This was a stroke of genius. Getting a well respected Shakespearian actor to play a terrible Shakespearian actor. I cannot stop laughing every time I see this scenes
I always thought a funny twist to this episode would have been Headley getting a thunderous standing ovation and being mobbed with praise by 'Space Patrol' geeks, and Frasier being asked to arrange more performances.
That actually would have been sweet and could have been an interesting character development moment where Frasier and Niles realise it’s possible to appreciate Shakespeare and goofy science fiction
I was thinking of this too since Frasier and Niles themselves were captivated by Headley in the past and maybe the audience haven't seen good Shakespeare performances and wouldn't notice.
I would like that. The episode was perfect so it should have been the next episode they are dealing with the attention of the geeks and Jacobi who is with them for some reason. Maybe Frasier and Niles try to secure him some gig in the reboot of the 'Space Patrol' so he will stop acting.
This clip is a HOOT! I was lucky enough to see and meet Sir Derek when he was with the RSC in Much Ado About Nothing and Cyrano de Bergerac in NYC fall of 1984. I'd been a fan since his I, Claudius days. I was in HEAVEN!!!
Derek Jacobi is BRILLIANT!!! having seen him really play Hamlet only makes this even funnier. He is the best. this is also the best Frasier episode because of him.
I've been a fan of Sir Derek since I saw him in I, Claudius on PBS years ago. I saw him in 1984 in NYC as Benedick in the RSC production of Much Ado About Nothing, and the lead in Cyrano de Bergerac. I saw each show several times over several trips, and I got to meet him after the shows. He could recite his ABCs, and I'd buy a ticket! I love anything/everything he's in!!!
This is one of my “rainy day” Frasier episodes- no matter what type of long day I have had, I know I will start giggling myself to tears with this episode! And yes, as everyone has already said, the fact that this is the very Hamlet Legend himself makes it about a million times funnier❤😂🙏
When he was a younger man, Sir Jacobi played Hamlet in a BBC production. His final dialogue was beautifully acted. Comparing it against the Frasier version makes the overacting so much more hilarious. Only great actors can parody themselves from such sublimity into such ridiculousness.
@Alexander Hendry My ‘pedantry’ is more than counterbalanced with massive ignorance and stupidity in the UA-cam comments sections. The other side is definitely winning, so don’t worry about that.
I actually sat through this episode once with someone who claimed that they didn't find his performance bad. She even said she didn't understand why Fraser and Niles found him so terrible. I didn't even know where to begin, I was at a loss for words.
Jackobi was such wasted potential with The Master, I love John Simm, Michelle Gomez and Sacha Dhawan’s performances but there was something so uniquely chilling about how sadistic Jackobi’s Master was. Whilst the other Masters were motivated by insanity he was motivated by pure rage and he was honest to god scary because of it
@@mrcritical6751 so Jacobi has a huge line of stories in big finish about his version of the master dubbed "the war master" and it perfectly fits. He is utterly chilling and ruthless in his plans in the series. Oftentimes taking the doctors name to get his way. Mind you there is no doctor to stop him in this series
The real horror, for those of us who love Shakespeare, is that that hideous declamatory style of performing that Derek Jacobi parodies so beautifully in this episode was in fact the norm for nearly two centuries. This was due in large part to the fact that the two largest and most prestigious theaters in London -- Command Central for English-language classical acting -- were Drury Lane and Covent Garden. After they were both rebuilt in the 18th century, Drury Lane seated 3611 people, and Covent Garden 3000. (To put that in perspective: the largest Broadway theater for the past fifty years has been the Gershwin, with a capacity of 1933.) Subtleties of any kind, whether in voice or facial expression, would have been utterly lost in such caverns. This is why American actors like James O'Neill, William Forrest, Edwin Booth, and John Barrymore, who acted in far smaller venues, did so much to revolutionize Shakespearean production for the better, by making it more realistic, and thus more expressive. But the old ways, like King Charles II, were an unconscionable long time a-dying. The worst offender in the 20th century was Maurice Evans (today chiefly remembered for playing Samantha's father on "Bewitched"). Evans occasionally recited Shakespeare on "Bewitched"; and perhaps the best commentary on it was an episode where Samantha went upstairs to get her infant daughter. "Come along, dear. Your grandfather's said that, if you're good, he'll recite 'Macbeth' to you after dinner." (Long pause) "ALL of it." (Long pause) "You LUCKY girl."
