Hi, does anybody knows if the chain of absurd comparisons that Fry starts at 3:07 is an know literary form, used by Oscar Wilde or one of Fry's hero's?
"Language is my mother, my father, my husband, my brother, my sister, my whore, my mistress, my check-out girl... language is a complimentary moist lemon-scented cleansing square or handy freshen-up wipette. Language is the breath of God. Language is the dew on a fresh apple, ...."
So...at the very end--that list. Are they intended to be metaphors, or is he actually saying that there is nothing remarkable about (say) the warm, wet, trusting touch of a leaking nappy, the hulk of a charred Panzer, or the underside of a granite boulder, save that our language grants them poetry? Or can we go even deeper? I feel like there are layers I'm just completely missing.
@IdiotNESS Well some of the things he lists really do seem like what someone who considers language "his mother, father, whore..." would say, like "it is the breath of God," and then to prove how amazing language is, he says things like "it is a wet nappy" or a "wellington boot," because a) it's effing hilarious and b) if language can use language to make wet nappies both funny and beautiful, why then it IS the breath of God and a check-out girl and a mistress, a unique child of a unique mother.
@noradosmith I think it's more likely a reference to de Saussure, particularly the whole 'language' vs. 'speech' thing - 'langue' vs. 'parole' in French as he expressed it.
@hbanana7 "...in Dorset alone." Dorset is, as wikipedia will show you, historically interesting in some ways but in the context of this sketch it is unremarkable. Had Fry said "in London alone," it wouldn't have been funny. Dorset is.
In what I consider the companion sketch to this, the idea of beauty/beauty of ideas. he also cautions not to "go running off to Cornwall" with an idea. Cornwall is near Dorset and a bit more famous but both are chiefly rural regions, warm, good for breaks.
@queenastilon indeed, indeedm indeed! ^_^ Thank you for your explanation. Being a firey Anglophiliac and in my love for English authors, I hope one day I could be lucky enough to travel beyong London to the rural towns, with their moors and stretches of green grass, housing small creatures like Peter Rabbits, Nutkins and foxes.
Check out my YouTube channel/playlists and websites for present-truth materials, Three Angels' Messages and God's last-mercy warning to His people in these last days.
Papacy = Antichrist / Little Horn / Beast from the Sea
Roman Catholicism = Whore of Babylon
Investigative Judgement has commenced in 1844 (1st Angel's Message)
Ellen G. White, 1827-1915 = End-time Prophet Sent of God
@MyobuUzumaki Especially the bit with gratuitous amounts of sex and violence that they weren't allowed to air, where Fry sexily beat Laurie with a golf club.. And then they went to bed, violently.
@thoroughlyThoreau "it's" is in no way shape or form a "contradiction" of the word 'it is'. I hate it when people beat on others for grammar and spelling and don't even understand what they are saying themselves. Yes, it may be the wrong form of the word used, as "its" should be used, but it doesn't mean it is a contradiction. Learn to use your vocab correctly my friend.
Dude no need to attack a guy just cause he's trying to be rational, does spelling make someone a good person? I'm sure many a great man spelt badly. Shakespeare himself knew nothing more of language than a common man of his time did (which would've been far less than our friend here) yet he managed to produce great works! So why don't you lay off of him and give him a chance to give his opinion without criticising him of the arbitrary habit we humans have that's known as spelling (which also di
@Richardatf The only thing that occurs to me is that the pronoun 'it' doesn't seem to be referring to the milk, but to the event itself. Your error in splicing two sentences with a comma in your second sentence is more glaring :P
Although this is a comedy sketch, and it's freakin' hilarious, I get the feeling this is really how Stepheny Fry feels about language and speech. It's a love letter to language, delivered through a sketch. It's timeless. Brilliant.
@SethHesio you totally hit the nail on the head there, in his new program fry's planet word this sketch is referred to a few times in the first episode
we watched Stephen Fry in our linguistics class at university :))
our profs introduction: "So as an introduction to this course, I want to show you this video of Stephen Fry [everybody smiles] ... a great, classy man."
Oh I'm from Vienna btw ... and I think 90% of my class knew him, I loved it :D
On the sad debate, the BBC is the biggest news provider in the world not FOX or CNN i work for a Tv company in canada BBC is broadcast in canada alone in around 3 languages and there are countrys channels than use BBC that are called diffrent things, Fox only has 1 news channel plain and simple. In music Last year(2010) the biggest 5 ablums in uk. 2 Uk artists 2 american 1 canadian and the biggest movies were Harry potter and toy story 3 grossing wise. I see no dominace of america
Why is it that in the comments section to an English comedy we have racist American's having ago. If you hate Britain so much then don't watch British videos
@sp1ink The video was making fun of linguistic professors, many of whom actually speak like that. What does that have to do with British self importance?
@MegaKarlos88 "Britain kicks america in the teeth and america says thank you." is the highest rated comment. "Is our language a function of our........tolerance.....humour and so on.....".
