Control and Tony | A Bit Of Fry & Laurie | BBC Comedy Greats 

What pun? :)

@@YuriyDavygora Oh, wasn't there one? I'm sorry!

I bet when you put that you figured Fry and Laurie fans would get the joke, but instead you have a stream of people on your videos correcting the lack of pun...if you'll pardon the pun.

@@chattycathydoll the problem is trying to work out whether people are genuinely asking 'what pun' or if they're continuing the reference.

Totally!

Exactly that!

And the irony is how naturally they do it.

What do you two mean? This looks completely normal. There's none of the strange looks and inquiries about mental health I receive when I talk to people.

Nobody talks like this, I think that's the whole joke. If you talk like this you aren't normal

I'm sure my observations are by no means original, but here goes... The plots and dialogue are filled with the choicest cliches of classic spy literature. And the acting is deliberately amateurish: affected tone and delivery, awkward and self-conscious body language, atrocious timing, etc. Essentially, Fry and Laurie ARE acting masterfully, but the characters they're playing are not secret agents---the characters are themselves bad actors playing secret agents. And similarly, the writing is a masterly imitation of bad writing.

@@lame0471 you know what? I’ll take that explanation bro… all I know is that I’m in fits after watching these sketches, and if the universe finds it favorable that I ever meet Hugh Laurie or Stephen Fry, I will ask them about these sketches. They probably won’t tell as it’s their secret, but I tend to think you’re on the right track

@@alexpaulk2819 There’s another element to it that needs a bit of historical context. At the time this was filmed the Cold War was coming to an end, and it had come to light that British intelligence had been widely infiltrated by Soviet spies. These sketches are probably partly intended as a satire of the perceived incompetence and amateurishness of cold war-era British intelligence.

I remember reading somewhere that, in addition to everyone else's comments, these characters were also a counterpart to John and Peter, who took running a health club in Utoxeter so incredibly seriously - screaming DAMN at every possible bit of information. I think the pairs of characters were running gags in the same year of the Fry and Laurie show. Tony and Control would come and talk about Cold War spy issues like a bad educational film about hygiene, and then John and Peter were screaming about small business issues like the world was about to end.

This is probably a bad explanation but I remember someone saying that funny people saying things that aren’t necessarily funny will always be funny. People who aren’t funny saying funny things is not funny. This is an example of the former I think..

Literally.....

But with an Oxford-level syntax.

Haha that's so true

Could have just gone outside like us normal people, assuming you don't live in an already fascist country.

You know that coronavirus killed more Americans than actual fascists did in WW II, right? Actually more than them and the efforts of communists, the Kaiser and Islamic terrorists put together. Almost as if there were a real crisis ongoing.

There are 4 possibilities here : - He is lying - It's a tall tree - They got 6 floors underground Or it's just for comedy's sake

@@Panzer_Runner Top notch observation, chap. However, you may have missed another possible option. What say there was a balcony attached to said 7th floor, and upon said balcony there would be placed there a potted plant? Not much unlike a shrubbery.

@Aryan White Yes, but not too nice!

Unlimited budget, they had the trees raised up

It's a fake placed there to discourage suicide

Has to be Peter & John for me. DAAAAAMMMMNNN !!!!

No no, Control clearly explained the strange pacing was because of the pedometer he was wearing!

​@@ArrantPrac their plan worked this guy was listening 😂

Thanks for the context, it all makes sense now.

Golden Delicious? 🤣🤣🤣

John and Peter are great too.

@@st0rmforce Oh they totally are, but I just loved the way Stephen plays Control. So prim and proper.

That's the joke

@@samsowden I doubt that TES Oblivion was in fry and Lauries' minds when they wrote this.

No... Laurie's and Fry's humour are the finest.

You were never in Balkans it seems

British humor. The finest in the English language.

"Get you filthy hands off my filthy neck!"

I was just thinking the same thing :'D

Stop, you violated the law

A good cup of coffee would be the very thing to get us through this pandemic.

They were too busy heading UK's Brexit policy.