Thank you for that most informative post. I so loved Jacobi's performance in Frasier - a great actor acting as a bad actor who thinks he is a great actor. It was sheer brilliance. One can see other actors on occasion struggling to keep a straight face at his brilliant performance as a bad actor.
@@jimduffy7199 Thank you for your kind comment. I had the GREAT pleasure of seeing Derek Jacobi play Cyrano some years ago (at the Gershwin!). Cyrano is a large-scale bravura part, that requires a large-spirited leading man, and by God, did it get one in Sir Derek! When I say "large-spirited", I most emphatically do NOT mean "ham"; I mean what used to be called "heroic acting": that miracle that occurs when a man or woman shows an audience just how titanic human beings at their greatest can be. (Years later I saw Helen Mirren play Racine's Phedre, to the same gut-punching effect.) The kind of overdone, exaggerated declamation that Jacobi did on "Frasier" reminds me of a review that the late Kenneth Tynan wrote of a similarly overwrought actor as King Lear: "Mr. X played the King as though fearful that, at any moment, someone was going to play the ace."
I would love to see this on stage. It’s a guarantee people won’t fall asleep watching his take on Shakespeare. Jacobi won a Primetime Emmy for his guest appearance on Fraser.
Jackson Hedley reminds me a bit of Alan Rickman's character in Galaxy Quest. A Shakespearean actor who after getting a role on a popular Sci Fi TV show was only well known for that from that point on.
This was always one of my favorite episodes. I grew up in a small town with a pretty lively community theater scene and I probably knew a dozen Jackson Hedley's growing up. Passionate actors who had absolutely no idea how awful they were. 😂
You can find the episode amidst the episodes on the Frasier DVDs for sale in the bookstore or for rent from a DVD rental service. More of this episode used to be here; it is no longer. A copyright lawyer's cease&desist letter to that poster & UA-cam would be one helluva good reason why that is true. I'm looking forward to renting this episode!! You're right: Sir Derek is a PHENOMENAL actor (he's a nice human being, too).
He's done PILES of comedy, though mostly onstage (what that man did with his ears and two chairs in _Much_Ado_About_Nothing_ was hysterical; pity the RSC never filmed that production). This is one of the best, though.
Many thanks for posting -and thanks to Bill Shakespeare! Without him Sir Derek (amongst other great actors) couldnt "do the Hamlet" in this really entertaining manor.
DavidRichardLord Do it! I saw his Hamlet 3 times in London and twice at Elsinore. Absolutely fantastic, but that was MANY years ago. He is performing at Donmar Warehouse now and it is killing me that I cannot go(I live in Denmark).
I was with my Mom as she died. That gasping is accurate, along with a horrible rictus. Thank goodness the Hospice nurses prepared us for it Hospice employees are angels.
Sir Derek isn't copying himself BUT sending up Larry and some hack Shakespearean interptations. Someone tell us which series and episode this is on. I want to rent Frasier JUST to see this hysterical episode. I was on the floor laughing. I love it!
By the way speaking of Alan Rickman (which I did in my last comment), he has the same birthday as Kelsey Grammer, February 21st. Alan was born in 1946 and Kelsey was born exactly 9 years later in 1955.
I have a friend who genuinely believes that this performance was so good it killed Jacobi's chance of being big in America. That he was so convincing as a bad actor that producers actually believed it and that's why he didn't end up getting big Hollywood roles later on the way his contemporaries like Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee did. I don't necessarily agree but I think it's an interesting theory. And it would be quite ironic that an episode riffing on the phenomenon of classically trained British actors becoming American Sci-fi icons would be the very thing that prevented Jacobi from going down that route.