Used this sketch for a public speaking class and my acting class. One of my absolute favourite "A Bit of Fry and Laurie" sketches. No one laughed, my classmates are stupid. XD
@Katanalikeskittens Don't worry buddy, I know all too well of knowing, something is brilliant, and hilarious, but always falling flat, it always has to do with intelligence, and senses of humor, which your classmates lack both apparently, but then again every year the !.Q is dropping, and its really sad in my opinion.
@PrivateSchemers1 Of course it does, but that's got nothing to do with what I said.
The average IQ is always 100. Even if people get dramatically dumber or smarter over time, the average will always be 100 because that's how an intelligence quota works.
Every English person has an obligation - yes, a duty - to love this in an almost carnal way. If a viewer, watching this, has no stirrings below the belt area (you know what I mean) then it is surely their duty to throw themselves upon their swords, quite literally. The ensuing spate of bloody self-sacrifice would surley not impicate messers Fry and Laurie and these much-admired figures of admiration and fun would in no way be responsible...
@Rachiejane1 my mother tongue is spanish, and all the videos of translated versions "the simpsons" there are hundreds of people arguing about what version is better: the spanish of spain or the latin american spanish
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
@Rachiejane1 It's because English people have this inferiority complex about after getting beat down all those years ago by the U.S.A, but they don't have the balls to say it to the face of any Americans. So, they find a place where they assume there won't be any Americans and let loose the talk trash among themselves.
Astounding. Agonizingly brilliant. In my opinion unquestionably the absolute best comedic sketch in the annals of all time ever bar none, period... in history.
Mssrs "Fry" and "Laurie" (air-quotes) are in sublime form here: Fry for the impossibly brilliant linguistic acrobatics and Laurie for his impeccable "straight-man that nearly steals the entire sketch with a simple look at the camera and head-shake" routine (2:36).
initially he's saying whether Hitler's words would have worked in England because of the nature of the English language or whether the nature of the English people would resist, or whether in fact the nature of the English people is a result of our language or the other way round. Then he's saying basically language is amazing because we can come up with new combinations of words again and again and again and produce poetry.
I don't think this is funny, I actually thought it was very interesting an educating. I find myself spending two minutes with a dictionary after Stephen Fry just says one sentence.
@lamestguyintown not really, America owns the media, and therefore the masses are controlled by America. The Internet and the mainstream media IS American.
@farizzal The media I'm most familiar with is the BBC and newspapers like the Guardian and the Telegraph. Are they American? Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think they are.
@guglielmobelis have you heard of Michael Jackson? CNN? Any famous Hollywood movie or TV Show? That's all American. And that kind of media is worldwide, more so than BBC or the Guardian, although those are respectable sources as well.
@farizzal My point wasn't that the BBC or the Guardian are the only sources of media. My point was that not everyone is influenced by America, and, more often than not, the ones who are are, franky, philistines. I can only speak for myself but my favourite musical artists are Foals and Mumford & Sons (both British,) my favourite television programmes are Have I Got News For You, QI, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Mock the Week (all British.) One of my favourite films is Léon, (which is French.)
@farizzal I'm not saying America doesn't influence me at all, because I like Family Guy and another one of my favourite musical artists is a man called Justin Vernon, and I bet a lot of my other favourite films are American, but it just isn't the case that America are the kings of everything. Frankly, they put out a hell of a lot more shite things than good things.
@farizzal By the way, when I said "not everyone is influenced by America", I meant to say "not everyone is solely influenced by America", or something along those lines.
@guglielmobelis I didn't say we were kings of everything, I am not proud of most of the stuff that America churns out. And lol, those are some of my fav shows too, I have more favorite British Celebs than American ones. The best bands in all of history are English. But unfortunately, the mainstream media IS American. Lady Gaga and all that bullshit. My response was towards some guy that said "Britain kicks america in the teeth and america says thank you." If you ask someone if they prefer to
@guglielmobelis star in a British film or an American one its american. Oscar or Bafta? Oscar. Hollywood or London? Hollywood. All I am saying is that America is the media mogul in the world, this was in response to that guy that said the comment I showed you earlier.
@farizzal Yeah, I understand why someone would be offended by that sort of comment and would want to defend their country and point out the silver lining. And obviously the most coveted award is an Oscar. The big money is in Hollywood but that doesn't equate to the best films, have you ever seen the film 2012? Absolute pile of horse shit. There are many good things about America, but the list of things wrong with America is so very big that it becomes very easy to forget that.
@farizzal sorry your statement is full of inaccuracies. Firstly media relates to music, film, marketing and advertising. Lets look at facts. Biggest media mogul-Rupert Murdoch is Australian, not american. America hasn't been the biggest film producer since the 70's when it was in FACT taken over by India. Spanish is the second spoken native language after mandarin which is Chinese and would be presumably ignorant to think these countries don't have bigger media industries.
