I love the comedy community, everyone is so supportive and take the piss but in a friendly way! This show is decades old but I'm 16 and I love these classics, Laurie is flawless. Happy to see lots of others return to these videos too
Unbelievably subtle humour. The whole sketch is based around Hugh asking the Major how he can sleep at night despite having committed a massacre. Very clever.
+ProudToBeNoob I don't think it's about Hugh asking the Major how he can sleep at night as much as it is Hugh _not_ asking him how he can sleep at night. We're set up to think that that's going to be the punchine, but it never comes, despite the fact that it's obviously the direction the conversation is leading. I think it's really a criticism of the way serious issues are often trivialised or downplayed in the media, specifically when it fails to hold powerful figures to account.
ScoopMeisterGeneral definitely. The it's a criticism of the media who refuse to ask the rhetorical "how do you sleep at night" of the government, instigators of the falklands war etc. (this was produced in the Thatcher years, and ABOF&L war repeatedly critical of that government in its subtext) But, of course, they also peppered it with absurd juxtaposition and sexual references for those who didn't spot their subversive themes.
Bearded Emperor I think that the British media did ask questions of the instigators of The Falklands War ie the Argentine junta who, fed up with torturing and murdering their own citizens, decided to invade British sovereign territory.
I'm an Irish nationalist in favour of breaking up the UK and even u can spot the fact that the Falklands are British territory and the Argentinians had no damned business there
I think this is by far their most underrated sketch. Does anyone else ever get angry that the audience isn't laughing, even though you yourself aren't really laughing out loud either?
@@coolnamebro Those are real audiences, given that you can see the edge of the stage and there are laughing people in many other sketches clearly shown. Also, they literally turn towards the audience at the end.
coolnamebro - It absolutely isn’t canned. It’s filmed in front of a live studio audience. Even the on location sketches are played back to the studio audience and the laughter recorded live. As any actor will tell you who’s been in a run of a live comedy, audiences often laugh at different things each night. You can’t always predict where the laughs will come..
Honestly I feel like that was uncalled for. That’s just not a respectful question to be asking a guest like that, it really forces them to embarrassingly divulge that to the whole audience. I would’ve preferred him ask about his choice of pillows. Much more reasonable.
You want to stay away from duvets or you'll go continental breakfast in a month (paraphrasing what H.R.H. the (late) Duke of Edinburgh said about going slitty eyed from staying in China for over a month which made the F.O. people cringe).
@@simonforbes2453 Well, one could almost be tempted to say, that the british are subconciously aware of the heinous crimes commited by the former empirial spirit still lingering about in the heads of their administrations.
When you've been through as much crap as the British have (a lot if it from our own side) you either laugh or go insane. Most of us have decided to do both, just in case.
It's such a sweet idea for a talk show because even with a bed, it's nothing sexual at all! Just an opportunity to get to know famous people in a relaxing setting :)
German television has that great series translated "A night with..." where kinda random celebs or so spend a night in the city together - somehow awsome every time.
@@TomSmith-jp1es Not neccesarily, he/she just thinks it would be a good idea irl, without the implications in this particular video. No need to be an ass about it.
I used to talk about an idea for a late night show called Pillow Talk where the celebrity and host both wear pajamas and play sleepover-type games (Truth or Dare, 20 Questions, etc.) and then at the end of the show have a serious talk segment called 3 am Conversations where you get really deep and then you end with them having their favorite breakfast. I thought it was all quite clever really lol
@@gopalpoudyal6553 That's the joke. He's terrified of a question that shouldn't intimidate anyone. Yet, he has no issue with the questions that pertain to the massacre.
There was a contemporary (or rather a few years earlier) very late night chat show called Pillow Talk, whereby celebrities would lie in bed with Emma Freud (the great man’s great granddaughter) and asked not very intimate or searching questions. Great premise. This was a bit of a parody.
I always saw comments like "this would be a great show" here and then I saw a trailer for a show called Sleeping with Friends or something, and it just reminded me of this video.
