The live audience were laughing as much at the interaction between Fry and Laurie as the jokes themselves. Some people, me included, just laugh because they're Fry and Laurie.

Most of the Fry and Laurie sketches involve intricate and contrary wordplay: 'It is indeed a good morning, sir. I remember mentioning the same to the eldest of my Godnieces only this morning as she wheeled me into an upright position...' (Not a direct quote but near enough as an example) VERY clever, VERY quick, and designed to catch you off guard. I think you either find their material very funny or you think it's silly. (I love it!) :D

@BardOfAndromeda

Жыл бұрын

"Hold the newsreader's nose squarely, waiter, or friendly milk will countermand my trousers" :D

@stevenlagoe7808

Жыл бұрын

@@BardOfAndromeda 😆 Oh yes! Another classic line that could only have come from Fry and Laurie. Favourite sketch? 'Dinner with Susan' which segways into the Marks and Spencer sketch must be up there in my top three.

It's surprising how many Americans don't realise Hugh Laurie is actually English 😂 he's about as English as you can get, born in Oxford and went to Cambridge university 😆

@fatty_owls

4 ай бұрын

hes even an Eton boy 😭

This was a great example of British humor. We have seen a lot of it on the Netherlands TV. The TV programs in the Netherlands are always in the original languish with written translation that is why we understand quickly this humor.

@theperson8539

11 ай бұрын

*humour

The cigarette case joke is that the story is expected to be that the case was in the pocket and stopped a bullet.

@hankstaines6568

Жыл бұрын

A variation on this is 'the bullet hit the cigarette case, ricocheted up his nose and blew his brain out'.

Steven Fry is 6 foot 5 inches. His a big fella, but so is Hugh Laurie his 6 foot 2 inches 🧐😏

There's some of the funniest sketches on 'A bit of Fry and Laurie '. You have to get into their way of talking and their 'dry as s bone' surreal humour.

It reminds of Blackadder 3 - with the cigarillo case. “Congratulations on choosing the Armstrong Whitworth four-pounder cannonette. Please read instructions carefully and it should give you years of trouble free maiming.”

omg, having to sneeze and then not is the worst thing ever

@McJibbin

Жыл бұрын

True trueee

Kept wanting to say bless you , because I was convinced you was about to sneeze

Stephen Fry - 6 ft 4. Hugh Laurie - 6 ft 2 and a bit

Stephan fry is 6”4 haha that’s the only reason hugh looks small- he’s actually over 6ft

I made it to the end and I will treasure my gold star! Thank you, Connor sir xx

I can say that the British can insult a person of an other nationality and they,d never know it.

@maureen348

Жыл бұрын

@@gary.h.turner Thank you for the correction.

This was pretty great! I appreciate that there's a lot of substantive reaction and commentary. I've subscribed.

Large chunks of British humour is having a sense of the ridiculous hence the long tradition of "Nonsense Verse/Poems". Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear both made great use of this. There doesn't always have to be a joke to "get" or punch line in British humour.

The first part was sheer surrealism, but the second part was a very elongated and exaggerated pastiche of the scene in the film 'The Great Escape' (very loosely based on the true story of a mass escape from a WW2 POW camp) where one of the key officers organising the escape attempts to concel the fact that he has gone blind. (this is also played on in the Mitchell and Webb 'Cheezoid' sketch) . 'The Great Escape' was for a long time an ingrained meme in the British collective memory that the reference is obvious to many, but I suspect that more recent generations don't know it so well, so it doesn't land as well.

Yes made it to the end, did you sneeze?

Fry & Laurie are absolutely hilarious, so witty and absurd! 😄 Try their "Information" sketch, or "The Hedge Sketch", brilliant!

That's the whole point the first one was a badly told non joke.

The situation portrayed is the 1940's and British service are organising an escape from a German internment camp - it is a parody of the Steve McQueen movie - The Great Escape. One of the men - who did all the document forging - lost his eyesight while planning for the raid, but after being told by the commander he couldn't go one of the other prisoners, played by James Garner, took him along. The irony is they were the only ones who finally did escape. The 'joke' is about the irony of the irony.

Billy connelly did a skit some years earlier about his grandfather in ww1 and a cigarette case where he had it in his top pocket and got shot there, unfortunately the bullet skidded off and shot up his nostril and killed him . So I'm guessing some of the audience knew that story.

Thank you. I understand it is difficult at times but you learn more each time. Keep up the good work.

one if you carnt SNEEZE stare at a bright light , two what did you watch for comedy over there ?

You sort of got it toward the end. Fascinating listening to you ‘not getting it’ though. Great fun 🤩

You have to watch the movie "The Great Escape" to understand all the jokes about the blind prisoner. This bit is actually hilarious.

Don't worry, it's deliberately surreal so you're not being dumb. It's kind of supposed to be baffling. Oh and I'll have that gold star pleaseandthankyou.