@swoffer uhm....you can talk stats all you want. But Mandarin stays in China. American media (Hollywood, as well as music such as the crap like Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga) That shit is worldwide. People don't talk about Jay Chou as much as these people. Maybe Bollywood makes the most films, but American films have more influence. Seriously, I have been to many foreign countries and American pop music is extremely popular everywhere.
@farizzal You should be very careful using the word 'everywhere' or anything with 'every' in it, like most Americans should. While, in our media English is prevalent, American pop culture is definitely not dominant over our own.
@farizzal America does not own the media??? What ARE you talking about? Sweeping comments don't make sense. And from your comments, American stuff IS famous around the world but then again, so is British stuff and I'm pretty sure most of the stuff from other countries too. France is famed for its food & wine, Germany for its engineering, China for making most of the products in the world...No one country owns the media though. That is a ridiculous comment.
@Rachiejane1 OBVIOUSLY they don't I was just saying that they virtually own the media, since they have such profound influence over it, in the same way a majority shareholder virtually owns the company, though technically he/she doesn't.
Simply orgasmifuckingtastc. I just add a new word to the ever expanding repitoir of the English language, btw. Oh the possibilites, possibilities abound. Note that.
Obviously reminiscent of Beyond the Fringe's Oxford Philosophy sketch with Jonathan Miller and Alan Bennett except this is done as a chat show. Fray and Laurie are terrific comedians and brilliant performers. Products of Cambridge Footlights which has become a pathway to showbiz in England. Beautifully verbose sketch.
Most of this is actually a perfectly valid linguistic discussion... with a laugh track tacked on. 2:15 -- 2:40 is a completely valid statement with a perfect illustration. He is, in fact, demonstrating the thing which distinguishes human language from animal communication-- the ability to produce infinite unique sentences.
i hate this nation so i am happy. lol you have voted for the LIB/LAB boys in such numbers that your new PM Cameron will find it almost impossible to begin cutting the deficit, now bigger than Greece's, and he will probaby find it impossibe to halt the tide of the half a million immigrants that your labour government has been leeting in each year. he has not even majority. lol he also has no chance of giving power to the people by bringing a law in stopping surrender of uk power to the EU. lol
Dorset in a County in England not a town.
JanitorialExpress 2 weeks ago
sweet jesus, of corse they actualy are talking about chickens and eggs aren't they ! SOOOO COOOOL! :D
Hatoflegends 2 months ago
I'm writing an assignement at college primarily on speech, language & communication. So, of course, I am quoting Stephen Fry! :D
Crumpets7 2 months ago
Lol, I love their fluid chemistry.
Ananieles 2 months ago
Hi, does anybody knows if the chain of absurd comparisons that Fry starts at 3:07 is an know literary form, used by Oscar Wilde or one of Fry's hero's?
"Language is my mother, my father, my husband, my brother, my sister, my whore, my mistress, my check-out girl... language is a complimentary moist lemon-scented cleansing square or handy freshen-up wipette. Language is the breath of God. Language is the dew on a fresh apple, ...."
henq 2 months ago
I just came back to hear Stephen say "capable"
greenjelly01 3 months ago 23
So...at the very end--that list. Are they intended to be metaphors, or is he actually saying that there is nothing remarkable about (say) the warm, wet, trusting touch of a leaking nappy, the hulk of a charred Panzer, or the underside of a granite boulder, save that our language grants them poetry? Or can we go even deeper? I feel like there are layers I'm just completely missing.
IdiotNESS 3 months ago
@IdiotNESS Well some of the things he lists really do seem like what someone who considers language "his mother, father, whore..." would say, like "it is the breath of God," and then to prove how amazing language is, he says things like "it is a wet nappy" or a "wellington boot," because a) it's effing hilarious and b) if language can use language to make wet nappies both funny and beautiful, why then it IS the breath of God and a check-out girl and a mistress, a unique child of a unique mother.
lyadmilo 1 month ago
Genius personified!
Christian22605 3 months ago
"...my trousers." The way he said that...brilliant timing and inflection.
ENVocalist 3 months ago 3
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Of course it is, of course it is, of course it is, of course it is.
LaurelVentura 4 months ago
Stephen Fry is by far my biggest man-crush on Earth.
thedeadlystoat 4 months ago 2
@Katanalikeskittens maybe you are a bad actor?
amritanshu 5 months ago 2
Is it an allusion to Noam Chomsky?
Picobello1506 6 months ago
@Picobello1506 most likely
noradosmith 4 months ago
@noradosmith I think it's more likely a reference to de Saussure, particularly the whole 'language' vs. 'speech' thing - 'langue' vs. 'parole' in French as he expressed it.
rozziebrown 1 week ago
If I had not been wearing my corset, my sides may very well have split!
Ermintrude64 6 months ago
666th comment win.
