Added: 3 years ago
From: BBCWorldwide
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  • is it strange that i did not understand a thing they said?

  • @goldensurfboard yes it is stange, you must be especially stupid.

  • @GayforJackSteadman, why, because they're a nation of 260 million fucking morons? Yes, you are correct, I agree with you. Twunt.

  • Fry's the smuggest git of all!

  • Rest in peace Rob

  • Absolutely hilarious piss take of the late Robert Robinson, may he rest in peace.

  • r i p

  • RIP Robert Robinson

  • ADVERTS FUCK OFF

  • Ads are a little out of date. They're still running ones for the forth of July!

  • Stephen Fry makes Robert Robinson look humble.....Fry is total smells his own farts

  • @stephhe Fucking inspiring.

  • I am a Human And I think Stephen Fry is one of the greatest humorists ever.

  • ..and of course.. in the inevitable ironic way of these things, Mr Fry has himself become insufferably smug behind the mask of his artful self-deprecaction.

  • why would anybody assume that somebody watching a Bit of Fry and laurie would EVER want to buy bloody KFC chicken? What a stupid advert.

  • @ahtaimo could really go for a bucket of chicken right now

  • @ahtaimo Did you know that "the colonel" has been very popular in Britain for years? They love those seven secret herbs and spices. The KFC UK Facebook page has like 16000 "friends", whatever that means.

    That being said, you do realize that not everyone gets the same ad, right? I was given a Blackberry Tablet ad. They probably aimed a cheap-ass commercial at you when they saw that you are from Canada. Seriously though, try to act like you got some smarts.

  • @mugwump666 I saw "The Hangover pt 2" trailer ;)

  • I just noticed that the signs behind them have 5 sides...geometry fail? Or smug win?

  • @P1votG33k

    It looks like they have three sides. Maybe they have two signs for each side which they switch during the "switching the bag inside out" part. (Note how long the cameras are aimed at the duo in that bit, with the signs out of the picture.)

  • This is why Americans make fun of British comedy.

  • Y'knoq, I'd probably watch this if it was on tv XD

    ...wouldn't put it past the BBC either....

  • Successful troll is successful

  • Damn, this was so good that it was extremely difficult to watch - these guys are comic geniuses. They should do another reunion.

  • a man who influenced a generation so much can do, and be, whatever the hell he likes in my book, Stephen Fry is ace, QI is funny and stimulating. : )

  • I don't understand a thing they say, I know the words but what the hell is going on I do not... (not native English speaker)

  • i bet that wouldve been hilarious if i got it or understood any of the words

  • Circumbobulate!!

  • This clip is from a long-distant era on the BBC, before Hugh Laurie turned into an American (I can't take House seriously but good luck to him) and Stephen Fry did his disappearing act in the mid 90s. Tragic to think that Fry has turned into a kind of 21st Century Robert Robinson on that rather pedantic & nasty show QI. He hasn't been funny or entertaining for a long time but the old boy network will get you a job somewhere. Robert R was quite funny in his own dry way in the 70s.

  • @dutchgoing Unfortunately, what you wrote about Fry is true; even though his many worshipping acolytes (who desperately mimic his writing style when commenting fawningly on his websites) will try to tar and feather anyone saying it. I still find Fry personable enough, but he's been really coasting for a while.

  • @dutchgoing Oh dear god, I feel so sorry for you. Yes attack Mr Fry for being published, directing, acting etc when your greatest achievement is attacking him on You Tube...Mr Fry beware! There is a challenge to your intellect by one who goes by the name of dutchgoing...jealous much?

  • @hornetgags He hasn't been funny or remotely entertaining since 1995 I'm afraid. If you enjoy QI and think any programme with Essex-boy Alan Davies in it is 'intellectual' then you need to raise your standards a bit about this nasty sad pedant-fest. Fry can't do travelogues, he's a closed personality who does not engage well at all and his 'acting' reminds me of a dry dull sardonic middle-aged man called Stephen Fry. He was washed-up a long long time ago, but is a sacred cow at the BBC.

  • @dutchgoing And what have you done? It's so easy to attack isn't it? So instead of pouring vitriol on someone who the larger majority of civilisation find entertaining and informed, do something about it yourself. If you are capable of critiquing Mr Fry, put your energy into surpassing his success, not attacking him on You Tube as you come across as vitriolic and extremely bitter and your argument does not hold water. However, you are entitled to your unfounded, misguided and prejudiced opinion.

