Verry Funny!!!

Quote from StillCan'tDance

This is a very funny scene but it reminded me of how poignant the series could be. In a later scene, it's hard to fight back the tears as we see that beneath Del Boy's roguish veneer, he's actually very scared that there might be something seriously wrong with him.

The very best sitcoms rely on the strength of the characters, rather than shoe-horning tired one-liners into every bit of dialogue, to sell the comedy of the situation. And consequently, we fall in love with those characters.

Some examples would be: Only Fools And Horses, Porridge, Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, Til Death Us Do Part, Cheers, The Cosby Show, Everybody Loves Raymond and Frasier. Just my opinion, of course, but I rank those as some of the very best sitcoms ever made and I regularly revisit them for a good laugh.

The strength of Porridge and Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads can be seen through watching them now, 40+ years on; I think they are still quite strong, especially Porridge, whereas other sitcoms of that time have aged very badly. Ronnie Barker's performance on Porridge is astonishing. You cannot see Barker at all; he 100% is Fletcher.

I am a recent convert to Everyone Loves Raymond, I only started watching the Channel 4 repeats about a year ago and I've now recorded most of them.

Your point about poignancy is a good one and I think some of the best sitcoms are able to successfully incorporate pathos into the mix. On occasions, Only Fools did this very well, the example that always springs to my mind is the episode following the death of their Grandad, reflecting the death of the actor who'd played him. Rodney can't bear seeing Del being happy and lighthearted at the wake, and when the guests have left, berates him for it. Del says, but that's all I know what to do, I don't know how else to be. It's a few minutes of pure family drama with no laugh points at all. Brave and brilliant writing, and great performances of course.

Similarly, at the end of the Porridge episode A Quiet Night In, the newly arrived Godber awkwardly thanks Fletcher for helping him get through his first day in prison. In a superbly subtle and touching bit of acting, Fletcher glances at Godber then casually suggests they go out for the night! Another favourite moment is in a later episode when Godber's sitting an exam and Fletcher tries to help by stealing the question paper in advance, Godber refuses to use it and says he wants to pass by his own efforts. In another great bit of pure drama Fletcher loses patience and lectures the younger man on how he should take every chance he can because being an ex-prisoner is not going to help him when he gets out.

There's an episode of Dad's Army where Wilson is promoted to the manager of another branch of the bank he and Mainwaring work for. It triggers a surprisingly tense exchange in which Mainwaring voices his class-based resentment - another sequence free of laughs but very compelling. One Foot In The Grave could do this sort of thing really well - when Victor wants to heal the rift with his brother but realises he's too late, and the casual revelation that the Meldrews had a young son who died, are brilliantly handled and so skillfully written they don't feel out of place in a sitcom at all.

Only Fools sadly went off the boil when they made the mistake of bringing it back after it came to a natural end, but that shouldn't be allowed to ruin a great legacy. The Longest Night and The Jolly Boys Outing remain two of the finest examples of British comedy ever. (Though I have to say, Del falling through the bar is a massively overrated moment in my opinion, but hey that's just me!).

Noni · May 25th 2018

External Content www.youtube.com

Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.