@@ToonStory-fh4gn Yes, and through the back end to be precise. 😅 Fry said in a documentary about the show that he always let Melchett do an "ugh" when he sat down, implying that he has hemorrhoids.
The way they play with the background of historical truth while being funny - which is the hardest thing in a comedy - shows the talent of the writing!
YES! NBot only a great series, but hearing a French perspective is quite interesting. The writing is brilliant. As you pointed out, even small throw-away lines a deeply relevant. Yes, that was Hugh Laurie (House), I always love when people discover his older British comedy origins. An old saying sums up your closing remarks, "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence."
"Aren't we dealing with an idiot by any chance" it's often an underestimated key to explaining things that make no sense at all. And it works in many contexts! Thank you, the fact that it's still so funny after 40 years shows that we're dealing with great comedy.
This entire video is even more funny and ironic when you realise the raid on st nazaire was planned with the same reasoning of "it's impossible so the germans wont expect us to do it" and actually worked.
"officers in castles" once again proves the more things change the more they stay the same! This was fun and a real eye opener, trench warfare is something I couldn't even imagine and hopefully no one ever has to experience ever again. Thank you as always for the video and thoughtful commentary
That's what comedy is for: to get certain messages across in a very corrosive way, and they do it very well in these extracts! Thanks for your comment!
To be fair, WW1 did have a lot of new tactics and warfare evolved immensely overtime. If you compare the frontal charges and cavalry attacks in 1914 to the stormtroopers, tanks and aircraft of 1918, the war looks completely different
Military developments were phenomenal during the First World War, much more so in my opinion than during the Second. I recently heard a military expert say that the infantryman of 1918 is closer to the infantryman of today than to the infantryman of 1914...
Yeah, that's young Hugh Laurie, later House. Who also had a very successful comedy show with Stephen Fry who plays the General. ( A Bit of Fry and Laurie ). Many americans are surprised when hey learn that he's a brtish actor.
@@ToonStory-fh4gn I grew up with him as a staple in the new comedy (which is now 40 years old) on British television. I was more surprised to see him doing serious stuff.
@@johncrwarner Yes, compared to his last role in the series "all the lights we can't see", his evolution is radical. But mastering a comic role is probably one of the most difficult exercises for a comedian, so his talent allows him to do a lot of things?
The Somme Offensive might well have worked if it had been launched later, as originally intended, so that proper training/experience/integration could be carried out with the vast numbers of fresh troops and if the artillery barrage had gone on for longer (as it was, a fair number of German soldiers were starved and emaciated). Sadly, it ended up rushed as it was considered imperative to relieve the pressure on Verdun and force Germany to redirect forces to a new front.
And I also think it still might have been a great success with a better coordination between the Brits and the French. But that's easy to say more than 1 century after that... Thank you!
Yea,good call haha.I also remember this growing up.But it's way more interesting now with some actual knowledge about specific WW1 battles.And that's all thanks to you and the other great war historians out there ❤.
Thank you! Watching a few extracts makes me realise just how intelligent this series was, and I want to watch it all again from my adult perspective (if I can call myself an adult haha).
Yes, please continue with this series. Whilst it is funny in many parts, it’s also a tragic truth in others. The death toll at the Somme was beyond belief but sometimes comedy really makes it all the more poignant. Thank you for your input 👍
Thank you, I'm going to continue with this wonderful series, and I agree that it's the little truth that makes the magic. I'm curious to see how the writing evolves between the different seasons.
6:59 To be fair, the disaster that eventually became the Eastern Front leaves the stories of excellence untold; such as the Brusilov Offensive. Same deal happens with the French too of course, Ferdinand Foch and Charles Magin being criminally underrated in history in my opinion. The Fat Electrician put it best recently for his UA-cam video on Hobbart's Funnies. "Everywhere they were went so smoothly, that everywhere they weren't was such a [horror] show, it stole all the spotlight."
As far as the Eastern Front is concerned, even during the Second World War it was still underestimated... Look at the notoriety of Operation Bagration in relation to the Eastern Front. French military historians have also looked back at the overall performance of the French army and it's impressive.
