yeah...this show belittled the racism and sexism....and yeah, there was no internet to amplify the voices of the "morally superior" (ie easily offended)(ie new Thought Police)(choose a title). So happy I grew up in this time - perspective is a wonderful thing. Anyone who wants this censored is totally ignorant of history and of the mechanisms of social change (and progress). This comic revisiting of old ideas is part of healthy social change..."cancel culture" is fascist.
Indians are always welcome in the U.K. But those people from Pakistan are the problem. What do you call them any way people from Pakistan, that is a different story 😅. I am Scottish, that was meant as a joke. Anyone who is from anywhere that was once part of what was The British Empire is more than welcome. The Polls now that is a different question . They dont need to live here, but so many of them do 😂. The Government they are always talking bout The Pols tell them this & telling them that I dont know how the Pols don't even speak English 😂 .
The Major is a legendary piece of comedy character writing, delivered perfectly by Ballard Berkeley. Good comedy stands or falls by its characters, even incidental ones. Beautifully crafted.
@joeoak8181 yes he was too. He was also in the archers on bbc radio 4 at one time too as many will know I am sure. But fawlty towers was his best known role for sure.
@@duffman7065Really? You're right, on its own, it is wonderful, but what about the stolen/lost £75 ; broken vase and the winning bet on the Horse race? The Colonel comes in and finishes Fawlty by remembering the money was from a Horse race. For me, that épisode, Communication Problems, was close to being perfect.
Quite wonderful, I'm just glad that in my lifetime (I'm 64) I got to see this on the BBC (Yes, the BBC, imagine that !) with my late parents as a teenager.. Great days.
@@alanhayward8237 no ones ever rated this clip or any dialogues with the Major as comedy gold, the guy is an NPC we could put faulty towers as a whole in the top 30 or 50 best comedies sure
@ibrahim-sj2cr Anyone viewing this objectively realises that the joke was on the Major and at the time his antiquated views. It was the same with the Germans (krouts and bad eggs) and formed the basis of many of Cleese's Python skits and The Life of Brian - in that case the C of E misreading it entirely. Berkeley was portraying a man bordering on senility living in the past and was not to be taken seriously by the time Farty Owls or Twats was released. The series was and remains an icon in British comedy.
@@alanhayward8237 100% agree with everything in that comment. it was already my own opinion. however this very forgetable dialogue where cleese listens to Majors ramblings (racist or not) is a bad example of the shows comedy genius
One of the most important Fawlty Towers sketches - thank-you for sharing. Too often this part is censored because of it's overt racism. But that was the point - we are meant to be comically horrified at the Major's (and Basil's) laughably outdated attitudes (even when it was first broadcast, which was when I first saw it). My laughs were from the unbelieving of the characters commitment to their terrible attitudes with no semblance of doubt. Unfortunately this is comedy of subtlety and the modern media does not publicly admit to getting it - it is apparently not commercially astute to do so... Thus rather than confronting and evolving from these issues, we sink backwards into ignorance, censorship and fear.
Hardly outdated attitude. Look at Israel. And to think that seeing such comedy is a form of educating confontration that leads to improvement (evolution is in itself neither towards the good nor the bad) is as clichéd as the claim that history teaches us not to repeat our mistakes.
That's the trouble with this comedy it's lost on today's generation, the 1970s had these sort of characters cos it was taking the piss out of old fashioned racist attitudes at a time when Britain was starting to become multi cultural, just like Love Thy Neighbour or Curry and Chips. But the racists mistook this to mean it was championing their way of life and denigrating other races and so characters like Alf Garnett were seen as heroes when they weren't created to be heroes they were created to show what morons ignorant bigots are. And ofcourse now today's new age progressives just see this as politically incorrect and offensive, again missing the point of why these characters speak the way they do. So unfortunately not many got the actual joke, both extremes of the spectrum take it the wrong way.
THE best joke on Fawlty Towers. The audience are about to cringe and tut-tut at his racism then they are relieved that he pulled back from the brink....only for him to go back into it even worse. A joke on the audience in my view, and a brilliant one. If you are in any doubt Cleese then shows the Major to be a few sandwiches short of a picnic.
'winnie, i said - i called her that because that's who she looked like' 'black, was she major ?!' 'black !?, churchill wasnt black, old boy' comedy genius
The major was a fantastic character, as was the builder and Manuel, all brilliantly cast. A show of it's time, a very different England, Elderly folks living out there days in Eastbourne, Torquay, Brighton, having done their industrial grind/ whack, fought for king and country, earned their retirement. Today's all walking sticks, notability cars, sick note and mental health, goodness knows how this is all affordable .😬😬😬
I lived and worked in hotels in Eastbourne in the late 1970s, I agree with your observation 100%. It was a lovely time with manners charm and respect. I really miss that.
@@royalhero4608 Yes, the Grand Burstin Hotel, Folkestone. It's a shocker of an hotel in every way. It's owned by the Britannia hotel group, who find the best way to run down and ruin every place they get their hands on (including the comprehensively-trashed Palace Hotel, Buxton).
