I started laughing at the excellent gag about the b-side to "Doin' the Crab" being the theme to the Family Ness... then 2 seconds later had to pause the video and go out in the garden for a bit before continuing, as my perception of reality had been punctured.
I often thought telly back in the day was not so bad, but then you see things like this, and it quickly dawns on you that more often than not no it was not, it was utterly dire.
Episode 5. "This step here, I'm gonna propose marriage, we'll probably have a couple of children. (looks at audience) They'll be step-children but it doesn't bother me."
Back in the 80s, part of Barrymore's routine was to send a member of the audience out of the room, like a naughty schoolboy. This happened to my brother when he went to see him at one of his summer season shows in the 80s. My brother told us that when he got out into the foyer, someone directed him to the bar, where Barrymore bought him a drink and chatted for a while, as a kind of thank you for being his stooge. Sadly, my brother passed away recently, so I can't ask him what they chatted about.
Some great research gone into this video. I'm sure Barrymore knew who his main audience were, which is why he kept banging on about WW2 and those foreigners!
I like the set, a nice Art Deco style with tasteful neon. That's about the only positive thing to say here, apart from I guess it kept Barrymore off the streets.
😂 Was waiting for Limmy to turn up in one of these. He does a lot of retrospectives on 80s telly (mainly 321) on his twitch, and watching this channel keeps bringing him to mind for me.
On Celeb Big Brother when Barrymore and George Galloway had their argument I was watching it live. I guess there was lots of potential libel so C4 cut to a camera outside and played bird noises as they always did but the argument was so loud if you turned it up you could still hear them. I remember some of the stuff Galloway said, at one point he accused him of, I kid you not… “fisting a man to death” 😂. I’d just smoked a joint and spat my tea out.
Ok, I've binge watched Stuart's offerings for 2 days now when I should be working. The most difficult thing about watching this one is laughing at Stuart's comments whilst sitting straight faced at the supposed comedy which separates them. Odd feeling.
“Then comes the end of episode 4…” jeez mate, did you really sit through four episodes of this absolute tripe? It’s a noble job you do for us!! Never liked Barrymore, I just found him very insincere and his whole titting about routine used to grate on me even as a kid.
I have never regretted watching a video more in my life as now for days straight I've had "Doin' the Crab" stuck in my head like a horrific mental splinter.
I have never regretted watching a video more in my life as now for straight I’ve had “Doin’ the Crab” stuck in my head like his horrific filthy sphincter
Malcolm McFee, best known for playing Peter Craven in 'Please Sir!' but also fondly remembered for playing Lukey Sparrow in The Sweeney episode 'Messenger Of The Gods' is the flamboyant director at 1:38. I saw a forgotten club performer doing the long arms act on a Seaside Special from the 70's, Barrymore makes a complete mess of it, done properly it's a surprisingly funny routine. I live in Keith Harris's former town, my dad's grave is adjacent to Harris's grave which inevitably has a photograph of Orville on it. About 30 years ago Harris had a small nightclub in the town called 'Club L'Orange', it was known to locals as 'The Duck Club'. A down to Earth fellow, you might see him out & about, he attended the local Catholic Church & had a very glamourous tall wife, saw her once in the post office, amazing legs she had.
I often think contemporary light entertainment is poor and assume that in the 70s and 80s it was all of the standard of Morecambe and Wise, Parkinson, Les Dawson, Fools and Horses… This video is a chilling reminder that there was a huge amount of absolute shite on tv back then.
Oi, Millard! Nipped out to pick up a prescription yesterday, 9th Avenue NYC in full "Pride" glory (or hell, perhaps!) when I heard something that sounded like the opening bars of "Doing the Crab". FFS. Couldn't get the damn thing out of my head for the next ten minutes. I hold you personally responsible for my trauma, MILLARD! 😂 That said, best TH-cam channel ever. So you're forgiven. Only just, though! ❤
4:48 In a world of conspiracy theories and deep fakes, here we have solid proof that Cuddles became sentient and made a bid for freedom. How far did he get? Is he still out there, orange fur showing some grey, hiding in parks and troubling ducks?
