Benny Hill Show Discussion

[mashedpotato]

Sorry for being a bit lazy and not checking everything, but does anyone know if there's been any dance routines with 'office girls' as the theme on the Benny Hill show? I'm thinking typewriter action, classic sexy secretary look, glasses, long nails, stockings and high heels...that sort of vibe.

[Paul_25]

Originally Posted by countjimmoriarty

Compilations - extracts from 70's/80's shows put together originally for the international market. Odd one viewed shows that the only reason to watch was the women - he wasn't remotely funny. Later ones also show, when he'd been told to tone down the content, cynical use of 'cute' children to try and hold on to an audience.

I'm old enough to remember his BBC shows from the 1960's where I recall there was very little of the 'dolly bird' humour that became such a large feature of his later shows.

I think he was a supremely talented comedian and that the main factor for the demise in his career was not sexism (or a very example of cancel culture) but that that his shows simply became less funny as he and his cohorts grew older while the girls in the show were increasingly less than half his age making for uncomfortable viewing (audience figures were falling for what had of course been a hugely successful show)

[slaphead12]

Humour is subjective.


One of those show that I saw as a child / teenager and I couldn't see a single funny thing in it. Some of contemporaries thought it was hilarious.


Thats strange when you think about it. Similar upbringings, social situation, but completely different views about whats funny.

[Angel888]

Having re watched all the Thames shows found them great fun, some very clever word play and very relaxing. I laughed very loudly.

[luigi729]

Originally Posted by slaphead12

Humour is subjective.

One of those show that I saw as a child / teenager and I couldn't see a single funny thing in it. Some of contemporaries thought it was hilarious.

Thats strange when you think about it. Similar upbringings, social situation, but completely different views about whats funny.

Some shows that seemed funny to me as a child aren't funny anymore, and a lot of shows today that are popular are, like my father used to say, as funny as a crutch.

I wasn't yet a teenager when local TV started showing Benny Hill reruns (and at the time old reruns), fairly late, I think 10 or 11. I tuned in having thought I heard he was really funny, but I'd confused him with Jack Benny, one of my father's favorite comedians. After a couple of episodes I thought, "Eh, there's nothing funny about it." However, the Angels did a routine that kept me watching for more, and I don't remember which it was, so it wasn't even one of their sexiest. Fred Scuttle was the most annoying character to me, only because when he appeared, I wanted him and the straight man to shut up, so the Angels could have time to dance in bikinis or something.

Rewatching it as an adult, I find some skits are incomparable with the puns and parodies, some are so-so, but there's a lot more humor than I realized when a kid. The one where he plays all the famous TV detectives is terrific, now that I understand all the 70s shows he sent up.

"Why, I remember one time in New York we had a feller who robbed a bank, didn't leave no fingerprints, no nothin'. He got clean away with over half a million dollars in used notes. On the way to the getaway car, he got mugged!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R33Ug51FsnU

[luigi729]

Couple of articles about dear Benny:

https://reprobatepress.com/2021/11/2...nny-hill-show/

https://reprobatepress.com/2021/02/0...ms-down-under/

[The Roadwarrior]

BENNY HILL, as it aired in the United States, was clearly burlesque mixed with slapstick comedy, and also occasionally using both comedic and legit musical performances. Which was the sort of smash-hit entertainment that worked well on both sides of the Atlantic before, during, and in the two decades following WW2.

But by the end of the 1970s, this variety combo act wasn't selling to anyone under 40, save for the scantily clad women who drew in droves of late night teenaged male viewers who could not have cared less for the slapstick and gag comedy, but were quite interested in seeing beautiful dancers in skimpy outfits.

But even that couldn't keep the form hanging in.

So, Hill was not bad for his era. His era merely passed. And a great many entertainers were sad to see Hill's ship sail. I seem to remember Dudley Moore lamenting that Hill's time had come, and sadly, gone.

[mashedpotato]

I've been enjoying a fantastic post over at the Benny Hill Babes thread featuring the Hill's Angels' 'New York New York' routine...and in particular the 'Way Down' part of it. I also notice new things about these routines every time I see them...and am drawn to a delightful Sharon Haywoode/ Nola Haynes combination. I see Sharon features further in the piece, but Nola disappears...maybe she had to go home for her dinner or something?!

Anyway, I see Nola is looking delicious in a classic dangling babydoll nightie. I'm thinking that such items seem rare on Benny Hill. Does anyone know of any other babydoll nighties scenes?

[MasterRible]

The 70's show was dubbed in Argentina to Latinamerica, it was great. I believe that later, was in Mexico but it was not even closer. You notice the difference.

[luigi729]

It looks like Antenna TV (U.S.) has started to show Benny Hill episodes on Saturday nights!

They've been vertically cropped to fit 16:9, though, and the sauciest portions will probably be edited.

There was just two hours instead of what the TV listings said would be four. Not bad, but none of the Hill's Angels routines that initially got me watching it in secret when I was a kid.