I believe those old episodes were filmed ' live ' ? I may be wrong but if true then the chemistry between Cleese and Berkeley was sensational . Not any room for error and non taken !
They got on very well because they were both big cricket fans. While Cleese was performing Berkeley would often mime the latest Test score for him from behind the scenes. The cricket references are a bit of a private joke between them.
Yes, they were filmed in front of a live studio audience, like most UK sitcoms of the day. However, you can find bloopers and outtakes on TH-cam, so it's not entirely the case that there was no room for error.
Yes but she has a vagina that leaks every month and men dont 🤷♂️ . . Well....... its 2024 and society has gone insane so men can have vaginas that leak every month now according to what this society accepts as "normal" . .
@@michaelsandford1015Yes, you can. BBC dvds are available, repeats are shown on BritBox, owned by BBC Studios, and elsewhere. Dad's Army also aired on BBC1 last Christmas. There's nothing much to be done about stupidity. But laziness is a choice.
Laughing AT racism was what brought about the DEMISE of actual racism in this country. Until the left reintroduced it with all the Critical Theory toxicity
Calling this racist actually demeans the what racism is. This is nothing more than excellent comedy. If you're offended by it, then that is your problem, you need to deal with it.
Well it was and it wasn’t, given that this was the seventies and the fact that someone of the Major’s and the actor that played him generation were for the most part “racist” That’s the part you have to deal with, and yes it’s funny and it was comedy and it is now, in the context of then! My dad spoke like that, no filter, no awareness of what he was saying when other people were around, yes it used to make me cringe and in later life he realized and knocked it off. It was a generational thing!
Cringe if you like, but understand what is going on. It is the Major who has the old attitudes that are satirized here. Faulty seems not to, but later he gets hit on the head, and we see he has too. So? Funny. The war impacted people deeply. Feelings were/are even stronger in once-occupied Europe. This does not come out of nowhere. Cleese, commenting on anti-Japanese protests when the emperor visited, said something like ‘ I can’t tell the Pacific veterans what to feel, but the rest of us can let it go’. Keeping in mind we can afford to, because of those veterans. Glad to report, I saw this on tv last month.
Priceless Of course India had and still has dozens of castes and nicknames for different types. I can picture the Major sitting in an hotel in Alexandria with a whiskey and soda , talking about the latest troubles in the soukh. Or reading the riot act in a pith helmet and with a platoon of sepoys to the mob in India. Spiffing. I recall Churchill referring to Ghandhi as a half naked Faqir. I of course couldn’t possibly comment.
No one can gainsay that Gandhi was a half-naked fakir, nor can one gainsay that Churchill also greatly admired the Indians. To pick isolated utterances by the man in moments of annoyance, while ignoring what he said in times of sobriety, is petty and self-serving.
Churchill was the right man in the right place. Great amongst hundred dies not a genius make. Neither was Gandhi incidentally. Both are very mortal men - not Einsteins or Shakespeares or Aretha Franklins
I assume everyone recognises that the sketch (much like the show itself) was making fun of the stereotypical characters - the Major being a representative of a certain class of Englishman who were instinctively and perhaps unwittingly racist/sexist - and therefore slightly ridiculous characters. Fawlty himself was a send-up of a certain breed of ultra-repressed Englishman who was either fawning over the upper-class guests while despising everyone else. Of course, given the time it was made, there were inevitable stereotypes which would be unacceptable today - Manuel and the Irish builder being but two examples. Ironically, Manuel became probably one of the most loved characters on TV - probably due to the genius of Andrew Sachs
@@grahamkirk5974Yu found it hilarious without even getting what the joke was, and you objected to this comment as a "rant" without even understanding that it was saying that the show is funny. Right Wing simpleton.
I'm half Nigerian, this should definitely NOT be censored. The scene is laughing at the Major. If Basil agreed with him that would be totally different. Basil himself is exasperated. It has only been censored since George Floyd. I knew it was only a matter of time.
If you’re watching this in 2024 then it’s as if the War with Nazi Germany finished in 1995. My point being that memories of the war were still quite raw.
Pure art in acting timing and script writing. Sadly missing from the screen today.. So many different people nationalities professions age groups and both sexes this comedy pokes fun at, mostly the English, it is always this sketch that is brought to everyones attention
One of the best comedies ever.Still love watching it to this day,as it keeps me going in this sad,disappointing PC/Woke world.Back then,you could have a really good laugh, not now sadly.
I remember this the first time I saw it. And still today I'm not offended by it. After all were we at time about Archie Bunker or by Fred Sanford and let's forget George Jefferson.