I managed to find the episode on some obscure, seemingly chinese page. It took more than 1½ hour to download, and if I wanted to watch it again, I would have to start all over, - so I did´nt. The point is, that this scene is the absolute gem of the whole episode. Not that it wasn´t funny troughout, ... It was...., but many of the jokes seemed a little far fetched sometimes, - as if there had been spent a huge amount of willpower on designing scenes for a first and foremost classical actor.
Ohhhhhh, I die, Horatio! [gasp] The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit! [gasp] I cannot live to hear the news from England, But I do prophesy the election lights On Fortinbras; [gasp, lies down] he has my dying voice. The rest is... [exaggerated whisper] silence! [gasp]
This was a stroke of genius. Getting a well respected Shakespearian actor to play a terrible Shakespearian actor. I cannot stop laughing every time I see this scenes
😂😂😂😂😂😂
He won the Emmy Award for best male guest appearance in a comedy series.
Putting all the ham in Hamlet 😂😂😂😂😂 Jacoby was a master!
probably my all time favorite episode... Hysterical.
I agree, this and the Patrick Stewart episode are the funniest of a funny series ! Brilliant just brilliant
Best ever! Even though it was a brief, but important guest role, I also loved Patrick MacNee's turn as the father of Sir Derek's character.
I agree.
Oh you can tell Sir Derek Jacobi had such FUN doing this!
Utterly fucking priceless. An equally unforgettable performance was given by another Shakespearian, Patrick Stewart
Don’t you mean UUUGGHHtterly fucking priceless?
This shows Derek's fantastic ability as an Actor. To be able to act that he can't act even though he's acting. Totally amazing :D
This is the best worst acting I've ever seen.
Quite the "PairOfDucks," eh?😁
I love the look on Frasier and Niles's faces as they become more and more mortified with each over dramatic UUUUEEGGHH!!.
I always thought a funny twist to this episode would have been Headley getting a thunderous standing ovation and being mobbed with praise by 'Space Patrol' geeks, and Frasier being asked to arrange more performances.
That actually would have been sweet and could have been an interesting character development moment where Frasier and Niles realise it’s possible to appreciate Shakespeare and goofy science fiction
I was thinking of this too since Frasier and Niles themselves were captivated by Headley in the past and maybe the audience haven't seen good Shakespeare performances and wouldn't notice.
I would like that. The episode was perfect so it should have been the next episode they are dealing with the attention of the geeks and Jacobi who is with them for some reason. Maybe Frasier and Niles try to secure him some gig in the reboot of the 'Space Patrol' so he will stop acting.
This clip is a HOOT! I was lucky enough to see and meet Sir Derek when he was with the RSC in Much Ado About Nothing and Cyrano de Bergerac in NYC fall of 1984. I'd been a fan since his I, Claudius days. I was in HEAVEN!!!
I think Jacobi won an Emmy for that.
He sure did! And deserved it too.
Fabulous fabulous actor. I could watch Derek Jacobi forever.
One of the highlights of Frasier. And that's saying somthing!
Derek Jacobi is BRILLIANT!!! having seen him really play Hamlet only makes this even funnier. He is the best. this is also the best Frasier episode because of him.
As I always say, "You've got to be really good to act that bad",,,
Since Frasier was always talking about I, Claudius on Cheers, it's rather appropriate they got Derek Jacobi to do a guest appearance.
And his dad was the Crane boys's childhood hero John Steed!
Quite.
I've been a fan of Sir Derek since I saw him in I, Claudius on PBS years ago. I saw him in 1984 in NYC as Benedick in the RSC production of Much Ado About Nothing, and the lead in Cyrano de Bergerac. I saw each show several times over several trips, and I got to meet him after the shows. He could recite his ABCs, and I'd buy a ticket! I love anything/everything he's in!!!
This is one of my “rainy day” Frasier episodes- no matter what type of long day I have had, I know I will start giggling myself to tears with this episode! And yes, as everyone has already said, the fact that this is the very Hamlet Legend himself makes it about a million times funnier❤😂🙏
When he was a younger man, Sir Jacobi played Hamlet in a BBC production. His final dialogue was beautifully acted. Comparing it against the Frasier version makes the overacting so much more hilarious. Only great actors can parody themselves from such sublimity into such ridiculousness.