Had to look it up. "Doin' The Crab" was written by Geoff Stephens and Roger Greenaway. Stephens wrote "The Crying Game" and Greenaway wrote "You've Got Your Troubles". I assume they did the crab for the money.
Michael Barrymore was everywhere when i was growing up. If the swimming pool incident had never happened he could have been the next Brucie or as a minimum he would be the host of tipping point or something like that.
Different times. Different thinking. If it was seen as so bad at the time, it would have been taken off the air - It wasn't! It's like trying to compare a Ford Cortina to a Ford Focus... Both were manufactured in times with different expectations.
"He thinks he's Roger Moore!" 😂 Imagine not being able to do an impression of yourself? Seriously though, Keith Harris had a very poor act*. How did he get so successful? Baffling *Yes, I'm paraphrasing Partridge here
Well that was a whole new level of bleakness! It makes you wonder how many of the target OAP audience lost the will to live watching this and prematurely carked it.
Several years ago, I saw "Knowing Me, Knowing You, with Alan Partridge", and I thought it was a biting satire of an imaginary vapid state of British Television. Then the algorithm pointed me to this channel, and I've learned that the UK's entertainment in the 80's and 90's was far closer to the satire than I could have imagined. I am terribly, terribly sorry. I'm not sure for what, but I still feel terrible.
Over the years I'd become ashamed of my sighing, tutting shittiness about the Sat Nite light ent TV my parents had on. Now I know I was right all along.
The dancers remind me of the Russ Abbott show…Mark Heap appeared on itvs ghost train, and also as a baddie with a German accent on a crimewatch reconstruction
A timely reminder why home computing/video games were so popular among teenagers during the 80's. Anything to get away from the dross being broadcast as, 'light entertainment', on a Saturday night.
And he’s a very good drummer….check out his appearance on the Des O’Connor show where he does the old Gene Krupa Sing, Sing, Sing solo Or his drum duet with Roy Castle
What people actually wanted was Freddie Starr, but he was too much of a loose cannon to be given things like Strike it Lucky to present. Hence Barrymore; still an anarchic presence, but a safer pair of hands than Starr.
Wasn't Jessica Martin in cahoots with Bobby Davro at one point? "Micky Zany" - sorry, but zany is reserved solely for Kenny Everett on Blankety Blank and Give Us a Clue.
The idea of a “dance craze” is nothing new…the subversive Soupy Sales was doing the same in the 50s. Though, with Sales, when he claimed that “The Mouse” was sweeping the nation, tongue was firmly in cheek! Sales also was both a brilliant kids tv host whilst subverting the genre at the same time Once, on New Year, he encouraged his young viewers to tiptoe into their still-sleeping parents' bedrooms and remove those "funny green pieces of paper with pictures of U.S. presidents" from their pants and pocketbooks. He apparently received many thousands of dollars worth of money (and publicity!) And I don’t know what it was about magicians in the 80s all affecting that sort of Northern camp. Wayne Dobson is a genuinely creative magician, although very little of his TV material seemed to reflect that. It was all squeaky voices, brick-to-the-side-of-the-head subtle double entendres and sponge balls Always bloody sponge balls! Oh look, a penis/testicles/grow big in your hand gag! And jokes like… “What’s the difference between a Rooster and a gay rooster? One goes cock-a-doodle-doo! The other goes Any-cock-all-do! Thank goodness I was wearing a tight woolly jumper else my sides would split 😑
I swear I saw Barrymore in deadpool, boom boom,, you know they say sarcasm is the lowest sort of wit I beg to differ it's impressionism,, plagiarisming it's victim to death ain't funny or talented whatever how good you think you are
How this man became a comedian ? - no idea, a tv star ? - no idea, biggest star on UK TV ? - no idea. There is no way to emphasise how popular his shows were - Ant&Dec / Simon Cowell / Strictly all rolled into one. His wife was an very poweful agent, vindictive "Sharon Osbourne" type who had significant influence on his success. Compared to few years later the much maligned Brian Connolly who pedalled similar variety fare - at least had a voice worthy of West End fame. Any Barrymore show now is totally unwatchable terrible performances from him, no just content - him fluffing lines, looking into wrong camera, stomping over guests' punchlines but it didn't seem to matter to the audience. Got too big didn't care in the end. Never got found out as circumstances put end to his carear! However an 10 year me watching his throwing "someone out of the theatre routine" had me almost pissing myself! 😂😂😂 Didn't realise his whole act was basically a poor John Cleese routine !