  • @hornetgags What on earth is the 'larger majority of civilisation'? I think you have delusions of self-importance. Fry is a fat boring dull ageing old queen who isn't very good at documentaries & hosts a tedious quiz show & tells us he likes Abba & a bit of Led Zep. He was terribly funny in the 80s but he's long long long past his sell-by date. Look how upset you got because you NEVER achieved anything and used poor Stephen to HURL your inadequacy at me. You're a devoted but SCARY fan..lol.

  • @dutchgoing I agree that QI isn't intellectual, but it doesn't sell itself that way anyway. It's a trivia quiz show that happens to be hosted by Stephen Fry, who is a lover of language. He's still got a brilliant way with impressions and is sharp as a tack. Not many other people have been on television as long as he has and still maintain their appeal. And he may not be the smartest man ever (he's not keen on people calling him "smart" anyway) but I don't think its any bad thing he's still on TV

  • @jdhathrisen Thanks for the reasonable analysis there. Is it not ironic that Fry has turned into a bit a Robert Robinson? QI is distinctly geeky and Fry really can't do documentary. All that is left is acting, where he plays a parody of Stephen Fry. He should have stopped years ago but he has his oxbridge friends at the BBC just like Gervais and Brand have friends at Channel 4. He isn't nearly as good as he was.

  • QI hasn't changed much

  • So that's where they got the formula for QI then.

  • I want a bell like that! x'D

  • i love these two but i think this was the most painful sketch ive ever seen

  • We should introduce them to the Rob Bisons! They're swell fellows.

  • @frostek Of course, since Google took over we're now inundated with adverts on YouTube. Why, though, does this video, and other BBC videos, have an advert as a matter of course, when others only randomly have them?

  • @evildave9000 If you're using Firefox then install Adblock Plus - I have and I've just watched this video without a single ad popping up.

  • @bathamsbottom Sweet! Thanks for the advice mate - works like a charm. (Also there's a version for Google Chrome)

  • @evildave9000 You're welcome

  • I'm old enough to remember Ask the Family (as a youngun!) and this sketch had me rolling on the floor when it came out.

    I Never really understood the point of ATF at the time, but now I'm older having seen clips of RR in his prime.....yeah, I was clever when I was younger!

  • "You must be Dr. House"

  • He he he, I hate smug wankers, and I see them everywhere. They should do a smug internet comments sketch, there is plently for them to take from. Ahhh, would that it were, would that it were.

  • i forgot to piss before watching this

  • @NinjaJedi11

    It's been two months. You should probably go now.

  • Why do I pay my licence fee if I have to watch an advert for a BBC video???

  • @evildave9000 It's BBCWorldwide, not BBC, so it's not that odd - the rest of the world doesn't pay the license fee. I'm pretty sure the BBC youtube doesn't have ads but isn't accessible from outside the UK, if that helps make you feel more smug. I know it did for me.

  • @evildave9000 - Youtube adds the adverts, not the BBC. Take it up with them.

  • @frostek Wrong.

  • CARSHALTON BEECHES IS NEAR SUTTON SURREY ENGLAND

  • i hate when the queue gets in the way of the play button , and then you click that and FUCK REBOMBOMLINg dinosaur GENItals ! another page starts loading.

  • this was amazing! fry's robinson was so great :)

  • They would not put on a programme on like Ask the Family, the state education system is so dumbed down to the level of a five year old.

  • Comment removed

  • What the fuck is goin on!?!?

  • @iburnedthedinner If you don´t know who Robert Robinson is, it can´t be explained to you. Sorry

  • @yatter1 I just watched a video of the original man himself. This suddenly makes sense now haha

  • @iburnedthedinner Bloody good stuff huh?

  • Being not a native English speaker I have troubles understanding what they're saying here and there. Are there any transcriptions I could look at?

    BTW. it's hilarious, they're parodying R. R. quite well :-)

  • Looks like stephen has become the thing he hates on QI...

  • That's awful LOL! ha! ha! Poor Robert! I loved him in the 70's and this is so funny!

  • Definite radio 4 references in this...

  • Yeah... the thing is, if there were more gentle (albeit smug) intellectuals and less rabid, solipsistic, fanatically self convinced nutters in the world, it would probably be a much nicer place to live in.

  • @

    True, but much less people to make fun of :-)

  • @ishtarg8 Would that it were

  • @ishtarg8 Yes, because it certainly aren't the regular people that are to blame, encompassing 99.9% of the population. You make a strong case, sir.

  • "...but ah, hish, bish, starp and trivock..." Why does that make me laugh my arse off every time?

  • "...but ah, hish, bish, starp and trivock..." Why does that make me laugh my arse off every time?

  • No-one disses my homeboy mac-daddy G Robert Robinson and lives...word!

  • I wish there was this calibre of comedy was still being produced.

