(music) Favourite Comedy Characters Monday’s Boring Objects LMBYTS #1461 Jason Newland 13th October 2025

Hello and welcome to jasonnewland.com. My name is Jason Newland. This is Let Me Bore You To Sleep. Please only listen when you can safely close your eyes.

And today on Monday the 13th of October 2025 at 2.53pm is Monday's Boring Objects. At last I'm back to some kind of routine, hopefully. Monday's Boring Objects.

And if you listened yesterday, I mentioned that I was going to do a recording. I didn't go on my wall, I found it on the floor and put it back on the wall. I'm going to talk about my favourite comedy characters.

Munchy Bon Olof, Mucky Box Ogre, Mucky Box Ogre. I've got no idea what that is. But favourite comedy characters.

I was walking in the park with Vinnie and I was thinking about this about an hour ago. And I started thinking, oh, but what about comedy characters from movies? So maybe I'll do that next week. That's a whole session on its own.

I just start thinking about that and there's so many, so many. I will also mention comedy characters that maybe I like, maybe that are popular. I mean, I'm probably going to focus on British characters, TV comedy characters.

But I'll try and focus on some American ones as well. I mean, outside of that, I can't think of any other. I mean, there's, yeah, there's a couple of Australian ones like Dame Edna Edferidge.

Canadian. I mean, you've got quite a few Canadian actors that did characters on you sort of Bill and Ted Bloke. All do behave on that character.

You've got Jim Carrey, who is from Canada. And he did. The thing is with him.

You could say, I mean, he did the pet detectives who did that character, didn't they? But there was quite a lot of crossover between that character and a lot of the other characters that he did during that period. And anyway, we'll discuss that next week. This week, I'm going to focus on television comedy characters.

So really just actors that portrayed a character in a television show. So I'm just going to try and find list all comedy characters. TV comedy characters.

British. It's going to be huge. I mean, how far back do you want to go? That's the thing, isn't it? How far back? In fact, I don't think Chet GPT is going to be able to actually list all of them.

Hmm. So it's taken its time. It's a big ask.

So anyway, I hope you will Vinnie's just chilling out on the sofa. I haven't done much today, although I've managed to I've got my laundry in. So my laundry is being done at the moment.

That's swirling around in its own dirt. Hopefully, also some clean water. Yeah, ever since I've changed my medication a couple of weeks back, because I now I my medication was upped a little bit.

And I take it in the morning and in the evening, and it's a bit more tiredness. I've noticed than I had before. I used to get tired in the evening when I took it.

But I was kind of kind of all right by the time I woke up and now taking it in the morning as well. I kind of feel a little bit tired all the time. Which is a lot better than how I was feeling.

But that's the reason why I reduced the medication to start with. Because of that tired feeling. Oh, another thing.

I I've been listening to my own recordings lately, because I just I think it's important that I Yeah, I need is like if you're a chef, you need to try and test your own food in it. So I can't imagine how fat I would be. Imagine how much bigger I'd be.

If I was a chef, I would be huge. You literally have to you'd have to have walls that just collapsed. So I could get in and out of the kitchen.

We'll have some kind of pulley system. So I can be got big, big hole in the ceiling, something like that, because I would just be massive and big enough now. But I was 16 stone just over a year ago.

I'm 15 now. And I wasn't I wasn't even eating that much when I was 16 stone. If I was eating all the time, wow.

Right, okay, is what chat GPT comes up with. That's a massive list. There have been hundreds of British TV comedy characters across decades, from the 50s to now.

To make this useful, I'll start with a comprehensive list group by show focusing on the most iconic and add to the finish. It's taking its time. What it does that? Yes, I've been listening to my recordings.

Now, I'm not surprised that they are relaxing and sleep inducing. Firstly, because this kind of supposed to be, that's the aim. And I suppose is three aims for me for the these Let Me Bore You To Sleep recordings.

First of all, is you know what it says on the tin to help you to get to sleep. Also, there's relaxation. So maybe you're not listening for to go to sleep, you're just listening because you need to just relax.

And there's a third reason, which I didn't start out with. But I've been told that this is a case by quite a few people over the years, that I can be company. I'm a friendly voice to hear regularly.

And there's a lot of people out there that live on their own. And you know, I'm one of them really. I know I've got Vinnie, but the conversation is not up to much, to be honest.

So to have this having that regularity is nice. I think there's a radio show I listen to on a Friday and Saturday night on LBC. Ben, Ben, Ben started listening.

So I think I've lost him. He's not listening to me anymore. He's gone.

He's left me for for Nick Abbott or whoever's on LBC. I'm not listening to the Nick Abbott show 10 o'clock Saturday on Friday and Saturday night. If I don't go to bed till half 11 or 11, I'll just rewind it and listen to it from the start.

