Comedy Archeology - A Joke, A Song And A Dance

Sketch show was very much an evolution of the variety show, largely dropping the songs (but not always - see Fry And Laurie) and a lot of the celebrity guests, which is in its turn a development of the stage tradition of music hall. What makes these shows variety rather than just sketch? It’s a tangible thing like the inclusion of musical numbers and celebrity guests but also a slightly intangible element - there’s a “feel” to variety that differentiates it slightly from purely sketch-based shows along with an element of a defined personality for the stars. Here are two of the key variety based shows (excluding any already mentioned like The Muppet Show) which are thoroughly ingrained.

The Morecambe And Wise Show
It’s impossible to be English and of a certain age and not have been exposed to Morecambe and Wise. They were the biggest entertainment juggernaut of the 1970s, notching up viewing figures in excess of twenty million (a figure that any TV company would die for in these fragmented viewing times), and deservedly so. 

After an abortive start on BBC in the 50s, the duo found fame in the 60s on ITV with their series Two Of A Kind, written by Dick Hills and Sid Green. This fame was enough to attract the attention of the BBC and the duo moved back across, initially Hills and Green on writing duty. However, it was with the introduction of Eddie Braben as head writer that the Morecambe and Wise that are so beloved were born.

They are an archetypal double act. Eric Morecambe is undoubtedly the one who gets all the best lines, looks to camera, etc. but Ernie Wise gets unfairly maligned as the straight man. Wise is more than that - he’s a fool in a slightly different way to Morecambe. Wise is the pompous one, the one with delusions of being an artist (“the play what I wrote”) and not only the perfect foil to Eric’s puncturing but also when needed a champion for Eric.

Favourite sketch? A lot to choose from but the one that I always love to watch is Grieg’s Piano Concerto (By Grieg). Not only is the delivery and timing superb between Eric and Ernie (as well as the clear understanding that they're both on the same page) but Andre Previn, a non-actor guest star, has impeccable comic timing and delivery too (although being a conductor and music and comedy both being about rhythm probably helps).

The Two Ronnies
There was a time in the eighties, particularly when alternative comedy was on the rise, that The Two Ronnies was slightly sneered at, slightly seen as old-fashioned, boring, safe old comedy. Fortunately, that opinion has been reversed since then with people rightfully acknowledging them as fine comic performers and Ronnie Barker as one of our finest comic writers. Barker wrote around three quarters of the material himself and also attracted other writers such as Spike Milligan, Eric Idle, Michael Palin and Terry Jones (unsurprising that there would be a Python link really given that Barker and Corbett both worked on the Frost Report with John Cleese.

Favourite sketch? Again, hard to pick one. I always loved the regular serials with The Phantom Raspberry Blower (written, of course, by long time fan of the raspberry, Spike Milligan) was always a favourite. It may seem cliched by Four Candles is a favourite as is the Mastermind sketch with a contestant answering the previous questions and the Swedish Made Simple sketch (F.U.N.E.X? S, V.F.X.)

So what’s next? Well, we’ve talked about sketch comedy. It's probably time to venture into the world of the sitcom...