What's a rilk? - Porridge - BBC classic comedy

[2sick2care]

1:52... Del Boy!

[rtl4x4]

"the americans do not have the intellectual capability to understand our humour, they're humour is far too obvious and juvenial"

I'm an American and I can at least spell "juvenile" and "their". I've never watched "Friends" either. So you can go get stuffed.

[TheButtur123]

Let me get this straight, your saying american comedy is "far too obvious and juvenial". Coming from the country that produced Benny Hill and Blackadder or god forbid MR.BEAN! I will concede that british humor does translate better to television than american, but dont pretend for a minute its so "high brow" americans dont get it. Ever heard the name Mel Brooks Blazing Saddles, The Producers, or Young Frankenstien all comedic gold and all much more intelligent than anything I mentioned above.

[danimayb]

@TheButtur123 I have to disagree with that person. I am English and do not think American comedy is dumb or stupid in any way, they have army's of intelligent writers doing their thing. I personally do not enjoy many of the stuff that comes from America. But that's not to say they dumb or anything, just my taste. Benny hill is shit, Blackadder is legendary and Mr Bean was ok when I was a kid. Young Frankenstien is bullshit and blazing saddles is gold. Just the way it is for me :)

[TheButtur123]

@danimayb I agree with you, and in fact I love all the british comedies I mentioned above. I was simply making that point that not all british humor is "intellectual" that americans don't get it. I know at least 30 people that can quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail start to finish, and still laugh tears into their eyes watching it. Blackadder is some of the funniest television ever made, in my opinion, but then again so is Porridge, but I felt Going Straight was weak. I guess it is just taste

[halogamer543]

why are you guys hating on america?

[EvangelinaVega]

simply dummy friends for dummies Americans



[oldstuff]

Awesome programme with top writing and cast!

[BritishAlienCompany]

Who else looked up the word 'rilk' juuuuust in case? x

[JJones7161]

bite me, I wrote that comment while pissed. england till I die : )

[BritishAlienCompany]

True British Comedy! x

[express375]

@NuttersForFraggle  never watched misfits,but yeah inbetweeners is good.

[JJones7161]

fair point dave, a bad error there by me. question, do you always have to swear for cheap laughs or is it to cover up your lack of humour and poor delivery? please work on your english accent too, you sound australian!

[stokey72]

north baltic rilks fly backwards

[SpaceAware]

" Posthumous Knighthood for Ronnie Barker " on facebook

[Eastaxe]

@SpaceAware Here, Here. Arise sir Ronnie.

[SparkleLounger]

Ronnie Barker and David Jason are the two finest comedy actors this country has ever produced. The writers behind Porridge were gifted too, but it was the actors who made this show such a winner. There aren't many who can perform high comedy and high emotional drama with such feeling; Barker was truly superb and Jason clearly learned from the Master. RIP Ronnie B.

By the way - I also loved Friends and a few other American comedies. I don't see why you'd want to compare them with Porridge...

[alannparsonns]

this is real comedy sorry guys across the ocean

[JeramyTheGirl]

I've just nicked my dad's complete boxset, he won't be seeing it the nearby future. Ronnie Barker's writting is at its best in Porridge I think!

[allhailtitans]

seppo's may not understand brittish humour but aussies do

[allhailtitans]

how can you not love pommy humour? Im an aussie and we all think its classic.

[KevBaz78]

David Jason as the old man and Biggins as the cook.

[JimReaper2007]

I saw Porridge the first time around and all these years later I'm still laughing along with it.

Excellent stuff.

I wish there were equivalent comedies being produced today.

[LiamRiordan]

Fletcher and Godber, stubborness and experience vs Youth and intellect. Hilarity will always ensue.

[antoniod]

But the British shot many of their sitcoms as if they were films, giving them an intimate quality that US comedy shows didn't have.

