Diane Morgan, Mandy, the biscuit factory sketch and the debt of honour comedians owe to Lucille Ball.

[Redheadedstepchild]

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz really did come up with some comedy firsts. I was watching the Diane Morgan biscuit factory skit and thought, "Where have I seen this before?"

It was Lucy and Ethel at the candy factory with the runaway conveyor belt. Then I thought of the grape tramping scene. Redone again and again. "The French Lesson" is Eddie Izzard's, "Ou est la plume de ma tante" almost word for word.

The out of control potter's wheel scenario - Lucille Ball.

Between herself and Desi - they really did invent the sitcom. The interlocking three set design, the live studio audience, the concept of the re-run.

The stick figure cartoons of Lucy and the gang gave Hanna Barbera their start. (Prototype Wilma Flintstone)

Clever person was our Lucille. Not to mention being very visibly pregnant onscreen at the age of 43! In those days! And writing the pregnancy into the script.

What a woman! She also produced Star Trek.

Just something I noticed. Might be better off in Telly Addicts or even Feminism but, y'know,

"I Love Lucy" And I hope you would like to at least get to know her work too.

I used to watch I Love Lucy in the 1950s, one of my favourite shows.

Edited to say it was the 50s, not 60s.
My memory isn't what it was obviously.

I Love Lucy played in syndication for decades in the US where I grew up. I remember the one where she does an advert for a ‘tonic’ that turns out to be mostly alcohol. It’s probably worth a rewatch for the costumes alone, she had such beautiful clothes.

Wasn’t Wilma Flintstone modelled on Alice from The Honeymooners? My grandparents watched that every night when we lived with them in the 70s and I have happy memories of sneaking out of bed to watch it from behind my grandfather’s enormous chair and getting caught.

Great thread, OP. I Love Lucy was on a lot during my early/middle childhood (born in 1967) and although I probably wouldn't watch it now, I remember the warmth I felt when it was on. (Which meant a lot, for reasons I won't go into.)

Good to know contemporary comedians are paying homage to a trailblazer like Lucille. Couldn't watch Mandy beyond the first episode, but loved Diane Morgan in Motherland. She's funny in her own right, but it's interesting to think she might have come across I Love Lucy too. Some comedy can be timeless, particularly physical comedy. It often gets us on an almost subliminal level.

Charlie Chaplin did the machine gone wrong skit first. Comedians building on their predecessors ideas is surely how it works. Just as music does, art, etc etc. Nothing exists in a vacuum.

Also a huge Lucy fan. She was a phenomenal comedian and doesn’t get mentioned enough these days. I have every episode on DVD.

You must mean Vitameatavegamin!