Posted on 04/15/2025 5:15:33 AM PDT by Angelino97
Benny Hill was once one of Britain's most popular entertainers, with his particular brand of comedy - slapstick and risque - hugely popular for some two decades with a theme tune that will bring back memories for anyone of a certain age.
It's reported that one of his specials, aired in 1969, attracted a bigger audience than the moon landings but in recent years, the comedian has fallen out of favour, with some of his sketches being criticised over their racist and sexist jokes.
This was the topic of a recent Channel 5 programme, The Cancellation of Benny Hill, looking back at the comedian's career, noting that his popularity extended to major stars including Michael Jackson, while he also appeared in a number of movies, including The Italian Job and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
In 1971, viewing figures for his show topped 21 million and the comedian was awarded ITV personality of the year.
But his success would come to a sudden end in the 1980s and his shows are 'rarely on TV nowadays – having been criticised for containing racist, sexist, risqué and vulgar content which would be deemed unacceptable by today's standards'.
Programme's makers looked back through the archives to find footage that cannot 'under normal circumstances' be played on TV today, and aired it for some younger viewers, Ellie, Pradeep, and Jodie, as well as cultural commentators, to get their reactions.
The show also sought to answer the question of 'whether it’s time to bring Benny out of the comedy cold, or whether he should stay "cancelled?".'
Some of the clips shocked the younger viewers due to their politically incorrect content, however, there were others that they found more amusing.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Oh no! Comedy! Run!!!!
He’s boring.
Monty Python was much better.
funny af but lost 70% of the attraction with me when I found out he was a fluffer...
Jesus Christ's name was going to be Fred, until Mary stubbed her toe.
The person I was with said the man who was wearing the shirt should be put in jail. I don't know...I look around and see things that tell me God has a sense of humor.
Benny Hill was funny. Woke BS and the inability to laugh at life’s foiables drains humor out of society. Bring it back 24/7 to help people see that laughter is often the “best medicine”. Society needs to have a sense of humor about everything in order to remain sane.
So-called progressives thrive in anger and negativity. Their perspective is destructive of civil society and a generally good time.
Attitudes like the ones this DM writer brought to the article are why I bought a Blazing Saddles DVD. I figure eventually it will go down the memory hold of Leftist cancellation.
Memory hole
I like Ben Elton’s work but he’s a big reason Benny Hill got canned. I can watch Benny Hill clips on YouTube and I still get a laugh out of them so they mostly hold up today
There is hope for GEN Z...............
It's a two-fer for the UK's Deep State since Gab's founder is a devout Christian.
Liberals are always angry.
They are not happy unless they are angry.
They will not be happy until everybody else is angry , too...........
Benny Hill. Stone genius. He would have these songs that went on for 20 minutes with very tight, funny verses. Don’t know if he wrote them or not. But the quantity of funny stuff he put out was amazing.
“He’s boring.
Monty Python was much better.”
I enjoyed him as a pre-teen, and early teen. But I agree he was pretty low level comedy.
Monty Python on the otherhand has stood the test of time for a reason.
“ Monty Python was much better.”
Apples and oranges.
Do you mean low-brow?
If so, that’s a fair cop.
But it’s still funny. :-)
Ask some simp named Pradeep about 70s British humour and get the results expected. Pradeep is wanting no more humour. Only dancing of the whole village is needful enetertainment.
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