[eatmypies]

oh is that right jones,so patronising an old man is humour is it? or is it that us Brits tend to talk to old people as if we are 5.Fuck off and grow up.Live a bit before you write such shit

[p717]

Most American comedy is shit. Most British Comedy is shit. Both sides of the Atlantic have had their islands of true "genius", but if you were to talk about today, not the 60's, 70's, or 80's, you'd find that comedy is shit on all fronts. When Porridge was made, there were a plethora of great British comedy shows going. In America, there were the kind of comedy shows that Tony Hancock would have loved to have been in...MASH, TAXI, Barney Miller, etc. Both have lost sophistication since.

[eddylon1983]

@p717 bottom is classic

[p717]

@eddylon1983

Also a classic example of why the anglophile American who said all comedy in the US is about sexual innuendo (whereas British is not) isn't quite as aware of British comedy as they seem to think.

[Xiia0Sn00pY]

flies backwards to keep the shh..it..the snow out of its eyes! (PRICELESS!)

[5F5I5V5E5]

the americans do not have the intellectual capability to understand their own humor. get right foo!

[johnedsel]

Richard would be proud he begat such a fit daughter.

[Sabatinitennis]

It says much about his legacy that his two world famous daughter's are still referred to as "the daughter of Richard Beckinsale" - their respective fame has not relegated him .... a true leged whose fame has not diminished.

[Jorsalfar]

Poor Richard Beckinsale.:( He had a special something, that lad.

[modavewatson]

godber and fletcher lol class

[fatterheadder]

canadians have a great sence of humour.

its up there with the irish.

[marshalparshal]

not all get it

[SwainNigs]

family guy is rude-vulgar and annoying and just shit!!! and what is today's society the show plays on!!! THIS show was ahead of its time  PORRIDGE/RISING DAMP classics it plays on the time when things were so much easy to understand and what was felt at the time a thing most comedy these days lack or just dont get!!! DAD'S ARMY was another !!!

[tigercubii]

Canadians get it!

[xanderxine]

Ahh Kate Beckinsale's dad. Class act he was, shame he died so young!

[greenfield57]

comedy,like many of the arts is a personal thing and even a national thing what makes one person laugh leaves another cold i think the office is overatted boring and crap whereas i think porridge is witty clever and very funny that is my view R.B. was a comic genius

[percussionologist]

ronnaayy barkayyyy

[simondgrass]

Shammmoooooooooone!

[kramalbion]

brilliant

[kramalbion]

class!!

[Iclimbthereforeiam]

Before any uneducated and possibly under 35s slag off this programme, bear in mind it was the 1970s. All the same I wish Ronnie Barker had been my Granpa'

[Badboy12125]

@Iclimbthereforeiam I'm 15 and i love this programme!

[normsfletcher]

Class!

[wizzobond]

Excellent RONNIE BARKER

[drgdrf]

The more funniest thing about British men is their rotten teeth

[darkroge]

we have free dentistry

[misseybiatch2k10]

a widnae mind sharing a cell with godber lol he was luvly

[sigmaman93]

I'd love to do time if prison was like this.

One of my favourite shows ever.

[JJones7161]

the americans do not have the intellectual capability to understand our humour, they're humour is far too obvious and juvenial. 'friends' is not funny, same 'ol shit and predictable. the best american comedy is family guy. ronnie barker is a legend, pure genius!

[mitchellanthonydillo]

@JJones7161 your so right mate but i reckon seinfeld was also one of the best american comedies

[ChristopherDone]

While porridge is sweet it's still pretty mediocre. "the americans do not have the intellectual capability to understand our humour" -- could you be more of a snob?

[jacclar]

Family guy is shit, just a loose plot with random " do you remember the time when I..." sketched. The only american comedy i like is South Park as it is actually quite clever and rips the piss from all areas of society. But yeah youre mostly right the yanks dont get our subtle irony and sarcasm apart from on the eastern coast

[Cougra139]

@JJones7161 FAMILY GUY is intellectual to you? Seriously? Yeah, no way that's obvious, especially not juvenile.

