To Think That Morecambe & Wise Are Not Funny

[TheShellBeach]

Now that it's almost Christmas it reminds me that we watched Morecambe and Wise Christmas Specials every year when I was a child.

My parents thought they were funny but I always found them cringeworthy.
I just don't find them funny at all and I don't understand how anyone can enjoy them, not to mention wishing they were still around to make even more Christmas Specials.

I preferred the Two Ronnies over Morecambe and Wise though

Yes me too! Ronnie Barker was hilarious and my all-time favourite sitcom is Open all Hours. He made the show what it was. I can happily watch it over and over. I tried watching Still Open all Hours, but it felt flat and unfunny without Barker. Even David Jason as the new Arkwright couldn't make it work.

I think they were clever and good entertainers but very much of their time. I wouldn’t go out of my way to watch them now.

I feel less alone now.

I think I like it because it takes me back to my childhood - which lucky for me was a very happy one. So it’s mostly nostalgia for me…looking back to a time where life was just lovely and we’d spend time as a family watching and laughing together. I don’t find them hilarious but but there’s something about the familiarity of the bad jokes that does make me chuckle…not belly laugh mind…groan a bit perhaps…but overall feel good TV. I know that won’t be everyone experience.

Can I just say Ant and Dec? M&W wannabes. I adored them growing up in 1990s…they are just a year or two older than me. I loved them…now…I can’t bear to watch them AT ALL and find them horrendously cringe!

I saw Ken Dodd live a couple of times . His shows went on for hours . The joke was that he never let an audience go home . I was amazed by his ability to remember so many gags and to ad lib.

This. 👆

Google Dave Allen escaping POW.

You're welcome,

Who said that Ant & Dec are M&W wannabes? They are TV presenters.

Dave Allen gave me the creeps as a small child. He used to sit there drinking whisky and smoking IIRC. Dad thought he was very funny.

I hated Bob Monkhouse in the 70s. But this thing he said is hilarious: “When I told people I wanted to be a comedian, they laughed at me. Well, they’re not laughing now!” 😂

We were a Two Ronnies family. I think M&W were a bit too middle class for us🙂

My dad loved them mum couldn't stand them !

Saw the On the Buses film was on tv the other day. Clicked on for ten minutes which is as long as anyone can tolerate. Compared to this utter dross, which was dated and deeply unfunny when it was made 50 years ago and remains so, M&W were masters of comedy. At least they can still raise a smile for many.

Or the funeral party race sketch. Or the South African priest sketch. Dave Allen was a genius.

I never found them funny, but I loved The Two Ronnies.
Toby Le Rone ...

I think it's very much a generational thing, I associate them with my childhood. I think it's important not to judge these things with modern eyes but to see them as they are, very much of their time. They very cheesy, but still funny. My DDs don't find them funny, or the Two Ronnies or other programmes of that time. But my older DD loves Monty Python.

I'm with you OP. And who thought up Mrs Brown's Boys. Turd!

Also someone above mentioned Dad’s Army. That was classic. I enjoyed it as a child but it wasn’t until I was older that I was able to appreciate the social comedy - that while Captain Mainwaring was Sgt Wilson’s boss at the bank whete they worked and his commanding officer he resented the fact that Wilson was still his social superior. And as a child I didn’t realise Sgt Wilson was Pike’s mother’s boyfriend and that was why he kept calling him Uncle Arthur even on parade. And of course “Don’t tell him Pike”.

Also Porridge. Brilliant.

So you dont like Morecambe and Wise?
So sad, too bad but who cares?🤷‍♀️

People like different things. Who knew eh!!!

M&W were better to watch than Mike Yarwood who also always had a Christmas special. I still enjoy plenty of 'old sketch shows and sitcoms, George and Mildred, The Good Life even Steptoe.

This! I loved the scenes when they were in bed, Bert & Ernie exactly! 🙄

That was meant to be a laughing emoji not rolling eyes!!

‘Do you think people were sitting around watching 1920s silent movies in the 70s with the reverence we have for this?’
^^
‘Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton? Er.... well yes actually. Maybe only on a Sunday afternoon but yeah.’
^^
‘Was thinking the same... and Harold Lloyd etc ..’

Throw in some Marx Brothers & a bit of Keystone Kops.

Humour is subjective, there has never been a comedian that everyone finds funny.

Morecombe and Wise grew from a particular type of “end of the pier” style of entertainment that seems dated now but was hugely popular at the time. I remember loving them (but not as much as the Two Ronnies). Now they have huge nostalgia value, but there are some routines that hold up well.

I think Eric Morcombe would have been Vic Reeves if he was born a few years later.

I think it is interesting how sketch shows dated as well. For a while they seemed to be everywhere. I guess the format of short sketches moved online instead.

I never found them funny at all.
It always felt to me like a lot of people seemed to think they were funny because someone else told them they were.

Much better than what passes for humour today! Comedy died with woke.