‘Sir Derek’, not ‘Jacobi’. A knighthood always uses the first name, not the surname.
@Alexander Hendry What I’ve said is true. You don’t have to take any notice of my comment.
@Alexander Hendry My ‘pedantry’ is more than counterbalanced with massive ignorance and stupidity in the UA-cam comments sections. The other side is definitely winning, so don’t worry about that.
@Alexander Hendry You felt the need to correct me, so maybe you’re not so high and mighty after all.
@Alexander Hendry No, I don’t.
Adore this actor. Hhe excels himself in every performance.
I love his voice ♥
I actually sat through this episode once with someone who claimed that they didn't find his performance bad. She even said she didn't understand why Fraser and Niles found him so terrible. I didn't even know where to begin, I was at a loss for words.
🤣🤣
"THE REST IS....... silence.....HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRGG"
At the end of the death scene, he regenerates into John Simm.
Strangely since playing the Master in Dr Who, Jacobi now enjoys himself doing fanboy sci fi conventions.
If only he'd done this scene while regenerating.
Hmhmhm... Makes me think of Alan Rickman's line in "Galaxy Quest": - I played Richard the third.
Jackobi was such wasted potential with The Master, I love John Simm, Michelle Gomez and Sacha Dhawan’s performances but there was something so uniquely chilling about how sadistic Jackobi’s Master was. Whilst the other Masters were motivated by insanity he was motivated by pure rage and he was honest to god scary because of it
@@mrcritical6751 so Jacobi has a huge line of stories in big finish about his version of the master dubbed "the war master" and it perfectly fits. He is utterly chilling and ruthless in his plans in the series. Oftentimes taking the doctors name to get his way. Mind you there is no doctor to stop him in this series
The real horror, for those of us who love Shakespeare, is that that hideous declamatory style of performing that Derek Jacobi parodies so beautifully in this episode was in fact the norm for nearly two centuries. This was due in large part to the fact that the two largest and most prestigious theaters in London -- Command Central for English-language classical acting -- were Drury Lane and Covent Garden. After they were both rebuilt in the 18th century, Drury Lane seated 3611 people, and Covent Garden 3000. (To put that in perspective: the largest Broadway theater for the past fifty years has been the Gershwin, with a capacity of 1933.) Subtleties of any kind, whether in voice or facial expression, would have been utterly lost in such caverns. This is why American actors like James O'Neill, William Forrest, Edwin Booth, and John Barrymore, who acted in far smaller venues, did so much to revolutionize Shakespearean production for the better, by making it more realistic, and thus more expressive. But the old ways, like King Charles II, were an unconscionable long time a-dying. The worst offender in the 20th century was Maurice Evans (today chiefly remembered for playing Samantha's father on "Bewitched"). Evans occasionally recited Shakespeare on "Bewitched"; and perhaps the best commentary on it was an episode where Samantha went upstairs to get her infant daughter. "Come along, dear. Your grandfather's said that, if you're good, he'll recite 'Macbeth' to you after dinner." (Long pause) "ALL of it." (Long pause) "You LUCKY girl."
Thank you for that most informative post.
I so loved Jacobi's performance in Frasier - a great actor acting as a bad actor who thinks he is a great actor. It was sheer brilliance. One can see other actors on occasion struggling to keep a straight face at his brilliant performance as a bad actor.
@@jimduffy7199 Thank you for your kind comment. I had the GREAT pleasure of seeing Derek Jacobi play Cyrano some years ago (at the Gershwin!). Cyrano is a large-scale bravura part, that requires a large-spirited leading man, and by God, did it get one in Sir Derek! When I say "large-spirited", I most emphatically do NOT mean "ham"; I mean what used to be called "heroic acting": that miracle that occurs when a man or woman shows an audience just how titanic human beings at their greatest can be. (Years later I saw Helen Mirren play Racine's Phedre, to the same gut-punching effect.) The kind of overdone, exaggerated declamation that Jacobi did on "Frasier" reminds me of a review that the late Kenneth Tynan wrote of a similarly overwrought actor as King Lear: "Mr. X played the King as though fearful that, at any moment, someone was going to play the ace."