[ScorpionTV1]

@JJones7161 

[amichellef93]

@JJones7161

American humor is pathetic..they depend on sexual innuendo or crude humor, and a sad attempt at sarcastic, which pales in comparison to British humor. Ever seen the old programme "Hogan's Heroes"? They can't poke fun at people gracefully. They make themselves look stupider.

hahaha, of course, I am American...

[adamwbell]

@amichellef93 what a load of bollocks. Typical anti-american prejudice.

[amichellef93]

@adamwbell I am American..Born in Virginia...why would I be prejudice? I only speak the truth.

[StickItUpYrBumGugle]

@JJones7161 Course they do. Grow up.

[talayuma]

@JJones7161 You don't have to be such an asshole.

[ehmazin]

@JJones7161

Family Guy is not the best animated comedy, let alone comedy and I'm British

The Simpsons, Curb your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development are three of the greatest comedies ever made.

[jjay75]

@JJones7161 Arrested Development thinks different.

[express375]

@JJones7161 Curb your enthusiasm is class.

The only decent UK sitcom in the last ten years I can think of is the IT Crowd.

[Napoleonisneat]

@JJones7161 Saying Family Guy is the best American comedy shows a lack of intellectual capability. You should at least give credit to Matt Stone and Trey Parker, their (not they're) comedy is good and so is Jon Stewart's and Stephen Colbert's.

[flyingspacepotatoes]

@JJones7161 don't puff yourself up.

[girayne]

@JJones7161 How has such an insultingly ignorant comment got 33thumbs up? "Intellectual capability?" I'm a Brit, & Porridge is my favourite Brit comedy (next to the Fast Show) - but the Yanks not only get our humour (for sarcasm see Frasier), they also have some of the smartest comedies/series/writers around (Seinfeld, Simpsons, to Billl Hicks & Joss Whedon). Also, when belittling an entire nations "intellectual capability", it's probably best you spell "their" and "juvenile" correctly..

[gamewizard]

@JJones7161

Keep your racist generalizations to yourself. I'm American and all I ever watch these days is British television shows. I just finished watching the Porridge film less than an hour ago. I didn't like it not because I didn't understand it but because it was a bad film. The television series was better. I also didn't like Going Straight very much. It wasn't nearly as well written as Porridge. Ronnie Barker was a legend, but even legends have their bad moments.

[gamewizard]

@JJones7161

Oh and if you think Family Guy is funny, then you are the one without any intellectual capacity for appreciating humor because Family Guy sucks.

[RevolutionExodus]

@JJones7161

true are comedy is to witty for them and its better than any American comedy by miles

[AngelEchoes86]

@JJones7161 You're an idiot. The Simpsons is the greatest tv show of all time.

[HELLO2YOU3]

if i remember rightback in the day you was told to watch porridge if you was up for doin a bit of bird.

[havana2bueno]

One of my fav shows.

[alphabravo911]

such a great show :D

[Voxac100b]

Rilk!

[cantleysugar]

The funny thing is David Jason looks just like that nowadays..

[MaskedMan66]

Comedy keeps you young, they say.

[xwawas]

it flies backwards to keep the shit, the SNOW out of its eyes

[ShahOfBlahII]

Probably stating the obvious but Old Blanco was played by a heavily made up David Jason.This episode involved Fletch trying to get the governor to give him a pardon .A petition in aid of CRAPOB was started.That was the Campaign for the Release and Pardon of Old Blanco!

[sparks1976]

it was CRAPOW the campaign for the release and pardon of old webb

[ShahOfBlahII]

Well you could be right it was years ago! Are you an exiled Brit or an American? An American version was made based on Porridge, On The Rocks(?) I heard it was a bit of a flop! Lacking the spark between Godber and Fletch!

[FlyingGlove1964]

I know! Godber's lovely!! I love Porridge - best of British, real good comedy.

[BladesTrueBrit]

yeh

[bigtallmidget93]

i love godber hes bloody gourgous!