And providing there's no major political events going on, it's a very kind of chatty, light hearted kind of show. It can be a bit grumpy at times, but it's a phoning show. So there's a lot of pressure on him to deal with people.

I don't know how well I'd get on with that kind of show. Do you know what I just did? The loudest burp of my life. Seriously, I just just ate I had some breakfast cereal a little while ago.

I did the loudest burp. Massive. So I think he's having a nice drink.

So there are the three reasons or the three benefits potentially. I think there's a fourth. I think there's a few benefits that maybe are not quite touchable, kind of don't don't seem quite obvious.

If or when you reduce anxiety. Really Vinnie? He's doing his helicopter ear thing. When I just throw me off that is what is it? I'm talking about recordings, aren't I? All right, yeah.

I've got I've still got that passion for helping people to reduce their chronic pain. It's still there. And I know, well, from experience, that by reducing stress and anxiety, tension, all that stuff, it reduces the physical discomfort that the person is feeling.

Because, unfortunately, it's one of those things that, you know, when your mind's relaxed, your body becomes relaxed, which relaxes your mind, which relaxes your body, which, you know, so on and so forth. The same thing is with chronic pain and stress or tension. So it goes either way.

So the more tense that the pain is bad, which causes tension and stress, which then increases the pain, which causes more tension and stress, which then increases the pain. But by reversing it, by focusing on the stress, the tension part by relaxing, not necessarily focusing on the part of the body, but just general calming of your mind in a in a kind of a natural way, you know, by listening to me squeaking on about comedy characters from the past on television, things like that.

And because maybe you've listened to me for years, some of you, and you can also listen back, it's not like anything's hidden, you can listen back to recordings, listen to what I've said, listen to everything.

And you know, if you want to record, you're doing a session with someone in a room, and you feel great. What did they say to me? Well, you can listen back to it. Because the recording, I don't know how many times I'm going to say you can listen back to it.

But it's a different situation. And the more often you listen, the more relaxed you become, and the quicker you become relaxed. And if you're listening to fall asleep, it'll just happen naturally.

Because at no point during these recordings do I tell you to go to sleep, or to even focus on sleep. In fact, the only time I generally use the word sleep is at the very beginning when I say welcome to Let Me Bore You To Sleep. That is it, I don't really mention sleep at all.

So naturally, natural relaxation would then also help to relieve chronic pain. So I kind of, that's also in there. That's part of, you know, kind of what I'm trying to do, trying to achieve, I suppose.

And, you know, millions and millions of people have got physical conditions, as have I, I mean, I've got arthritis in my lower back. I never mentioned it. But apart from every time I do recording, I, this helps.

Even making the recording helps my back, which is kind of weird. I don't know why that is. I guess because I can hear my own voice, I can hear the words that I'm saying.

And I'm in a certain frame of mind when I'm making these recordings, maybe. Hmm. So what I've been doing, so there's every now and then I try and explain why I'm doing what I'm doing.

I don't do this in every single recording. Just every now and then if there's someone new listening for the first time, and yeah, we know what new means. Okay, stop it.

And just to let you know what I'm, why I'm doing it. Dog in the garden started barking. So I had to edit that out.

I didn't need to mention it really did I? But hey, it's distracted me though. What was I talking about? Banana splits. Yeah, so banana splits.

I often wonder how because you know, if you when you go into a place and you get a banana split, the bananas are always ripe, aren't they? If you notice that I've never had a banana split I didn't fall in love with. Or didn't enjoy maybe, maybe fall in love with is a bit strong, but I've not had a banana split probably 1520 years. But they were always ripe.

Ripe bananas. Now whenever I buy bananas, it's hard to like pinpoint when they're going to be ripe. So how do they do it in those ice cream shops or burger bars or wherever they sell or restaurants where they sell banana thingies, banana strips, whatever they call them.

I don't know. Do you ever wonder that? Oh, wait a minute. I wasn't talking about that was I? Fire engines? No.

Why is another distraction? Lots of barking. Another dog bark in the garden. Vinnie started barking as well.

So that's maybe you can let me know why you listen to my little bored sleeps. What do you get out of it? And the reason I was meant to talk about this is because I've started listening to my recordings. And I listened to the Q&A Friday yesterday morning.

And I did I fell asleep for two hours. That's how long the recording lasted. I fell asleep for two hours.

And I was on the sofa and I was just like laying back and gone. And then in the late afternoon, I thought, hmm, you know, I do know this. It was night time.

I think it was when I went to bed. I listened to my recording that I did yesterday, which was a Sunday's papers, was it? Yeah, Sunday's papers. So I thought I know what I do.

I listened to that one, which I did, which was yes, Sunday papers, which was, Let Me Bore You To Sleep number 1460. And that lasted for one hour, 35 minutes and 48 seconds. Now, I'll be honest, I wasn't tired.

