Happy Natal Anniversary, Ronnie Barker of The Two Ronnies!

Today, we pay tribute to the great comedian, character actor and writer of countless comedy sketches and teleplays (under the name Gerald Wiley) Ronnie Barker, born in Bedford, Bedfordshire on September 25, 1929.



We're enthusiastic fans of Mr. Barker and Mr. Corbett, together as The Two Ronnies, separately and in their movie appearances.





Here are The Two Ronnies with fellow British comedy stalwart Stephen Fry, star of at least three all-time favorite TV shows of the gang at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog.



Do all of us comedy-centric sorts at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog enjoy Barker's tongue-twisting wordplay immensely? Yes.





Mr. Barker began his career as a character part specialist in repertory theatre and soon branched out into radio and TV.



The Wiki on Ronnie Barker notes that he made his name on radio by playing a variety of characters demonstrating formidable skill with dialects on Alistair Scott Johnson's BBC radio sitcom The Navy Lark.







Ronnie Barker would be an ubiquitous presence on 1960's English TV and supporting parts on the hit series The Saint and The Avengers followed. The first appearance of The Two Ronnies would be in the satiric sketch comedy series The Frost Report. They co-starred with John Cleese and Marty Feldman was among the show's writers.



The Two Ronnies also did solo projects. Ronnie Barker starred in several series, among them Hark At Barker (which preceded The Two Ronnies and ran from 1969-1970), His Lordship Entertains, Porridge, Open All Hours, Going Straight and Clarence.

PBS remains responsible for giving this writer quite an education in British comedy, including The Two Ronnies, many moons ago.

San Francisco's PBS affiliate, KQED, found that British comedy shows were the most highly rated and anticipated programs in their evening lineups.

Monty Python marathons meant lots of new memberships and enthusiastic renewals for PBS, so the weekly Brit-com nights expanded to include a wide range of non-Python and non-Goon Show series. These included half-hour cutdowns of The Two Ronnies shows.

The British comedy lineups on KQED included everything from The Two Ronnies to Dave Allen At Large to Dad's Army to Frankie Howerd to Rising Damp to shows representing comedians who were then the new generation (Not The Nine O'Clock News). The Two Ronnies followed my favorite, Monty Python's Flying Circus.

A few years later, in the 1990's, the PBS affiliate in San Jose, KTEH, treated San Francisco Bay Area viewers to the next generation of British comedy: Blackadder, The Young Ones, Alexei Sayle's Stuff and Red Dwarf, but, alas, no more Barker and Corbett series.

Bear in mind, with the exception of Are You Being Served, the overwhelming majority of British comedy shows from the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's never aired on United States television. For an idea of how many series were in comedy-drenched British television, take a gander at these three videos (and enjoy the shredding electric guitarist on the soundtracks).







Never dawned on me that Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett were a different genre and generation of entertainment from the Pythons as it did emphatically when Frankie Howerd's Up Pompeii! series ran in the PBS Brit-com lineup, but The Two Ronnies often represented a blend of English music hall traditions with the anarchic sensibility of The Goon Show, Beyond The Fringe and the Pythons.



As Ronnie Barker's background was in repertory theatre, mastering character roles as a player stock company player and Ronnie Corbett's experience was as a variety/vaudeville performer, closer to the music hall sensibility of Eric Morecambe & Ernie Wise than the Pythons, the new school - old school synthesis worked like a charm. And, unquestionably, The Two Ronnies and the Pythons shared a love of extreme silliness delivered with British understatement.



Furthering that comedy yin-yang was the presence of various Pythons and Goons in the writing of the Two Ronnies shows. Some of the funniest Two Ronnies episodes I recall seeing way back when were written by two duos from Monty Python: Graham Chapman & John Cleese, as well as Terry Jones & Michael Palin. Eric Idle receives writing credits on season 1 episodes of The Two Ronnies, along with Jones and Palin. It is entirely possible that programmers at PBS pulled all the Two Ronnies shows that were written by Pythons and showcased them, given the considerable popularity of Monty Python's Flying Circus, Fawlty Towers and Ripping Yarns. Spike Milligan (The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town serial in season 6) and Tim Brooke-Taylor also were writers on the series.

These days, the BBC cable channels and streaming services demonstrate an aversion to non-current content and show no interest in "classic" shows whatsoever, but a poster on Daily Motion who's either a super fan of the Two Ronnies or a member of the Barker and Corbett families has posted a Two Ronnies playlist featuring 82 episodes of the series.

So it is possible to binge watch the series, even if you do not have a Region-free DVD player, at least at the moment, via this playlist.



There are clips from Two Ronnies shows, as well as slightly truncated 40 minute versions, sans openings and closings, on YouTube. Note: some YouTube posts, such as the following one, are out-of-sync.



Closing today's post with clips from the BAFTA tribute celebrating the six decade career of Ronnie Barker, hosted by Ronnie Corbett, with David Jason, Peter Kay, John Cleese, Gene Wilder and Rob Brydon.



Thanks a million to all of you stiff upper lip merrymakers!