What's this British comedy?

September 16, 2011 4:05 PM

Can you name this 1990s British sketch show?

I'm searching for a British sketch show which I think was fairly obscure. I reckon it aired late night in around 1993-95 -- there were only four channels back then and I'm fairly sure it was on BBC2 or maybe ITV.

All I have to remember it is one sketch: an old man, trying to make a mug of tea. He'd repeatedly find the kettle lead was too short to plug in, then too short to reach to the mug, etc etc. He had some sort of one- or two-word catchphrase that he'd repeat over and over, but I can't remember what it was.

I've searched The British Comedy Guide (by channel and by year) to no avail.

(It's definitely not Channel 4's Absolutely, which featured a fairly well-known old-man-making-a-cup-of-tea sketch. Or The Fast Show with that old man who said "Bugger".)

posted by sleepcrime to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

[Absolutely *was* the one with Bert Bastard, who kept saying "Bugger" and "Arse"]
posted by scruss at 4:09 PM on September 16, 2011

Was it the Mary Whitehouse Experience, or one of its spinoffs? Both Punt and Dennis, and Newman and Baddiel, had their own shows shortly afterwards.
posted by Jehan at 4:13 PM on September 16, 2011

Response by poster: Not Mary Whitehouse or its spinoffs, sorry (although I was a religious follower of those series!). And definitely not Absolutely -- in the show I'm thinking of, the old man had a friend / housemate... I think. He had a strange sort of lisp or something as well, maybe? Gah, damn my broken memory.
posted by sleepcrime at 4:20 PM on September 16, 2011

I'm going to guess Fist of Fun, although I don't remember the sketch you mention.
posted by roger ackroyd at 4:55 PM on September 16, 2011

Still Game?
posted by Diablevert at 5:00 PM on September 16, 2011

I would have to say that the description remind me mostly of Absolutely, but that's clearly not the case. Off the top of my head, I can only think of French and Saunders and Harry Enfield doing "two old buggers" stuff in the 90's, although Smack the Pony may have done a sketch or two in this vein. Catherine Tate's old granny stuff was later, but may have been mixed up with some earlier thoughts, as might Ted and Ralph from the Fast Show. Otherwise, I'm all out.
posted by Jakey at 5:36 PM on September 16, 2011

If it's an ITV programme, would it have been shown in only one region? Something like Barry Welsh Is Coming, for example?
posted by Neon at 5:57 PM on September 16, 2011

Although I don't remember the exact sketch, from your description it sounds like Steptoe and Son. I remember it being shown in the 90's although it is quite a bit older...
posted by d11 at 7:48 AM on September 17, 2011

Response by poster: Diablevert -- that's interesting, the character of Victor in Still Game looks very much like how I remember the character from the sketch show I'm thinking of. But I've checked clips of both Still Game and Chewin' The Fat and it's not the right characters. (It was first broadcast too late too.)
posted by sleepcrime at 10:22 AM on September 17, 2011

I think it might be Naked Video which had a lot of overlap with Absolutely.
posted by communicator at 1:57 AM on September 18, 2011

Hmmm. Well, according to the Wiki, the show started as a stage play which was filmed and televised, and the characters were changed a bit from that version. Is it possible you're remembering that? That'd be closer to the right vintage.
posted by Diablevert at 10:04 AM on September 18, 2011