I worked with John Lloyd while he was producing and writing for NTNON. He told me about his idea for the "extra mozzarella" sketch but he was worried that it might get the show taken off the air, meaning the only time he could ever transmit it would be the final sketch on the last ever episode. That is indeed when it was broadcast.
Such a shame NTNON isn't as widely revered as Blackadder, Young Ones or Python. I know it wasn't groundbreaking, which is an important ingredient for "classic" status, but not only was it properly laugh out loud funny it was by turns witty, clever, satirical and always brilliantly performed. It also had a very low "dud sketch" rate - unlike Python.
I don't think Blackadder was groundbreaking; it was just a typical studio based sitcom. The reason Blackadder is revered is because it had the greatest amount of talent ever assembled on one show and was just brilliantly written and acted.
phoebephoebo .sydney Wasn't it groundbreaking, though? I'm not an expert on British comedy by any stretch, but wasn't at least the opening montage, with the news bits juxtaposed to each other, something of a novelty? And the songs? I should probably check out Young Ones. I consider A Bit of Fry & Laurie to be superior to Monty Python, especially, as you mentioned, in terms of "dud sketch rate". ABOFAL was much more focused, whereas many MP sketches dissolved into pure anarchy, as though every cast member wanted to feature in every sketch and nobody could be bothered to come up with a punchline. Plus ABOFAL had Fry's amazing wordsmithing abilities, Laurie's musical talents and both could do physical comedy as well. And they had great timing. All of this with only 2 cast members! But NTNON remains my favorite sketch show, it's just so wild and creative. Blackadder is more of a sitcom, possibly the best ever in terms of great lines per unit of time. Another excellent one is, I think, Yes, Minister.
It seems MP frequently had some trouble with how to end sketches (something that is a common problem with sketch shows). So they usually resorted to a very stream of consciousness style flow. Sometimes this worked out brilliantly, other times as you say it devolved into anarchy. From what I've seen of NTNON, they were pretty good at keeping things punchy and knowing when to make a sketch short but sweet.
Part of the problem that's often cited with Not failing to reach the heights of B/A, Y/O, or MPFC is the fact that it wasn't syndicated very much around the world, and by the time it did, it had been squeezed from 20-someodd episodes down to just 8, trimming down much material. Much of the reasoning behind not (or rarely, anyway) rebroadcasting full uncut episodes is the fact that much of the humour on Not was extremely topical and contemporary, thus the context being lost on viewers who weren't there at the time of the original broadcast. On the other hand, if you've got wikipedia close by, it serves as a good reference. A great example of this is from the very first series in 1979, and is almost never seen anywhere (although it's on the first album, along with the unedited version of The Gorilla Interview) is a news headline: "Mark Phillips says he changing the names of all his horses to Blair Peach so that he can kick them without being arrested." Mark Phillips, then-husband of Princess Anne, was an equestrian (as was she) and was often accused of mistreating his horses. Blair Peach was an Anti-Nazi League protester and school teacher from New Zealand who was beaten, or kicked, to death during a riot, reputedly by London Police. It's still hilarious, though, if you have a good knowledge for the politics and current events at the very beginning of the Thatcher era. And of course, some of it is just universal humour, such as the one-legged robbers stealing shoes.. =D
Monty Python especially wanted not to have 'punchlines' to their sketches, an idea they took from Spike Milligan (although his sketches weren't funny in the first place), that's why many of their sketches just end abruptly, it was quite deliberte. Some of the sketches in this compilation end abruptly because it has badly edited and put together.
Some fantastic stuff in here. That hand dryer one never fails to make me laugh. On the subject of the Ball/Aerosol gag, there was another "great old chestnuts of the world". It had one of the guys as a pub landlord, who shouts out "TIME GENTLEMAN PLEASE!", prompting the entire pub to look at their watches and shout back the time. Remember watching that one back in the day and being in hysterics laughing at it.
There's a lot of great US humour as well (probably a lof of other countries do comedy very well, we just never see it). The UK has a great tradition, but I don't necessarily think it's better than stuff like Curb Your Enthusiasm, just different.
Forgotten how funny this was ! Wonderful to see comedy greats at the start of their careers ! Hilarious , especially when you can’t remember the punchline to the sketches !