Confirmed, being about to sneeze doesn't make a person look smart.

See next time you want to sneeze look into a bright light. Infallible .

There was an old war film where one of the soldiers in the escape party went blind. David Attenborough I think.

@teresahowells4879

Жыл бұрын

Do you mean Richard?

@neilryan8401

Жыл бұрын

@@teresahowells4879 maybe I've got them mixed up. So yes Richard. 👍

@blueshadow2911

Жыл бұрын

Neither, it was Donald Pleasence.

@neilryan8401

Жыл бұрын

@@blueshadow2911 bingo.👍

@kevingraham3957

Жыл бұрын

The actor in the Great Escape (1963) who played the blind forger was Donald Pleasence. Richard Attenborough played another role. BTW Connor, I struggled with the humour in this sketch as well.

It's also rather very much English "Public School" humour. I.e. the one you you get into based on Mummy and Daddy's connections/money.

Fry is VERY tall

Canned laubhter ccontinues to be despised by Brits

they bombarded you with shot after shot of jokes it is hard for anyone to keep up.

Yes, I made it to the end of the video, despite having been deaf, blind and unable to speak English ever since getting shot in the cigarette case by a World War I bullet.

good on you mate for the new challenge. it left us all befuddled.

Yay, gold star for me

Don't worry Connor, I didn't get half of them either !

yay! gold star!

Fry is 6'5''

The Brittish sense of humor is witty and clever, using wordplay in this instance. Stephen Fry is a very intelligent man so the average person could find it difficult to keep up ..did you miss the first bit about the nieces loss of virginity present aka the cigarette case, to his great grandfather (dirty old man), also going to Flanders for a holiday , liked it do much he went back there to WW1 Other types of Brittish humor can be led and mimic celebrities and or Royalty. There was so much in that little skit. People used to be able to laugh at comedy.....now everyone is looking to validate their victimhood. Sad..

Love it.

Woosh x 50.

6ft 4 in

Try watching “Marjorie fell of a horse” you’ll get that one.

A bit of Fry and Laurie "Witness" is great.

It's called "surrealism" ;-) And yes, it was filmed before a live audience.

Live theatre audience yes

⭐️

Gold star for me.

They're both unfeasibly tall

Should react to their understanding barman sketch.

British comedy is difficult to understand sometimes because we love to switch between all of our cultural influences and differences so much and very quickly, so Fry and Laurie would do quite a lot of silly, sometimes surreal stuff. We tend to love the tragic underdog, the socially inept, the deeply sarcastic and the downright silly, but to be fair mate a lot of the cultural references American comedians make go over our heads and that’s ok, it's the laughs we share that matter. 👍 🤣

He was tall

You don't miss as much as you think bud, don't forget my star.

I made it to the end :)

6'-5" = 196cm.

Word play, Connor. Rapid word play.

I'm a bit worried about the sneeze - did it happen eventually ?

@Isleofskye

Жыл бұрын

I can report that 4 hours later ,it still has not turned up..

@McJibbin

Жыл бұрын

It has been 8 hours and still no sneeze 🤧

@grumpyglyn1065

Жыл бұрын

@@McJibbin I shall await developments with interest 🤓

@Isleofskye

Жыл бұрын

@@grumpyglyn1065 Keep us up Mc. It's been 25 hours now. Any news from The Home Front, My Friend?

@grumpyglyn1065

Жыл бұрын

@@Isleofskye Getting really worried now, a stalled sneeze can cause all sorts of damage, when it's left brewing for that long 😆

Hey i just got a gold star !

Stephen Fry is 6'5", and Hugh Laurie is 6'2.

Yes I did make it to the end 👍 But no one is going to tell you they didn't 🤔😂

I still use my cigarette case to this day! It’s a much posher way of holding one’s cigarettes! I wish I could do (a gif) that showed you how misguided you were! 😂 I’d happily sit with you and explain all the inside jokes! But I’d get annoyed, because you’re hot and I’d be distracted …

Please watch History today it's epic

I don't get it. Oxbridge humour I guess

Hallo, from Germany, I know them allerdings, very britisch. As you are interrestet in the WW ll try the youtube series verstaubt sind die Gesichter, dusted faces, it showes war on the German perspective .

What jokes?

You should react to Tommy Cooper

It's ripped off from a few different Derek and Clive sketches with the words changed for TV

Fry and Laurie's humour is very much a verbal one. References to hair-cutations and wordly wordingtons and so on abound. It's the intricate wordplay and straight-facedness that makes it work. Deadpan nonsense, if you will. All very intellectual, if you'll pardon the pun. Wasn't there one? Sorry!

Sorry Connor, you need to be a Brit to understand the nuisances of stupid arty comedy like this, don't try to understand and just go with the flow. 😎 Cheers DougT

I didn’t think it was funny.

@Isleofskye

Жыл бұрын

Small World. I knew someone with your name in 2003...approximately.