Salut la France! I never knew that this was broadcast in France - I'm a little surprised because so much must have been lost in translation (Melchet's continual references to weird sexual practices resulting from his public school upbringing for example). I would be very interested to know it the classic series from the same period - 'Allo Allo' was also shown and how that was received. If it was not - perhaps you might take a look sometime.
It was aired in the 90s when MrBean was at the height of his fame I think. I just remember the season set in the Middle Ages, and I'm very, very curious to see it all again actually! I don't know "Allo Allo" at all, I did a quick search, it looks great too! Merci very beaucoup :)
Amazing reaction. I hope you do take on more Blackadder. I'm sure you'd find an enthusiastic audience if you do the entire show. First season is a bit rough but it has some wonderful moments. Not to mention you get to experience Blackadder getting smarter the lower he falls on te social ladder. Series 4 of Blacksdder is the one that feels most raw because it's set so close to our time compared to the other ones. The others also have serious nuggets of truth exaggerated for comic effect, but they're easier to accept due to the distance in time. I recently watched/listened again yo David Mitchell's rant on the subject. How fun and campy the Brits find the notion of vikings raping and pillaging on their "trips" to the British isles. I feel daring today so here are my recommendations for sitcoms with a bit of cynical reality behind them: Yes, Minister/ Yes, Prime Minister Blackadder, of course Dad's Army, though it's mostly sitcom set in a very real time during WWII. If you haven't seen Monty Python's Holy Grail, underneath the absurdist humour, there is real historical inspiration here and there, like behind the apparently random insult about elderberries and hamsters.
Thanks for your message and suggestions! I saw it yesterday and it was funny because I already had my video on "Insults by nationality" ready! I think I'm going to binge-watch the first season, and I'll continue to give feedback on this wonderful series! I'm going to check out your sitcom recommendations too, they sound great! Cheers :)
Oh, I've GOT to recommend you react to the episode with the character of Lord Flasheart. By far the funniest episode of British television I've ever watched.
I really enjoyed your reaction. I'd love to listen to some videos by you in French if there are any (your English is of course really good to listen to also - I just get the feeling I'd enjoy listening to you in French also).
I think Haig has been somewhat rehabilitated in recent decades with a more nuanced view of him? I have the impression that he was wrongly portrayed as a senior officer totally out of touch with reality and indifferent to the fate of his soldiers, which doesn't do him justice. Thank you very much!
Is Ferdinand Foch discussed in France at all and if so what is his reputation? There's a statue of him near Victoria Station in London but I don't think he's ever talked about here.
I think that in the collective imagination he is probably overshadowed by the figure of Marshal Pétain, both for his reputation as the victor of Verdun and for the sinister Vichy regime. Foch is seen by historians as the great general who led the successful offensives of 1918. He was also involved in some serious setbacks at the beginning of the war, but in a caricatured way it is the flamboyant victorious genius who is contrasted with the cold and methodical Pétain. But I think that Foch remains a figure that we don't honour enough, because of our schizophrenia about our history.
How did World War One begin is very funny. Baldrick, his comic sidekick, thinks that Archie Duke shot an ostrich because he was hungry and that started the war. The end of the series when the characters go over the top with all the humour involved before - still makes me cry - because you know what will happen to them ua-cam.com/video/NgyB6lwE8E0/v-deo.html
@@ToonStory-fh4gn Look forward to it. The comedy of Blackadder is the same sort as a book called "1066 and all that" basically riffing off the history British people were taught in school. Have you heard of this comic masterpiece?
When folks research their family trees many will find relations who fought and died in the wars...Like my Grt Uncle was killed on the first day of the battle of the Somme..He was just 18...Not only that but also relations killed on the home front..Another Grt Uncles wife was killed by the last bomb to fall on Portsmouth in WW2..a V-1 Flying Bomb...He suffered a severe head wound and spent the remainder of his life in a mental hospital.
Thank you, yes our families have all been affected in one way or another. We recently found some old letters from great-uncles who took part in the war, and it's very moving. All the best from Lyon :)
Shockingly today's Russian Army appear to be using exactly the same Tactics in Ukraine but with just a bit more Vodka! Please please please do more Black Adder. Especially the very last episode of BA Goes Forth. As you quite rightly mentioned all great humour has a grain of truth. The last moments of the last episode picks out that grain of truth and smashes it right into the heart of everyone watching! We had all laughed at the insanity but then it was time to learn the lesson!
