Comedy Film

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

On the Buses (1971)

Hammer films go double entendre crazy in this risque piece of comedy gold.

Like the old saucy seaside postcards On the Buses is a bit of a national treasure. The naughty antics of driver Stan and conductor Jack and their run ins with 'jobsworth' Hitler lookalike, inspector Blakey (Surely the next alias for a certain Cult Labber don't you think) are a laugh a minute series of sniggers and titters. Politically correct, certainly not, funny? Oh yes!

The plot about the bus depot taking on some new female employees and in turn minimizing the lads overtime is almost superfluous to the running gags and smutty mad cap antics. The subplot of Jack nipping off for noon nookie with voluptuous Andrea Lawrence was a personal highlight, i really can't blame him.

Special mention must go to the ultra sarcastic Michael Robbins, the husband of the hapless Olive. His put downs are priceless.

Although i've always mocked Ron in all of his guises for liking On the Buses, it was always in fun as despite having not seen them until now i always suspected they would be right up my street and so far my expectations are sound.

Looking forward to a Mutiny on the Buses next weekend.

[mr 420]

One of us! One of us!

[Inspector Abberline]

[mr 420]

Originally Posted by Inspector Abberline

Only you could pull out a Freaks still.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by mr 420

Only you could pull out a Freaks still.

So where are you in the photo Mr 420?

[mr 420]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

So where are you in the photo Mr 420?

You're quite good.

Oh, BTW, I've been having a think and I've solved your problem. If you blow up the rear right tyre on your trailer, the fridge door will stay shut.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by mr 420

You're quite good.

Oh, BTW, I've been having a think and I've solved your problem. If you blow up the rear right tyre on your trailer, the fridge door will stay shut.

My trailer's different to yours.

If i do that the shitter will spill over, unless i empty it more than once a week.

[Inspector Abberline]

Dad's Army episode
The Deadly Attachment Original air date Wednesday 31/10/73 6.50pm

Just to add a bit of variety to the thread, I thought I would take a look at some random TV episodes as well. How do you tell the difference between a Nazi parachutist dressed as a nun and a real nun, well as John Laurie as Private Frazer points out the nazi nuns would have hairy legs of course although we are still not sure what real nuns legs look like especially as Ian Lavender as Private Pike has never seen a pair of nuns legs,then again who has? The Deadly Attachment is probably one of the most famous of the Dads Army episodes, mainly because of the classic line "Don't tell him, Pike!". Also this episode has the marvellous Philip Madoc as U-Boat Captain, who makes a great surly German Captain, whenever anybody upsets him, he adds them to a list of people he is compiling, and when they win the war these people will be brought to account. Much of the humour of this episode comes from the clash of personalities between Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring and Philip Madoc as the surly U-Boat Captain. We also get to see Clive Dunn as Lance Corporal Jones let loose with a machine gun when the german prisoners attack the platoon, unfortunately for Corporal Jones he also gets held hostage and has a grenade placed down his trousers. This was the first episode of the sixth series and its a great episode to kick of with as by this time the series was in its stride and probably at its most popular.This was also the very last series for James Beck as Private Walker who died in 1973 at the age of 44 years old,he had completed all the location filming for series six but was still absent from the last episode of the series.

[Susan Foreman]

"It is one of the immortal exchanges in movie comedy, from 1980’s classic spoof ‘Airplane!’:

Rumack: “Can you fly this plane, and land it?”

Ted Striker: “Surely you can’t be serious.”

Rumack: 'I am serious… and don’t call me Shirley.”

Now the origins of the joke have been revealed by the movie makers, Jerry and David Zucker, and Jim Abrahams, while in conversation with Vulture.

“The origin of that joke is similar to the origin of a lot of jokes in the movie,” says Jerry.

“While we were writing, we used to watch a lot of old, serious movies that had a lot of this overly dramatic dialogue. We’d say, 'Wait, wait, wait. Stop the tape,’ and we’d go back and we’d put in our punch line or our gag in the background. That was one of those lines where someone actually did say, 'Surely you can’t be serious’.”

Added David: “The other person might have even said, 'I am serious’. But we added the 'Don’t call me Shirley’.

But it turned out that the line was not only a killer for audiences, it also had the unexpected effect of persuading Paramount Pictures that they could pull off the film, a project which was on a knife-edge from the start.

Their contracts even contained a clause which stated that they could be fired after one week.

“Paramount Pictures was apprehensive about three first-time directors working together on a movie.” said Abrahams.

“As it turned out, the 'Don’t call me Shirley’ scene was filmed on the first day of shooting. When Paramount Pictures watched the dailies and saw that joke and the way it played, they were relieved. They finally understood the concept and were much more comfortable dealing with us.

Added Jerry: “We got the call and it was kind of like, 'Oh, now we get it’. I think they previously said, 'Okay, fine, you can have [Robert] Stack, [Lloyd] Bridges, [Leslie] Nielsen, and [Peter] Graves’, but I don’t think very many people understood what we were doing by casting these serious, straight-men actors until they saw it.

“It’s a line that a lot of different people could have said, and it would’ve been funny - people would’ve gotten it. But I don’t think it would be remembered in the same way if it hadn’t been said the way Leslie Nielsen says it.”

David goes on: “That’s a good point. We love Bill Murray and people who do comedy well, but it wouldn’t have been the same if a comedian had said that line.”

And that is how movie comedy history was made…"

Origin Of Airplane's Classic 'Don't Call Me Shirley' Gag Revealed

[Inspector Abberline]

The Goodies episode

Kung Fu Kapers Original air date 24 March 1975

While Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden practise kung fu from a book, Bill Oddie bursts in and tells them that there ku fung is no match for the Lancaster's martial art "Ecky Thump". The "ancient Lancastrian art" is mastered by Bill Oddie,who is regaled in his flat cap and black braces.After several attempts by Tim and Graham to provoke Bill into telling them the secret of Ecky-Thump,he challenges them to a duel.Where upon Tim and Graham attack Bill in different disguises,which is just an excuse to dress up in different costumes,Australian,Scotsman and unfortunately Graham who blacks up as a boxer (oh dear this was 1970s I suppose). And what is the secret of Ecy thump,it is of course black pudding,its black and long and a bit phallic looking. Its a brilliant funny episode based on one of the most ridiculously silly plots written,but then again every Goodies episode was ridiculous. I should Imagine this is one of the most iconic episodes,along with Kitten Kong and The Goodies Rule – O.K.? which featured a giant Dougal, the dog from The Magic Roundabout. Its hard to imagine Bill Oddie doing his bird watching fully dressed in all his ecky thump finest, although it would Springwatch a bit more interesting. If only they did a sequel featuring the all the mock film posters they came up who would not want to see these sat there local fleapit Ecky-Thump Meets Mary Poppins and Enter With Drag-on.They would certainly be more entertaining than the the tv show there sending up Kung Fu starring David Carradine. Probably the only television show to have reportedly given some one a heart attack from laughing to much.