This sketch sums up my Catholic parents - so terrified of their own bodies, they won't even say the word out loud. I never got a "talk" - had to figure it out myself. All thanks to "family values" such as ignorance, fear and blind traditionalism.
HA HA... I know how you feel....We had a video about it in school...went home and told my parents...they grounded me for a week for talking about it...and wrote a letter to the school....
I cannot describe how brilliant I think this is. Its one of the greatest sketches I've ever seen. The kid does a great job and Fry and Laurie are so incredible...so many quotable lines that I'm not going to spoil. Just awesome.
Reminds me of what Craig Ferguson (a good friend of these two geniuses, by the way) said about sex education in 70s Scotland. It would go like this: "Pay attention, everyone. This is Mr. and Mrs. Toad. They're married! They were married in a church, by a Protestant minister!" (He also said, "Actually it's a fucking miracle that the Scottish people didn't die out in the Middle Ages!") ;)
The greatest example of what is happening today in American schools... coming from a British television program. Well played, BBC and Fry and Laurie, well played...
Carrie's mother also called breasts "naughty pillows" and she also thought she was dying when she had her first period (in a school shower) because of so called "sins". That's pretty much a lot similar.
"oh are you indeed, trying to teach him what? how to embarrass his parents, how to smack himself with heroin, what?"...one of the greatest quotes ever!!!!!!!! hugh laurie is a genius!!!
Somewhere I got the idea that Stephen was usually the comic and Hugh the straight man. Here we see quite clearly that Hugh got the laughs as often as not. What a couple of masters.
This, together with their 'Shop' sketches (shoes, jewellery, greetings card, hardware, model etc), make up some of the best comedy slices in earth's history ;o)
I love HOUSE. It's a drama, but Hugh Laurie is doing comedy half the time. His timing, etc. You couldn't have just a straight actor playing his role. It's just a different character and type of comedy. It's hilarious when it's not scary, insane, and dramatic. Love Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry and Ms. French.
I think Fry and Lauries style indeed influenced my Monty Python's Flying Circus, but not entirely. They have a flair, of an intellectual and sophisticated nature. Bravo!
And this becomes suddenly relevant, in light of people trying to ban the dictionary, because - gasp! - a child managed to look up the definition of 'oral sex' in it...
I LOVE How proper and defined and articulate the British language is. I am something like 59% British (scotch, welsh, and british, and then a quarter Polish, and some german). And I love hearing Brits speak. They're such masters of language imho. I didn't really see the humour in this one, though, except for when Fry was looking for a replaceent son in his desk drawers.
It's funny because Mr. Smear is a hyperbolic representation of people who actually exist and believe these things to some extent. For example, the idea that kids shouldn't be taught sex ed. These people are always right-wing (hence the reference to social welfare as something negative). This sketch simply exposes them for the idiots they are and even though it's old it's still relevant.
Blackadder basically follows the life of the main charactor called Blackadder, hence the title :) The first series is during the medieval times, the second during Elizabeth 1st, the third includes the Prince Regent, and the last is during the first world war. It stars Rowan Atkinson and is sooo hilarious!! I would definitely recommend it! :D
I think he's referring to the differences between learning the facts of it vs. learning sometimes muddled euphemisms. I went to school with a girl whose mother wouldn't allow her to attend health classes and didn't teach her about about feminine development. She genuinely thought there was something horribly wrong when she began developing breasts (which her mother referred to as "naughty pillows" and "sin bags"). [more]
Love them!! As for people who are surprised over seeing Hugh Laurie as someone other than House..this is British television that made him famous in the first place..*quality* British television
@EnigmaDrath Everytime Laurie is around Fry he slips out of that american accent he's worked so hard on, and back into that wonderful British accent again.