I wasn't I wasn't tired. I was just kind of, because I'd spent quite a bit of time lazing around yesterday, a lazy Sunday, you know, and I didn't really feel that I needed to go to bed. But I laid down anyway, I went to bed, I've got a routine.

I like to be in bed by about 11. Generally, 10, 9, between 9 and 11, depending. But at the moment, Big Brother's on so I don't go to bed till after Big Brother finishes, which is about 10, quarter past 10.

Or if I listen to Live and Late, which is where they talk about what's happened, then it'll be after 11. So, I'm listening to this, the Sunday's papers. Bearing in mind, I kind of know what I've said, because I've only just finished it.

I mean, I've spent the last two hours editing, processing and uploading it and making an image and all that stuff. While I was watching Big Brother. Because it's quite time consuming sometimes.

And so I kind of already know what I've been talking about, generally. And I start listening to it. I'll be honest, I was listening to it thinking, I don't think this is going to send me to sleep.

Because it's just not. I don't know, I just kind of, I wasn't like laying there thinking, I'm going to stay awake. Nothing like that.

That'd be weird, wouldn't it? But I didn't really feel tired. And then I woke up an hour and a half later. Or two hours later, or three hours, I don't know, to go to the toilet.

I don't, I was listening to the recordings. I wasn't even like just drowsing off or anything. I was listening to what I was saying.

Making sure it was clear, I'm talking clearly and it sounds okay. And, you know, I was, I suppose, being a little bit critical, but not hugely. And I was gone, completely gone.

Fell asleep, probably within 10 minutes, maybe less. To the point where I don't remember falling asleep. In fact, I don't remember, don't remember laying there, listening to it, other than right at the beginning.

Weird. I mean, it's not, I'm not, it's not, why would I do this many recordings if I think it's weird that it works? But why does it work on me? Because, you know, I've got more of a tendency to listen as a, in a more judgy way, you know, like, well, what I talked about, maybe I shouldn't have said that, maybe I should have edited that out.

And, you know, I'm sounding a bit croaky today.

Just little things, but, or, and it happened, yeah, last week, when my desk was squeaking, and that was annoying me. I was like, wow, what's it like for other people listening? Because that's all I can hear now is the squeak on that desk. I got it fixed anyway.

Although I did get myself some WD, WD 40. I didn't end up using it on the desk, I used toilet roll holders. But I'm still very pleased about the outcome.

Like so pleased. It's hardly impossible, I can't really explain to you how chuffed I am that I got rid of that squeak. It wasn't, I wasn't enjoying it.

I wasn't, I didn't like the squeak. I didn't want it part of my life. I don't mean to be rude to it.

I mean, I'm not prejudiced against squeaks, just that one. I wouldn't mind it if it was in the kitchen, or if it was in the bathroom, and Vinnie's just done a big smelly one. Wow.

I don't think he even knows it's happening. He's at my feet, and he's laying flat on his stomach with his little paws, like on, you know, in front of him. Little hands.

And he's listening to me, because I know, because his ears move. Whenever I say his name, if I say Vinnie, his ears prick up. So he knows I'm talking about him.

Don't you, Vinnie? Yeah, you do. I wonder if listening to me sends him to sleep. Because he seems to like listening to me.

Not always. He, you know, if he wants something, then he doesn't like it when I do a podcast. But the amount of times he'll just come and lay down under the table, and just go to go fast asleep.

While I'm doing a recording. I think it relaxes him a bit. I might be wrong.

I might, I might be completely wrong. I've been wrong before. Yeah, I was wrong once, but about three times before, actually.

So let's get on to the subject. So Great Britain classic era, 1950s to 1970s. And right, so I'm going to go through these.

And I mean, it's going to be impossible to go through. You know what he heard what I said, and now he's jumped onto the sofa, almost in defiance. So we'll go through these.

There's so many. Some I will just miss out because I don't. Sometimes it's just they're so old.

And so you got these old ones. Hancock's half hour, Tony Hancock and Sid James. Never really a big fan of that particular show.

I used to have the album, like it's a very there's a very famous sketch called the blood donor, where Tony Hancock is and basically giving blood and it's a it's a it's a funny sketch. I mean, it was a funny show. I just it was on a long time before I was born, really.

So I just didn't really ever get to see and I've seen old episodes. But yeah, it wasn't really my time. Although I was a big fan of Sidney James.

But that was more because of stuff he did later on. And then you've got Steptoe and Son, Harold Steptoe and Albert. Harold would be like, you dirty old man.

And I'll be like, Harold, Harold. And America had their own version of that show, which was it had Red Fox. Oh, Fox.

What's his name? Something Fox. Red Fox. That's it.

