[HN Gopher] Rowan Atkinson: Visual Comedy (1992) [video] ___________________________________________________________________ Rowan Atkinson: Visual Comedy (1992) [video] Author : swarmy Score : 81 points Date : 2022-07-17 21:18 UTC (1 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.youtube.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.youtube.com) | boberoni wrote: | Visual comedy transcends language barriers. I have fond memories | of enjoying hours of Mr. Bean with my Chinese relatives who | didn't speak any English, but could still enjoy the skits because | there was almost no dialogue. The story was conveyed physically. | silisili wrote: | The is one thing I really appreciate about Just For Laughs | Gags. No words or languages to understand, just silly harmless | situations and pranks. AFAICT it's mostly done somewhere in | French Canada, but there's a few from Singapore I believe. | | Here's an example I remember that made me laugh, a good example | - it's all about facial expressions and reactions rather than | words - | | https://youtu.be/2Zs6mi5bvic | sedatk wrote: | Benny Hill, similarly. | ternaryoperator wrote: | Not so sure about Benny Hill. As an American, I couldn't | see what the Brits found so funny about him. The keystone | cop sequences of naked women chasing him, etc. and the | silly situations he concocted (which required spoken | language). Whereas Mr. Bean was truly universal situations | and effectively no spoken words. | agumonkey wrote: | It transcends but some is lost in translation. There are | youtube videos of people showing Mr Bean to tribs in middle | east and they struggle to grasp some ideas due to different | social norms. | ChrisMarshallNY wrote: | Love him (I suspect this won't last long on the HN front page, | alas). | | He does both physical and verbal. If you ever watch Mr. Bean, | it's entirely physical, and, in Blackadder, he almost never shuts | up (but there's still plenty of physical humor). | gonzus wrote: | He is the best ever, IMHO, at throwing witty, smart, clever | insults that completely destroy the target. | laumars wrote: | He's one of the all time best comics for verbal delivery in my | opinion. He's second to none in the way he accentuates | syllables to make even mundane words have a striking impact. | maest wrote: | I find his Smut routine hilarious | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyoyLl0_a2M | | I really like the idea that he's just sitting on stage saying | rude words - it's quit a silly concept, but elevated by the | execution. | dazdaz wrote: | Bob | unfunco wrote: | Rowan Atkinson demonstrating how funny "Bob" can be: | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOdfNwD9cEA | timothya wrote: | See also Rowan Atkinson's standup routine from the early 90s: | https://youtu.be/uw8dW9Hyno0 | sph wrote: | Haven't watched the video but I wanted to say I am a huge fan of | him. His work outside of Mr. Bean and Blackadder (haven't seen it | yet!) is hilariously funny to me, and him along with Monty Python | were instrumental in my becoming very fond of the English humour | and culture and eventually deciding to move here. | | I got all of this sketches memorised. There's some kind of deep | social intelligence behind his comedy, that's apparent when he's | not in character, i.e. during an interview, where it's impossible | not to be charmed by his eloquence and demeanour. | | I recommend: the "beatings" and the Shakespearean actor sketches. | smcl wrote: | Definitely check out Blackadder but I would _highly_ recommend | skipping the first series. They tried something, it _really_ | didn't work and then they switched it up for the second series | and absolutely nailed it. | ChrisMarshallNY wrote: | _> Blackadder (haven 't seen it yet!)_ | | You'll see a few familiar faces. Stephen Fry, Miranda | Richardson, and Hugh Laurie were regulars. | 8bitsrule wrote: | Atkinson's very good. Laurel and Hardy, however, still rule. | ransom1538 wrote: | Sorry maybe I am the only one here, but British "comedy" is truly | terrible. Sticking a cracker in your nose, having a comedian not | speak, etc. The BBC is a horrible network that I wish would just | die. The golf network or watching paint dry is more entertaining. | Let's have Germans make cars and the British stay away from | cameras. | NikolaNovak wrote: | I'm not gonna say you're the only one,but all of my nerdy | friends and myself would vehemently disagree :-). Let British | keep making humour, from Mitchell and Webb to fry and Laurie to | Monty Python to British Office to Darling Buds of May to As | Time Goes By, and long live bbc the original home Top Gear :-) | spaceman_2020 wrote: | You are the only one here. | zichy wrote: | Trying to be edgy is truly terrible as well. | cyberferret wrote: | Someone once told me - "British comedy is about making fun of | yourself, whereas American comedy is about making fun of other | people", and I have found it to be true in a lot of shows I've | witnessed. Probably why I personally tend to prefer British | comedies over American ones. I have a thing against people | having a laugh at the expense of others. | missedthecue wrote: | 98% of the jokes in Blackadder are making fun of other | people. I really don't find that axiom to be true | Joeboy wrote: | I don't either. Eg. Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Show About | the Show are both American, and are both basically | demolition jobs on their stars and writers. I actually feel | a bit embarrassed about Americans seeing these self-serving | British explanations about why we're better than them. | orf wrote: | Everyone's entitled to their opinions, but that doesn't make | them correct ;) | | What about it don't you like, specifically? And what comedy do | you prefer? | ransom1538 wrote: | Just take "Eddie Murphy Raw 1987" - which is near the same | time frame. Just compare the talent. | smcl wrote: | Comparing stand-up to a sitcom is a little bit of an | apples/oranges comparison. There's plenty of talented | standup comics from Britain, though. I'm normally not a | huge fan of standup generally but I do really like Stewart | Lee for example | orf wrote: | I'm not a fan of mr bean. I don't get it, it vaguely seems | like laughing at someone with learning disabilities to me. | But there's definitely skill and talent in creating the | character without words. | | It's also clever - the lack of language makes it universal. | Most of the people I've met who profess their love for the | character are not native English speakers. | | There's a culture-spanning appeal there, and fame, that | Eddie Murphy (with all his undeniable standup skill and | wit) will never, ever achieve. | | To say crafting that lacks talent does Rowan Atkinson a big | disservice. | laumars wrote: | > Just take "Eddie Murphy Raw is a 1987" - which is near | the same time frame. Just compare the talent. Mr Bean | quietly sticks crackers in his nose - Eddie Murphy on the | other hand ... | | You do realise that the comedy scene in Britain is hugely | varied? So you don't like Mr Bean. That's fine. But there's | plenty of comics at the other extreme end of the spectrum | here too. And a plethora of stuff in between too. | golergka wrote: | This makes as much sense as saying that British can't make rock | music. | ransom1538 wrote: | It's ok for a culture to suck at something. British bands are | amazing. Italian food is amazing. German cars are amazing. | American comedy is amazing. British comedy and French cars | are terrible. That is ok. | cgrealy wrote: | Some American comedy (Parks and Rec, Brooklyn 99, Cheers, | Community, etc) is amazing. Most of it is crap (2 1/2 Men, | Big Bang, 90% of SNL, 100% of "middle aged dude with a | family and a wife that's way too good looking" sitcoms). | | Some British comedy (Fawlty Towers, Black Books, Fleabag) | is amazing. Most of it is crap (Mr Bean, Keeping Up | Appearances, One Foot in the grave). | | There are some terrible British bands, and some great | French cars. | | Generalising about culture is pointless. | Bayart wrote: | French cars are fine (and German cars aren't what they used | to be, I wouldn't buy a recent BMW) ! | tuyiown wrote: | No it's not ok. You really should throw all those | preconception out of the window, it helps you for nothing | except missing interesting things in your life | sph wrote: | You must be a fan of American comedy then. | | Stephen Fry explains the difference here: | https://youtu.be/8k2AbqTBxao | | Actually very insightful, and explains why I have never been | fond of the cool guy that gets all the girls US comedy loves to | represent. | etataetaet wrote: | I haven't watched Mr. Bean but Yes Minister is a British show | and had me laughing all the time! Much different than any | American comedy I've ever seen but quite interesting and a | really fun watch. | pessimizer wrote: | Try The New Statesman for a hilarious sitcom that sits right | between Mr. Bean and Yes, Minister. | jfk13 wrote: | But we like to claim that _Yes, Minister_ isn 't a comedy at | all, it's a documentary. ;-) | ChrisMarshallNY wrote: | My fave _Yes, Prime Minister_ snippet: | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ZZJXw4MTA | Nition wrote: | Another good one: | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o861Ka9TtT4 | camtarn wrote: | So don't watch it. | | I'm not a big fan of comedy in general, but I am an adult human | who is capable of hitting the channel change button if it comes | on, or leaving a conversation about it. | ransom1538 wrote: | I don't. Unless I am visiting someone at a nursing home. BBC | programing seems to be popular there. | rubicon33 wrote: | If it's okay for someone to express, and comment on how they | enjoy something... Why is it not okay for someone to do the | same when they don't enjoy it? | | Truly have never understood this knee jerk reaction people | have to criticism. It's a healthy part of civil discourse. | I'm not only interested in seeing everyone's praise. | camtarn wrote: | > It's a healthy part of civil discourse | | 'I wish this thing that other people enjoy would die, even | though it doesn't impact my life at all' is not a healthy | part of civil discourse. | | [edit] The thing is that I actually agree with the parent: | I can't _stand_ Mr Bean - it makes me physically cringe. | But I recognise that other people are fans, so I 'm happy | to just shut up and let them have their fun. | Joeboy wrote: | Right, I feel quite defensive of British comedy in | general but there's no denying we produce a lot of | godawful shite. I've never