The Major simply uses out-dated language when talking about different races - the joke is that he's a silly old duffer who doesn't know any better. We all instinctively understand that if an Indian woman in a sari or a West Indian woman in a quadrille dress, had arrived at Fawlty Towers, then the Major's first instinct would be to behave as an English gentleman and be on his best behaviour to make them feel at home. (Of course, in the process, he'd probably completely baffle them by talking about cricket: "I say - I don't suppose you happen to know Ranjitsinhji do you? Or Gary Sobers?") Never occurred to me until just now - was "the Major" based on Naunton Wayne of the cricket-obsessed English duo "Charters and Caldicott" who popped-up in several old British b/w films - most notably "The Lady Vanishes" ? They are first seen trying to get back to England from the Continent on the eve of the outbreak of war; they eventually manage to get a telephone line from their Swiss hotel, and anxiously demand to know how things are going for England. You then find that it's not an imminent invasion that concerns them, but how well the English cricket team are doing in the Test match...LOL. (Ballard Berkeley achieved national prominence playing TWO retired British Army officers: for years he was also sports-car driving "Colonel Freddie Danby" in "The Archers". )
That's what happened back then. There was no woke brigade or idiots stopping humour. You could say words without worrying about it. That clip is true to its time and hilarious. The Germans episode saw off the woke brigade and gets broadcast in full today.
The Major was off his rocker but then so are racists. Deciding the character and nature of people based on skin colour or location is insane and would be funny if it wasn't so bloody evil too. The clever way Cleese wrote the Major's racism allowed us to laugh and be aware of how uncomfortable his views make us at the same time.
I’m certainly not uncomfortable about it. Those types are the professionally offended melts. Great comedy, still talked about fondly today. We will never agree with other cultures, because we are different, always will be, so there will be jokes always going back and forth.
That generation spoke like that. Doesn’t mean they are off their rocker . Fought in a bad war so they had earned the right to free speech. The only danger you have faced is possible paper cuts off your Guardian newspaper
As the leaders of the leading US universities said - it’s all about context. Brilliant writing, accurately reflected society at the time - holding a mirror up so people could laugh at themselves.
did you notice on top right of the screen that you can buy it on youtube? It also streams on some Netflix. So no, it didn't get banned. Unlike some Monty Python movies which actually did get banned back then.
Of course it's racist. The fact that the Major is an ignorant old racist is the joke. I don't even know what you think is going on if you think it's not racist.
i was surprised that even in my lifetime a parent (or grandmother?) of a friend of mine said of my math professor "i knew him when he came to the country. he was a nice man, for a german"
Have to totally agree with you @buddymacbuddin… I heard someone say being offended by someone or something does not make you right, I love Faulty Towers, I don’t like Ant and Dec and that’s why I don’t watch them,
I have German friends and they love Fawlty Towers. Also Dad's Army. Perfect examples of the Brits being self-deprecating and able to laugh at themselves
Brilliant piece of writing. It illustrated a man who had served in the British Army and had spent time in India clearly adopting these very outdated and racist views but to the major they were and the point of the conversation with Basil Fawlty quite normal.
I once did a work experience attachment at Sky TV in Osterley from Liverpool John Moores University . One of the technicians on Fawlty Towers was a chap called Tony Guyan he was a Production Assistant on Series 1 (1975). Tony works at Sky on Premier Plus Football Channel in Studio 7 as a Floor Manager. The televised event was a football match between Man Utd and Aston Villa. The final score was a 1-1 draw on 26th August 2001. The pundit in the studio was ex Aston Villa and Arsenal Manager George Graham. I have George Graham’s autograph as well! Thanks to Tony Guyan
For those that think this is terrible. The joke is in the context of the Major's behaviour. He is a sad old boy who can't really look after himself so is spending his declining years living in a seaside hotel ( as are a couple of the other elderly guests) He has dementia and is still in his head living in the days of empire so he keeps coming out with unacceptable and embarrassing misogynistic/racist rants (even for the 1970s) . The thing is, he's a long term paying guest with nowhere else to go, so Basil has to put up with him and humour him. The comedy is in how he completely fails to keep him under control , partly because he secretly sympathises with some of it.
I always wondered how the Major (and the 2 old ladies) managed to live in a hotel. Looks quite idyllic if you ask me, except with dealing with the whole Basil thing! ;)
I like the fact that both Mr. Cleese and Mr. Berkeley loved to talk to each other about cricket. John Cleese mentions this on the special features of Fawlty Towers.
As a 70 year old Indian man I remember watching this episode and still finding it absolutely hilarious. Comedy when people didn't get offended. 🇬🇧🇮🇳🇬🇧
Well said.
yeah...this show belittled the racism and sexism....and yeah, there was no internet to amplify the voices of the "morally superior" (ie easily offended)(ie new Thought Police)(choose a title). So happy I grew up in this time - perspective is a wonderful thing. Anyone who wants this censored is totally ignorant of history and of the mechanisms of social change (and progress). This comic revisiting of old ideas is part of healthy social change..."cancel culture" is fascist.
Indians are always welcome in the U.K.
But those people from
Pakistan are the problem. What do you call them any way people from
Pakistan, that is a different story 😅.
I am Scottish, that was meant as a joke.