Derek's is a new comedy on BBC with Ian McKellan called "Vicious". Hysterical!
goombajoe715 Yes. That cast great.
With Sir Ian Mckellen but sadly it has ended...
A true testament to just how wide a range Sir Derek has. Oh, how I want to see him perform live.
Was laughing so hard throughout this whole episode. Derek Jacobi was amazing, he is hilarious.
I would love to see this on stage. It’s a guarantee people won’t fall asleep watching his take on Shakespeare. Jacobi won a Primetime Emmy for his guest appearance on Fraser.
Probably my favourite ever Frasier episode. Derek Jacobi was outstanding in it
i die horatio. EUUUUUUUUUUH
Daniel Jackson insert Tim Allen's *AEUH* here.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
😂😂😂, now that’s overacted!
I remember watching this as a kid and thinking it was hilarious. Now as an adult, I still find this hilarious! The deep gasping sells it for me.
I'll love this clip till the day I die. UUUUUGHH!
Jackson Hedley reminds me a bit of Alan Rickman's character in Galaxy Quest. A Shakespearean actor who after getting a role on a popular Sci Fi TV show was only well known for that from that point on.
Or the career of Alec Guinness, a highly-respected Shakespearean actor who is now best known for appearing in Star Wars.
Don't forget Patrick Stewart!
@@shuboy05 Sir Patrick Fucking Stewart, that is! :-D
Yeah except as for as we know Alexander could act
This is the best. It couldn't be funnier. A highlight of Frasier and Sir Derek.
One of the funniest bits of all time!!! Sir Derek is the BEST!
He played Hamlet actually 400 times. Legend.
AAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGH!!!!!
No substitute for sheer class.
He's fantastic! Anyone seen him in the Hunchback Of Notre Dame 1982? x
This one always cracks me up in laughter 😂
This was always one of my favorite episodes.
I grew up in a small town with a pretty lively community theater scene and I probably knew a dozen Jackson Hedley's growing up. Passionate actors who had absolutely no idea how awful they were. 😂
Classic episode, one of my all time favourites.
Truly fantastic. No words to try to describe it!
Oh good grief this is HILARIOUS! I just want to say, "There might be a reason you left the stage, man." :)
I think this was the most hilarious episode which is really saying something because there were so many great episodes.
I think the episode is called "The show must go off" :)
That stammer at 1:05 - pure Claudius!
Saw a I Claudius marathon at the National Film Theatre. Brilliant on the big screen.
You can find the episode amidst the episodes on the Frasier DVDs for sale in the bookstore or for rent from a DVD rental service.
More of this episode used to be here; it is no longer. A copyright lawyer's cease&desist letter to that poster & UA-cam would be one helluva good reason why that is true.
I'm looking forward to renting this episode!! You're right: Sir Derek is a PHENOMENAL actor (he's a nice human being, too).
Saw D J as Hamlet in Elsinore Castle, he is just great 🇩🇰
HEEEUUUUUUURGH!
“I die Horatio. GASP!!!”
That gasping sound 🤣
This had me in stitches
He's done PILES of comedy, though mostly onstage (what that man did with his ears and two chairs in _Much_Ado_About_Nothing_ was hysterical; pity the RSC never filmed that production). This is one of the best, though.
I get cramps from laughing so hard at this part lol
Many thanks for posting -and thanks to Bill Shakespeare! Without him Sir Derek (amongst other great actors) couldnt "do the Hamlet" in this really entertaining manor.
Putting the 'Ham' in Hamlet.
hahahahaha!!!!He should do more comedy, this is brilliant! Go Sir Derek! Thanks for posting!
" YES! My name is Iggle Piggle!..No one is allowed in Upsy Daisy's bed.."
only someone so good could be so bad on purpose while being good enough to make you laugh
DavidRichardLord
Do it! I saw his Hamlet 3 times in London and twice at Elsinore. Absolutely fantastic, but that was MANY years ago.