1) "My father was X." 2) "Oh, so he did Y." 3) "No, that's a Z, people usually confuse those." 4) "Really? What's the difference?" 5) "I don't know/[Witty aphorism about the difference]." It is a cliché conversation, they just shortened it up to subvert expectations. It's like in the letter sketch: "The man was either mad or both". Maybe.
"The man was either mad or both" is different, I think. There are two meanings of mad so he's saying "the man was either crazy, very enthusiastic [mad about...] or both". Same effect really in that it subverts our expectation of another adjective after "or" but it is more of a joke.
Ooooh, I didn't see it like that. That's a funnier joke than I had thought of. Not being native English speaker limits your interpretation to be honest, so thank you for your insight.
Matthew Richards it’s easy to recognise fake laughs that were put on the audio track for tv broadcast while maintaining the final cheers of the live show
Peter Mosten/Mostin.... that was the name of Hugh's character in those Allied & Leicester adverts they did in the 80s. Or was it Bradford & Bingley? Compact and bijou Mosten.
Hugh Laurie played Mostyn in the Alliance & Leicester adverts. It might have been Peter Mostyn, but I don't actually remember him being given a full name.
People are genuinely laughing from the very start simply at Hugh Laurie saying who he is..."I'm Peter Mostyn." I genuinely think he's one of the few performers who we laugh at but we DON'T KNOW WHY!! He just has to BE there doing next to nothing There aren't many that could do that....Tommy Cooper, Rowan Atkinson, Max Wall, erm....now I'm struggling!
Now that's what you call, "Embedded Journalism".
This deserves more likes.
Holy fuck, I'm dying. Well played, sir.
Ba-dum-tiss!
I love the comedy community, everyone is so supportive and take the piss but in a friendly way! This show is decades old but I'm 16 and I love these classics, Laurie is flawless. Happy to see lots of others return to these videos too
very popular with the broadsheet press
god i'm getting old, the whole time all i could think was "that bed looks comfy"
I was thinking the same thing, I'm 17
Same here
Or just tired 😂
Same here, and I’m 14
I was born old, it seems...
Unbelievably subtle humour. The whole sketch is based around Hugh asking the Major how he can sleep at night despite having committed a massacre. Very clever.
+ProudToBeNoob I don't think it's about Hugh asking the Major how he can sleep at night as much as it is Hugh _not_ asking him how he can sleep at night. We're set up to think that that's going to be the punchine, but it never comes, despite the fact that it's obviously the direction the conversation is leading.
I think it's really a criticism of the way serious issues are often trivialised or downplayed in the media, specifically when it fails to hold powerful figures to account.
ScoopMeisterGeneral definitely. The it's a criticism of the media who refuse to ask the rhetorical "how do you sleep at night" of the government, instigators of the falklands war etc. (this was produced in the Thatcher years, and ABOF&L war repeatedly critical of that government in its subtext) But, of course, they also peppered it with absurd juxtaposition and sexual references for those who didn't spot their subversive themes.
Exactly, also there is the phrase "to be in bed with someone" - as the media often takes sides. (not sure if this was intentional though)
Bearded Emperor I think that the British media did ask questions of the instigators of The Falklands War ie the Argentine junta who, fed up with torturing and murdering their own citizens, decided to invade British sovereign territory.
I'm an Irish nationalist in favour of breaking up the UK and even u can spot the fact that the Falklands are British territory and the Argentinians had no damned business there
This is a truly brilliant idea for a tv program
Wasn't there a tv series called "In Bed With... "?
It's been done on radio.
@@tomkent4656. In Bed With Joan Rivers
I think this is by far their most underrated sketch. Does anyone else ever get angry that the audience isn't laughing, even though you yourself aren't really laughing out loud either?
Not really
Ha! Yes. I was thinking the exact same thing
Some of the best lines in this one died without a laugh....the perils of a live TV audience.