Anyone who is from anywhere that was once part of what was
The British Empire is more than welcome.
The Polls now that is a different question . They dont need to live here, but so many of them do 😂.
The Government they are always talking bout
The Pols tell them this
& telling them that
I dont know how the
Pols don't even speak
English 😂 .
Back when people still had a sense of humor.
Yup. Words aren't offensive, it's the intent behind the words that can be offensive.
The guy who played Major was so fucking awesome in that role
Balkard barkly
@@train4905
Ballard Berkely.
@@fransbuijs808 Berkeley
Yes he was terribly fucking awesome in that role.
@@fransbuijs808 Barkhard Porklee
The Major is a legendary piece of comedy character writing, delivered perfectly by Ballard Berkeley. Good comedy stands or falls by its characters, even incidental ones. Beautifully crafted.
Yes indeed so then too.
His best ever scene in the show.
Ballard was a fine actor. He did some brlliant scenes throughout the series.
@joeoak8181 yes he was too. He was also in the archers on bbc radio 4 at one time too as many will know I am sure. But fawlty towers was his best known role for sure.
@@duffman7065Really? You're right, on its own, it is wonderful, but what about the stolen/lost £75 ; broken vase and the winning bet on the Horse race? The Colonel comes in and finishes Fawlty by remembering the money was from a Horse race. For me, that épisode, Communication Problems, was close to being perfect.
Quite wonderful, I'm just glad that in my lifetime (I'm 64) I got to see this on the BBC (Yes, the BBC, imagine that !) with my late parents as a teenager.. Great days.
Too many white British people for the bbc now
Hear, hear. Before the woke mind virus took hold and created generations of zombies.
Comedy at its best i am Irish and we love this humour.
There was lots of similar stuff in Father Ted .
Did you like Mr Reilly the builder?
@@teresaward8174 Irish???... you ain't o e of o'reillys men are you?
One of the funniest and brilliantly executed dialogues in English comedy.
are you high. you think this rambling is the peak of british comedy?
@ibrahim-sj2cr Absolutely .. and more often that not rated the top comedy series in television history.
@@alanhayward8237 no ones ever rated this clip or any dialogues with the Major as comedy gold, the guy is an NPC
we could put faulty towers as a whole in the top 30 or 50 best comedies sure
@ibrahim-sj2cr Anyone viewing this objectively realises that the joke was on the Major and at the time his antiquated views. It was the same with the Germans (krouts and bad eggs) and formed the basis of many of Cleese's Python skits and The Life of Brian - in that case the C of E misreading it entirely. Berkeley was portraying a man bordering on senility living in the past and was not to be taken seriously by the time Farty Owls or Twats was released. The series was and remains an icon in British comedy.
@@alanhayward8237 100% agree with everything in that comment. it was already my own opinion. however this very forgetable dialogue where cleese listens to Majors ramblings (racist or not) is a bad example of the shows comedy genius
One of the most important Fawlty Towers sketches - thank-you for sharing. Too often this part is censored because of it's overt racism. But that was the point - we are meant to be comically horrified at the Major's (and Basil's) laughably outdated attitudes (even when it was first broadcast, which was when I first saw it). My laughs were from the unbelieving of the characters commitment to their terrible attitudes with no semblance of doubt. Unfortunately this is comedy of subtlety and the modern media does not publicly admit to getting it - it is apparently not commercially astute to do so... Thus rather than confronting and evolving from these issues, we sink backwards into ignorance, censorship and fear.
Well said. ❤
This is very well-said.
spot on alex
Fantastically articulated 👏
Hardly outdated attitude. Look at Israel. And to think that seeing such comedy is a form of educating confontration that leads to improvement (evolution is in itself neither towards the good nor the bad) is as clichéd as the claim that history teaches us not to repeat our mistakes.
Bring back this type of Comedy 🇬🇧🙏👌
I loved it, but I’m sorry it will never come back
hands up everyone who's watched re-runs and YT vids of fawlty towers dozens of times since the 70's? - that'll be all of us then😁
(I put my hands up)
I've got the entire show on DVD. A box set with commentary from John Cleese. Great stuff.
I watched it when it was first broadcast. The best British sitcom by a country mile.
@@davidwalter2002 Me too! 🦘
Strangely when this was first shown.it was hardly advertised and went out on BBC2 . It quickly became a hit and was immediately re- run on BBC 1 ..
You've got to remember, this is just well observed comedy from its time. It's actually making fun of those views not supporting them..
funny how all the actual far-right racists love it though... ever thought why?
Not sure that today's snowflakes can tell the difference. But I do very much agree with you.
And as such, is actually way ahead of its time😊
@@trinkabuszczuk6138
Not at all. The racist bigot was always a source of humour, because true gentlemen were not racists.