    Would that it were...

  • @Willwillwritehiswill

    WellWill-IhopeItwill

  • Are they based on a real person?

  • @Otody There really is a Robert Robinson.

  • Haaaa, would that it were...

  • I'm old enough to remember Robert Robertson hosting "Call My Bluff" and they have him to a tee here! Very funny and very accurate from both of them!

  • ah yes would that it were dear viewers of her majesties british broadcasting corporation would that it were

  • hahahahahahhahaha

  • What might not be appreciated nowadays is that they're doing pretty good impressions of Robert Robinson, host of Ask the family and Call my Bluff in the 1970s.

  • If I could, I would grow a penis for Stephen Fry. *sigh*

  • or you could just buy a strap on ?!!!

  • @02womble I fear that a strap-on would be insufficient inducement for Stephen Fry to get it on with a lady. Would that it were, would that it were.

  • @CinnabarCrevice

    ......

  • @ZarabethS179 OMG, 26 people got there before me??

  • @ZarabethS179

    That has to be the weirdest idea I've ever read.

  • @ZarabethS179 I've got one - you can have it for 4 and 6.

  • odd.

  • Though a classic sketch, this is seldom featured among the "repeats" on Mr Logie Baird's celebrated televisual device, alas. Would that it were, would that it were.

  • @jonno52 Ah, yes. Pish and tibble.

  • the producers of 'frasier' must of seen this clip.

  • people who dont find this funny are obviously just watching it now. You have to remember it came out years ago when london was a very serious place so the humour of the era was often silly and didnt make sense.

  • This reminds me of Padlockrigami (sp) from that Mitchell and Webb look.

  • LOL! "sod off"

  • I am an American And I think Stephen Fry is one of the greatest humorists ever.

  • @marlinus64

    I am an Englishman. I like your cartman very much. How you say? "Hands across the ocean"

  • You may be american, but Stephen Fry is British so he would describe himself as a HUMOURIST not a HUMORIST. Would that he were American, would that he were..

  • @stingy1sam Would that he were, would that he were.

  • they are a bit repetetive this sketch is very mutch alike the one they did about the rodhes boysons caled introducing vocabulary sketch

  • @azoresnightfever, it's one of their categories of sketches, where they play essentially (or exactly) the same character to each other in order to highlight the absurdity of what they're mocking without having "explain" it. I don't see it as being repetitive so much as bringing back a sketch or kind of sketch. Just a recurring plot, like John & Peter's health club, or Tony and Control. Or those sketches where Hugh is the bewildered customer trying to understand Stephen's inane turns of phrase.

  • yes i understand it, and i actually like it but the pythons ( that in my opinion are the best comedy group in the world) also had there category of sketches and you dont watch one and say well this is precisely the same as that other sketch not counting the `and now for something completely different´ because its their catch frase. well but you showed a good point in a totally non trolish way you deserve a green thumb

  • my god it's too fast, I need a transcription here ;)

  • Excellent sketch. Not many Americans find this kind of more "polished" humor very humorous. snowballeffect made this quite evident with his moronic comment.

  • I must've missed something. Is snowballeffect an American--or simply assumed by you to be one?

    I would argue that there has always been enough of a demand to sustain such better stuff, but that, between the broadcasters and Fifth Avenue advertisers, cheap programming (with negligible writing) have colluded to limit what's offered to Americans. Quickly produced, forgettable, shoddy goods.

    I'm from the USA, and love ABoF&L. 'Tis a pity that more PBS stations haven't broadcast this good stuff.

  • @peregrinusnoctis, I suppose I assumed he was American by his use of, or rather the misuse of the English language.

    I do not think that the "demand" you speak of is going to be around much longer. MTV has helped see to that.

    I can always find entertainment in PBS, Frasier, Seinfeld, etc... . American media generally lacks my need for witty, droll humor, except for the above mentioned American programs.

  • Im an American and I find this hilarious

  • @bbBumble28, or you are an intelligent American, which is why you find this funny. Most Americans do not really understand the droll style of the Brits. This is a really hilarious bit though.

  • @bbBumble28 This is a send up of a programe called "Call my Bluff Robert Robinson" it is on you tube.

  • Two good friends, having fun together...and throwing themselves into it.

    Thanks, Fry and Laurie :)

  • This reminds me of Niles on Frasier. :P Love it!

  • reminds me of the two ronnies

  • "would that it were" Haha, i remember Stephen said that in QI and Phil Jupitus was laughing at him.

    And look at him here taking the piss out of it!

  • The reason Phil Jupitus was laughing in QI, was because he knew that Stephen was parodying Robert Robinson, as here. AAHH but pish tosh, would that it were - would that it were..