Exactly, it's this grain of truth that interests me and that I try to bring my own perspective to. And that's what makes it so abrasive and funny! More Black Adder on the way ;)
War changed in ways that the old guard could not keep up with. Things that junior officers were telling their superiors took years to make real change. In the final year of the war things the British understood about the creeping barrage were mystery's to the newly Americans. The idea that troops would need to stand guard over shelters used by the Germans made no sense. Then the Germans emerged with machine guns and shot them in the back. So ironically it was too much bravery that got the Americans killed The full account of this is in General John Monash's book Australian victories in the first world war. Available for free online.
I think it was a unique war in the sense that everyone was trying to understand what was happening and how to adapt to new technologies... Thanks for the book recommendation, I'll look forward to it!
Yes, in the course of the war many enemy trenches were captured, for a while, they knew damn well how the Germans dug very deep trenches, they had captured enemy and also spies..... the top brass just did not care!
after this war, it became quite difficult for aristocrats to get command posts, simply because they are aristocrats, and those who wanted them suddenly decreased, strange why?.. 😊
Blackadder is NOT a history documentary. It is a late 20th Century satirical comedy rooted in the cynical mindset of that era, not of the early 20th Century. All its participants are heightened caricatures, not real people. Don't look for documentary precision in it. That said, it is wonderfully funny.
Completely! I'm not looking for the truth, but I am trying to explain the grain of historical truth on which this series is based. The way they play with images from WW1 interests me, as well as being hilarious of course haha
@@ToonStory-fh4gn Blackadder doesn't reflect the attitudes of the wartime generation. Like "Oh, What a Lovely War", it more reflects the sentiments of the post-WWI generation who never served. I remember watching the Andrew Marr show on the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of WWI. It was full of actors, poets, performance artists, novelists, etc., etc., but no soldiers, or historians. It was as if WWI had become a giant job creation scheme for today's artistic community, who were hoovering up government grants and publishing contracts. I see Blackadder in that light.
Your English seems to be very good, but you also seem to have missed the fact that Blackadder is a comedy. Very satirical; perhaps, but not really an analytical history.
Yes, I agree with you, I understood it was a comedy, a satire. It's the underlying truth of this satire that I'm trying to react to, in no way am I trying to correct what they're saying. Perhaps I wasn't 100% clear in what I said.
More Blackadder?
Yes
God yes. Blackadder is some of the funniest history comedy ever made.
Oui
Yes! Do Blackadder insults countries
@@GM-vr2yh I know where you're going with this!🤪
General Melchett's character in "Blackadder goes Fourth" is the personification of the phrase "lions led by donkeys". He is just completely insane.
They've taken all the stereotypes and stuffed them into Melchett like a turkey!
@@ToonStory-fh4gn Yes, and through the back end to be precise. 😅 Fry said in a documentary about the show that he always let Melchett do an "ugh" when he sat down, implying that he has hemorrhoids.
That was the skill of the writers they didn't move far from the truth
The way they play with the background of historical truth while being funny - which is the hardest thing in a comedy - shows the talent of the writing!
That is definitely Hugh Laurie. He was in series 2, 3 & 4. Hugh is hilarious in Blackadder.
I think I'm going to have to watch the whole thing again...
@@ToonStory-fh4gn Definitely worth the watch.
YES! NBot only a great series, but hearing a French perspective is quite interesting. The writing is brilliant. As you pointed out, even small throw-away lines a deeply relevant. Yes, that was Hugh Laurie (House), I always love when people discover his older British comedy origins. An old saying sums up your closing remarks, "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence."
"Aren't we dealing with an idiot by any chance" it's often an underestimated key to explaining things that make no sense at all. And it works in many contexts! Thank you, the fact that it's still so funny after 40 years shows that we're dealing with great comedy.
This entire video is even more funny and ironic when you realise the raid on st nazaire was planned with the same reasoning of "it's impossible so the germans wont expect us to do it" and actually worked.
hahaha true👌
"officers in castles" once again proves the more things change the more they stay the same! This was fun and a real eye opener, trench warfare is something I couldn't even imagine and hopefully no one ever has to experience ever again. Thank you as always for the video and thoughtful commentary
That's what comedy is for: to get certain messages across in a very corrosive way, and they do it very well in these extracts! Thanks for your comment!
