Morecambe and Wise

Back in the day good ol' Joe at Magic Smoke would hear your cry for help in J-Land - such as the one that accompanied my tears as AOL still refuses to upload pics, despite trying three different computers and three different files - and come to the rescue.

Alas, no more.

So instead we will temporarily forget about the cool Valentines graphics and the neat shot of my girls all dolled up this morning, put aside the few serious text-heavy posts I have in the wings, and break character a bit.

 I present to you a Morecambe and Wise skit called 'The Breakfast Skit' that Jeannette over at Make 'em Laugh put on her blog the other day.

 

I'd never heard of the duo, and the fact that they're British is no excuse, as the local public television stations are in love with the BBC to an embarrassing degree and inundate us with all kinds of Brit programming, good, bad, and average.

 Jeannette, at my request, filled me in on some details. As the email contains nothing personal I'm going to reprint it here:

Morecambe and Wise were legendary over here. They had a weekly t.v. show where they did all sorts of sketches and skits.  They pulled in audiences of over twenty million a week which for a small place like the U.K. was phenomenal.

 

Their yearly Christmas special was a must see for everyone and pulled in around 40 million viewers.  Some of the biggest of our stars guested one their shows, they did a classic sketch with Andre Previn and send up of Singing in the Rain, Nothing like a dame all sorts.  Each week there was a small play what Ernie wrote.  That is what he used to say, we would like you to appear in a play that I wrote.  The play was always silly and was written to show of Eric’s comedy.

 

Eric was the tall one and he was the comic.  Ernie was the little one- as Eric used to say the “one with the short fat hairy legs” although Ernie could be a comic in his own right.  They also had a standing joke about Ernie wearing a toupee although he had his own hair. You would have to see a few of their shows to really appreciate them.

 

The stripper that you saw was one of their classics.  They rehearsed it for several hours but then did it in one take, some doing.

 

Eric had a coupe of heart attacks but could not give up the business.  Another heart attack killed him at the age of 58.  Ernie was heartbroken.  They had started their double act as teenagers.  Naturally he could not go on alone so he spent his remaining years appearing on talk shows and on panel games etc.

 

They are very much missed over here.

 

I am so glad that you enjoyed that sketch.  I think some types of humor appeal all over the world and you do not have to be British to enjoy it.

 

Thank you for asking about them.

 

Jeannette

Naw, thanks for introducing us to them. If this skit is any  indication, they're well worth a further look.

Tags: Morecambe and Wise