British live audiences are so weird. They're like a legion of Jimmy Fallons, die laughing at random phrases and missing the really good bits.
@@coolnamebro Those are real audiences, given that you can see the edge of the stage and there are laughing people in many other sketches clearly shown. Also, they literally turn towards the audience at the end.
coolnamebro - It absolutely isn’t canned. It’s filmed in front of a live studio audience. Even the on location sketches are played back to the studio audience and the laughter recorded live. As any actor will tell you who’s been in a run of a live comedy, audiences often laugh at different things each night. You can’t always predict where the laughs will come..
@@coolnamebro why make a false claim like that? you obviously didn't know the truth, but acted like you did.
Totally, like that part where he says "blast!"
A brilliant fusion of the ideas of "how can you sleep at night..." and The Banality of Evil.
indeed a devilishly tricky question about sheet/blanket vs duvet...you can see the major getting visibly uncomfortable at that point ;-)
Arek K. Yes, he was _terrified_ he was going to be asked that..!
Sheet+blanket AND duvet ! MWAHAHAHA
"European duvet" instead of the more common term "continental quilt"! Hilarious.
Honestly I feel like that was uncalled for. That’s just not a respectful question to be asking a guest like that, it really forces them to embarrassingly divulge that to the whole audience. I would’ve preferred him ask about his choice of pillows. Much more reasonable.
You want to stay away from duvets or you'll go continental breakfast in a month (paraphrasing what H.R.H. the (late) Duke of Edinburgh said about going slitty eyed from staying in China for over a month which made the F.O. people cringe).
“You don’t accept any responsibility?”
“Well, I suppose I could’ve put some cream on it.”
i cant believe that the massacre jokes didnt get more laughs..i thought they were great.
@Henk de Tank what? No. It was a lot be audience. It literally shows the audience at the end.
There was a bit of a stony silence wasn't there.
@@simonforbes2453 Well, one could almost be tempted to say, that the british are subconciously aware of the heinous crimes commited by the former empirial spirit still lingering about in the heads of their administrations.
I think the massacre jokes killed.
You could say the jokes were killer
Anyone else would be a regular spectator of this show?
Yes
Gongasoso I was back in the day and thanks to TH-cam I always will be
Damn yeah.
Me.
Well of course i would
It took me too long to realise that this is seeing how the major sleeps at night after what he did. :S
guyliston literally, “how do you sleep at night?”
I actually tried the toe stretching thing for foot cramps along with the milk skin thing and they actually work a trick.
Do remember the mosquito repellent. You don't want to be tried for war crimes simply because you didn't protect yourself thoroughly.
This sketch shouldve killed way harder than it did with the studio audience, this was great.
So you're saying it should have been a massacre? I'll see myself out...
@@zeeslag123 yes, because fry and Laurie killed it with this sketch
"Well, I suppose I could have put some cream on it."
Had me in stitches
I sure miss those two brilliant men. I wish i could see them together again.
Λαυρέντιος Ψαροκάηκας I want them to do like seven episodes of a Gelliant Gutfright series
And now Stephen is godfather to all 3 of Hugh’s kids
The Brits ARE some inventive and funny people. And they aren't shy to bring tricky issues forward like massacering civilians.... Great.
We've got long experience of it.
When you've been through as much crap as the British have (a lot if it from our own side) you either laugh or go insane. Most of us have decided to do both, just in case.
Stephen is so adorable when Hugh sing "Happy birthday" to him :)
now..uh, about those massacres..
It's such a sweet idea for a talk show because even with a bed, it's nothing sexual at all! Just an opportunity to get to know famous people in a relaxing setting :)
Paula Yates used to have show very similar, called The Big Bed I believe, and that is where she met Michael Hutchence.
I personally find the idea of being interviewed in my bed disturbing.
You entirely missed the point of the sketch didn't you?
German television has that great series translated "A night with..." where kinda random celebs or so spend a night in the city together - somehow awsome every time.
@@TomSmith-jp1es Not neccesarily, he/she just thinks it would be a good idea irl, without the implications in this particular video.