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My grandparents loved Barrymore, however they had witnessed the horrors of ww2.
i think i'd prefer the blitz to watching this
That would explain everything. 😂😂
Found him too hyper and annoying..even as a bairn 🤣
@mermaidman1985, you knew him when he was young? What was he like?
Go get your booster.save granny
Christ, this would've looked old and knackered in 1973.
...makes the _Minstrels_ seem hip and cool!
That David Jason impression... Who the fuck heard that and told him 'You've nailed it'
Le Tissier.
Trigger?
I started laughing at the excellent gag about the b-side to "Doin' the Crab" being the theme to the Family Ness... then 2 seconds later had to pause the video and go out in the garden for a bit before continuing, as my perception of reality had been punctured.
We need the Ashens x Millard x Adam Pacitti crossover
Youd be walking like a crab after one of his parties
💀
🤣
or swimming with the fishes
I often thought telly back in the day was not so bad, but then you see things like this, and it quickly dawns on you that more often than not no it was not, it was utterly dire.
Nobody Was Doing The Crab 🦀
Even in an infinite variety of universes - not now, not never.
Everyone loves a summer evening by the pool
I would imagine the pay-off to the 'step' thing was that in episode 6 he reveals they've had a kid together and introduces his 'step daughter'.
Episode 5. "This step here, I'm gonna propose marriage, we'll probably have a couple of children. (looks at audience) They'll be step-children but it doesn't bother me."
Lewis-Smith, Brooker and now you, good Sir. Kudos!
I agree
God no wonder I was acutely depressed in the late 80s
Back in the 80s, part of Barrymore's routine was to send a member of the audience out of the room, like a naughty schoolboy. This happened to my brother when he went to see him at one of his summer season shows in the 80s. My brother told us that when he got out into the foyer, someone directed him to the bar, where Barrymore bought him a drink and chatted for a while, as a kind of thank you for being his stooge. Sadly, my brother passed away recently, so I can't ask him what they chatted about.
Well, knowing what we know now about Barrymore's predilection for young men, I think we can guess what was going on here,
@@k.avilla8061 put in the drink more like
The most staggering aspect about all of this is how far he went and how far he fell!
Saturday teatime has always been British TV's dead zone, and I say that as someone who used to watch Doctors.
Some great research gone into this video. I'm sure Barrymore knew who his main audience were, which is why he kept banging on about WW2 and those foreigners!
I've heard his after hours pool parties are a real hoot.
i've heard they blow
@@eatmywords they blow hard, apparently.
So hard infact, that it leaves a giant gape.
I expected in episode 6, that step to have been found dead in a pool.
Getting a sinking feeling
@@BigyetiTechnologies it's about time he hired a lifeguard to watch over all those scantily clad pool party attendees. 😂
I like the set, a nice Art Deco style with tasteful neon.
That's about the only positive thing to say here, apart from I guess it kept Barrymore off the streets.
😂 Was waiting for Limmy to turn up in one of these. He does a lot of retrospectives on 80s telly (mainly 321) on his twitch, and watching this channel keeps bringing him to mind for me.
This made me roar.😂 Please, never stop making these videos.
You know you've watched too much shit British TV when you're watching Barrymore and think "He nicked this bit from Russ Abbot!"
Seemed to have inspired Peter Kay’s ‘dad dancing at a wedding’ though.
Was Russ Abbott the bottom of the barrel or was it Hale and Pace?
@sargonsblackgrandfather2072 Les Dennis on his own I think. Although, he had great turns in Extras and Life's Too Short.
Fantastic once again - you're doing great work here Stuart
Cheers, Matt
God's work even.
New to all this - glad I got here. All best.
On Celeb Big Brother when Barrymore and George Galloway had their argument I was watching it live. I guess there was lots of potential libel so C4 cut to a camera outside and played bird noises as they always did but the argument was so loud if you turned it up you could still hear them.