That's the trouble with this comedy it's lost on today's generation, the 1970s had these sort of characters cos it was taking the piss out of old fashioned racist attitudes at a time when Britain was starting to become multi cultural, just like Love Thy Neighbour or Curry and Chips. But the racists mistook this to mean it was championing their way of life and denigrating other races and so characters like Alf Garnett were seen as heroes when they weren't created to be heroes they were created to show what morons ignorant bigots are. And ofcourse now today's new age progressives just see this as politically incorrect and offensive, again missing the point of why these characters speak the way they do. So unfortunately not many got the actual joke, both extremes of the spectrum take it the wrong way.
THE best joke on Fawlty Towers. The audience are about to cringe and tut-tut at his racism then they are relieved that he pulled back from the brink....only for him to go back into it even worse. A joke on the audience in my view, and a brilliant one.
If you are in any doubt Cleese then shows the Major to be a few sandwiches short of a picnic.
Thank fuck *somebody* in this benighted comments section gets it.
meh, the germans was much funnier
A few sandwiches? Never heard that phrase, I must use it. Thank you.
The sandwich deficit was established from the beginning. That's what saves his bacon. (Not sandwich bacon!)
Bit like the pc brigade.
'winnie, i said - i called her that because that's who she looked like'
'black, was she major ?!'
'black !?, churchill wasnt black, old boy'
comedy genius
Context and a grasp of nuance is everything.
THANK GOD for DVD collections....
I have this on DVD that god, avoid the censorship .
@@chrisholland7367 "censorship" lol, get a grip.
Be banned soon!
Don't use God's name in vain.
@@chrisholland7367 don't blasphemy
The major was a fantastic character, as was the builder and Manuel, all brilliantly cast.
A show of it's time, a very different England, Elderly folks living out there days in Eastbourne, Torquay, Brighton, having done their industrial grind/ whack, fought for king and country, earned their retirement.
Today's all walking sticks, notability cars, sick note and mental health, goodness knows how this is all affordable .😬😬😬
I lived and worked in hotels in Eastbourne in the late 1970s, I agree with your observation 100%. It was a lovely time with manners charm and respect. I really miss that.
Nasty comment
@@MS-Patriot2 Did you ever find the crummiest, shoddiest, worst run hotel in the whole of Western Europe?
@@royalhero4608 nope, but they were available to those with less to spend.
@@royalhero4608 Yes, the Grand Burstin Hotel, Folkestone. It's a shocker of an hotel in every way. It's owned by the Britannia hotel group, who find the best way to run down and ruin every place they get their hands on (including the comprehensively-trashed Palace Hotel, Buxton).
No racism in this sketch!
The woke mob are upset!!!!
Love Fawlty Towers!
The joke was the major and his simplistic racism. Of a time when we laughed without feeling guilty of upsetting somebody.
There is plenty of this kind of humour, uncencored all over the internet. Stop being such a snowflake yourself maybe?
What a horrible melter you are.
@@gleiraffemaybe if you stop being rude.
I also fail to see how this is “snowflake behavior”
You self-censor? You sound triple jabbed.
@@acesamm
Because it's only WORDS.
SNOWFLAKE.
Superb! not 'waycist' at all!
Loved her insert 'what about German women?'
The depiction of senility is also spot on and quite moving. It is a fact of life we will all have to deal with one way or another.
Look at Joe Biden....
Not necessarily. I have a 98 year old uncle who can reason better than I can.
I am often senile when it suits me.
Anyone who is offended by this doesn't understand British humour.
Has no sense of humour. Any kind of humour.
No doubt John Cleese would sound just like the Major In 2024!
@@paulmason329 why aint he blackballed by the woke counterculture
Brilliant
@@castelodeossos3947 dehumanising not humour
Major is a COD player confirmed.
NPC player more like
AFB
I believe those old episodes were filmed ' live ' ? I may be wrong but if true then the chemistry between Cleese and Berkeley was sensational . Not any room for error and non taken !
They got on very well because they were both big cricket fans. While Cleese was performing Berkeley would often mime the latest Test score for him from behind the scenes. The cricket references are a bit of a private joke between them.
Yes, they were filmed in front of a live studio audience, like most UK sitcoms of the day. However, you can find bloopers and outtakes on TH-cam, so it's not entirely the case that there was no room for error.
Good only fashioned gerry bashing....you cant beat it
It would be perfect if a Frog reference would be dropped in as well.
I love how Polly is going about being clever and efficient while the two men stand around doing nothing complaining about how incompetent women are.
yes but the all men gave her the time and resources to learn multiple languages but she cannot remember where she put put her german book!
@@rods6405indeed
i love how she was topless in that film...
Yes but she has a vagina that leaks every month and men dont 🤷♂️
.
.
Well....... its 2024 and society has gone insane so men can have vaginas that leak every month now according to what this society accepts as "normal"
.
.
It's fiction, but if it plays to your sexism fine, just realise that's what it is.
When comedy was still funny. RIP comedy since the PC brigade ruined everything.