Red Fox was in it. And it was the Steptoe and Son was based in a rag and bone man. So he used to go around collecting junk and taking it back to the warehouse where they lived.

And yeah, that was what he did. And his dad Albert was fairly elderly. And they both basically were always arguing.

I've seen it loads of times. Good comedy characters, but I wouldn't put them down as in my my favorites. Dad's Army.

I've seen it in the past. I never really liked it. But there's famous characters Captain Manoring, Private Pike and stuff like that.

So it was based upon during the Second World War, the private army of like citizens would go out at night and basically guard the public guard, which actually happened. So this is but it's a sitcom. So I didn't really I never really enjoyed that show.

Now, if you'd have asked me 40 years ago, or even 30 years ago, who would be my top? Well, if you'd have said what's your favorite sitcom of all time? I would have said Fawlty Towers. And the original UK version Fawlty Towers. What's and the best character Basil, Basil Fawlty as a character comedy character.

So I would still put him in the top list. Great character. And porridge.

They did do an American version. But I don't think it worked very well. I don't think it was successful.

In fact, they might have done versions around the world because this is what's his name, John Cleese, who's like really famous anyway, at the time, because of the what's it because of the what's it called? The show that they had. The life of Brian. That was that's one of my favorite movies ever.

Anyway, porridge. I like porridge. And you got Norman Stanley Fletcher.

Not my favorite comedy character, but he's still a great character. And but it wouldn't, I wouldn't put him down in my list of favorites. Till Death Do Us Part, Alf Garnett.

Now in the 80s, I probably would have said, I would have put Alf Garnett as one of them. But it's really aged. You know, it's, it's not aged well.

It's very, I mean, they can't, they have to be careful about even showing on TV. And they have to all these all these shows, like from the 70s, the 80s, even some shows from the 90s or the 2000s, they put a warning. And some of these views expressed in this show are outdated, but were from a times gone by.

Viewer discretion. Stuff from like 1520 years ago. Society changed that much.

I don't know. Oh, here we go. I'm going to go back.

Right. Sid James was in a TV show called Oh, what was it called? Family. Well, I have to look it up.

I mean, it's called it basically was called Sid. Sid James. is filmography.

Oh, come on. He was in loads and loads and loads of carry on movies. But in it as a TV show, he was in Bless This House.

Absolutely love that show. I just did. I didn't realize why.

Which is gonna sound weird. But I now know that show my granddad, or my nana granddad, when they lived in London, they had the same doorbell as they have at the beginning of that movie, at the beginning of that TV show. And it was a certain very, very popular doorbell chime in the 70s.

So he was Sid Turner in that. So he played Sid quite a few times. He really did.

Wow. He played Sid in quite a few TV shows. Maybe he just he, yeah, he needs to be called Sid.

I don't know. But anyway, that I like that character. But it was kind of him in a weird way.

But still, I like him. It's not a favorite comedy character, as in funniest, because he's quite grumpy in the show. And without the other characters like his son, his daughter and his wife, and his next door neighbor.

It wouldn't be any good. If that makes any sense, it's a bit like Alf Garnett, at the time, was funny because of other people making fun of him for his political and views about all kinds of things. If it wasn't for people making fun of him, it would have just been some horrible old man being horrible to everyone.

And there's not really anything funny in that. But the fact that he'd go on rants, and all the cast would just be laughing at him. It would kind of challenge him what he was saying.

Because that's a lot of things in the 70s where they say it was of its time and it was inappropriate. But a lot of the shows, although technically, if you look at it as face value, yeah, inappropriate content, but also they're questioning. So a lot of these shows are questioning those views.

There was this TV show called Mind Your Language. And it was basically like an evening school with an English teacher trying to teach English to different minorities. So it played on all those stereotypes.

But at the same time, it was kind of educational. I don't mean, I mean, I know it's based in a school, but it was almost making fun of those stereotypes at the same time. Yeah, so plus, you know what, we had stuff on TV in the 80s that would never be allowed on TV now.

You know, I was, I was a teenager in the 80s. And that does, that stuff does have an effect. If you're brought up watching that, it's normal, isn't it? So also, I sometimes feel that I had to kind of reeducate myself in some ways.

But anyway, now on a really good one. This, if I had to, I would possibly say my favourite comedy show, not because of how funny it is. But just because I love it.

I love it. I love it. I love it.

And will always love it. My whole life. Only Fools and Horses.

Every character in there, in that show is good. Excellent. Really, every character.

You got Del Boy, who's the main person. But then you got Rodney, Uncle Albert, Trigger, Boise, Marlene. And you just, everyone.

Grandad, they were all really, really great characters. And because the show went on for quite a long time, the characters developed. And Boise went on to do his own show.