I remember some of the stuff Galloway said, at one point he accused him of, I kid you not… “fisting a man to death” 😂. I’d just smoked a joint and spat my tea out.
Ok, I've binge watched Stuart's offerings for 2 days now when I should be working. The most difficult thing about watching this one is laughing at Stuart's comments whilst sitting straight faced at the supposed comedy which separates them. Odd feeling.
“Then comes the end of episode 4…” jeez mate, did you really sit through four episodes of this absolute tripe? It’s a noble job you do for us!! Never liked Barrymore, I just found him very insincere and his whole titting about routine used to grate on me even as a kid.
Five episodes. Five. Long. Episodes.
I have never regretted watching a video more in my life as now for days straight I've had "Doin' the Crab" stuck in my head like a horrific mental splinter.
I have never regretted watching a video more in my life as now for straight I’ve had “Doin’ the Crab” stuck in my head like his horrific filthy sphincter
If I were you, I'd see the GP and tell him that you think you've suffering with crabs ! 😁
I did not expect to see Limmy in this video.
Barrymore was Mr Saturday Night. But consider this, in 30 years time you might be making a similar video about Ant and Dec
Considering how bad their show is, waiting 30 minutes would be more than long enough, let alone 30 years.
Fingers crossed
Malcolm McFee, best known for playing Peter Craven in 'Please Sir!' but also fondly remembered for playing Lukey Sparrow in The Sweeney episode 'Messenger Of The Gods' is the flamboyant director at 1:38.
I saw a forgotten club performer doing the long arms act on a Seaside Special from the 70's, Barrymore makes a complete mess of it, done properly it's a surprisingly funny routine.
I live in Keith Harris's former town, my dad's grave is adjacent to Harris's grave which inevitably has a photograph of Orville on it. About 30 years ago Harris had a small nightclub in the town called 'Club L'Orange', it was known to locals as 'The Duck Club'. A down to Earth fellow, you might see him out & about, he attended the local Catholic Church & had a very glamourous tall wife, saw her once in the post office, amazing legs she had.
Awight at the back
There is not enough vodka in the world to make Crab era Barrymore funny.
Or any Barrymore, tbh.
Or any Barrymore.
Thanks again for wading through this bilge.
Ah the golden age when impressions were just accents.
I often think contemporary light entertainment is poor and assume that in the 70s and 80s it was all of the standard of Morecambe and Wise, Parkinson, Les Dawson, Fools and Horses…
This video is a chilling reminder that there was a huge amount of absolute shite on tv back then.
Yes, the Seventies weren't all I,Claudius and Fawlty Towers, and it's worth being reminded so.
That Mark Heap discovery... amazing.
It stands out because it's the only part that isn't totally cringe inducing.
Oi, Millard! Nipped out to pick up a prescription yesterday, 9th Avenue NYC in full "Pride" glory (or hell, perhaps!) when I heard something that sounded like the opening bars of "Doing the Crab". FFS. Couldn't get the damn thing out of my head for the next ten minutes. I hold you personally responsible for my trauma, MILLARD! 😂
That said, best TH-cam channel ever. So you're forgiven. Only just, though! ❤
I will say that Jessica Martin has managed to keep this side of her career pretty quiet, because up until this point I only knew her from Doctor Who.
God what was it with bad impressionists in that time frame. If they didn't say who it was meant to be we would 99% of the time have no idea haha
4:48 In a world of conspiracy theories and deep fakes, here we have solid proof that Cuddles became sentient and made a bid for freedom. How far did he get? Is he still out there, orange fur showing some grey, hiding in parks and troubling ducks?
Michael Barrymore and jim davidson the two greatest 80s ans 90s tv show hosts, bruce Forsythe a touch behind
Had to look it up. "Doin' The Crab" was written by Geoff Stephens and Roger Greenaway. Stephens wrote "The Crying Game" and Greenaway wrote "You've Got Your Troubles". I assume they did the crab for the money.
Michael Barrymore was everywhere when i was growing up. If the swimming pool incident had never happened he could have been the next Brucie or as a minimum he would be the host of tipping point or something like that.