Amphetaminesify 6 months ago 2
brilliant
pacafistpistol 6 months ago
Muso992 stuff it...from a fellow american sick of people like you
diecheney 6 months ago 2
I'm afraid you're wrong fry, I have heard this being said before in the history of human communication... by you, 100 times.
L33tImagination 6 months ago 2
BEST. SCENE. EVER.
CaptainBanglawala 7 months ago
"in dulcet alone." is this what he is saying?? I am trying to transcribe.
hbanana7 7 months ago
@hbanana7 He says 'Dorset' -It's a county in South England. Hope that helps :).
montezuma911 7 months ago
@montezuma911 thanks you!! Dorcet, it is!
hbanana7 7 months ago
@hbanana7 "...in Dorset alone." Dorset is, as wikipedia will show you, historically interesting in some ways but in the context of this sketch it is unremarkable. Had Fry said "in London alone," it wouldn't have been funny. Dorset is.
In what I consider the companion sketch to this, the idea of beauty/beauty of ideas. he also cautions not to "go running off to Cornwall" with an idea. Cornwall is near Dorset and a bit more famous but both are chiefly rural regions, warm, good for breaks.
queenastilon 6 months ago
@queenastilon indeed, indeedm indeed! ^_^ Thank you for your explanation. Being a firey Anglophiliac and in my love for English authors, I hope one day I could be lucky enough to travel beyong London to the rural towns, with their moors and stretches of green grass, housing small creatures like Peter Rabbits, Nutkins and foxes.
hbanana7 6 months ago
@hbanana7 In Dorset alone. Dorset is a town in England.
lyadmilo 1 month ago
@lyadmilo 'Twas a county last time I was there. Maybe you're thinking of Dorchester?
IanWorthington 1 month ago
@MyobuUzumaki
You obviously havent seen "Sloppy Armpit Fucking" then...
helltrackrider 7 months ago
reaver
McCRDR 7 months ago
lol...i can relate to making sentences by no order lol
alinn71 8 months ago
@alinn71 tears are coming down hahah
alinn71 7 months ago
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Check out my YouTube channel/playlists and websites for present-truth materials, Three Angels' Messages and God's last-mercy warning to His people in these last days.
Papacy = Antichrist / Little Horn / Beast from the Sea
Roman Catholicism = Whore of Babylon
Investigative Judgement has commenced in 1844 (1st Angel's Message)
Ellen G. White, 1827-1915 = End-time Prophet Sent of God
7th-day Sabbath = Seal of God
SeventhDayRemnant 8 months ago
@thoroughlyThoreau Good point. I shouldn't have butted in. Have a lovely day! :)
1066anglophile 8 months ago
@MyobuUzumaki Especially the bit with gratuitous amounts of sex and violence that they weren't allowed to air, where Fry sexily beat Laurie with a golf club.. And then they went to bed, violently.
DiamondbackCobra 8 months ago
@thoroughlyThoreau Your repulsive behaviour is a disgrace to Anglophiles all over the world. Cool it.
1066anglophile 8 months ago
@thoroughlyThoreau Ah aplogies, but I can write ok :D
wiihaward94 8 months ago
@thoroughlyThoreau "it's" is in no way shape or form a "contradiction" of the word 'it is'. I hate it when people beat on others for grammar and spelling and don't even understand what they are saying themselves. Yes, it may be the wrong form of the word used, as "its" should be used, but it doesn't mean it is a contradiction. Learn to use your vocab correctly my friend.
wiihaward94 8 months ago
Dude no need to attack a guy just cause he's trying to be rational, does spelling make someone a good person? I'm sure many a great man spelt badly. Shakespeare himself knew nothing more of language than a common man of his time did (which would've been far less than our friend here) yet he managed to produce great works! So why don't you lay off of him and give him a chance to give his opinion without criticising him of the arbitrary habit we humans have that's known as spelling (which also di
Dantissimino 8 months ago
@thoroughlyThoreau problem?
b1bIs1337 8 months ago
@thoroughlyThoreau they're completely different. Each country has it's benefits and flaws, deal with it.
b1bIs1337 8 months ago
"There's language and there's um, speech"
Language Tiger... that's an internet handle just begging to be used. In fact, I better go start a new YouTube account!
budap001 8 months ago
bloody hell! Lmao!!!
katarina897 9 months ago
That was friggin, friggin hilarious!
Man, Stephen always did have a way with words, especially the incorrect ones. But, then again, that is the point, isn't it?
synestheticmonotony 9 months ago
frillions!
microscopic 9 months ago
lol
alinn71 9 months ago
Absolutely marvelous! I'm always delighted to hear Stephen's voice :)
jonescdy 9 months ago
sorry, i'm TRYING to compartmentalise, and all this demagoguery is really getting on my nerves.
ThatCheshireLadBloke 9 months ago 2
"Hold the newsreaders nose squarely waiter or freindly milk will come to mound mine trousers."
Kojitai1 9 months ago
@Kojitai1 "Hold the newsreader's nose squarely waiter, or friendly milk will countermand my trousers."
ib9rt 9 months ago
I have had my trousers countermanded by milk, but it certainly was not friendly.