Yes we can't even watch dad's army now
you know it m8
@@michaelsandford1015Yes, you can. BBC dvds are available, repeats are shown on BritBox, owned by BBC Studios, and elsewhere. Dad's Army also aired on BBC1 last Christmas. There's nothing much to be done about stupidity. But laziness is a choice.
If this came out today, there would be street riots.
Comedy is still funny. There's loads of it being created. Saying "RIP Comedy" is ridiculously overdramatic.
The Major was so brilliant in FT. Incredibly funny scene.
Classic comedy. Great stuff!!!!
I assume Netflix has censored this. Need to get this Peep Show and Little Britain all on DVD.
Don't mention the war
I mentioned it once....but I think I got away with it
🤫😂
@thekenster2002 it was the Gemans that started it lol
@@kvpunk881Yes you did, you invaded Poland!
A brilliantly crafted punchline to the cricket story, if ever there was one.
Not really, he didn't tell us if Surrey got the 33 runs.
@@sentimentalbloke185I thought he said sunny as in Sunil gavaskar
@@itookallthenames no
@@sentimentalbloke185 so it is, for more than 30 years I thought it was Sunni
@@itookallthenames It's Surrey, old boy. Their home ground is THE OVAL!! lol
The major is portayed by the excellant Ballard Barcley who appeared in many films in the 60s great comedy acting
'Col Danby' in "The Archers".
Not racism but attitudes of a generation and national sentiment during wartime.
Racism Are Black People.
One of my favourite moments: "I took her to see India! .... "(Pause) ..."At the Oval!" 😂😂
There's nothing racist about this.
It's comedic writing at it's peak. Cleese never bettered Fawlty Towers but nor has anyone else
There is a little bit of
@@wilfridwibblesworth2613 the title dim wit
Laughing AT racism was what brought about the DEMISE of actual racism in this country. Until the left reintroduced it with all the Critical Theory toxicity
There is, but that is the joke. The old Pom is the joke, an anachronism, and his racism is highlighting how ugly racism is.
Calling this racist actually demeans the what racism is. This is nothing more than excellent comedy. If you're offended by it, then that is your problem, you need to deal with it.
You need to chill.
I agree with everything you said.
Just lighten up a little.
IT wasn't even really, it was just using language that was common in that generation.
@@srldwg lighten up? Why? I'm simply expressing myself. What right do you have to dictate how I choose to express my views? 😂😂
As a German, I'm offended.
Well it was and it wasn’t, given that this was the seventies and the fact that someone of the Major’s and the actor that played him generation were for the most part “racist”
That’s the part you have to deal with, and yes it’s funny and it was comedy and it is now, in the context of then!
My dad spoke like that, no filter, no awareness of what he was saying when other people were around, yes it used to make me cringe and in later life he realized and knocked it off. It was a generational thing!
Cringe if you like, but understand what is going on. It is the Major who has the old attitudes that are satirized here. Faulty seems not to, but later he gets hit on the head, and we see he has too. So? Funny.
The war impacted people deeply. Feelings were/are even stronger in once-occupied Europe. This does not come out of nowhere. Cleese, commenting on anti-Japanese protests when the emperor visited, said something like ‘ I can’t tell the Pacific veterans what to feel, but the rest of us can let it go’.
Keeping in mind we can afford to, because of those veterans.
Glad to report, I saw this on tv last month.
Brilliant. Still love it to this day. One of our best comedies.
Brilliant! I used to work with Ballard Berkeley's son Peter, he was every inch his father's son - a very funny guy.
Priceless
Of course India had and still has dozens of castes and nicknames for different types.
I can picture the Major sitting in an hotel in Alexandria with a whiskey and soda , talking about the latest troubles in the soukh.
Or reading the riot act in a pith helmet and with a platoon of sepoys to the mob in India.
Spiffing.
I recall Churchill referring to Ghandhi as a half naked Faqir.
I of course couldn’t possibly comment.
No one can gainsay that Gandhi was a half-naked fakir, nor can one gainsay that Churchill also greatly admired the Indians. To pick isolated utterances by the man in moments of annoyance, while ignoring what he said in times of sobriety, is petty and self-serving.
@@castelodeossos3947 one of the greatest Britons ever lived.
Churchill was the right man in the right place. Great amongst hundred dies not a genius make. Neither was Gandhi incidentally.
Both are very mortal men - not Einsteins or Shakespeares or Aretha Franklins
And Alf Garnet (till death us do part) said of Ghandi, "he wouldn't eat his dinner so they gave him India".
Was Churchill ever sober?
Major was the best.
I assume everyone recognises that the sketch (much like the show itself) was making fun of the stereotypical characters - the Major being a representative of a certain class of Englishman who were instinctively and perhaps unwittingly racist/sexist - and therefore slightly ridiculous characters. Fawlty himself was a send-up of a certain breed of ultra-repressed Englishman who was either fawning over the upper-class guests while despising everyone else. Of course, given the time it was made, there were inevitable stereotypes which would be unacceptable today - Manuel and the Irish builder being but two examples. Ironically, Manuel became probably one of the most loved characters on TV - probably due to the genius of Andrew Sachs
Fawning over them... Or else spitting venom like a benzedrine puff-adder
Typical left wing woke rant. I found it hilarious.