watched much Mr Bean but I've | always mentally put it in the same category as Mrs | Brown's Boys or The Benny Hill Show. | smcl wrote: | I'm in the same boat. There's some truly top quality | stuff that I'll defend to the death, and some utter | rubbish. The US has the same though - they've got | excellent stuff like Eddie Murphy and Arrested | Development, and awful unfunny shit like Greg Gutfeld and | Big Bang Theory | rubicon33 wrote: | I agree his choice of words was not helpful, so if that's | the sticking point then we agree. | | I interpreted your post though to be a general sentiment | that we shouldn't even voice negative opinions, even if | they are done so politely. I certainly wouldn't agree | with that perspective. As someone who is rather neutral | to British humor, I enjoy seeing both positive and | negative conversation around the subject. | hgazx wrote: | The bbc costs everybody money. Asking for it to disappear is | reasonable. | camtarn wrote: | The BBC does a lot of things that aren't just comedy. If | you think that everything the BBC does is useless, or that | it should be paid for with a better model, or that it | should spend less money on comedy, then that is absolutely | a fair criticism. Asking for it to disappear just because | you don't like one particular brand of comedy is not. | timthorn wrote: | But they didn't make Mr Bean, which came from ITV | O__________O wrote: | Reminds me of the video series called Pingu, which uses no | natural language, though it does use a fictional language based | on honks and context; basically it's for kids in regardless of | the language they speak. | | https://m.youtube.com/user/pingu/videos?view=0&sort=p&flow=l... | cyberferret wrote: | Pingu was a favourite to watch with the kids when they were | younger - so much going on with no words. Also loved "The | Flying Adrenallini Brothers" which was an animation with a made | up language but so many visual gag laughs. | cyberferret wrote: | I am a long time fan of Rowan Atkinson - though I must say, not | of his 'visual comedy' characters like Mr. Bean or Man vs Bee | etc. I lean more towards his 'Blackadder' characters | (specifically Blackadder 2, 3 and 4. Series 1 was more a 'visual | comedy' lead character than the latter, which relied more on a | dour character with a sharp verbal wit). | | Blackadder 4 in particular added in a darkness to the humour that | was really compelling - that last scene in the last episode (when | they charge out of the trenches into no mans land) was absolutely | haunting and moving. As were the final lines given by the | secondary characters (especially Capt. Darling) | | EDIT: For those who want to see what I am talking about, here is | the final scene (4 minute footage), though I'd highly recommend | watching the whole series to really understand the interplay | between the characters (especially the pathos of Cpt. Darling vs | Cpt. Blackadder) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgyB6lwE8E0 | mrwh wrote: | I still remember watching the final episode at school, in the | early 90s, as part of a history lesson on the First World War. | The way it turns from a comedy into something that couldn't be | more serious! - except, that seriousness was always there. The | tone doesn't so much change as reveal itself. Unforgettable. | cyberferret wrote: | You are so right about how the seriousness was always there | and revealed itself at the end. I too was fairly young when I | first watched it, and I think it really framed my propensity | for adding humour to otherwise serious situations as a coping | mechanism. | highwaylights wrote: | I find Blackadder to be one of the greatest achievements in the | history of television. | | I'm still moved by just how wonderfully subversive it is. There | was no need for that show to have anything close to the quality | of writing it had over it's run, especially when you watch the | first couple of episodes. It could _easily_ have run for years | as a simple, meandering medieval sitcom that went nowhere. I'm | so glad it ultimately went to so many places, across so many | time periods, without it being an excuse for reusing the same | old stories. | olivermarks wrote: | IMO the king of visual comedy is Jacques Tati | | I like some of Atkinson's work a lot but interesting to see where | he built on his key influencer and particularly the Monsieur | Hulot character. | tuyiown wrote: | Tati is great because he wrapped beautiful poetry into visual | comedy. | | Hulot is pure innocence, to make him exist solely for the | visual sketches and actually unnecessary as demonstrated in | playtime. | | Tati really was there for the bliss he brought to audience, | comedy was merely a way to achieve that. | | The social commentary is also pretty strong, but not forced, | only merely there for the ones the wishes to see it. | | Atkinson touched this times to times, though. | omega3 wrote: | Benjamin P Hill memorial library is a reference to Benny Hill I | assume. | thrill wrote: | well spotted! | moviewise wrote: | Here is another article on visual and other comedy: What Is | Funny? The Rules Of (Punching Up) Comedy According To The Movies | https://moviewise.substack.com/p/what-is-funny ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-07-17 23:00 UTC)