The above sentence contains a common grammatical error, first person to spot it wins a prize.
Richardatf 9 months ago
@Richardatf The only thing that occurs to me is that the pronoun 'it' doesn't seem to be referring to the milk, but to the event itself. Your error in splicing two sentences with a comma in your second sentence is more glaring :P
rozziebrown 1 week ago
Although this is a comedy sketch, and it's freakin' hilarious, I get the feeling this is really how Stepheny Fry feels about language and speech. It's a love letter to language, delivered through a sketch. It's timeless. Brilliant.
SethHesio 10 months ago 68
@SethHesio And at the same time, he's also sending himself up as a bit of an earnest know-it-all, which adds another layer of funny.
kisbie 4 months ago
@SethHesio you totally hit the nail on the head there, in his new program fry's planet word this sketch is referred to a few times in the first episode
woollyboar 3 months ago
@woollyboar Thanks. I was so happy when I saw that they used this sketch in Planet Word. :)
SethHesio 3 months ago
Comment removed
SethHesio 10 months ago
Uhhh, sooo where can I find the script? =="
philipyap1995 10 months ago
we watched Stephen Fry in our linguistics class at university :))
our profs introduction: "So as an introduction to this course, I want to show you this video of Stephen Fry [everybody smiles] ... a great, classy man."
Oh I'm from Vienna btw ... and I think 90% of my class knew him, I loved it :D
saliri20 10 months ago 3
@saliri20 My phonetics teacher did the same thing :) I'm from the UK (shame on any Brit that doesn't know these legends though really lol)
NickyLess 9 months ago
absolute wordsmith
Sem5626 11 months ago
i love britain and yet am not one
sad
rankarandas 11 months ago
they just make me wesh i were british
AbabyThatWasntAbortd 11 months ago
in Dorset alone XD
these two are one of the best reasons to be alive at this time on this planet.
vickypurdue 11 months ago 7
Just awesome.
rehabwales 11 months ago
brill.
elecmonk 11 months ago
OMG laurie and fry are sooo funny XD
TheSongwoman 11 months ago
"Hold the newsreaders nose, squarely waiter, or friendly milk will countermand my trousers" Pure fucking genious!!!
SimplyGebus 1 year ago
There's something genius about this sketch- if only I knew what!
matthewjhaywood 1 year ago 2
On the sad debate, the BBC is the biggest news provider in the world not FOX or CNN i work for a Tv company in canada BBC is broadcast in canada alone in around 3 languages and there are countrys channels than use BBC that are called diffrent things, Fox only has 1 news channel plain and simple. In music Last year(2010) the biggest 5 ablums in uk. 2 Uk artists 2 american 1 canadian and the biggest movies were Harry potter and toy story 3 grossing wise. I see no dominace of america
MultiRandomGamer 1 year ago 3
"Capabbll". I friggin choked upon hearing it. Seriously. And it's not even my first time watching this.
bwolan 1 year ago 3
My miserable arse-cake has been extruded ma'am.
bodnotbod 1 year ago
39 people cannot understand language, as they clearly meant to press the 'like' button.
Innerwolf 1 year ago 6
Much of this made an alarming amount of sense to me.
592653589 1 year ago 64
@MyobuUzumaki "gruesome copulation that sometimes verges on the impossible" brilliant
mycollegeshirt 1 year ago 2
I think a lot of people have said that sentence many times since he said it. lol :D
drgnfrddd 1 year ago 2
Oh god. I am ignorant.
DaSassyDanca 1 year ago
Is our language english, capabubuhl
superhamzah85 1 year ago 6
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Mr. Fry can Compartmentalise any fucking thing he wants.
Mattysmyth0593 1 year ago
One of my all-time favourite F & L sketches. Their talent is extraordinary. Mr Fry you are a genuis.
Gloomgal 1 year ago
Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, the greatest pairing since Bonnie and Clyde?
LifeIsLiar 1 year ago 3
That Stephen could deliver that much dialogue, with no indication he was reading, makes me wonder if it was memorized? Or, was he just ad-libbing?
gmaureen 1 year ago 4
All the laugh tracks made me a bit confused
LoloDailey 1 year ago
i'm afraid i dont get half of the laughs. the other half makes sense, though.
BlackandBlueMage 1 year ago
@MyobuUzumaki And you are forgetting rule #34 of the internet...
elatu 1 year ago
Why is it that in the comments section to an English comedy we have racist American's having ago. If you hate Britain so much then don't watch British videos
MegaKarlos88 1 year ago
the first downy growth on the upper lip of a mediterranean girl, wow ! classic.
pattayalob 1 year ago 2
This comment has received too many negative votes show
This clip is symptomatic of "great" Britain's seemingly inexhaustible sense of self importance. No one cares.
sp1ink 1 year ago
@sp1ink
That certainly would go again in explaining the 1,800 likes directly followed by the 39 dislikes.
pkoholic 1 year ago
@sp1ink The video was making fun of linguistic professors, many of whom actually speak like that. What does that have to do with British self importance?