@@grahamkirk5974Yu found it hilarious without even getting what the joke was, and you objected to this comment as a "rant" without even understanding that it was saying that the show is funny.
Right Wing simpleton.
Don't forget it's the lefties who have gotten the western world into awful state it's now in.😉
Agreed. Not your use of the term ironic though.
The Germans is by far the funniest episode. “How ever did zey vin?” It slays me every time.
Enigmatic.
“ We have meat here in ze building ! “
I'm half Nigerian, this should definitely NOT be censored. The scene is laughing at the Major. If Basil agreed with him
that would be totally different. Basil himself is exasperated. It has only been censored since George Floyd. I knew
it was only a matter of time.
If you’re watching this in 2024 then it’s as if the War with Nazi Germany finished in 1995. My point being that memories of the war were still quite raw.
Major would spin in his grave if he saw what the former Great UK has become. Muslim in 50 - 100 years, like wtf?
Once again, a perfect example of precise timing of their lines which is essential for good comedy to work. 😊
"I took her to see INDIA!!! ... At the oval !!!" Great line.
Pure art in acting timing and script writing. Sadly missing from the screen today.. So many different people nationalities professions age groups and both sexes this comedy pokes fun at, mostly the English, it is always this sketch that is brought to everyones attention
One of the best comedies ever.Still love watching it to this day,as it keeps me going in this sad,disappointing PC/Woke world.Back then,you could have a really good laugh, not now sadly.
As an aging man from the English upper class I find this offensive.
...and damned funny.
*ageing
well said major
I miss the old days. PC wasn't invented yet.
I remember this the first time I saw it. And still today I'm not offended by it. After all were we at time about Archie Bunker or by Fred Sanford and let's forget George Jefferson.
The Major simply uses out-dated language when talking about different races - the joke is that he's a silly old duffer who doesn't know any better. We all instinctively understand that if an Indian woman in a sari or a West Indian woman in a quadrille dress, had arrived at Fawlty Towers, then the Major's first instinct would be to behave as an English gentleman and be on his best behaviour to make them feel at home. (Of course, in the process, he'd probably completely baffle them by talking about cricket: "I say - I don't suppose you happen to know Ranjitsinhji do you? Or Gary Sobers?") Never occurred to me until just now - was "the Major" based on Naunton Wayne of the cricket-obsessed English duo "Charters and Caldicott" who popped-up in several old British b/w films - most notably "The Lady Vanishes" ? They are first seen trying to get back to England from the Continent on the eve of the outbreak of war; they eventually manage to get a telephone line from their Swiss hotel, and anxiously demand to know how things are going for England. You then find that it's not an imminent invasion that concerns them, but how well the English cricket team are doing in the Test match...LOL. (Ballard Berkeley achieved national prominence playing TWO retired British Army officers: for years he was also sports-car driving "Colonel Freddie Danby" in "The Archers". )
That's what happened back then. There was no woke brigade or idiots stopping humour. You could say words without worrying about it. That clip is true to its time and hilarious. The Germans episode saw off the woke brigade and gets broadcast in full today.
I had a major crush on Polly back in the day ❤
I still do.
Didn't everyone ?
Cybil's not bad, either.
Ballard Berkeley was an extremely handsome film star when he was younger
British humour is absolutely the BEST!
The Major was off his rocker but then so are racists. Deciding the character and nature of people based on skin colour or location is insane and would be funny if it wasn't so bloody evil too. The clever way Cleese wrote the Major's racism allowed us to laugh and be aware of how uncomfortable his views make us at the same time.
I’m certainly not uncomfortable about it. Those types are the professionally offended melts. Great comedy, still talked about fondly today.
We will never agree with other cultures, because we are different, always will be, so there will be jokes always going back and forth.
Definitely not uncomfortable
You can be uncomfortable if you want . The rest of us will just laugh
That generation spoke like that. Doesn’t mean they are off their rocker . Fought in a bad war so they had earned the right to free speech. The only danger you have faced is possible paper cuts off your Guardian newspaper
Gen Millennial will never understand the genius of this.
Good old days.
Just to say when the BBC made funny comedy shows so much better then today's P C crap.
Wonderful wit and a wonderful world that could still laugh at itself before the onset of wokesterism - precious, pretentious and patronising.
As the leaders of the leading US universities said - it’s all about context.
Brilliant writing, accurately reflected society at the time - holding a mirror up so people could laugh at themselves.
Perhaps a point we should seriously consider is that this brilliant humour is now actually banned.
Good point wole.
Banned where?
did you notice on top right of the screen that you can buy it on youtube? It also streams on some Netflix. So no, it didn't get banned. Unlike some Monty Python movies which actually did get banned back then.
Germans are bad eggs 😂
very funny 😂
Because they don't play cricket.