And Trigger was also in, he was in another show. Yeah, it was in a different show, but similar kind of character, actually. So I would probably put down that as my, yeah, my favourite comedy show, probably.

But as far as favourite comedy character, it's like, okay, how do I look at it? Do I look at it in a way of, can I imagine anybody else playing that character? And can I imagine anyone playing Del Boy? No, no one else but him. And Rodney, no one else but him. Uncle Albert, no.

Trigger, Boise, Marlene. Okay, Marlene, maybe, but she wasn't really a big part of the show. I mean, she was in it.

But as far as the main characters, it was Del Boy, Rodney, Uncle Albert, Trigger and Boise. Boise wasn't in it, Hugh and Trigger, they were kind of co-stars. The three main people was, you know, the three, the first three.

But then you also had Cassandra, she was a big part of the show near the last few series. Del Boy's wife. I can't remember her name.

It's terrible. So then you got Blackadder. Now, I liked Blackadder.

I don't know if you know about Blackadder. This is Mr. Bean played Blackadder. Which is going to bring me to Mr. Bean actually, is Mr. Bean even? Yes, it is.

So I'll come back to that. So, Rowan Atkinson, his first major TV show on his own, because he was in a show called The Nine O'Clock News in the late 70s or early 80s. But then he was in Blackadder.

And he, yeah, he was a great character. It was pretty much exactly the same character in every series. And they did, they went through time.

So they had different series is one was in the First World War, one was in Victorian times, another one was in in different times. So, but he was still the same character, still the same person. And Baldwick.

He was, yeah, they had the same people. You know, in all the shows. So, Edmund, yeah, so Blackadder, that was a good, that was a great character.

The Young Ones. It's weird, because the Young Ones was really popular back in middle 80s, or 8345 kind of time. I'm not sure the exact dates.

And it was basically four students living in a house in utter chaos. And Rick Mow, Rick, Vivian, Neil and Mike. Neil was the hippie.

Vivian was the punk rocker. Rick was the anarchist. And Mike was a fully grown man.

It was sensible. And he was kind of the boss. But he was four foot tall.

It was very strange. He looked like he was in his 40s or something. So very popular.

Yeah, I liked, I liked the characters. My favourite was probably Rick. But I did like Vivian and Neil.

He had a song, I'm sure it was Got A Hole In My Bucket. And he's just, yeah, so I liked all the characters. Mike, I just, I don't know, I just seen it's very much the odd one out.

Perhaps that's what makes it good. Yes, Minister. Yes, Prime Minister.

I liked it, but I wouldn't be bothered by like any of the characters. It was very well acted, very well written. It was funny.

I did watch it, but I wouldn't bother with it. I wouldn't like put it down as any of the characters, my favourite. Heidi High.

So, Heidi High was based in a, what do you call it? A camp. What do you call it? Not a caravan camp, like a butlin's kind of thing. You know, where people go along and they've got chalets and there's lots of entertainment and stuff like that.

So that's where Heidi High was based. It was based on the Pontins butlin's theme. And you had Gladys, Ted and Peggy.

They were kind of the main, there was a lot of the same people in all the shows. I would personally, well, I guess Gladys was the star, in a sense. But then Ted and Ted's friend, who lived in the same room as him, I would put them as equal billing really.

And Peggy, I would say a lot of people would remember Peggy more than anyone else. Especially the episode where she gets a red coat or blue coat or green coat or whatever it is. And it's because she's been, years and years and years, she's been wanting to be a red coat or, you know, like an actual entertainer instead of a cleaner.

And finally she gets it and she's just, it's very emotional actually, it's weird. And she was probably the most, one of the most loved TV characters at that time. Mr. Bean.

See this is a weird one for me. You can make a bit more noise please Vinnie, thanks. Mr. Bean, when it started, it absolutely cracked me up.

I'm talking the very first series of it. I had no idea what was going on. And I knew him, I knew Rowan Atkinson, because he was also still doing the, his other show as well at the same time.

The Blackadder. So Mr. Bean, Vinnie, it's, I don't know what it was, I'd never seen anything like it before. Ever.

It was just, and it was completely, pretty much silent. There was no, no converse, there was no talking, there was no really anything during the first season or first series. And I just thought it was brilliant.

But then I didn't watch it anymore. I don't know what it was, it's, I think I sometimes, sometimes now, there's no real reason for this. It's when a TV show becomes popular.

I kind of don't, don't watch it so much. I like, I like almost feeling like I've discovered something that no one else knows about, which is a bit silly when something's on national television. I think it was a surprising hit, though.

And, but yeah, I had no idea. It says the 90s, I think Mr. Bean, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say Mr. Bean first arrived, late 80s. Shall we, shall we look? That's what I believe, because my memory tells me that's true.

Late 80s. Mr. Bean, Mr. Bean, Mr. Bean, Mr. Bean. Sure, look.