The popularity of Barrymore is utterly baffling. Not funny, couldn't sing, couldn't dance, couldn't act, couldn't do impressions or accents and yet...
Don’t forget completely obnoxious! Give the man his full due.
Barrymore was brilliant!!!!
Different times. Different thinking. If it was seen as so bad at the time, it would have been taken off the air - It wasn't!
It's like trying to compare a Ford Cortina to a Ford Focus... Both were manufactured in times with different expectations.
These videos are gold
Every time I see an impressionist from this era, all I can think of is a young, desperate, attention seeking Simon Amstell doing Dame Edna 😂
I thought Barrymore was great in _Only Pools and Corpses_
What a brilliant video. Huge well done.
thank christ the channel islands were liberated from the germans
This series was probably the worst invasion since 1940
@@AdamMcCarthy74 gosh, they really had to put up with a lot
i suppose it being a tax haven had nothing to do with this travesty.
He's still King of the swimming pool.
"With anti-vax footballer Matt Le Tissier"
I don't know if you've been reading the news lately, but he's been right about those jabs.
Yea Millard is a tad lefty unfortunately.
@@ShallowDepression Gives me ZERO glee to know that all those people who called me an idiot for not getting jabbed were quite wrong.
Top
Middle
OR BOTTOM
(All the signs were there).
Ah, the golden age of television…I never got Barrymore’s appeal, but you will still find people claiming he was/is a great entertainer!
"He thinks he's Roger Moore!" 😂
Imagine not being able to do an impression of yourself?
Seriously though, Keith Harris had a very poor act*. How did he get so successful? Baffling
*Yes, I'm paraphrasing Partridge here
I see your Keith Harris, and I raise you the inexplicable act of Bob Carolgees and Spit the Dog
That's Enter-fucking-tainment!
That crab song is weak AF
Absolutely horrifying.
Why were there so many impressionists back then? And I'm not talking about the painters.
Accents
Well that was a whole new level of bleakness! It makes you wonder how many of the target OAP audience lost the will to live watching this and prematurely carked it.
08:47 so that's where soccer am got that joke from
I wonder if the crab was in his swimming pool?
Doin the Crab will herald the apocalypse.
0:18 he's walking like he's got a beer bottle shuved up his arse..
Several years ago, I saw "Knowing Me, Knowing You, with Alan Partridge", and I thought it was a biting satire of an imaginary vapid state of British Television.
Then the algorithm pointed me to this channel, and I've learned that the UK's entertainment in the 80's and 90's was far closer to the satire than I could have imagined.
I am terribly, terribly sorry. I'm not sure for what, but I still feel terrible.
Over the years I'd become ashamed of my sighing, tutting shittiness about the Sat Nite light ent TV my parents had on. Now I know I was right all along.
Was he dishing out right handlers? That could be taken one of two ways…..
The dancers remind me of the Russ Abbott show…Mark Heap appeared on itvs ghost train, and also as a baddie with a German accent on a crimewatch reconstruction
Maybe in episode six he became a stepfather.
Excellent commentary Xx
Funnily enough I always wondered what happened to that comedian that looked a bit like Matt Le Tissier...didn't know they owned a club together 🤣
I always thought this guy must have something on the directors of the BBC.................
I dont remember the crab crap. When you put his acts all together like this, you can really see how piss poor he was.
As bad as it was, at least it didn't kill anybody.
We had to wait for Noel's House Party for that.
4:51 They could get a dozen pairs of them from the pound shop. The buck store eh. Nice though.
I did the crab.
Will I get cancelled if I point out that crabs can survive underwater?
are you a chemist?
Laugh never thought I'd started
A timely reminder why home computing/video games were so popular among teenagers during the 80's. Anything to get away from the dross being broadcast as, 'light entertainment', on a Saturday night.
Is it any wonder we spent so much time down the pub?
But you don't now do ya...and they're all getting closed! Haha haha haha unlucky mate...now put the golf on grandad
Alcoholic caffeine fiends you lot. Go watch your sports ball and jog on
My God Stuart, that was almost half an hour of full on cringe.
Barrymore was Horrendous.....How did this guy have a career........i was embarassed for him watching those clips....
