Ripping Yarns Season 1 Episode 2-The Testing Of Eric Olthwaite 

His dad pretending to be French just to avoid conversation is one of the funniest things I've ever heard.

Truly believe its one of the funniest and entertaining pieces of work ever produced. Perfect from end to end. Good on you Michael Palin.

As an American, I believe that this series is underrated as heck. Love Michael and Terry. Great solo project from Python. R.I.P Terry.

the whole ripping yarns franchise is such superb comedy

Same with me Dad. He'd pretend to be French to avoid talking to me. "Oh Je suis trés fatigué...." My favourite line in the show

Arthur had a long criminal record, so we decided to call ourselves the Eric Olthwaite gang, brilliant!

In an era of comedy that we may never see again, R.I.P. British comedy 🤣

I watched this on a repeat showing the night I came home after a hernia operation. I was in agonising pain, doped up on codeine and lying prostate in bed. I was trying desperately not to laugh as the pain was unbearable but the bit when his sister said 'shut up you boring little tit' almost killed me. I had to switch it off as I couldn't take the chance of laughing again.

I bought a house in the early 90s from an old Yorkshire couple who were about to retire. They left me the contents of the garage as well and i was delighted to find in there a Spear & Jackson rake made in England as well and my word it was a good rake. Knowing this episode of Ripping Yarns i treasured that rake sure it wasn't a shovel but a RAKE is a close 2nd in importance. That rake served me well until it broke in my hands with the grain. I was heartbroken. I went shopping for another one but they were now made in China so it could never be the same.

I was 15 years old when this was filmed a couple of villages either side of where I lived, the place was buzzing with excitement.

Michael Palin is actually a very good character actor indeed...

It gets better with time ... it was set 44 years before it was made and 41 years have passed since, adding a patina to it. It’s now a true classic.

40+ years later will only buy Spear & Jackson because of this piece of genius. Needed a trenching shovel today so went to Bunnings Hardware. 4 different brands. No contest - another S&J in the shed.

Every northern town has an Eric Olthwaite. He may be a local postman who knows peculiar facts about the arrangement of regional landmarks; he could be a spirited and fidgety lad with an eye for the construction hallmarks of rugby balls. You just have to find him, wherever he may be.

"Do you remember what your uncle said just before he died? Eeerrrraaarrrggghhh? No, before that." Comedy gold that was.

Classic pure comedy. An overlooked masterpiece.

"Guess whose got a new shovel then," Ive been driving my kids mad with this one for years.

Here because of Terry Jones's passing (RIP comedy genius). This is bloody funny!

The way Kenneth Colley looks behind the desk when the Bank Manager says he is standing up 😃

I remember seeing this on TV as a child and it always stayed with me. At the time, there was something about Eric’s family that reminded me very much of my own, only the other way round: I was into ancient history and whatnot and they could (and still do) have lengthy conversations about the many merits of turnips and that remarkable occasion on which the neighbour hung out her washing at an unexpected hour. My mother (now 96) still gets headaches if we’re in the same room for longer than 10 minutes. I’m clearly just a boring little tit. 😂😂

Possibly the funniest opening 5 minutes to any comedy episode of any series.

Micheal is brilliant. Such great facial expressions. Can’t stop watching this. The funniest man that ever lived. And he knew when to move on. I love him, 100 shovels, that would be great! Killer!!,

Says something about their genius as comedy writers that they could make someone buying a shovel & placing it next to another one hysterically funny

Have never seen this since the 1970s. Funny, sad, absurd, nuanced - absolutely brilliant!

I thought I'd seen every episode six times, and then I see this for the first time, I haven't laughed so much since I got a new shovel.

Superbly clever and funny. An underrated genius series that is deservedly of the level of comedy that is Pythonesquely wonderful!

This is still ridiculously funny now as was when I was a teenager back in the 80's, thankyou

One of John's great skills as a comedy writer was to make the complexity of his wordplay read with ease. When you think of Stanley Unwin, Ronnie Barker and to a lesser extent Spike Milligan, it reads in their voice and often sounds as if it could really only be spoken by them. Along with Terry J, one of Michael's great skills lies in his ability to plant little gems in dialogue and 'reportage' that fly straight by between the 'jokes'. A great example is at 21:40, when Enid is reading the article about the latest Eric Olthwaite Gang happenings. "Posing as members of the public..."

Brilliant. Best ripping yarn ever . The look on Eric's face when his sister says he's driving me out my tree 😂 Michael is such a clever man writing this shit .

Eh bien le repas est pret! Such a great episode! Never tire of it.

His dad pretending to be french so he didn’t have to speak to him😆

I can’t stop watching this. Notice the blood and tares on the washing Mrs Bag is taking in and the wrecked vulture cage after Mr Bags accident? Micheal Palin is great!