MegaKarlos88 1 year ago 3
@MegaKarlos88 "Britain kicks america in the teeth and america says thank you." is the highest rated comment. "Is our language a function of our........tolerance.....humour and so on.....".
sp1ink 1 year ago 2
Glenn Beck stands a counterpoint to the point that English is impervious to demagoguery.
Chrisfs59 1 year ago
Used this sketch for a public speaking class and my acting class. One of my absolute favourite "A Bit of Fry and Laurie" sketches. No one laughed, my classmates are stupid. XD
Katanalikeskittens 1 year ago 34
@Katanalikeskittens They've got no sense of humor! This is bloody brilliant!
frustratinghappiness 6 months ago
@Katanalikeskittens Don't worry buddy, I know all too well of knowing, something is brilliant, and hilarious, but always falling flat, it always has to do with intelligence, and senses of humor, which your classmates lack both apparently, but then again every year the !.Q is dropping, and its really sad in my opinion.
Sabre809 4 months ago 2
@Sabre809 The average IQ can't drop. To say that is to grossly misunderstand what an 'intelligence quota' is.
And in counter to your point. The human race is getting smarter with each passing generation.
dathwampeer 3 months ago
@dathwampeer Why is it that whenever I'm being nice to someone, they always put me down..
Sabre809 3 months ago
@Sabre809 You weren't talking to me, I just saw what you said and it made no sense. Sorry, but it didn't.
dathwampeer 3 months ago
@dathwampeer
Ah, but recent studies have revealed that IQ can actually fluctuate dramatically over time, especially during puberty. Just throwing that out there.
PrivateSchemers1 3 months ago
@PrivateSchemers1 Of course it does, but that's got nothing to do with what I said.
The average IQ is always 100. Even if people get dramatically dumber or smarter over time, the average will always be 100 because that's how an intelligence quota works.
dathwampeer 3 months ago
LOL))))))))) love it! Long live Great Britain!
FEDfan88 1 year ago
Every English person has an obligation - yes, a duty - to love this in an almost carnal way. If a viewer, watching this, has no stirrings below the belt area (you know what I mean) then it is surely their duty to throw themselves upon their swords, quite literally. The ensuing spate of bloody self-sacrifice would surley not impicate messers Fry and Laurie and these much-admired figures of admiration and fun would in no way be responsible...
Gareth7685 1 year ago 5
@Gareth7685 that doesn't make sense.
sp1ink 1 year ago
LOVE! My tutor used this in our 1st year English language class. F&L FTW!!!!
NickyLess 1 year ago
This is basically what it is like getting a phd in English.
ashburnhouse 1 year ago
This sketch is just plain genius.
tristessa56079 1 year ago 8
Stephen!!!
babyshambler 1 year ago
Why on every single youtube video with an English person on it is there an England/America debate??? It's ridiculous!
Rachiejane1 1 year ago 31
@Rachiejane1 my mother tongue is spanish, and all the videos of translated versions "the simpsons" there are hundreds of people arguing about what version is better: the spanish of spain or the latin american spanish
bloodynoise666 8 months ago
@Rachiejane1 That's just the sort of comment one might expect from an... I'm sorry what nationality are you again?
giddeo 7 months ago
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@Rachiejane1 It's because English people have this inferiority complex about after getting beat down all those years ago by the U.S.A, but they don't have the balls to say it to the face of any Americans. So, they find a place where they assume there won't be any Americans and let loose the talk trash among themselves.
Muso992 6 months ago
@Rachiejane1 That's because retarded people like repetition, and there's a lot of Americans on youtube.
neverfearchrisishere 6 months ago
Astounding. Agonizingly brilliant. In my opinion unquestionably the absolute best comedic sketch in the annals of all time ever bar none, period... in history.
Mssrs "Fry" and "Laurie" (air-quotes) are in sublime form here: Fry for the impossibly brilliant linguistic acrobatics and Laurie for his impeccable "straight-man that nearly steals the entire sketch with a simple look at the camera and head-shake" routine (2:36).
Soupy twist!
proftrefusis 1 year ago 4
@danbo1984 i know you wrote this 3 years ago,but i was wondering if you still have scripts and if yes,you might send them to me.??
thank you.