  • @sharkey4123 Or rather, the other way round of course.

  • @sharkey4123 You do know this is.... rather old, no?

  • @Rigela

    Yes.

  • @Rigela

    And sketches stop being funny if they get too old?

  • @sharkey4123

    He was obviously still taking the piss out of it on QI too.

  • @sharkey4123 Mr Fry says lots of things in QI that are references to F&L. He was repeating in QI the same thing that made him laugh when they were writing this sketch.

  • @sharkey4123 Then someone (I think Alan) said 'the Robert Robertsons' xD

  • The Fry Robinson is quite uncanny.

  • "would that it were", which does indeed mean "if only it were so", is a characteristic of Mr Robert Robinson's delightful mode of speech, so precise and correct it makes most of us squirm in embarrassment at our own feeble efforts. If you are not familiar with Robert Robinson's television or radio presenting style, this sketch will make virtually no sense to you, as it gently but relentlessly mocks in turn many aspects of that.

  • "And an extra mark for being so clever!" *Ding

  • reminds me of QI

  • Yeah - it's QI!

  • I think it's taking the piss from Call My Bluff, a terrible daytime gameshow where people talk smugly about weird words.

  • @Pikatroid42 fuck you i was watching it i know what he said

  • looks like fucking michael howard!

  • Haha! That made me actually laugh out loud.

  • Somehow, I feel like I just watched an elderly Frasier and Nyles in some future reunion special.

  • hahaha, yeah similar stuff

    but i like frasier as well as i like these two

  • Phil Jupitus quotes the "Would tht it were line" in QI

  • This could well be QI, lol.

  • what did they say at 0:20?

  • - "And an extra point for being so clever!"

    - "Would that it were, would that it were..."

    - "Ah, indeed, would that it were, Mr. /didn't quite catch that name/, would that it were..."

  • thanks man.

    i'm not native in english but that 'would that it were' makes no sense kind of. right?

  • culpritto: Actually it means "If only it were so" or "If only..." It's just that it's got a rather old-fashioned ring to it. (I hope I'm not mistaken, being no native speaker myself...:-))

  • sounds alright.

    thanks

  • He's using the word "would" in the old way, to mean "wish" so "would that it were" means "I wish it were so"

  • OK guys, I'm a "native speaker" (which is such an odd phrase). Would that it were DOES mean "I wish it would be" or "if only/if only it were"

  • yeah it's almost a Shakespearean way of talking

  • Hish, Bish, Starp and Trivock...

  • Brilliantly random :)

  • Its this sketch a spoof of a show in Britain? Never heard the expression nish, tusuck etc.

  • I think it's loosely based on Call My Bluff which was presented by Robert Robinson, hence where they get it from! /watch?v=HoiKoIZ7wwo

  • crazypianolady, I see what you mean.

  • would that it were....would that it were

  • Nish, Tusuck, Flip and Fourpence XD XD would that it were, would that it were

    genius sketch ^_^

  • lmao gasbag... lol sod off...

  • this sketch is genious... but why? 0_o

  • It's spelt genius....ish.

  • cuz it english! ^^

  • ahahahhahaha.

    brilliant;)

  • Brilliant sketch. Did Fry and Laurie remind anyone else of Frasier and Niles Crane in that make-up?

  • Now that ye mention it yeah i can see a resmblence.

  • They look a bot too old for that, don't you think?

  • YES!

  • the words behind them said it all xD

  • it might be just be...but with that makeup Stephen reminds me greatly of the Tory Michael Howard!

  • I thought the very same. I was waiting for him to say, "Are you thinking what we're thinking?"

  • For all of you young people and, nay, non BBC2 viewers in days of old, and non BBC 4 listeners, I just say this: "Tsk, tsk,You had to be there". Pure genius.

  • House is a great character ... he's hawkeye pierce without the moral posturing... his early comedy work was impressive tho as well... talented man

  • I wish I got what is so funny about this sketch...

  • I wish you did too.

  • Females on youtube...wtf.

  • haha awesome.

    and nope. not a clue. =/

  • With hindsight, it's a bit odd to see Stephen taking the piss out of smug, know-it-all quizshow hosts. But it's probably done with love and respect. And he is still brilliant on QI.

  • Actually, Stephen has made references to this on QI. I can't be bothered to find the clips, but he does say both "Hush, tish and pibble" and "Would that it were" somewhere. I found that pretty entertaining.

  • I'm just pointing out that some people might see this as hypocritical these days. I don't agree with it. As you say, he has been egged on to do his Robert Robinson a couple of times on QI, which does br