Okay. Okay. Okay.

So let's have a look. I just want to get through, I want to be correct. Just for once, I just want to want to be able to tell you whether or not it's true.

Okay. So let's have a look at the list of Mr. Bean episodes. I might be wrong.

I might be wrong. Oh, I'm, you know what? I'm not far off. The first Mr. Bean was on television on the 1st of January 1990.

I mean, that's as close to the late 80s as you can get, isn't it? So yeah, 1st of January 1990. And I watched that. I think that's what it is, right? The first episode, there was two episodes.

One was 1st of January and the next one was 5th of November, 1990. Then he did another one, January 91, October 91, January 92, February 92, December 92, February 93, January 94. What? Oh, huge gaps between the recordings all the way up to 95.

15 episodes from 1990 to 95. And he did 1, 2, 3, 4, 4 episodes in 1995. 1, 2, 3 in 94.

1 in 93. 2, 3 in 92. 2 in 91 and 2 in 90.

So, and he did the movies as well, of course. So that's, he did Bean, 97 and then he did, he's not into doing things. He likes to have a break, doesn't he? He did Bean in 97 and then he did Mr Bean's Holiday in 2007.

It's like 97, 2000, it's like 10 years. I know it's 10 years, but I'm just... Unaired sketches. Okay, so there's stuff that hasn't been on there.

He's done stuff for Comic Relief. And Blimey. So bearing in mind how famous the character is, he hasn't done that much as far as television goes.

15 episodes and then nothing since for 30 years. And then he did, 28 years ago, he did The Bean. And 18 years ago, he did Mr Bean's Holiday.

I thought there was a Mr Bean movie recently. I genuinely did. I mean, am I wrong? Mr Bean movies, Mr Bean cast.

Why am I Mr Bean, Mr Bean movies? No, there's only two. Mr Bean and then there's Mr Bean's Holiday. I think the thing is with him because he did the three Johnny English movies.

He looks the same, doesn't he? I know it's still his face. I take a really good show if you ever get a chance to watch it. It's Blackadder's Christmas Carol.

It's really good. You might be able to see it on YouTube possibly. So I don't think I've ever I might have seen parts there is I've seen some bits of his movies.

There's one scene inside a restaurant. It's very, very funny. I found it very funny.

I can't remember what is some kind of shellfish thing. I don't know. And so yeah, he's, he's not my favourite character, comedy character.

But it's so original. You know, it's as far as originality goes, it's got to be at the top of the list. There's nothing I mean, I'm not saying that no one else could have done it.

There is a there's an actually a comedian actor that could have done it. I'm not saying better or worse, but he could have done that kind of character. David Schneider, and he did.

It's very physical comedian. He's also quite a serious actor as well. Someone I used to know back in the day, as it were.

And he was physical, we could have done that or someone like Lee Evans, or Jim Carrey, you know, having that physicality. But I think with Rowan Atkinson having it wasn't just it wasn't just the physicality was also the facial expressions, wasn't it? And yeah, here's another show that I love, right? The Vicar of Dibley. So there's something it's just nice.

It is funny. It's got what's the name? Blimey, I should know her name. I can't remember everyone's name.

Blimey. Flipping heck. Why are you copying that? I want you to copy Geraldine Granger.

Geraldine Granger. Come on. Saunders, Geraldine Granger.

So if you could, Dawn French. I was just trying to think French and Saunders, Dawn French. Perfect.

It's kind of weird, really, because out French and Saunders, there was Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, they had a TV show. And Dawn French was almost kind of like the, not the star, but the most famous of the two of them. In a way, and they did other sort of movies and stuff together.

And, you know, and then it swapped over. Absolutely Fabulous came out. And Jennifer Saunders became the more famous out of the two.

Because that show was huge here. Absolutely huge hit. And I don't know, I think it might have even been quite big in America and other countries.

I'm not sure. But then, Dawn French started being in the Vicar of Dibley, which was in the, I don't know what year it was. And she went on, because I think Absolutely Fabulous was in the 90s.

The Vicar of Dibley was in the 2000s. So she became the more famous of the two. And they still got back together and did the comedy sketches together.

And that's actually second on the list, Absolutely Fabulous. I did like that. I did.

The thing is, I feel Absolutely Fabulous, Patsy Stone is the best comedy character on that one. And yeah, they just, I think the Vicar of Dibley, I enjoyed watching it because it's really nice to watch. It's light, light comedy.

And there's one particular episode, it's a Christmas episode, where she gets invited to three different Christmas meals. And it's just really nice, nice. It's funny, but it's also nice.

You know, it's I don't know how many times I could say the word nice. Father Ted. Now Father Ted, when it first came out.