End of broadcasting. (I remember that delightfull phenomenon very well...) Btw.: It were 201 months since conception (16x12+9)! I know, it is time for me to crawl back under the carpet...
Where can I find the short little sketch where Mel Smith walks into a shop of some sort and asks the guy behind the counter (Rowan) "Two twelves please?" and Rowan says "24". I've been searching for it forever can anyone help?
3:22 ! A gag reused by Bob and Vic in the weekenders, when they are sitting in the Farting Dashboard pub looking at the paper before deciding to visit the meat festival...
What I like is when people transcribe at length entire sketches that either: 1) The viewer has not seen yet 2) Have already been performed in the video by talented comedians.
Smith:Good afternoon. Atkinson:Can I help you sir? Smith: Yes . Id like some deoderant please. Atkinson: Ball or arosole(arsehole) Smith:Neither , I wan't it for me armpits. LOL
If we’ve just watched a sketch from the video why do some people feel the need to write the whole thing out again, with an inevitable “lol” at the end?
I haven't watched NtNON since the early 1980s, yet I still remembered most of these. Which shows just how good they are. Timeless humour. Aside: the abortion joke was wrong. Mrs Jones was asked when conception was. If he was 16 at his last birthday, conception was at least 201 months prior. A basic math error like that spoilt the joke for me.
The joke is already obvious and funny even before she calculates and tells the months. It's still in the ballpark (minus the pregnancy). That she actually delivers a number (quite irrelevant what specific number to me since it only has to be in the ballpark) in months makes it more funny (since an abortion decision deals with months or weeks mostly).
The one leeged men hopping sketch would not be allowed today, on the ground of decriminalisation. There are others for different reasons. Yes society today is a much more caring than that of the past.
I worked with John Lloyd while he was producing and writing for NTNON. He told me about his idea for the "extra mozzarella" sketch but he was worried that it might get the show taken off the air, meaning the only time he could ever transmit it would be the final sketch on the last ever episode. That is indeed when it was broadcast.
Funny you should say that, I have just stopped watching the rest of the video because it made me gag.and I I want to be sick.trying hard not to be.
When I saw it, I threw myself off a bridge and was run over by an express train. I certainly won't be watching that sketch again.
I hate mozzarella, so since seeing the sketch I haven't been able to enjoy the taste of nasal slime like I used to.
The ball or aaareshole deodorant one always makes me laugh, since it first came out
Such a shame NTNON isn't as widely revered as Blackadder, Young Ones or Python. I know it wasn't groundbreaking, which is an important ingredient for "classic" status, but not only was it properly laugh out loud funny it was by turns witty, clever, satirical and always brilliantly performed. It also had a very low "dud sketch" rate - unlike Python.
I don't think Blackadder was groundbreaking; it was just a typical studio based sitcom. The reason Blackadder is revered is because it had the greatest amount of talent ever assembled on one show and was just brilliantly written and acted.
phoebephoebo .sydney Wasn't it groundbreaking, though? I'm not an expert on British comedy by any stretch, but wasn't at least the opening montage, with the news bits juxtaposed to each other, something of a novelty? And the songs?
I should probably check out Young Ones.
I consider A Bit of Fry & Laurie to be superior to Monty Python, especially, as you mentioned, in terms of "dud sketch rate". ABOFAL was much more focused, whereas many MP sketches dissolved into pure anarchy, as though every cast member wanted to feature in every sketch and nobody could be bothered to come up with a punchline. Plus ABOFAL had Fry's amazing wordsmithing abilities, Laurie's musical talents and both could do physical comedy as well. And they had great timing. All of this with only 2 cast members!
But NTNON remains my favorite sketch show, it's just so wild and creative.
Blackadder is more of a sitcom, possibly the best ever in terms of great lines per unit of time. Another excellent one is, I think, Yes, Minister.
It seems MP frequently had some trouble with how to end sketches (something that is a common problem with sketch shows). So they usually resorted to a very stream of consciousness style flow. Sometimes this worked out brilliantly, other times as you say it devolved into anarchy. From what I've seen of NTNON, they were pretty good at keeping things punchy and knowing when to make a sketch short but sweet.
