RIP John Bird. A true genius .I used to love you both chuckling with laughter via your eyes. Thank you for the happy moments you gave me. RIP you amazing chap , 💞😘
Absolutely agree. John Fortune equally formidable and an inspired comedian. Nothing of comparable genius has emerged since. Mrs Brown's Boys being the zenith of today's comedic skill and woke satire.
"My tank has seized up, the rotor blades have fallen off the helicopter, the gun has caught fire, my rifle is jammed and my boots are melting. I'll await further instructions."
This is so accurate! I used to watch this as a child, then I grew up and joined the British Army, became a helicopter crewman and then crashed after one I was in blew up during a flight in Northern Europe. I should have taken his advice about getting in one.
I used to laugh so much at the two Johns on Rory Bremner's show. So, you can imagine my delight when I was cast in a play they both were in and we played for 3 months in Toronto. They were as funny off camera as on.
What two brilliant men my regret is that I did not appreciate how outstanding they were when I was younger. There is no better humour that Britsh humour and these two are outstanding examples. As an Irish man I would love to see see something like them today. Not a month passes by that I don't watch them and they really cheer me up. TG for both of them
The Challenger tank. It's a formidable fighting weapon, especially if it can move around. Priceless gems from the writers and masterfully delivered by Bird and Fortune.
Seems only recently we were all laughing at the 'George Parr' interviews and in the blink of an eye both these extremely funny men gone forever. Man indeed 'hath but a short time to live'. RIP Bird and Fortune.
Absolutely brilliant, I have not laughed out loud as I have just done watching this for ages, possibly years. Decided to remind my self of how good John Bird was in honour and memory, learning today he passed away. Having been in the military and actually came across senior officers as John Bird played and the wonderful lines he had in response to John Fortune not only were they both hysterically funny but the truth of what happen back then and still does in regard to total incompetence in both political and military absurd decisions - made for such relevant and perfect 'satire'. John Bird you will be sadly missed.
I watch this every time I need to cheer up…..it never fails to amuse me….absolute brilliant delivery…..priceless comedy rest in peace gentleman….you were special.
The wonderful John Bird will be SO much missed, bless him. And this duo are just the best, as others have said, they are still sharp, clever and relevant - we deserve some re-runs, I think. They still make me laugh out loud - they've nailed the idiocy, and the false, corrupt, idle, hypocrisy of especially the current crop of politicians
Did you seriously just say that the greatest irony is that the British have the most experience when it comes to desert warfare?!? Was this a joke or does irony mean something different "across the pond" or was this maybe some of that "world renown" and "super hilarious" dry British humor that I always hear so much about that just went right over my head? Or was what you really meant to say that the British have the most experience when it comes to desert warfare out of all of the Anglo (white) military forces? I am pretty sure that countries that are actually located in, and surrounded by deserts, who have fought 100% of their wars using nothing but "desert warfare", and that have militaries which are made up almost entirely of troops who actually grew up in deserts, would have the most experience in desert warfare but maybe I'm wrong. Spoiler alert, I'm not haha. What other utter nonsense do you believe to be true? Do you think that the Germans have the most experience when it comes to using swords in battles? As opposed to any of the Asian countries that have actually used swords in battle for hundreds of years prior to Germany or other nations. Did you watch The Samurai with Tom Cruise's white ass one too many times and now you believe that the best Samurais throughout history were white guys? Do you think that the Canadian army is the strongest army on the planet? Do you think that Poland has the largest navy in the world? Do you also believe that Somalia has the most technologically advanced space program of any nation? Do you believe that the United States has the lowest military budget of any nation? Or that the U.S. has the most competent leadership of any country at this current moment in history? Lol. I'm just curious to see how many other purely asinine and factually inaccurate beliefs you have other than your belief about the vastly superior experience of the British military when it comes to desert warfare lol. ;) I mean the British do have the most experience of any nation when it comes to one particular topic, but it surely is NOT in desert warfare. Now if you had changed your sentence to "the irony of the British cracking down on heroin sales in recent years is that the British have by far the most experience of any nation when it comes to the transport and sale of massive quantities of opium products to the rest of the world to essentially fund the growth and development of their nation" I would obviously have to agree with you since I have read a bit about the East India Trading Company. However, I am near certain that the British do not even make it into the top 10 countries in terms of desert warfare experience. Although I will concede that the British do in fact have a higher rate of success in desert warfare than they have against, oh I don't know, warfare vs the United States of America hehe. Even though I don't know the exact percentage of wars that the British have won in deserts I can safely make that statement since I assume they have won more than 0% of the desert wars they have fought in. So as long as the British have a win rate higher than 0% in the desert wars they have fought in my statement is accurate, since they still have that awful 0 - 1 record for wars fought against the U.S.A. lol. ;)
@@boredmisfit7725 In that whole pointless massive rant you forgot the fact that no other country actually has had as much experience as britian when it comes to modern warfare in the desert. None of the desert countries have had a large conventional modern equipped war against eachother. Their fighters may have grown up there, but have they been flying war planes and driving tanks around the desert? Absolutely not. Sure loads of other countries have done more fighting over the ages in the desert but name me 1 example of desert warfare In recent history that was anywhere near the scale of Britain vs Germany ww2.
Very sad to lose John, but at least we have all these great sketches to enjoy. I recall one which made me just ache with laughter - Can anyone help me find it? JF was being George Parr, and at one point his character just couldn't answer the question at all. He was asked the same simple question 3 times and he just stared open-mouthed at JB, completely speechless and dumb-struck (the point being that his character hadn't even considered this question might arise). It was masterful. I'd love to see it again...
John Bird died on Christmas Eve this year. He was a British satirist known for anti establishment comedy. When you get time i would suggest you watch "Bird and Fortune -Iraq" .
I love Bird and Fortune. They were always right in highlighting (in their own amusing way) the totally catastrophic failures of the government. Oh, what a shambles...😢
Everything they said here was true and based on fact. John Bird and John Fortune along with Rory did extensive research including getting MoD facts and research. So nothing said here was a lie, everything they said was factually true
I was a Navy Loggie in Oman for the exercise in 2001. This sketch is hilarious and would be appreciated by most of those out there. On the Comms side we had to phone London to get connected to a ship we could see. The whole exercise was a wake up call! Things were much better later.
True, the Ptarmigan doesn't work here..but it doesn't work anywhere else either. Fortune's feed lines were just as droll as Bird's punchlines - the timing exquisite. Both missed.
