top 50 comedy sketches

Ah, Missi, I was thinking of forks you eat with. I've never seen the sketch all the way through, so this maybe this would have become apparent. Still, the confusion killed the gag a little for me, so alas, I'll never appreciate it as much as I may have. Sad, that. I think Morecambe and Wise were over-rated. When I say that to people, they laugh at me with utter contempt; but the same people will sit through an old Christmas special with you completely f**king poker-faced.

You mean you're reading the top forum?

Eric morecombe was right up tyhere with tommy cooper in the "genuinely funny" stakes. His timing and speed of thought was legendary and his ability to pun and ad lib second to none (yes I know all his ad libs on stage were written but when interviewed or caught in public he was still lightening fast)

I reckon the 'Brent Dance' will be in the top three. Place your bets.

John Cleese's chef and the dirty fork... That has to be up there somewhere.

Having a fag (ahem) away from the wife in the study (sounds like a Cluedo prediction)... the yorkshiremen (Cleese 'n' co) sketch is an absolute blinder. How the f**k did Smack The Pony rate higher? Jeez.

True story (apparently) Tommy Cooper was in a hat shop in Morroco, standing in front of the mirrow trying on a new fez, and the owner of the hat shop says "Justlikethat" "Oh." Says Tommy Cooper, "you're a fan." "No." Says the hat shop man, and goes on to explain that he has never seen Tommy Cooper before in his life, but every englishman who comes into his shop and trys on a fez stands in front of the mirror goes "Justlikethat"

Larph & spider? Both wrong. Don't agree with the winner at all. Fork handles deserved to be in there though.

Yes Paul, they sold candles, mainly I think as back-up to the paraffin they sold for the Primus lamps that many country folk used, as there was no electricity in out-lying areas in some cases up to the 60's. One of my mates who lived 200yds from me lived in a house with no electricity, and it wasn't laid on until 1967. They had paraffin lamps, candles, cooked on an open range, cold tap over a butler sink that drained into the back garden, no electricity, no gas, no toilet, no bath, wind-up gramophone and battery radio. That road is STILL an unmade track to this day. They were a happy family too.

The Two Ronnies sketches were mustard. That Mastermind one answering the previous question. Sheer genius.

mastermind sketch was brilliant - where was brent's dance? I was also sure it would be in the top three... Some of the sketches left me stony faced (i never did like league of gentlemen, shoot me now) and some left me grinning like a loon. I LOVED the two history professors, so funny. why DID newman and baddiel fall out, anyone know? Rob Newman I always thought far funnier than David Baddiel who always seems to be inordinately pleased with himself.

Hi Liana I worked with Newman and Biddel a couple of times. Christ knows why they don't get on. Robert suffered from depression, I know that. He will always be the funnier of the two, his novels are better too. I had a big row aith Dave Biddel at the Edinburgh Festival once. He thought I owed him money for a gig, I did not of course. I was only the stage manager. Rob is a lovely bloke actually. Ralph

Well the shop WAS a hardware shop which never sold cutlery, at least not in 'my day'. I agree about Morcombe and Wise, I never found them to be the slightest bit funny, they always looked so contrived. People with seriously funny faces though, for me, were Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson but most of all, Dudley Moore.

Fork Handles and Mastermind were sill the best and cleverest but that's not all that's needed to make a great sketch. I think the Brent dance wasn't seen as a 'sketch' but rather a piece of a sitcom. don't agree with the winner of course, it's a great sketch but no better than most in that list. the funniest for me was 'nobody expects the spanish inquisition' but that's just me. Palin at his prime.

You're starting to sound like that Four Yorkshiremen sketch! :-)

Dead Parrot every time for me - but that just shows my age. I just wish they had shown the whole of each sketch - the tiny sampling we got of most of them were just enough to whet the appetite but not enough to leave one replete.

couldn't agree more, maybe do the top thirty next time and have less bloody talking about it !

Does anyone else get the feeling Channel 4 have a machine somewhere that's turning out these "top 50/100 something" shows at the rate of one a month?

I've said this before too: no-one ever remembers being asked about these things, but I presume people are. So how does it work? Is the choice limited in anyway? Not sure about "fork handles". I mean, call me an over-analyzing bore, but you can't actually buy handles for forks seperately -- to my knowledge -- so the request is by its very nature ridiculous. As for number one, this is BPS (British Poll Syndrome) where people say the "best ever" is the most recent example they can think of. It's an okay sketch, but it would be funny without the bloke jumping out the wheelchair for cheap laughs. It's the relationship between characters that cuts to the comic core (see Ralph and Ted). I actually preferred Baddiel's stand-up ("A sandwich, you say?!") because I like things to be direct and to the point. Newman's stuff had its moments, but a bit too much rambling, navel-gazing and hair-flicking for my liking. Better looking though.

There's no gas in my village even now. The smack the pony sketch they showed was poor, was talking about this today. The mariah carey thing. Much better was the one they did of the women putting petrol in her car and swinging the hose between her legs.

I don't suppose the Derek and Clive 'dead pope' sketch got on there did it?

Sorry I didn't see this. We don't get C4 in Warsaw. The Dead Parrot would probably be my favorite, though I do recall laughing myself silly at the M&W Mastermind skit.

And the Cheese Shop!! How could I forget that one??

Well you should listen to my three mates.

There are loads but generally anything with john cleese or the old school of cambridge comedy writers always makes me laugh more than anything. Is there a new school of cambridge comedy writers breaking through i wonder.

It's B&C that did mastermind Justyn, not M&W.

Agree with Paul - other than with music (where people just remember that Bohemian Rhapsody IS the best single ever and repeat that without even thinking - specifically thinking that if rock opera were so great other bands would probably have revisited the idea), people just vote for modern stuff because it is in their head. Which is how Angels got to be voted the best single of the last twenty-five years when up against two other crap songs and Love will tear us apart. I'd have to plump for the Two Ronnies or the Spanish Inquisition sketch from Python. Maybe some of the Competitive Dad ones from the Fast Show (most Fast Show stuff is funny because of repetition and knowing what is coming, but Dad and Billy Bleach sorting out the change in the pub work in their own right)

Tony you're wrong about liking the dead parrot being an age thing... my eldest (15 years old) hooted with amusement, she'd never seen it before. I just sat with a half smile, because a) I've seen it so many times, and b) I don't actually think it's that funny. What was far funnier was the clip of Palin having a set of the most infectious giggles as they did it on stage.

I loved the Fast Show at the time, but it's aged badly very quickly. It's hard to like the parrott sketch now because it's been shown so many times, and oft quoted by rather tragic people. Talking of giggles, the sight of Dudley Moore corpsing to the genius of Peter Cook was a sight to behold.

Morcombe? Whatever was I thinking of?

chewing the fat s quite good from scots tele . Its theme is on a cross section of people in society.

Hold on, Missi. Did they sell candles in hardware shops in your day? I don't think they do at my local one.

>> ...you can't actually buy handles for forks seperately.. << But you can Paul, when a blacksmith I spent many a day fitting them (and pitch-fork handles) to wrecked forks. Farmers were always very heavy-footed when it came to digging.

There's a Hale & Pace sketch I always liked. It was a 'der management' sketch and the crowd were laughing and one of 'der management,' points his finger at the crowd and bawled, "Stop Titterin' - I don't like Titterin." And the other bawls, "I don't like any seaside town." Um..