DendonYaseen 1 year ago
@DendonYaseen hello mate, got your message! go to h ttp :// hodgers. com/ abitoffryandlaurie/ - all the scripts for all four series are there.
danbo1984 1 year ago
what is Stephen Fry arguing about?
caitlynnn100 1 year ago
@caitlynnn100
initially he's saying whether Hitler's words would have worked in England because of the nature of the English language or whether the nature of the English people would resist, or whether in fact the nature of the English people is a result of our language or the other way round. Then he's saying basically language is amazing because we can come up with new combinations of words again and again and again and produce poetry.
noradosmith 1 year ago
Unfortunately we've found of late that English (as spoken in america) is perfectly capabbbbble of supporting demagoguery... :-(
randyhelzerman 1 year ago 6
Fry looks like a vulcan. Live long and prosper guys ! :))
ghostdome 1 year ago 3
fry needs a haircut.
handelsme 1 year ago
This is my favorite sketch among all 4 seasons. The first time I watched it, I literally had tears in my eye from laughing so much
Hornet85 1 year ago
wooo! i live in dorset! go stephen fry is a legend
TaskMaster619 1 year ago
I don't think this is funny, I actually thought it was very interesting an educating. I find myself spending two minutes with a dictionary after Stephen Fry just says one sentence.
farizzal 1 year ago 3
@farizzal fry is,,in real life fasinated by language and words,,wat he dosnt know about different languages isnt worth knowing
parkyjjb 1 year ago
Britain kicks america in the teeth and america says thank you.
lamestguyintown 1 year ago 159
@lamestguyintown not really, America owns the media, and therefore the masses are controlled by America. The Internet and the mainstream media IS American.
farizzal 1 year ago
@farizzal The media I'm most familiar with is the BBC and newspapers like the Guardian and the Telegraph. Are they American? Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think they are.
guglielmobelis 1 year ago
@guglielmobelis have you heard of Michael Jackson? CNN? Any famous Hollywood movie or TV Show? That's all American. And that kind of media is worldwide, more so than BBC or the Guardian, although those are respectable sources as well.
farizzal 1 year ago
@farizzal My point wasn't that the BBC or the Guardian are the only sources of media. My point was that not everyone is influenced by America, and, more often than not, the ones who are are, franky, philistines. I can only speak for myself but my favourite musical artists are Foals and Mumford & Sons (both British,) my favourite television programmes are Have I Got News For You, QI, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Mock the Week (all British.) One of my favourite films is Léon, (which is French.)
guglielmobelis 1 year ago
@farizzal I'm not saying America doesn't influence me at all, because I like Family Guy and another one of my favourite musical artists is a man called Justin Vernon, and I bet a lot of my other favourite films are American, but it just isn't the case that America are the kings of everything. Frankly, they put out a hell of a lot more shite things than good things.
guglielmobelis 1 year ago
@farizzal By the way, when I said "not everyone is influenced by America", I meant to say "not everyone is solely influenced by America", or something along those lines.
guglielmobelis 1 year ago
@guglielmobelis I didn't say we were kings of everything, I am not proud of most of the stuff that America churns out. And lol, those are some of my fav shows too, I have more favorite British Celebs than American ones. The best bands in all of history are English. But unfortunately, the mainstream media IS American. Lady Gaga and all that bullshit. My response was towards some guy that said "Britain kicks america in the teeth and america says thank you." If you ask someone if they prefer to
farizzal 1 year ago
@guglielmobelis star in a British film or an American one its american. Oscar or Bafta? Oscar. Hollywood or London? Hollywood. All I am saying is that America is the media mogul in the world, this was in response to that guy that said the comment I showed you earlier.
farizzal 1 year ago
@farizzal Yeah, I understand why someone would be offended by that sort of comment and would want to defend their country and point out the silver lining. And obviously the most coveted award is an Oscar. The big money is in Hollywood but that doesn't equate to the best films, have you ever seen the film 2012? Absolute pile of horse shit. There are many good things about America, but the list of things wrong with America is so very big that it becomes very easy to forget that.
guglielmobelis 1 year ago
@guglielmobelis yea, that is pretty much how America is, we have the best of things but we also have the worst of things.
farizzal 1 year ago
@farizzal sorry your statement is full of inaccuracies. Firstly media relates to music, film, marketing and advertising. Lets look at facts. Biggest media mogul-Rupert Murdoch is Australian, not american. America hasn't been the biggest film producer since the 70's when it was in FACT taken over by India. Spanish is the second spoken native language after mandarin which is Chinese and would be presumably ignorant to think these countries don't have bigger media industries.
swoffer 1 year ago
@swoffer uhm....you can talk stats all you want. But Mandarin stays in China. American media (Hollywood, as well as music such as the crap like Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga) That shit is worldwide. People don't talk about Jay Chou as much as these people. Maybe Bollywood makes the most films, but American films have more influence. Seriously, I have been to many foreign countries and American pop music is extremely popular everywhere.
farizzal 1 year ago
@farizzal You should be very careful using the word 'everywhere' or anything with 'every' in it, like most Americans should. While, in our media English is prevalent, American pop culture is definitely not dominant over our own.
arienh4 1 year ago
@swoffer also, R.M being aussie doesnt mean anything. Corporations have no nationality, they go where the profits are thats it.
farizzal 1 year ago
@farizzal America does not own the media??? What ARE you talking about? Sweeping comments don't make sense. And from your comments, American stuff IS famous around the world but then again, so is British stuff and I'm pretty sure most of the stuff from other countries too. France is famed for its food & wine, Germany for its engineering, China for making most of the products in the world...No one country owns the media though. That is a ridiculous comment.