"Do you remember what your Uncle Arthur said just before he died?" "Auuuughhhh." XD

Absolutely brilliant. Perfect casting, both sets of parents are pure comedic gold.

My favorite episode and line! "It were always raining.....'cept on days when it were fine"

Imagine being stuck inside with Eric during a pandemic!

Comedy gold, Michael and Terry are just the best! Even the white bits were black! Priceless!

I'd completely forgotten about these, and how great they are! It's wonderful to have the opportunity to watch them again.

Michael Palin is a genius when it comes to comedy.These old English skits he does are great

Spat beer all over my monitor and my ribs hurt laughing, How have I never seen this before?? Comedy Gold!!

Just downright silly-stupid and good fun. And I appreciate the moral to the story, that society can be so shallow that the only difference between boring people and interesting ones is whether they've had their name in the paper.

Totally missed these even though I grew up in the UK from the late 70's to 2000. This is some ridiculous magic. Best TV I've seen in years. This one made me miss Holmfirth.Take a warped, demented concept and masterfully stretch it for half an hour without breaking it. That's craftmanship lad!

A lad with a passion for shovels. Comedy gold!

Michael Palin's finest 30 minutes, comedy genius.

"It wouldn't matter if you had a hundred shovels Eric". "Hundred, that'd be good!"

As flawless as Fawlty Towers is, this is my favourite half-hour of TV comedy. Thanks for the upload.

"Original air date - 27 September 1977" Wow, I just found out that this, one of the finest pieces of comedy to ever air, debuted on the day I was born! :)

This is so funny! When the dad has a fake bilious attack and the mother quickly drinks her tea and can't get away from the table quick enough! I was howling!! Such innocence!

Michael Pallin could and DID act thousands of different roles,and had so many outside the acting projects he was envolved in🎉

Thanks for putting this up! I bought the complete series on DVD which was ruined because some moron at the BBC had added canned laughter. Grrr! I'll be watching and liking the rest now. Cheers!

Years since I watched this, still laughing like a dafty.

So well made, picturesque scenery. Charming. Miss the old world now.

"Bank manager tells of night of boredom". - Newspaper sub headline.

“You got to make something of your life!!! What?! Buy a new Shovel?!”😂

Mr. Ottershaw is mentioned at 5:30, he’s the blacksmith. Pretty sure that Ottershaw is the lead character’s name in that other Ripping Yarn set at the football club. In return, Eric Oldthwaite makes an appearance in the opposing football team lineup. Neat!

This would make a cat laugh. Everyone talks about Python but this was consistently funnier I think

That his father pretended to speak French is just hilarious.

The boredom was just too much for them. All based on a true story apparently. Michael Palin is a living legend.

I love the covers at the start. These stories arent exactly laugh riots but the premises were quietly hilarrious and they wonderfully bring back the type of mindset and stories they were based on with suitable irony while showing deep affection for the originals.

I’m an American and I’ve never heard or seen anything like..this pure magic 😂😂😂

I'd bet a new shovel the vultures were voiced by Terry Jones. They're so good...

The best Ripping Yarns episode - absurdist, situationist, underdog-ist, comedic genius - Palin and Jones were terrific comic writing partners. This is utterly, utterly bwilliant (to quote the great philosopher, Timmy Mallett). Doesn't get better than this!

Hilarious Ripping Yarn. Mr. Palin at his best ! Great production all round. RIP Terry !!!

God damn. After going through a really bad patch and feeling lower than I’ve ever felt, I’m randomly skipping through monty python videos and I stumble on a show I’ve never seen. And then out of nowhere, an old man tells the main character some of the simplest and best life advice I’ve heard, just when I needed it most. I don’t know if this means skynet is operational, it was divine intervention or just random luck. Either way I’m going to get myself out of this. RIP to terry and god bless them both.

We couldn't afford a fancy coal shovel. But we had a grand coal scuttle. Brass it were. With a beautiful wooden handle. Think it were oak. But it might have been pine. Lovely and smooth it were. Like real soft on your hand. And all the time I used it, at my granddads shop, it were never one for splinters. So it probably was pine. I think oak would have been darker. Though I suppose there are dark pines. If it had been lighter I think I would have thought it were pine. But I'm almost sure it were oak. Unless it were pine. Geoffrey, who lived next door didn't have a coal scuttle caus they had gas. But you can only cook black puddings on a coal fire. You can cook crumpets with a gas fire. But they taste better toasted with a coal fire. That's why we had the coal scuttle you see. We had a bucket before that, before the coal scuttle. But our brass scuttle were better than any bucket. Even a galvanised steel one, like the one our window cleaner had. I don't know if he had a coal scuttle. I know he had a coal fire. Caus i knew the chimney sweep who did our chimney, and he did the window cleaners as well. And even the window cleaner said we had a grand coal scuttle. The best scuttle he'd seen, and he cleaned Mr Sidebottom's chimney, and Mr sidebottom was my headmaster. I wish we'd had a coal fire at school, then i could have taken our scuttle in and shown everyone how grand it were. I think as coal scuttles go, it were the best in out street..and that includes the fanshaws, a real posh family 4 doors down from us, I remember all the gossip when they had a roof put on their outside toilet. I miss scuttles.