[ManOnTheMoon2]

@bigtallmidget93

you mean was being that he's been dead nearly thirty years

[DjGizzo]

there was a special episode where fletch was old in the pub or something made recently i only caught a bit of it if anyone knows what its called or if its on youtube yet please let me know

[otwojoshb]

That episodes called a day out - not been able to find a youtube link, though it's from the first season

[LJohno]

it's called life beyond the box, search it on youtube, its there!

[DjGizzo]

thanks a lot :)

[DiAnno13]

In the States, there was a series called "On the Rocks" which, I believe, was based on this.

[MaskedMan66]

Not surprising, given the number of US shows based on UK shows, to wit:

Man About the House = Three's Company

George and Mildred = The Ropers

The Navy Lark = CPO Sharkey

Fawlty Towers = Snavely, Amanda's By the Sea, and possibly The Nutt House

The Office = The Office

Etc.

[martinwilliamrandall]

All In The Family = Till Death Us Do Part

[MaskedMan66]

Yup, and my wife today reminded me of:

Steptoe and Son = Sanford and Son

Plus, there was an extremely short-lived US version of Coupling.

[Suprahampton]

Not to mention the US version of red Dwarf that didn't make it past the pilot episode!!!

[MaskedMan66]

No, but they did manage two pilots.....

[xmeleahx]

The Office.

[MaskedMan66]

Mentioned that before, but thanks for chiming in.

[xmeleahx]

Sorry I didn't notice. Americans say our T.V is rubbish but it can't be that bad if they take our programmes haha:P

[sebeasy]

the only decent US comedy was the office, AND WE ALL KNOW WHO WE HAVE TO THANKS FOR THAT.

ps sorry for the capitals.

[MaskedMan66]

You're entitled to your opinon, of course, but I cannot for the life of me fathom what anyone sees in either version of "The Office." They're both so BORING.........

[iamabeetle]

listen to the whistle at the begining from fletch tell me who does the same whistle all the time,in a comedy soap

[tropicalscot]

Richard Briers in The Good Life

[lennen1940]

spot on m8 you win a mars bar,didnt think any one would guess

[markopeelo]

Tom from, 'The Good Life'

I was wondering wether its from a tv show or song from that era

[iamabeetle]

spot on m8

[ooorfeo]

Tom Good in The Good Life

[caringeezer]

to confirm this episode was called pardon me as like all porridge episodes its classic to treasure

[AyrtonSennaGODsPilot]

100% correct

[caringeezer]

to confirm this episode was called pardon me as like all porridge episodes its classic to treasure

[caringeezer]

to confirm this episode was called pardon me as like all porridge episodes its classic to treasure

[tempany11]

this episode was shown today on sky LOL i had to watch it

[AyrtonSennaGODsPilot]

to keep the shi, the snow of its wings

ask me another bamber lol

[LongLiveOx]

"she were left 'anded." RIP Richard Beckinsale. He was SO handsome.

[daffodill9]

My favourite situation comedy, Ronnie Barker was a genius!

[NathanVictorParry]

Wrong, David Jason played a 100yr old gardener called Dithers in a program called Hark At Barker back in 1969, THAT'S how Barker knew him.

He wasnt completely unknown either, he started with most of the Python team in 1967 in a kids show called Do Not Adjust Your TV Set, he was also in his own series in 1974 called The Secret Life Of Edgar Briggs.

[banneradders]

Was also in an episode or two of Crossroads in 1964

[tempany11]

whats the name of the episode lmao

pure comedy

a rilk is a migratery bird from the north baltic shores of finland

its main distinguishing feature is it flys backwards to keep the shi snow out of its eyes

LMFAO

[ZombieBrainsDev]

The name of the episode is "Pardon Me". Its in series 3 I believe.

[AyrtonSennaGODsPilot]

the episode is called pardon me

[naganokumas]

Ronnie Barker.

[Jemeela]

one of my favourites.

[iScot07]

Very sad when Richard Beckinsale died suddenly not long after this TV series.

[ianandori]

Younger guy ? Kate Bekinsales father !!

[loontheklown1]

comedy timing perfection

[chrisjapan]

classic love it........