I suppose because I was a fan of what's not Dermot O'Leary, not Dermot, it's O'Hanlon, who played Father Dougal. I found him to be the funniest character in the show. But later on, and he is funny, the show's just funny.

But later on, I realised that Father Ted, who's the main character, is actually probably the funniest out there. He's the funniest character in the show. Dougal's kind of completely oblivious.

But Father Ted is also oblivious, but in a different way. And he's always getting into trouble. So that's that was one of my I like really enjoyed that show.

But as far as the characters go, I wouldn't put any of them on the list of my favourites. But they all really good. I really liked them.

Men behaving badly. I like the show, wasn't bothered about the characters. But it was a good show.

It was it was funny. And I did watch it. The Royal Family.

I liked it. I just didn't. I didn't find it like hugely funny.

It was basically a show about nothing. Nothing really happened. That's kind of like me, really.

But nothing really happened. It was just about a lot of families sitting around watching telly. And it Yeah, it was.

I think it appealed to people. Maybe that lived that life that maybe grew up like that, or, you know, understand that was that kind of way that they lived or used to live or it I didn't really I couldn't relate to it. I don't think it was really well written.

And it was funny. You know, I didn't I didn't find it as funny as a lot of other people found it. But all the characters are really good.

Very well acted to know, you know, really good characters. But I don't know. I had a bit of a thing for Denise.

Because she's to play Carolina Hearn. She's not with us anymore. But she she's to play Sister Immaculate.

I wonder if I've got this correct. I'm going to say this off the top of my head. And then I'm going to check it.

In the early 90s. She's to play a character called Sister Immaculate. And she was a nun.

And that would be her on stage doing stand up as a nun. So look, let's have a look. So what was her name? Caroline Hearn.

Carolina Hearn. So early life, career. So Hearn began performing on the Manchester comedy circuit as characters such as Mitzi Goldberg, lead singer of the comedy Country in Western Act, the Mitzi Goldberg experience, and Sister Mary Immaculate, an Irish nun.

Is that is that what I said? I think is. If I was going to say one of the best characters, comedy characters was because Mrs. Merton. Now I'm not sure if they're going to have this because technically it wasn't a sitcom.

It was a game. It was a like a talk show. There was a character she put on and Mrs. Merton and she played this kind of elderly character maybe in her 60s or 70s or whatever.

Very, very funny. The thing is, there's nothing weird here. But I walked into when she was undressed.

During the I was at a gig, she was at a gig. She wasn't completely but she was getting dressed. And I just wanted this.

She was already like, I think she was headlining. And I wanted to say hello to her. But it's very difficult to sort of introduce yourself to someone when they're trying to get dressed.

And I might, I might have spent too much time. You ever wait you see in that situation, you realize they've not seen you. And I realized I've been standing there too long to just like walk out and not say anything.

So I felt I needed to let her know that I was there. In order for her to know that to her to know that I was there. It was a weird one.

So yeah, we never got married in the end. That's what I'm saying. But I loved her.

Bottom. Not I didn't love her bottom. This is a TV show.

Bottom. Well, I did like her. No.

And Richie. Richard and Eddie Hitler. That's bottom.

So I never really watched that show. So it's basically Adrian Evanson and Rick Mall pretty much just carrying on their same characters they had in the young ones really. And they did that for years and years.

So it's very slapstick. So you got 2000s and beyond the office. Again, I, I really liked it.

But I wouldn't go for any of the characters. David Brent wasn't a favorite character. Gareth possibly even I quite liked his character.

But yeah, Peep Show. Absolutely love Peep Show. Again, I wouldn't put him down as my favorite comedy characters.

Because it really, I mean, Mark Corrigan. It's basically since he's that's the character. But it's almost like he's been on lots of TV shows since as himself.

And it's kind of the character seems to be the same person. Pretty much. Little Britain.

I liked all the I mean, all the characters in Little Britain I thought was good. The IT crowd. I didn't really watch that.

The IT crowd. Gavin and Stacey. Again, I didn't really find them being although it's a sitcom.

I don't really class them as comedy characters as such. But maybe Nessa. And the Inbetweeners.

Yeah, I mean, Jay in the Inbetweeners was the main comedy character because of all the absolute rubbish that it's talked about. And I discovered the Inbetweeners late one night in a psych. I think I was probably about to go to bed and it was the episode where he go to a fun park and he has to carry his car door around with him.

And I was like, what on earth am I watching? Very funny. And then you've got 2010s to 20s. Fleabag.

I really like Fleabag. Dairy Girls, never seen it. Detectorists, never seen it.

Afterlife. Yep. Not my favourite character.

But if I was going to say one of my favourite characters of that show would be... what's his name? That's all constantly telling really awful, offensive jokes. Yeah, that I liked him. Friday night dinner, never really watched it.

People do nothing, haven't watched it. This Country. They're both really good characters on that.