References to shovels and the blackness of puddings are part of the British way of life now.

And to think Eric played for Denley Moor Academicals in final game of Football between them and Barnstoneworth United before the ground was sold to the Arthur Fogan Scrap corporation for redevelopment a year later in 1935.

Poetry in motion, pure joy to watch! Just read Michael Parkinson's autobiography - equally superb. Parky mentions Michael Palin presenting him with a farewell gift after his last chat show, on which he was a guest: a number 5 shovel with a brass plate on it, engraved with "To the Second Most Boring Person in Yorkshire". Fabulous! 🌝

I've always loved RIPPING YARNS , great stuff 😂

Wow, I knew it would be funny, but I did not expect a genuinely brutal skewering of self-aggrandizing wealth and power in the closing minutes. Seriously good stuff.

Our dad bought me a shovel for Christmas one year. It were a right Bobby Dazzler. I put it with the one I had off our mam for Easter.

Coming from latter days of Python this is still sheer genius and stands the test of time well.

Some shows are just perfect, and this is one of them. Great writing and acting. Everyone of them are a truly Ripping Yarn.

Whether intentional or not, (but really, we know it was intentional) this is a reflection of society then and now - you can be as boring AF but if you are famous, you are interesting and the family that loathed you now loves you because they all want to ride the gravy train (black pudding included)

“I’m off, mother. You may never see me again until tonight!”

Can't beat British comedy I can remember watching this on TV when it came out in the 70s great to see again funnier than ever fantastic talent, humour is very important, a good belly aching laugh at yourself is almost medicinal.

As a Yorkshireman, I love this. It’s perfect.

aw brilliant, will have to watch these. I am a big Monty Python fan, but missed these Ripping Yarns. Just watching the first few seconds is classic, "even when it wasn't raining it was overcast with a lot of moisture in the air". PMSL

This is my absolute favorite Ripping Yarns episode. Thank you so much for uploading it!

I thought I recognized Arthur...it's Kenneth Colley, who played Admiral Piett in the original Star Wars trilogy.

I watched all the episodes accessible to me and have decided this is my favorite one.

my favourite bit is still 9:40 the racing vultures going mad in the background whilst Eric is thinking on

Might not be the funniest comedy ever but a thousand times funnier than mrs Browns boys

Set in Yorkshire, but the majority of it is made in County Durham ie Beamish museum, Tow Law, Sacriston and the High Force waterfall. Two of the old cars still survive 43 years later, BR 7084 & BVK 566.

best episode ever !!!!

Our Dad used to have racing vultures. Brings a tear to me eyes

For close to forty years now, I have possessed a published book of scripts for six episodes of "Ripping Yarns".

I nearly injured myself laughing! This is gold and the BBC tightwads complaining about high costs screwed us out of irreplaceable comdey gold of more episodes and seasons that could have been! The sadness!

This is like finding lost Monty Python episodes you'd never seen. Ripping!

Wow, that's Ken Colley as the bank robber, who would go on in a few years to play Admiral Piett in the first Star Wars trilogy.

The next year Arthur played by Kenneth Colley would play Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount in "The Life of Brian".

I got the top oven and the grill mixed up this evening and burnt the garlic bread. Very black it was. In fact, even the white bits were black. I don't think I have ever seen such black bread. Anyway, I used it as a log and put it on the stove. It made me wonder if anyone else has any experiences of blackened food that they would like to share? I for one, would find it extremely fascinating.

One thing that I can see that Micheal Palin deserves credit for is his willingness to take risks by doing many of his own stunts. Eg, Winfrey's Last Case.

Ha-ha...what a gem this series is. Thx so much...strange that I've never come across it earlier.

I`ve `ad it!!!! Not enough respect is shown for the admirers of precipitation and the gauges we get records of said precipitation from!!!

The best surreal comedy ever made. Bar absolutely none. I’m off to Wickes to buy a Spear & Jackson Spade….see you.

"I'm going to have to kill you, Eric." "What? Completely!?"

Brilliant on so many levels!!!

The racing vulture cracked me up! You've got to be from "up north" to appreciate this kind of humour. LOVE IT.

Should have done another series. Better than modern crap.