He is performing at Donmar Warehouse now and it is killing me that I cannot go(I live in Denmark).
Its Hamlet! haha awesome
This is hilarious; thanks for uploading.
A bit like Mrs Hyacinth Bucket singing false when in fact she had a great voice 😂❤
He is such an amazing actor!
(though I keep seeing Cadfael :P)
@DavidRichardLord Finally did see him live last weekend, as King Lear no less. Utterly brilliant!
Actually he's great because that must have been the actual Middle Age Drama, i imagine people were just like that back then xD
Thank you, dbf. I will be looking for it.
There is his beloved Olivier for you! lol
Ooooohhhh! I die Horatio........
This will be my epitaph.
"One alligator, one chicken."
"One satisfied audience."
@Paterson212 don't you mean, I saw derek jacobi in a fish shop once, he was incredible, truly a master of the stage
I feel like this episode could be a mock of William Shatner lol
He'll always be Claudius to me.
I was with my Mom as she died. That gasping is accurate, along with a horrible rictus. Thank goodness the Hospice nurses prepared us for it Hospice employees are angels.
@ShatteredxSpiritx i did. in fact it was my craziness about Frollo and HOND that helped me discover Sir DJ.
Sir Derek isn't copying himself BUT sending up Larry and some hack Shakespearean interptations. Someone tell us which series and episode this is on. I want to rent Frasier JUST to see this hysterical episode. I was on the floor laughing. I love it!
By the way speaking of Alan Rickman (which I did in my last comment), he has the same birthday as Kelsey Grammer, February 21st. Alan was born in 1946 and Kelsey was born exactly 9 years later in 1955.
Kyle Oxenham my birthday is February 21st too
I wonder how many takes they had to do to get through this scene.
Hilarious!
I have a friend who genuinely believes that this performance was so good it killed Jacobi's chance of being big in America. That he was so convincing as a bad actor that producers actually believed it and that's why he didn't end up getting big Hollywood roles later on the way his contemporaries like Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee did.
I don't necessarily agree but I think it's an interesting theory. And it would be quite ironic that an episode riffing on the phenomenon of classically trained British actors becoming American Sci-fi icons would be the very thing that prevented Jacobi from going down that route.
Aaaaahahaha ow my rips!
This is hysterical! Of course, it takes a remarkable actor to pretend to act THAT bad!
Man . . . you can make a good actor act bad, but you can’t make a bad actor act good.
Well judging by how many people love him in the sci-fi show he’s in I’m guessing he acts well when he’s an emotionless robot
Who likes Kenneth Branagh? Yeah! Who likes Ian McKellen? Yeah! Who likes Jackson Headley? Boo!
Uuuuuuuggggghhhhh
''EEEEEGHHHHHHH!!!'' 🤣🤣🤣
I managed to find the episode on some obscure, seemingly chinese page.
It took more than 1½ hour to download, and if I wanted to watch it again, I would have to start all over, - so I did´nt.
The point is, that this scene is the absolute gem of the whole episode. Not that it wasn´t funny troughout, ... It was...., but many of the jokes seemed a little far fetched sometimes, - as if there had been spent a huge amount of willpower on designing scenes for a first and foremost classical actor.
Don't tease :) what did he do? I am so jealous that you saw Derek Jacobi inn Much Ado... I'm sure he was brilliant.
Shatner, anyone?
UUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
Isn´t it called "The british are coming"? I am looking for it too. We could form a club:-D
i DiE hOrAtIo
The worst part is, he missed a bit.
They always screw up Frasier and Niles lol
Ohhhhhh, I die, Horatio! [gasp]
The potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit! [gasp]
I cannot live to hear the news from England,
But I do prophesy the election lights
On Fortinbras; [gasp, lies down] he has my dying voice.
The rest is... [exaggerated whisper] silence! [gasp]
To be honest, I would both watch and unironically enjoy a play with that level of hammy overacting. XD
He is far too old to play Hamlet.
It's supposed to be a veteran actor giving a masterclass, "supposed to be" being the operative phrase haha