Exactly how funny can telephones, eggs, baths, windows, pictures, or boats be (outside of what now sounds like a language exercise)? I can tell you, when you watch “Sykes And A...” (1960 - 1965) and all the ensuing series featuring gentle comic master Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques in my favourite of her roles. Sykes treats deceptively simple premises with a playful fancy that takes him and everything/everyone around him into an infectiously joyful chaotic tumble. Richard Wattis and Deryck Guyler are great, great supporting straight men/comics to Eric who, maybe because of his partial deafness and blindness, brings such a magical balletic mime-like gift to his performance and to each episode (you can also see what I mean in his cameo in Spike Milligan’s “Invasion Quartet”).
I can enjoy its gentle muddling delight forever and if you’ve never seen it, I’d love if you watched the Bath episodes (black-and-white or in colour) for a lovely laugh c’: Xo
Comments
Post a Comment