El show de Benny Hill

I must be the only woman in America who loves this show! Most other women I talk to say they can't stand the sexism of the show. However, I never believed that Mr. Hill was being vicious towards the women whom he made the butt (pardon the pun) of many jokes. It also helped that Mr. Hill looked like a schoolboy who had been caught doing something naughty. Some of the best sketches were the parodies of TV shows, commercials and movies. The songs were surprisingly well done, too.

I remember watching The Benny Hill show during the Seventies on London channel Thames TV, which also produced the show from their studios at Teddington Lock in west London. I remember just how popular this show was in England and as i found out later, the whole world. This man was a comedy genius ranked by many with the all time greats such as Chaplin, Keaton, Laurel & Hardy, Lloyd. In France he is revered as a comedy auteur. His shows viewing figures were always in the top ten in the UK right up to his shows cancellation in 1989. Around the same time comedy in Britain was undergoing a revolution. The old-school traditional end-of-pier type of comedy that had become a mainstay in UK television (Are You Being Served) was now considered to be politically incorrect. In it's place came a new "style" of writing more influenced by correct non sexist/racist humour. This change was headlined by such shows as The Comic Strip Presents,The Young Ones,Friday night Live and a whole host of other programing that had first had exposure with the launch of channel 4 in 1982. By the late 80s Thames television were facing a barrage of anti Benny Hill sentiment driven by the UK press that was totally contradicted by his viewing figures that showed only a small decline in viewers. Thames decided to bite the political bullet and cancelled his show in 1989. Benny Hill was to experience the wilderness of change and he never worked again. Former members of the Hills Angels visited him on a regular basis, but a depression had started to eat away at him. He died on April 18, 1992.

Now in 2005 TV comedy in the UK is split into two halves. The commercial channels such as Channels 4 & 5 show predominantly US imports such as Friends, Joey etc. While the BBC still stick to homegrown comedy such as Little Britain, The Smoking Room, which are the direct descendants of the "Alternative Comedy" that changed British TV in the 1980s. The problem now is is that it's hard to find anything that can give you a real belly laugh because todays comedy is too obsessed with patting itself on the back in self congratulation at how smart it is.

I've laughed and enjoyed the Benny Hill shows ever since i was very young, and still do. Benny Hill is one of the comedians who are really able to be funny, without contrived situations and one-liners. And he manages to throw in some more serious acting too. There is a certain feeling of quality, of true artistry to every moment of the show which most of his followers lack. Many of the jokes are seen as off-color today and would probably never be aired if the show was new, a sign that things are changing in the other direction. Catch it now before it is forever buried and condemned by the politically correct!

Benny Hill was fair game for people who wanted to take the moral high ground. These people brought the trumped up charge of being degrading to women against him but there were very few complaints about him being degrading to short bald-headed elderly men. British clean-up TV campaigner Mary Whitehouse was always going on at him and I once heard his best-known critic after Mary Whitehouse, Ben Elton, practically accuse him of inciting violence against women. The truth is, Benny only wanted to make people laugh and brighten their lives up and I think he was definitely hurt by the criticism. As I said, you could say he was degrading to short bald headed elderly men like in a very funny sketch where he and the entire cast of his show were performing a musical number. Jackie Wright and Bob Todd are sitting together singing and Benny goes over with two xylophone sticks and plays a wooden xylophone tune on top of their heads! Benny had a knack for making the obvious funny, like in a short sketch where he's looking after his neighbour's cat and his neighbour tells him "don't put yourself out" or when he plays a man going out the door with a four foot high package and his wife tells him "don't forget to post it". He had tremendous international appeal and many celebrities in the states including Burt Reynolds and Walter Cronkite and Greta Garbo was rumoured to be a fan. When Benny took ill and was in hospital Michael Jackson visited him (wonder if Wacko Jacko promised him a trip to Disneyland). One thing Benny did on his show was parodies of TV commercials. He did a parody of the Sunlight Washing Up liquid commercial where he was dressed up as the woman in the commercial and says in response to the rather obvious questions from the voice-over "of course it gets my dishes clean, are you damn stupid or something?". I can remember wishing that the woman in the real commercial would say that. In the early 1970s there was a commercial for Fry's Chocolate Cream which showed a girl reclining on a couch enjoying a bar of the chocolate. Her cat walks along the shelf next to her and knocks a porcelain figurine off the shelf and she catches it. Benny parodied this commercial. He was dressed up as the girl and when the cat knocked the figurine off the shelf he failed to catch it and the figurine shattered on the floor. A guy ran on to the set and shouted "clumsy fool" at Benny. It was predictable but still very funny. One thing his critics chose to overlook was that he nearly always played the character who came off worst in his sketches. The crux of his humour was that he played a lecherous man chasing after young girls who got his come-uppance. He was a guy very good at taking a joke on himself but definitely stung by critics.

I recall a time, even as a young child in the early to mid 1970's that we would all set Friday evening aside at 8.30 PM to watch "The Benny Hill show". Wherever we went, whether it was going to the supermarket, on the bus, or even in the shopping mall, you could hear someone make a comment relating to the previous Benny Hill episode. I would see people approach each other with a smile and ask " Did you watch the Benny Hill show last Friday? Wasn't it great?". I had never ever had this experience with any other comedy series or event since. What was even more surprising was that the I heard far more praises from women of all ages than I ever did from men. SURPRISE, SURPRISE, I was shocked with disbelief so many years later to learn from the media that the show was sexist and was not politically correct?? Are we speaking about the same show?????? Hmmmmmm!!!!! How could he have been sexist if the joke ended up on him or any character he performed?? Every bald elderly short man should then be offended by his slapping on the head of his side kick. I never heard this being mentioned in the media. I am confused???? I repeat, my parents who were very strict with what we watched on television, allowed us to watch this show when we were children. I would have probably done the same with my children.



Benny Hill was not only a comedian, but a great artist, music composer and very talented in a broad spectrum with his artistic skills. He could imitate just about everyone with sarcasm and humour. He made the world laugh!!!!!! There is so much depression lately, that I have never ever seen anyone come as close in making me laugh as Benny Hill did. Sure, British comedy and British pop groups are very much like high class end Swiss watches, but Benny Hill stood out in comedy. He was once labeled here as "Clown Imperial". I also noticed that he was also very popular in Italy when I was there some twelve years ago.

I cannot comment on every episode that I recall seeing, as it would be impossible for me to do so within the thousand word limit. Yet, the episodes that still come to my mind some 25 years later, included when he imitated other television characters such as Kojak, Mr. T from the A team, the disco dancer, The china man and the opposite gender with his different wigs and hair styles. I also enjoyed his soccer games where he was the goal keeper and he would sarcastically save goals in the funniest ways. I also enjoyed the comedy in his lyrics when he sang tunes. I could still recall him playing the harp in one episode where he ends his tune by plucking the wrong note and grins. His fast forwarded sketches were also very funny especially with the ambulance officers. I did enjoy different scenes a lot more than others as I did not find the character Mr. Scuttle very funny, as this could have been improved.

One could say that some episodes had a touch of sleaziness, but why would they be any different from the standards exhibited in modern television which has lots of sleazy themes, swearing, sex scenes and nudity? If one would be open minded and fair, I believe that "The Benny Hill show" rated very politically correct when compared to the majority of modern television of today, whether comedy or otherwise. I have not been able to get videos or DVD's of any of these Benny Hill shows, but am so sorry for those that did not get to judge this artist for themselves. If laughter could cure diseases, then this show could cure everything, as I have never had a great laugh ever since, as it takes a lot to make me laugh. May he rest in peace.