Part of the problem that's often cited with Not failing to reach the heights of B/A, Y/O, or MPFC is the fact that it wasn't syndicated very much around the world, and by the time it did, it had been squeezed from 20-someodd episodes down to just 8, trimming down much material. Much of the reasoning behind not (or rarely, anyway) rebroadcasting full uncut episodes is the fact that much of the humour on Not was extremely topical and contemporary, thus the context being lost on viewers who weren't there at the time of the original broadcast. On the other hand, if you've got wikipedia close by, it serves as a good reference.
A great example of this is from the very first series in 1979, and is almost never seen anywhere (although it's on the first album, along with the unedited version of The Gorilla Interview) is a news headline:
"Mark Phillips says he changing the names of all his horses to Blair Peach so that he can kick them without being arrested."
Mark Phillips, then-husband of Princess Anne, was an equestrian (as was she) and was often accused of mistreating his horses. Blair Peach was an Anti-Nazi League protester and school teacher from New Zealand who was beaten, or kicked, to death during a riot, reputedly by London Police.
It's still hilarious, though, if you have a good knowledge for the politics and current events at the very beginning of the Thatcher era. And of course, some of it is just universal humour, such as the one-legged robbers stealing shoes.. =D
Monty Python especially wanted not to have 'punchlines' to their sketches, an idea they took from Spike Milligan (although his sketches weren't funny in the first place), that's why many of their sketches just end abruptly, it was quite deliberte. Some of the sketches in this compilation end abruptly because it has badly edited and put together.
Some fantastic stuff in here. That hand dryer one never fails to make me laugh. On the subject of the Ball/Aerosol gag, there was another "great old chestnuts of the world". It had one of the guys as a pub landlord, who shouts out "TIME GENTLEMAN PLEASE!", prompting the entire pub to look at their watches and shout back the time. Remember watching that one back in the day and being in hysterics laughing at it.
Yes, I remember that one as well.
The British will NEVER be outdone when it comes to humour!!
Or racism
@@cappaculla, would not
this be more like *nationalism?*
@@Codzilla71...yup, I mistook cappa's
comment, thinking they were calling KC racist for loving Brit humour; oop.
There's a lot of great US humour as well (probably a lof of other countries do comedy very well, we just never see it). The UK has a great tradition, but I don't necessarily think it's better than stuff like Curb Your Enthusiasm, just different.
Yes we are so horrifically racist and bigoted, that so many people from other countries want to live here and be apart of this terrible place.
So sooo good. I grew up watching this comedy in my early teens. Brilliant.
My mum used to let me stay up and watch this anarchic show when i was a kid. Happy days
My parents too. I was eleven when the first series aired.
Hell I love English comedy so much.
Forgotten how funny this was ! Wonderful to see comedy greats at the start of their careers ! Hilarious , especially when you can’t remember the punchline to the sketches !
Remember when tv finished for the day?.....much better time. Now that mind-numbing shite is everywhere.
I long for the old days...
The deodorant joke is one of the funniest things I have ever heard, LMAO!
With the world in such chaos we need these sort of people
The Roberts one is especially good as my Dad worked for BL, and he's a Bob.
All those who worked for BL were Bob
End of broadcasting.
(I remember that delightfull phenomenon very well...)
Btw.: It were 201 months since conception (16x12+9)! I know, it is time for me to crawl back under the carpet...
I like that joke when they take the Plowman's Platter
The pinball machine building at 5:40 almost caused me to pass out laughing!!!
Bo incontinent-ridden farmers. Organics at it's best!
Loved that late 70's/early 80's era depicted in these sketches
Sketch comedy at it's best. Always loved Mel !
Excellent show!
So ahead of their time !
2:16 The elephant man was fucking hilarious
2:53 I would've thought the house had six basements not five heh
Where can I find the short little sketch where Mel Smith walks into a shop of some sort and asks the guy behind the counter (Rowan) "Two twelves please?" and Rowan says "24".
I've been searching for it forever can anyone help?
I think it's a post office. A stamp back then was 12p, about 5 times what it had been in 1970, about 1/10 of what it would be today.
The ploughmans lunch joke - so predictable, but so funny!
Yes, Bob?!!