Russ Abbott was a better singer
And he’s a very good drummer….check out his appearance on the Des O’Connor show where he does the old Gene Krupa Sing, Sing, Sing solo
Or his drum duet with Roy Castle
@@tombstoneharrystudios584 when he was with the Black Abbots? (I think)
Something very wrong with the English
Top, middle or bottom!!
Rod, Jane or Freddy?
He was utterly talentless. How in the name of captain birdseye did he ever make it ?
What people actually wanted was Freddie Starr, but he was too much of a loose cannon to be given things like Strike it Lucky to present. Hence Barrymore; still an anarchic presence, but a safer pair of hands than Starr.
The lesser of two nonces. How many did Freddie rape and kill though? 🤔
Because everyone else in might entertainment was also shut back then
Wasn't Jessica Martin in cahoots with Bobby Davro at one point?
"Micky Zany" - sorry, but zany is reserved solely for Kenny Everett on Blankety Blank and Give Us a Clue.
She was indeed. A Davro/Martin video is on its way soon.
Jessica Martin was very much the Bonnie to Davro’s Clyde.
Inexplicably loved by the public, despite their crimes (against comedy).
Oh hooo its me Paul ..i mean martin Daniel’s ffs
The show is literally a "bum-load of plops"
10:58 Ronnie Corbett gag there, only not done well.
I woke up from a fever dream singing this crab song. It’s stuck now and I don’t know what to do.
The idea of a “dance craze” is nothing new…the subversive Soupy Sales was doing the same in the 50s. Though, with Sales, when he claimed that “The Mouse” was sweeping the nation, tongue was firmly in cheek!
Sales also was both a brilliant kids tv host whilst subverting the genre at the same time
Once, on New Year, he
encouraged his young viewers to tiptoe into their still-sleeping parents' bedrooms and remove those "funny green pieces of paper with pictures of U.S. presidents" from their pants and pocketbooks.
He apparently received many thousands of dollars worth of money (and publicity!)
And I don’t know what it was about magicians in the 80s all affecting that sort of Northern camp.
Wayne Dobson is a genuinely creative magician, although very little of his TV material seemed to reflect that. It was all squeaky voices, brick-to-the-side-of-the-head subtle double entendres and sponge balls
Always bloody sponge balls!
Oh look, a penis/testicles/grow big in your hand gag!
And jokes like…
“What’s the difference between a Rooster and a gay rooster? One goes cock-a-doodle-doo! The other goes Any-cock-all-do!
Thank goodness I was wearing a tight woolly jumper else my sides would split 😑
howard stern. big fan. big fan.
I recently sat through Dobson's solo series for a written piece, and if anything, his showing here was too kind.
15:47 Did Michael Barrymore invent TikTok?
Jesus
W I L L Y
That scouse comedian looks like Alan Titchmarsh
Im not even going to mention mike osmond...but wtf was that....😱
soooo funny...cuddles come to live and you went JESUS CHRIST!! i always found the hands free cuddles disturbing too!
Good I forgot how seriously bad he was.
Oh...one of them "anti-vaxxers"...boooo..hissss
....time for your booster
I swear I saw Barrymore in deadpool, boom boom,, you know they say sarcasm is the lowest sort of wit I beg to differ it's impressionism,, plagiarisming it's victim to death ain't funny or talented whatever how good you think you are
How this man became a comedian ? - no idea, a tv star ? - no idea, biggest star on UK TV ? - no idea. There is no way to emphasise how popular his shows were - Ant&Dec / Simon Cowell / Strictly all rolled into one. His wife was an very poweful agent, vindictive "Sharon Osbourne" type who had significant influence on his success. Compared to few years later the much maligned Brian Connolly who pedalled similar variety fare - at least had a voice worthy of West End fame. Any Barrymore show now is totally unwatchable terrible performances from him, no just content - him fluffing lines, looking into wrong camera, stomping over guests' punchlines but it didn't seem to matter to the audience. Got too big didn't care in the end. Never got found out as circumstances put end to his carear!
However an 10 year me watching his throwing "someone out of the theatre routine" had me almost pissing myself! 😂😂😂
Didn't realise his whole act was basically a poor John Cleese routine !