No need to be an ass about it.
Awww bless, Stephen's face when Hugh sings "Happy Birthday" to him :)
Qi got really weird at the end...
I actually like this concept. Sleeping with celebrities. Late night pillow talk. I would watch that.
Yes, sleeping with celebrities! What a genius idea!
I used to talk about an idea for a late night show called Pillow Talk where the celebrity and host both wear pajamas and play sleepover-type games (Truth or Dare, 20 Questions, etc.) and then at the end of the show have a serious talk segment called 3 am Conversations where you get really deep and then you end with them having their favorite breakfast. I thought it was all quite clever really lol
th-cam.com/video/-mrvq-d9YGs/w-d-xo.html :D
What a brilliant show, and writing too.
Fry would make a great movie stalin
Way too tall.
It's like watching any interview with Henry Kissinger.
This general has more self awareness
'At least every night.' Such subtle genius.
Terrified about the duvet question, not the massacres.
Ah, you see, what you've done there, is you've cleverly deduced the hidden humour in the sketch.
+@@samgab Hey, but why exactly is the Major terrified of Peter questioning him about the duvet?
@@gopalpoudyal6553 That's the joke. He's terrified of a question that shouldn't intimidate anyone. Yet, he has no issue with the questions that pertain to the massacre.
Absolutely brilliant! Sheer comedic genius!
This is a take-off of an interview show hosted by Emma Freud. Superbly done.
Paula Yates did something similar.
Hugh wears sideburns well.
He wears literally anything well lol
Stephen Fry in silk pyjamas... delicious 💕
PrplMnkyDshWshr LOL
i actually would like a talk show where it's just two people going to bed, played at around 11 in the evening just as i'm trying to sleep.
Joan Rivers has got that request... ehem... covered.
Bunk Bed on BBC Sounds is pretty much this!
I just love hugh Laurie! Amazing as always
I would watch a series like this. some dude interviewing different people and going to bed with them in a platonic sense.
"I suppose I could have put some cream on it"
I'm rolling right now XD
Brilliant sketch! Love these guys.
this is terrifyingly current.
I love that Stephen was the big spoon at the end :-D
Looking through these comments.....so much love from the ladies, can you blame them?
There was a contemporary (or rather a few years earlier) very late night chat show called Pillow Talk, whereby celebrities would lie in bed with Emma Freud (the great man’s great granddaughter) and asked not very intimate or searching questions. Great premise.
This was a bit of a parody.
Never thought one day this guy will do the House
Oh, to be the chilly vanilla in that ice cream sandwich...
His explanations are like my mother and grandfather.
I always saw comments like "this would be a great show" here and then I saw a trailer for a show called Sleeping with Friends or something, and it just reminded me of this video.
These guys are just great!!!
Funny topic approached in a funny way, looking at it from the distance...lovely British society 🎉
How can Stephen look even more adorable with a little mustache?! :D
2:57 the man needs some Vicodin
I’d watch this regularly if it were a thing
Sketch is roughly based on jalianwala massacre led by general dire. A huge fan of Hugh. From pakistan
General Dire was a huge fan of Hugh Laurie? That still not a valid excuse, though.
:-P
how they remember these whole sketches is beyond me
Lol they might've been referencing the Jallianwallah Bag massacre. I'm almost shocked at the subtle dark humour.
Could someone explain this joke to me:
"My father was a chemist."
"Really? What's the difference?"
"I don't know."
1) "My father was X."
2) "Oh, so he did Y."
3) "No, that's a Z, people usually confuse those."
4) "Really? What's the difference?"
5) "I don't know/[Witty aphorism about the difference]."
It is a cliché conversation, they just shortened it up to subvert expectations. It's like in the letter sketch:
"The man was either mad or both".
Maybe.
Ah yes, I guess I can see that. Thanks!