Loved this show
I really like: "Is she sixteen"? It reminds me of some of my friends
Comedic genius!!!!
Roughage K 😂😂😂😂 8:04
'BO ridden incontinent farmers'....😄😄😄
The look on Griff's face at 2:52 LOL
3:22 ! A gag reused by Bob and Vic in the weekenders, when they are sitting in the Farting Dashboard pub looking at the paper before deciding to visit the meat festival...
Is this video good for stress therapy?
The SDP skit (09:30) is particularly apposite; it could just as easily apply to the Liberal Democrats today.
... And then there's a Swede saying arseholes!
5:56 It's me or this is the very beginning of Madness House of fun video?
What I like is when people transcribe at length entire sketches that either:
1) The viewer has not seen yet
2) Have already been performed in the video by talented comedians.
The last bit is my favorite
Extra mozzarella!!! 😂
the elephant man one is funny haha
Oh blimey, I do miss NTNON. Where can we find that level of irreverent, clever wit and satire today? O tempore, o mores!
Watch tv series "Lucifer" or series "Good Omens".
What the hell was that green stuff she tried to drink? Apart from enough to turn someone radioactive?
Wow, shops open in high streets, pubs, telephone boxes now all gone, who'd believe it?
What do you mean? They're still here in South Wales
@@jacobscrackers98 Not where I live - almost everything gone
No Cigarettes machines!
👏👏👏👏👏😄😄😄😄😄😄😄
Shame some of the sketches are cut off too quickly and abruptly; I'm sure the one about the abortion of a 16 year kid went on much longer?
5:47 was gúd :)
Classic comedy
Smith:Good afternoon.
Atkinson:Can I help you sir?
Smith: Yes . Id like some deoderant please.
Atkinson: Ball or arosole(arsehole)
Smith:Neither , I wan't it for me armpits.
LOL
Hey Bob..
haiii
damn you asked question on exam solutions long while back
Any holiday episodes Christmas/Boxing Day❓️
If we’ve just watched a sketch from the video why do some people feel the need to write the whole thing out again, with an inevitable “lol” at the end?
Bob!
1:55: Sticky Fingers!
Whats the song/tune name at 11:07 ?
"Supa Dupa"
ua-cam.com/video/WCLx0Cw_h7Q/v-deo.html
I want it for my arm pit
3:36
5:47
6:16
9:54
11:13
mr bean
Oi, Have you got any VHS/Betamax/V2000 tapes of Ch4TV's Who Dares Wins.? If so, bung it on youtube, Matey-boy-peeps.!!! ta-ra.!
10:35: Mark Steele there.
That's not him
Any reason you know? It pretty much looks like him.
I'm assuming you mean Mark Steel the standup comic, if so I have seen him many times and can be 100% sure it's not him
frflinstone OK, I'll take your word for it.
I haven't watched NtNON since the early 1980s, yet I still remembered most of these. Which shows just how good they are. Timeless humour.
Aside: the abortion joke was wrong. Mrs Jones was asked when conception was. If he was 16 at his last birthday, conception was at least 201 months prior. A basic math error like that spoilt the joke for me.
The joke is already obvious and funny even before she calculates and tells the months.
It's still in the ballpark (minus the pregnancy). That she actually delivers a number (quite irrelevant what specific number to me since it only has to be in the ballpark) in months makes it more funny (since an abortion decision deals with months or weeks mostly).
@@Magnus_Loov my comment was facetious; I was being a pedantic ass.
Designed by lasers? Hah hah in those days it did not occur to them to ay designed by computers
Actually the Fiat Strada adverts (which this mocks) said designed with computers, silenced by lasers, built by robots.
2:15 so dumb but so funny
Mr. Bean WOW. ROWAN ATKINSON
I'm disappointed, where's the "Come home to a real fire", and "Do you want your kids to glow in the dark" sketches? 😀
Best 6.52
6:09 God Blind Me!!!!
The one leeged men hopping sketch would not be allowed today, on the ground of decriminalisation. There are others for different reasons. Yes society today is a much more caring than that of the past.
What a load of nonsense.
@@seymourskinner2533 I couldn't I agree more.
Best6:52
Must watch 6:52