You're a superb historian. It's always lovely to discover a new and enriching voice on UA-cam. I think I've discovered a goldmine here.
Thank you, my little froggy heart appreciate it!
To be fair, WW1 did have a lot of new tactics and warfare evolved immensely overtime. If you compare the frontal charges and cavalry attacks in 1914 to the stormtroopers, tanks and aircraft of 1918, the war looks completely different
Military developments were phenomenal during the First World War, much more so in my opinion than during the Second. I recently heard a military expert say that the infantryman of 1918 is closer to the infantryman of today than to the infantryman of 1914...
@@ToonStory-fh4gn warfare in 1918 was pretty reminiscent of warfare in WW2
Officers may have been well meaning, but the phrase 'Lions led by donkeys' is a well known one.
Of course, there's always some truth behind a good joke
Yeah, that's young Hugh Laurie, later House. Who also had a very successful comedy show with Stephen Fry who plays the General. ( A Bit of Fry and Laurie ).
Many americans are surprised when hey learn that he's a brtish actor.
And Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie also did
an excellent Jeeves and Wooster
ua-cam.com/video/EqU6lz8bGhA/v-deo.html
Thanks, It's funny to find him here!
@@ToonStory-fh4gn
I grew up with him as a staple in the new comedy (which is now 40 years old) on British television.
I was more surprised to see him doing serious stuff.
@@johncrwarner Yes, compared to his last role in the series "all the lights we can't see", his evolution is radical. But mastering a comic role is probably one of the most difficult exercises for a comedian, so his talent allows him to do a lot of things?
The Somme Offensive might well have worked if it had been launched later, as originally intended, so that proper training/experience/integration could be carried out with the vast numbers of fresh troops and if the artillery barrage had gone on for longer (as it was, a fair number of German soldiers were starved and emaciated). Sadly, it ended up rushed as it was considered imperative to relieve the pressure on Verdun and force Germany to redirect forces to a new front.
And I also think it still might have been a great success with a better coordination between the Brits and the French. But that's easy to say more than 1 century after that... Thank you!
You speak like a French John Malkovich, love your accent dude.
That's a very nice compliment, merci beaucoup dude 😀
Ironically somewhat like Pascal Sauvage in Johnny English... with Rowan Atkinson!
OMG this is the first video I watch on this channel and I felt terribly embarrassed to think of Pascal Sauvage. 😊
Yea,good call haha.I also remember this growing up.But it's way more interesting now with some actual knowledge about specific WW1 battles.And that's all thanks to you and the other great war historians out there ❤.
Thank you! Watching a few extracts makes me realise just how intelligent this series was, and I want to watch it all again from my adult perspective (if I can call myself an adult haha).
Yes, please continue with this series. Whilst it is funny in many parts, it’s also a tragic truth in others. The death toll at the Somme was beyond belief but sometimes comedy really makes it all the more poignant. Thank you for your input 👍
Thank you, I'm going to continue with this wonderful series, and I agree that it's the little truth that makes the magic. I'm curious to see how the writing evolves between the different seasons.
6:59 To be fair, the disaster that eventually became the Eastern Front leaves the stories of excellence untold; such as the Brusilov Offensive. Same deal happens with the French too of course, Ferdinand Foch and Charles Magin being criminally underrated in history in my opinion. The Fat Electrician put it best recently for his UA-cam video on Hobbart's Funnies. "Everywhere they were went so smoothly, that everywhere they weren't was such a [horror] show, it stole all the spotlight."
As far as the Eastern Front is concerned, even during the Second World War it was still underestimated... Look at the notoriety of Operation Bagration in relation to the Eastern Front. French military historians have also looked back at the overall performance of the French army and it's impressive.
Bravo Mon Brave!
The last Act!
❤😂
😂😂😂Thanks !
Salut la France! I never knew that this was broadcast in France - I'm a little surprised because so much must have been lost in translation (Melchet's continual references to weird sexual practices resulting from his public school upbringing for example).
I would be very interested to know it the classic series from the same period - 'Allo Allo' was also shown and how that was received. If it was not - perhaps you might take a look sometime.