No, they're just excessively English

The TNTsheep In the ‘80s, apparently the UK got subjected to a spate of spy dramas that were ever so _Dark_ and _Gritty_ and _Intense_ and _Violent._ So these two thought they’d take the piss a bit, and write the lightest, bubbliest spy drama in the universe.

The joke is that these two are spies working for UK intel but it isn't clear whose side they actually serve, and it seems neither is sure the other is not a double agent or someone trying to find a double agent, and neither is sure the other might or might not share their loyalties. As a result, they speak as if every word was being recorded and must make their point painstakingly obvious in the most correct English possible. Both are really speaking for a third person secretly listening in who may or may not exist.

@@andrewsuryali8540 Brilliant summary!

@@andrewsuryali8540 that's not "the joke" at all, they aren't portraying spies, they are portraying horrible actors in a very poorly written tv show about spies.

More laurel and hardy

Are you comparing a genuinely funny sketch made by actually talented people to a terrible cartoon? Stop

@@walesdoesntsuck6635 or, uh, maybe both are good?

@@klop4228 Rick and Morty is trash and so are the redditors who like it

@@walesdoesntsuck6635 or it's a matter of opinion and it's just not your thing

Not to mention the fact that they’re two British men performing for a live British audience 😂

@@alexpaulk2819 Yes that is what the commenter is trying to comment on, I believe. That is, that the “American” declaration is a touch of a double standard, seeing as how the audience here behaves.

Minus the cackling,

Эдуард, это Английское чувство юмора

Why does everything have to come back to this when it’s just Not True?? Like- it must really suck to have everything ruined for you by watching comedy and thinking “Grrr I’m so angry at the hypothetical people that I’m imagining would be angry at this”

@@BigKicksMix Oh, its not true is it ?! phew, thanks for putting my mind at ease. I'll go and watch the new Dr. who then. few hours later... (Click... bang... thud)

@@princeofruins3287 doctor who sucks because of Chipnull's writing sucks. Go whine somewhere else

I'm afraid that you forgetting a word in your sentence rather undermined your point about how women Doctors make you feel insecure.

@@drtoonie She makes me vomit.

I believe that for this sketch to hold water, you have to take into account some contexts: 1) You could think of it as a spoof of spy shows running at the time, as this comment section has noted. However, I am not of that opinion. Also, I think it doesn't generally fit the angle they may have taken. 2) Maybe it is as lampooning the listening portions used in English as a Foreign Language tests used by the UK at the time. Nowadays, most of these tests have been changed and improved dramatically to be natural, although the standard used is American rather than the old English one. If you look at the old textbooks used for training students for the test (I actually have three from 1988), they actually sound like Control and Tony here. Considering that Control and Tony are a sketch pair common in A bit of Fry and Laurie, I believe that this would make more sense. If you take it in that light, then it is reasonably funny. However, taking 2) further ahead, the biggest criticism is the assumption that the test for native speakers is funny but not so much for non-native speakers who basically don't have much of a choice. If you take that into account whilst watching this sketch, it is indeed not particularly funny, and you do have to drive yourself into listening very carefully to find the text humorous. That is a valid criticism. I disagree about the acting though, subjectively speaking. the text, yes. It requires a person to listen very carefully, very meticulously, at what these two actors are saying to appreciate the humor which is happening. To that, I am in agreement. But the acting? I'd have to disagree with you there. If you take 2) as an example, I think that would apply reasonably well to the way these two are portraying it. This is literally what the whole point was of the text if you scripted it. Nevertheless, I feel that there are better bits in A Bit of Fry and Laurie. The acting requires you to be a fan to appreciate, regardless of the reasonable justification for their approach. But the text is objectively not that great. It isn't hammy, or dry. And the obfuscation isn't purposeful. Even if they do talk about an actual terrorist activity happening, and their rather awkward transition, I think that punchline isn't valid or reasonable because it isn't concise enough. They could have used a Monty Python approach and it might actually have turned out better for this particular sketch. Anyway, I recommend Timothy by A bit of Fry and Laurie. THAT, is a classic, and an excellent one at that.

You obviously missed the whole point of this sketch, or have no sense of humour, or both.

Lol the acting was supposed to be bad and unnatural, that’s the whole point