bit of "Phantom Raspberry Blower" in LofG, but that's about it...). Look at Comic Strip films such as "Five Go Mad In Dorset", "Five Go Mad On Mescalin", "Strike", "Supergrass", "GLC", "Didn't You Kill My Brother", "A Fistfull of Travellers Cheques", "Mr Jolly Lives Next Door", etc and you will see the genesis of things such as "The Office", "Max and Paddy's Road To Nowhere", "Nighty Night", LofG, etc....

 

There's a complete set of all Comic Strip films on DVD box-set, I would highly recommend it to you...

Yeah I do see what you're saying there. They do say on series 2 commentary about the 'four candles' thing being included in a Local Shop scene.

 

I'll have a look for that box-set. Thanks for the recommendation.

Without Eric Sykes' early career as a scriptwriter I'd say it's possible Spike Milligan and The Goons may never have become as famous as they were. Nor Tony Hancock or Frankie Howerd. These are probably the real jetsetters where comedy moved from music hall "oops...av' a banana" nonsense to well-scripted gags.

 

As for the current batch - most of them tout Peter Cook as the forerunner of their stuff and Vic n Bob are most certainly influenced by his flights of absurd fantasy.

dunno about that, spike was performing in the army before he met sykes... and sykes has never been that good. i certainly wouldnt put sykes in the same class as milligan or cook.

Not as a performer certainly - he wouldn't dare put himself there either, but he did influence a great many of the early comedy writers.

yeah, influence, but not lead... i like sykes actually.