It was aired in the 90s when MrBean was at the height of his fame I think. I just remember the season set in the Middle Ages, and I'm very, very curious to see it all again actually! I don't know "Allo Allo" at all, I did a quick search, it looks great too! Merci very beaucoup :)
Good reaction, I've subbed you.🏴
Thank you 😀😀😀
Amazing reaction. I hope you do take on more Blackadder. I'm sure you'd find an enthusiastic audience if you do the entire show. First season is a bit rough but it has some wonderful moments. Not to mention you get to experience Blackadder getting smarter the lower he falls on te social ladder.
Series 4 of Blacksdder is the one that feels most raw because it's set so close to our time compared to the other ones. The others also have serious nuggets of truth exaggerated for comic effect, but they're easier to accept due to the distance in time. I recently watched/listened again yo David Mitchell's rant on the subject. How fun and campy the Brits find the notion of vikings raping and pillaging on their "trips" to the British isles.
I feel daring today so here are my recommendations for sitcoms with a bit of cynical reality behind them:
Yes, Minister/ Yes, Prime Minister
Blackadder, of course
Dad's Army, though it's mostly sitcom set in a very real time during WWII.
If you haven't seen Monty Python's Holy Grail, underneath the absurdist humour, there is real historical inspiration here and there, like behind the apparently random insult about elderberries and hamsters.
Thanks for your message and suggestions! I saw it yesterday and it was funny because I already had my video on "Insults by nationality" ready! I think I'm going to binge-watch the first season, and I'll continue to give feedback on this wonderful series! I'm going to check out your sitcom recommendations too, they sound great! Cheers :)
Oh, I've GOT to recommend you react to the episode with the character of Lord Flasheart. By far the funniest episode of British television I've ever watched.
Ok I found some videos, he's on my radar thanks!!!!
Tres Bon. Well done.👍
@@benhodkinson6467 merci 😀
Great reaction👍👍😄😄
Thank you 😀😀😀
If you haven't check 'Allo Allo about a cafe owner in occupied France
I've heard a lot about it, so I'm going to take a serious look! Thanks a lot :)
Tu connais tes oignons. Je suis impressionne'. Respect du Yorkshire.
haha j'ai travaillé sur mes baguettes thanks & greetings from Lyon
Ah belle Lyon quelle chance tu as.@@ToonStory-fh4gn
I really enjoyed your reaction. I'd love to listen to some videos by you in French if there are any (your English is of course really good to listen to also - I just get the feeling I'd enjoy listening to you in French also).
Merci beaucoup 😀For the moment I only have videos in English... Maybe one day I'll make shorts where I read short extracts of poems in French!
@@ToonStory-fh4gn great idea. Some bonus French material would be wondeful.
Field marshal Haig dedicated his whole life to the care of veterans after the war .
I think Haig has been somewhat rehabilitated in recent decades with a more nuanced view of him? I have the impression that he was wrongly portrayed as a senior officer totally out of touch with reality and indifferent to the fate of his soldiers, which doesn't do him justice. Thank you very much!
Is Ferdinand Foch discussed in France at all and if so what is his reputation? There's a statue of him near Victoria Station in London but I don't think he's ever talked about here.
I think that in the collective imagination he is probably overshadowed by the figure of Marshal Pétain, both for his reputation as the victor of Verdun and for the sinister Vichy regime. Foch is seen by historians as the great general who led the successful offensives of 1918. He was also involved in some serious setbacks at the beginning of the war, but in a caricatured way it is the flamboyant victorious genius who is contrasted with the cold and methodical Pétain. But I think that Foch remains a figure that we don't honour enough, because of our schizophrenia about our history.
@@ToonStory-fh4gn Thanks very much for the insight. That makes sense about Pétain.
Nice French tin lid (Steel helmet).
It's my favourite accessory in my wardrobe!
Cadorna launched 13 attacks on the Isonzo.
That's at least 12 too much
@@ToonStory-fh4gn Yeah, but his pupils are running the Ukranian army... 😉🤬
How did World War One begin is very funny.
Baldrick, his comic sidekick, thinks that Archie Duke shot an ostrich because he was hungry and that started the war.