Brilliant piece of comedy, no racism at all. Made by the BBC before all of this ‘racist’ bollocks
Cleese is openly racist.
Are you joking? You don’t think the N word is racist?
There's no such thing as racism, just ask Jesse Lee Peterson
Agreed mate. A word which needs to be banned.
Of course it's racist. The fact that the Major is an ignorant old racist is the joke. I don't even know what you think is going on if you think it's not racist.
The Major was always in a world of his own.
Sounds great to me
Simply brilliant. I'm glad we had this in my lifetime. Nowadays nothing is funny except the BBC obsession with DEI and blind casting.
Very funny indeed, the Beeb cut this from the re-runs; the beginning of the end
Casting Ballard Berkeley was a masterstroke...
The Major is fantastic in this section. Still makes me laugh.
i was surprised that even in my lifetime a parent (or grandmother?) of a friend of mine said of my math professor "i knew him when he came to the country. he was a nice man, for a german"
If you don't like it don't watch it simple banning things you don't like has no end
Have to totally agree with you @buddymacbuddin… I heard someone say being offended by someone or something does not make you right, I love Faulty Towers, I don’t like Ant and Dec and that’s why I don’t watch them,
Most of the young generations don’t have a sense of humour. I will always laugh at such humour, we love the so called racist humour .
'Shot, was he, Fawlty ?'
I have German friends and they love Fawlty Towers. Also Dad's Army. Perfect examples of the Brits being self-deprecating and able to laugh at themselves
Hahaha Absolute legend Ballard Barclay. Always hilarious...
Wonderful! Will there ever be better than Faulty Towers?
Brilliant piece of writing. It illustrated a man who had served in the British Army and had spent time in India clearly adopting these very outdated and racist views but to the major they were and the point of the conversation with Basil Fawlty quite normal.
"Good card players !"" What fabulous,meaningless piece of comedy. Monty Python all over it !
The Major would have been a WW1 veteran so was expressing the opinions of his generation and class, it was as funny as get out!
My late mother and aunt were hardly liberals, but when they saw this scene, the reacted, "They're talking this way?" "On television?"
The best scene from the best British comedy ever produced.
Excellent comedy,it parodies old world thoughts,not racist just misunderstandings 😂
I once did a work experience attachment at Sky TV in Osterley from Liverpool John Moores University . One of the technicians on Fawlty Towers was a chap called Tony Guyan he was a Production Assistant on Series 1 (1975). Tony works at Sky on Premier Plus Football Channel in Studio 7 as a Floor Manager.
The televised event was a football match between Man Utd and Aston Villa. The final score was a 1-1 draw on 26th August 2001.
The pundit in the studio was ex Aston Villa and Arsenal Manager George Graham.
I have George Graham’s autograph as well! Thanks to Tony Guyan
why am I the only one wondering about the wierd end of this video?
Many people, especially in these days of fast scrolling, are unconscious.
jesusbuddhacult.com
What's wierd about it? She found the book she was looking for.
The best way to combat the insanity of racism is to laugh at it.
The good old days.
Totally Brilliant Those were the days
"Good card players!" I'd love to know the rational behind that assertion.
How many people still don't understand British humour even now 😂
For those that think this is terrible. The joke is in the context of the Major's behaviour. He is a sad old boy who can't really look after himself so is spending his declining years living in a seaside hotel ( as are a couple of the other elderly guests) He has dementia and is still in his head living in the days of empire so he keeps coming out with unacceptable and embarrassing misogynistic/racist rants (even for the 1970s) . The thing is, he's a long term paying guest with nowhere else to go, so Basil has to put up with him and humour him. The comedy is in how he completely fails to keep him under control , partly because he secretly sympathises with some of it.
When we were allowed to laugh at ourselves and it was actually funny 😕
Fabulous comedy! Major was a brilliant character. 😂😂😂
Brilliant, we shall not see the like again sadly.
I always wondered how the Major (and the 2 old ladies) managed to live in a hotel. Looks quite idyllic if you ask me, except with dealing with the whole Basil thing! ;)
If you put this on TV nowadays, you would melt more snowflakes than a Siberian heat wave 😅.
'snowflakes'..another far-right term invented to normalise their own hate-speech
@@StuartH2709 www.cps.gov.uk/crime-info/hate-crime
You can't even say you're English, these days.
@@DufftronicOkI'm English... why am I still perfectly fine. Could you possibly be talking absolute shit?
Irony. Snowflake.
I like the fact that both Mr. Cleese and Mr. Berkeley loved to talk to each other about cricket. John Cleese mentions this on the special features of Fawlty Towers.
Connie Booth one of my first crushes. Don't think you'd be allowed to make this in these batshit crazy days.....
sadly
From an age of creativity, free speech and free though. Beautifully crafted comedy writing from when the BBC had balls.
Thought
Totally, I was back end of school during Fawlty Towers original run, Connie Booth was gorgeous !!
@@halley4032 very sexy lady