Rachiejane1 1 year ago
@Rachiejane1 OBVIOUSLY they don't I was just saying that they virtually own the media, since they have such profound influence over it, in the same way a majority shareholder virtually owns the company, though technically he/she doesn't.
farizzal 1 year ago
@lamestguyintown SIKE
mwhawley 1 year ago
@lamestguyintown
Wow, I must say, you really ARE the lamest guy in town.
CoolDude8675309 1 year ago
@lamestguyintown Canada says sorry.
Anarchemitis 1 year ago
@lamestguyintown - that's the advantage of not having crooked teeth, you can still talk even with a mouthful
MrCienciafiction 1 year ago
@MrCienciafiction your gay fantasies disgust me
stig781 1 year ago
@lamestguyintown america declares independence and beats the world's most powerful nation.
HamBurglerMan 1 year ago
@lamestguyintown becuse at this most dryry of times in the US we need to be kicked in the teeth to help us remeber to not act like dicks
GabeoG 1 year ago
@lamestguyintown And then sends them the bill for the dentist :P
Forkez 1 year ago
This is hilarious and everything but actually really interesting/educational!
OmgitsNeens 1 year ago 2
If you like this, try to get a recording of the radio show Saturdy Night Fry. It is quite possibly the most closely written thing he ever did.
wid85 1 year ago
if it wasnt for hugh i would have no idea what Stephen is talking about. lol its funny but confusing
ZeroTolerance4BS 1 year ago
lmao
wtf is this
i like it =]
LadyBeex3 1 year ago
ha ha. Someone should post a link to the actual Magee interviews ... a you tube gem and so is this.
rchlboyd 1 year ago
That is a truly wonderful sketch. Stephen Fry is one of the most creative people in television today, I believe.
ForwardN2Unknown 1 year ago 3
just amazing. I can listen to him talk all day.
rudolph502 1 year ago 5
How does he memorize it all?????
EdjeBos 1 year ago
@EdjeBos I know this off by heart :)
Emzo99 1 year ago
@Emzo99 How long did it take you to achieve?
EdjeBos 1 year ago
@EdjeBos it actually took me like three hours looking at it and listening to it solidly... I have no life :L
Emzo99 1 year ago
@Emzo99 lol But nice effort. Nobody can say you've done nothing with your life.. :)
EdjeBos 1 year ago
@EdjeBos aha yes ive always got /something/ to show for it :P
Emzo99 1 year ago
2:20
:) ah, this man is an utter genius
Blossom2k8 1 year ago
one of my favourite shows...i'll watch anything with either of these two in it...
5starcomment 1 year ago
The last minute is a wonderful assonance!
SunshineInWoods 1 year ago
Simply orgasmifuckingtastc. I just add a new word to the ever expanding repitoir of the English language, btw. Oh the possibilites, possibilities abound. Note that.
Karmara7 1 year ago
Obviously reminiscent of Beyond the Fringe's Oxford Philosophy sketch with Jonathan Miller and Alan Bennett except this is done as a chat show. Fray and Laurie are terrific comedians and brilliant performers. Products of Cambridge Footlights which has become a pathway to showbiz in England. Beautifully verbose sketch.
MultiSmartass1 1 year ago
Most of this is actually a perfectly valid linguistic discussion... with a laugh track tacked on. 2:15 -- 2:40 is a completely valid statement with a perfect illustration. He is, in fact, demonstrating the thing which distinguishes human language from animal communication-- the ability to produce infinite unique sentences.
Examples from my Linguistics text book:
"Colorless green ideas sleep furiously."
"Ida saw something sinister."
"Noam died in agony."
"My cat thinks you are crazy."
minetruly 1 year ago 2
@minetruly I think you're right. Reminds me of books by Chomsky I have flipped through.
MultiSmartass1 1 year ago
This .... is ... awesome.
RodRinehart 1 year ago 2
This has been flagged as spam show
i hate this nation so i am happy. lol you have voted for the LIB/LAB boys in such numbers that your new PM Cameron will find it almost impossible to begin cutting the deficit, now bigger than Greece's, and he will probaby find it impossibe to halt the tide of the half a million immigrants that your labour government has been leeting in each year. he has not even majority. lol he also has no chance of giving power to the people by bringing a law in stopping surrender of uk power to the EU. lol
bigscolari 1 year ago
Hahahaha...
LovingLifeandWords 1 year ago
At 0:52 it sounds more like "hitlerian styles".
elpresley 1 year ago
Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, the quintessential english gentlemen!!!! Love you guys!!!!!! Brits rock!!!!!!!!!!!
neymason 1 year ago 4
just laugh^^
crazybyjohncusack93 1 year ago