"The man was either mad or both" is different, I think. There are two meanings of mad so he's saying "the man was either crazy, very enthusiastic [mad about...] or both". Same effect really in that it subverts our expectation of another adjective after "or" but it is more of a joke.
Ooooh, I didn't see it like that. That's a funnier joke than I had thought of.
Not being native English speaker limits your interpretation to be honest, so thank you for your insight.
M'DUDE
I want a malted milk now.
Can u imagine getting a reply after ten years of ur comment 😂😂
How is this not a podcast
Hugh and Steven doing their own take on The Odd Couple.
This isn't actually a bad idea! They should do a program like this: "A Refreshing Bath With..." :)
This is like an interview on the one show
These guys are comedy geniuses
Hugh's hair makes him look like a Victorian industrialist.
The "dos and don'ts of crowd control" is a great line
Lol the direction they both roll over makes Hugh the little spoon, as we all knew he'd be!
The intellectual's answer to Bert and Ernie.
The leg cramp! 😂😂😂 That'd definitely be me!
That studio audience sucked.
coolnamebro so who were all the people in the audience at the end then?
Matthew Richards it’s easy to recognise fake laughs that were put on the audio track for tv broadcast while maintaining the final cheers of the live show
They were funny.. i miss that duo!
Sort of reminds me of those sketches in Morcombe and Wise in bed together.
1:08 I get the distinct impression that Hugh might be searching for his lines here.
Just gave a thumbs up to one of the top comments. Then we're all happy !!
ahh - so stephen fry is big spoon ... :P
Some of the do's and don'ts of crowd control
I could not love the top rated comments on this video more. XD
At least every night, sometimes even more nights than that
A clever conceit:
Journalists getting into bed with awful people because of their position.
How those awful people can sleep at night.
This has got the makings of a Channel 5 show, hasn't it? 😆
One of my favourite programs along with James Brown's celebrity hot tub.
Jalian Walla bagh masacare was done by a certain similar gentleman
I never thought that jeeves and wooster would sleep together
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre that took place in Punjab; led by General Reginald Dyer.
Indeed. They should have made a series out of it - the pairing would surely have been funny every time ;-) Shame they didn't proceed.
I would watch this show.
N'aww they are spooning.
I expected the massacre to have been the result of them singing ‘happy birthday’ to him. 😂
Chilling!
Okay, so, the top two comments are equal once more.
WE MUST KEEP THEM THIS WAY.
I'm sorry...? I'm not English or British, so I don't know who produced the show or where it aired. Just trying to give someone a bit of info.
Ironic that im watching this at 2 am
Even Alanis Morissette shuddered at this comment.
Sounds like a reference to the 'Jalianwala baug massacre'.
I think this might actually be from Saturday Live (a British Saturday Night Live), and not actually A Bit of Fry and Laurie.
it isn't from ABOFAL
Peter Mosten/Mostin.... that was the name of Hugh's character in those Allied & Leicester adverts they did in the 80s. Or was it Bradford & Bingley? Compact and bijou Mosten.
Hugh Laurie played Mostyn in the Alliance & Leicester adverts. It might have been Peter Mostyn, but I don't actually remember him being given a full name.
Im watching this at 5AM
"I'll be sleeping with the Bishop of Liverpool and Gary Liniker"
Well as long as Gary doesnt shit himself during that sleep
i'm enjoying the way the two top comments both have 280 each.
A facsimile of the mainstream media and their talking points.
@MissInformati0n and i`m enjoying your comment, and the fact that 2 months after your comment, they both have 418 each.
The massacre jokes killed me.
People are genuinely laughing from the very start simply at Hugh Laurie saying who he is..."I'm Peter Mostyn." I genuinely think he's one of the few performers who we laugh at but we DON'T KNOW WHY!! He just has to BE there doing next to nothing There aren't many that could do that....Tommy Cooper, Rowan Atkinson, Max Wall, erm....now I'm struggling!
they laughed because he said his name was pete moss.
Do you think this us where Mitchell and Webb got their idea for out door wee from as it's very similar