I was chatting with a friend over email the other day, about British comedy shows that ran here in the States during the early '80s. This was years before BBC America was developed, so these shows were running on PBS, and they ran them in a block that included The Benny Hill Show, Doctor In the House, The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perin, and a show I haven't thought about probably since I last saw in 1982 or so, Dave Allen At Large. These shows came on either before or after Doctor Who back then, and along with Monty Python's Flying Circus (which was aired separately for some reason; memory suggests in was only on weekends), formed my introduction to British humor.
I actually had to do a Google search for comedians missing a finger to finally recall Dave Allen's name. And then it was off to YouTube, wonderful YouTube, the repository for virtually everything knocking about the backseat of our minds, to be reminded of why I was so transfixed by his show to begin with. Comedy is different now – a bit more brusque, I think – but Dave Allen registers laughs with me. I think it's because so much of what he says is grounded in truth. What's more, itt's odd to see this stuff now, some 30 years on from my original point of contact (and even later, in terms of its original air date), and realize how much of my own sense of humor is owed to this wonderfully irreverent Irishman from the 20th century...
I actually had to do a Google search for comedians missing a finger to finally recall Dave Allen's name. And then it was off to YouTube, wonderful YouTube, the repository for virtually everything knocking about the backseat of our minds, to be reminded of why I was so transfixed by his show to begin with. Comedy is different now – a bit more brusque, I think – but Dave Allen registers laughs with me. I think it's because so much of what he says is grounded in truth. What's more, itt's odd to see this stuff now, some 30 years on from my original point of contact (and even later, in terms of its original air date), and realize how much of my own sense of humor is owed to this wonderfully irreverent Irishman from the 20th century...