The end of the series when the characters go over the top with all the humour involved before - still makes me cry - because you know what will happen to them
ua-cam.com/video/NgyB6lwE8E0/v-deo.html
Yes, I plan to do them too :)
@@ToonStory-fh4gn
Look forward to it.
The comedy of Blackadder is the same sort
as a book called "1066 and all that"
basically riffing off the history
British people were taught in school.
Have you heard of this comic masterpiece?
@@ToonStory-fh4gn
BTW have you heard of "Horrible Histories"
It is a BBC Children's programme
that is informative and funny.
When folks research their family trees many will find relations who fought and died in the wars...Like my Grt Uncle was killed on the first day of the battle of the Somme..He was just 18...Not only that but also relations killed on the home front..Another Grt Uncles wife was killed by the last bomb to fall on Portsmouth in WW2..a V-1 Flying Bomb...He suffered a severe head wound and spent the remainder of his life in a mental hospital.
Thank you, yes our families have all been affected in one way or another. We recently found some old letters from great-uncles who took part in the war, and it's very moving. All the best from Lyon :)
@@ToonStory-fh4gn All the best from an Englishman in Scotland :)
Shockingly today's Russian Army appear to be using exactly the same Tactics in Ukraine but with just a bit more Vodka!
Please please please do more Black Adder. Especially the very last episode of BA Goes Forth.
As you quite rightly mentioned all great humour has a grain of truth. The last moments of the last episode picks out that grain of truth and smashes it right into the heart of everyone watching!
We had all laughed at the insanity but then it was time to learn the lesson!
Exactly, it's this grain of truth that interests me and that I try to bring my own perspective to. And that's what makes it so abrasive and funny! More Black Adder on the way ;)
I LOVE BLACKADDER! HAHA
😅
War changed in ways that the old guard could not keep up with. Things that junior officers were telling their superiors took years to make real change. In the final year of the war things the British understood about the creeping barrage were mystery's to the newly Americans. The idea that troops would need to stand guard over shelters used by the Germans made no sense. Then the Germans emerged with machine guns and shot them in the back. So ironically it was too much bravery that got the Americans killed
The full account of this is in General John Monash's book Australian victories in the first world war. Available for free online.
I think it was a unique war in the sense that everyone was trying to understand what was happening and how to adapt to new technologies... Thanks for the book recommendation, I'll look forward to it!
So your telling me it brings you back to what
To when I was a kid watching it on French TV on Saturday afternoons!
Yes, in the course of the war many enemy trenches were captured, for a while, they knew damn well how the Germans dug very deep trenches, they had captured enemy and also spies..... the top brass just did not care!
A few months ago, I went crazy re-reading the history of the Somme and the incredible mistakes made by the French general staff...
The problem was that they still used Napoleonic era tactics in the face of modern warfare.
With horrifying results at the start of the war!
after this war, it became quite difficult for aristocrats to get command posts, simply because they are aristocrats, and those who wanted them suddenly decreased, strange why?.. 😊
hehe 😉
go back to the old days.those who want war lead the troops into battle instead of hiding in their multi billion bunkers
Erf... Won't argue against that mate...
Blackadder is NOT a history documentary. It is a late 20th Century satirical comedy rooted in the cynical mindset of that era, not of the early 20th Century. All its participants are heightened caricatures, not real people. Don't look for documentary precision in it. That said, it is wonderfully funny.
Completely! I'm not looking for the truth, but I am trying to explain the grain of historical truth on which this series is based. The way they play with images from WW1 interests me, as well as being hilarious of course haha
@@ToonStory-fh4gn Blackadder doesn't reflect the attitudes of the wartime generation. Like "Oh, What a Lovely War", it more reflects the sentiments of the post-WWI generation who never served.
I remember watching the Andrew Marr show on the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of WWI. It was full of actors, poets, performance artists, novelists, etc., etc., but no soldiers, or historians. It was as if WWI had become a giant job creation scheme for today's artistic community, who were hoovering up government grants and publishing contracts. I see Blackadder in that light.
Your English seems to be very good, but you also seem to have missed the fact that Blackadder is a comedy. Very satirical; perhaps, but not really an analytical history.
Yes, I agree with you, I understood it was a comedy, a satire. It's the underlying truth of this satire that I'm trying to react to, in no way am I trying to correct what they're saying. Perhaps I wasn't 100% clear in what I said.