For some reason, since I was introduced to Monty Python, I have become a big fan of British sitcoms from the 60s to the 70s. Maybe it's the words they use, or the creative genius in its comedy style that drew me to them. Here are some of these other gems which I have recently dicovered and have thoroughly enjoyed thanks to the magic of DVDs and good old Youtube.

At Last, The 1948 Show

No, this show was not really broadcast in 1948. It made its debut on BBC in 1967 in glorious black-and-white. Its title was really a satarical reference to BBC's habit of letting shows sit for months before broadcasting the during that time. Core members of this team included John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Marty Feldman.


From left to right: Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman.

To me, this sitcom was really the starting point for the immensely popular comedies that were to come, mainly in the form of Monty Python (which John Cleese and Graham Chapman were part of) and The Goodies (with Tim Brooke-Taylor), of which I will talk about later on. In fact, it was once assumed that in the forming of Monty Python, Tim Brooke-Taylor would be the natural choice to become one of the Pythons because he had very close connections with both Cleese and Chapman (according to him though, he declined cos he felt he wasn't a good enough writer as the rest). The sketches in this sitcom were very much reminiscent of the later Pythonesque humor and Goodies' physical comedy, only being much earlier were perhaps just a little less extreme and a little more mainstream. While a little less polished than Monty Python's Flying Circus and The Goodies, it is rather enjoyable to watch its predecessor in its raw form.

"I suppose Hawkins you would like to change your name?"
"No sir, I'm quite happy with my name, sir. I think Samantha is me, sir. I think with my English rose complexion, I think... Samantha is definitely me, sir."


All the cliches of thriller movies!
"You are all fools, you hear me? Fools!" "What are you?"
(in unison) "Fools!"


The sad thing about At Last, The 1948 Show, however, is that 13 episodes were made and broadcast in total. However, after the production company which produced the series was bought over by Thames Television, it made the shocking decision at that time to erase all the tapes of the sitcom. By the time John Cleese found out what was happening he had only managed to salvage 2 episodes, with another 3 which survived at a foreign television station, thus leaving us younger generations with only these 5 gems of a sitcom left.

The following is the famous Four Yorkshiremen sketch, parody of nostalgic conversations about humble beginnings or difficult childhoods. Four Yorkshiremen reminisce about their upbringing, and as the conversation progresses, they try to outdo one another, their accounts of deprived childhoods becoming increasingly absurd. This skecth is often credited to Monty Python but it in fact originated from At Last, The 1948 Show, co-written by all its 4 performers.

"Aye, you try and tell that to the young people of today. Would they believe you?"
"Nooo..."

Monty Python's version in 1982


At Last, The 1948 Show's version in 1967


The Goodies

The Goodies ran for a much longer period than Monty Python's Flying Circus, clocking an impressive 12-year run from 1970 to 1982, with 72 episodes in total, in comparison to Flying Circus which only had 4 seasons. Starring Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie.




The Goodies then and now...

According to the description on Wikipedia, the series' basic structure revolved around the trio offering themselves for hire — with the tagline "We Do Anything, Anytime" — to perform all sorts of ridiculous but benevolent tasks. Under this pretext, the show explored all sorts of off-the-wall scenarios for comedic potential. Many episodes parodied current events,while others were more abstractly philosophical. All the characters are based around the personae of Garden (a "mad scientist"), Brooke-Taylor (a conservative, fashionable, sexually-repressed, Tory-voting royalist), and Oddie (a scruffy, occasionally violent, far left-leaning anarchist from Lancashire). The group have suggested that the characters of Graeme, Tim, and Bill represent the Liberal, Conservative and Labour wings of British politics or middle-class, upper-class and working-class stereotypes respectively. The characters played up to their stereotypes, but were not necessarily based on the actor playing the character. This is not immediately obvious as they were called by their own names, and had some minor characteristics in common. In reality, Garden is a medical doctor, Brooke-Taylor is not really conservative ("But I had the double-barrelled name so I was always going to play the Tory") and Oddie is a pacifist, ornithologist and active environmentalist.

Personally, The Goodies may appear to be childish and absurb sometimes, but it really is very enjoyable to watch. Upon closer inspection, The Goodies really is a nod to those stunt-packed silent movies and old cartoons where everything was possible. And who can resist the 1970s special effects that were so raw but so brilliantly and creatively done! And oh yes, I do love the language of these old British comedies, like in this clip below, where Graeme ticks off Tim by saying sternly "Tim, you are being very very silly!" I mean, in modern day I am sure that this same phrase would most likely be replaced by something vulgar! The Goodies was also lauded for its musical influence, wherein many of its soundtrack were original compositions of Bill Oddie. In fact, some of these songs even attained commercial success, appearing in British pop charts!

The famous Kitten Kong episode from 1972, in which the special effects reminiscent of silent movies are what makes The Goodies one of its kind!

Goodies Goodies yum yum...

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Part 2:



Part 3:



And this is one of my favourite episodes, The End, broadcast in 1975 in its 5th season. This episode was one of the two which was filmed entirely in one location (the other being Earthanasia). These episodes were made mainly because the entire location budget for the season had been spent, which forced the trio to come up with a script that relied entirely on character interaction.

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:



Interesting trivia (from Wiki):

Most of the members from Monty Python and The Goodies were members of the prestigious Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights,. It is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, run by the students of Cambridge University and now also the Anglia Ruskin University. In fact, some for the Pythons and Goodies had become presidents of the Footlights, with Tim Brooke-Taylor in 1963, Graeme Garden in 1964 and Eric Idle of Monty Python in 1965.

Even Dr House Hugh Laurie was a president of the Footlights in 1981!

In fact, like the Pythons, the Goodies were all high-achievers - Brooke-Taylor was a law student who swopped notes with John Cleese while at Cambridge. Graeme Garden, like Graham Chapman, was trained as a doctor, while Bill Oddie studied English literature in Cambridge.

To find out more of this interesting connection, here's Comedy Connection by BBC:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14wUiDciR08
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDu2kNvjCjk
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKWaLs8Oy94