Beyond the Fringe on Oxford Philosophy

[beaokk]

By "not exactly hilarious" do you mean "for all intents and purposes absolutely hilarious?"

[niriop]

The most humourous thing is that most of what they say is entirely accurate and valid philosophical discourse.

[BelatedCommiseration]

You can tell that Bennett and Miller where the most unconcerned about the whole show biz thing...they just went on and did what they wanted rather than having some regard for catering to the audiance like Cook and Moore. I am always surprised, given his notorious and much vaunted shy demeanor, how good Alan Bennett actually is on stage. Brilliant pseudo verbiage and non-sequiteuring digression. Most people talk like that...but they just use smaller words

[BrotherChimaobi]

Yes, yes, yes (not in the affirmative sense). This puts a lot of pseudo-philosophical comedy of recent times to shame. Bravo!

[VivaLucia]

You seem very fond of real life.

[munkybrain]

lmao slab i just started reading wittgenstein earnestly

[marshhen]

Jonathan Miller is amazing in this. My first year tutors took on exactly this sort of ridiculous tone of voice and attitude. I love this sketch.

[trufflesmell]

To my mind, John Cleese stole almost every line from this sketch and used it in an identical context in "Pleasure At Her Majesty's Secret Ball's '81'. Then again, genius as he was, Cleese chose much MUCH funnier cardigans.

Hallelujah.

[danielearwicker]

@trufflesmell - Cleese definitely performed it with Miller at one of the Policeman's Secret Balls shows, taking Bennett's role. In the same way, Peter Cook took Eric Idle's role in a Python courtroom sketch. This is not really "stealing" though.

[trufflesmell]

@danielearwicker Uh, yeah. Not really sure what I was on. Still; would like to retain the cardigan comment.

[socratus1]

What is the Source of the Universe ? Where did Existence come from? Now we have three ( 3) sources of the Universe: Big bang , vacuum and God. Which of them is correct ? About big band and God my opinion is: the action, when the God compressed all Universe into his palm, physicists had named -a singular point And action, when the God opened his palm, physicists had named - the Big Bang And about vacuum Paul Dirac wrote:

[Myndir]

@socratus1 That's some definite para-philosophy there...

[zootsoot2006]

Well, I thought it was hilarious and I thought it fit in well with a popular comedy revue, since you could say that philosophical discourses aren't much more than comedy routines in the first place, i.e. tragically bound up within their own conditions.

[AXIOMATIKA]

Absolute brilliance.

[melancholykorean]

hilarious.

[Philotus1018]

Were people more intelligent in those day?

[cookmoore]

Yes, technology has made us dumb! Like this Youtube thing I'm typing on, I am a hypocrite

[vanillapawny]

@cookmoore brilliant

[forloveoffilm]

Interesting question. I don't know. Perhaps we've become less introspective as a whole.

Edith Wharton observed this from her life in the 1870's and in her novel Age of Innocence has this exchange which makes the point:

"Is fashion such a serious consideration?"

"Only among those who have nothing more serious to consider."

[Fiordiligi2]

just better educated - less tv, more reading...

probably less youtube as well.. (guilty as charged)

[Flickerfly]

I think this is the best sketch in the show.

[farleigh17]

Strangely very amusing

[tituscaesar]

there's too much tuesday in my beetroot salad! hehe

[WineStainedTeeth89]

You can see that Fry and Laurie stole something from this.

[applecounty]

Both Fry and Laurie are Cambridge graduates, as are Bennett and Miller

[FieldHockey007]

Bennett graduated from Exeter College, Oxford having done a Medieval History degree. Miller was Cambridge though. :)

[applecounty]

@FieldHockey007 Thank you for the clarification.

[ashburnhouse]

@applecounty sorry, but Bennett is an Oxford man. That's why he's so soft.

[MultiSmartass1]

@WineStainedTeeth89 That what i noted on the Fry and Laurie page people can click to. The difference is that Bennett and Miller are sending up university intellectuals and the professoriate while Fry and Laurie are sending intellectual chat shows. Still this sketch and FRINGE in general was a breakthrough for British Comedy.

[Mangina9000]

@WineStainedTeeth89

Well, yeah, of course. Every comedian who was ever in the Cambridge Footlights has stolen from this.

[mc0558]

This is not as good a version of this skit as the one I have on my recording.

[Tangoratsfan]

SQUEE, thankyou for posting, Beyond The Fringe is amazing but alas it all got took down when someone put the whole thing up, thankyouuu =]x