They're like cousins and they just get up to stuff. So then you got Strathletts Flats. I quite like it.

And Motherland, which I'm actually just started watching. It's funny. It's basically, basically just a bunch of mothers and one father that are looking after their kids full time.

And all the dynamics that are going on between the different parents and how they try and control each other and help each other. And it's just, you know, it's funny, very funny show. I can't believe I've only just like come across it.

I mean, I was more looking for comedy characters. I mean, Victor Meldrew, they're not even mentioned that. Victor Meldrew, he was in One Foot in the Grave, one of the greatest comedy characters.

He was grumpy old man. And his catchphrase was, I don't believe it. But then you've got Basil Fawlty, absolutely amazing character, comedy character.

So he would be up there. Bouquet, Horrific Bouquet, whatever her name was, and Keeping Up Appearances. What great comedy actor she was.

That character was really funny. It's just like she was wanting to keep up with the neighbours and she thought she was something special and almost like royalty when she just lived in a semi-detached house. Del Boy, great character.

I'm just going through comedy, yeah, Mr. Bean. We can't not mention Mr. Bean. So I'm going through as far as that, just going through the list in all the ones.

I did like Jay Cartwright from The Inbetweeners. But there are a lot of things they've missed out on this list. So comedy characters, what I would say is Alan Partridge is one of my favourite comedy characters.

Didn't even mention it here, or has now. So just looking through it. Lynne from Alan Partridge Show.

She's very funny. She's been playing that part for decades. So good at it.

Hyacinth Bucket, Keeping Up Appearances. Yeah, so I would. And Victor Meldrew.

So, yeah, I quite like Count Arthur Strong as a comedy character. I just find it funny, just his mannerisms and that. But then you got Mrs. Brown from Mrs. Brown's Boys.

Have I really got to choose my favourite out of all of those? And that's just the UK. What about America? If I was going to go through the sitcoms in America that I like, as far as my favourite characters, I'd start with Cheers. And I suppose my favourite character is, it's weird.

I don't like separating them because they're all one. They're one team, aren't they? When you've got the postman, you've got, what's his name? They shout his name out. I should know his name.

Ted, Bill, Steve, Horace, Bucket. Oh, you know, the one that's always at the bar, the two that are always at the bar. And you've got Sam, you've got Rebecca, and you've got Frasier and Lilith and and Diana.

And what's her name? So yeah, there's a few. It's because I've been going through so many different names. So I kind of see them as like one big character.

But I think Frasier's a great comedy character. I still watch him on his, like his show. Great comedy character.

The pomposity and also his brother in the show. Great character. The two of them really.

Friends. I don't know, I wasn't really, I watched Trends, but I wasn't really a Friends, like mega fan. I know it was huge, successful, huge.

Both everywhere, you know, I suppose. But and I did watch it right from the start to the end. I don't mean from the start of the episode to the end of the episode.

I mean, Sam, no, Sam behind the bar, isn't it? Not Fred. What was his name? They used to call out. And I suppose I'd probably go for Joey.

I think Joey was, but yeah, maybe. It was three blokes and three women, wasn't it? I quite liked Phoebe as well. Is Phoebe the blonde one? Who's always coming out with weird things? Yeah, I liked her.

So that's. But it's not one of my favorite shows. And if we're going to go, my favorite American sitcom show.

Probably, although if we're going to go for having watched it the most, then probably Cheers and Frasier. They kind of be there. Everyone loves Raymond.

It's sometimes really, really funny. We see our episodes in the morning sometimes and. But then I think of.

I don't know. Other sitcoms, other sitcoms. I know technically MASH.

I mean, MASH was kind of like a sitcom. I like the characters in MASH. I used to love Roseanne and.

Loads of different shows. I think Roseanne was good when you had both the young girls arguing all the time. Very well scripted.

I like that. Trying to think what else? Vinnie's now begging me for something. You're begging me.

What is it you want, Vinnie? I'm guessing it's going to be something like a treat. Is it a treat you want? But you got your dinner over there. Why don't you eat that? Why don't you eat your dinner? Eat your dinner, Vin, Vin.

Vin, Vin, Vin. There was a lot of American sitcoms, but I think one of the ones I've really OK, not OK, we're going to go for comedy characters. Let's forget the sitcoms, comedy characters.

Naked Gun, because he was in it. Files from, it was a police files or something. It was called the TV show.

And Drebin, Frank Drebin. Lesney Nielsen. What a great character.

Brilliant, like complete straight face all the time. Amazing. And I loved Mork from Mork and Mindy.

Absolutely loved Mork. But then you've had things like Taxi and Danny DeVito. What a character in that show.

As far as like comedy characters, there's so many. As far as TV show comedy characters in America. And you want my attention, do you? You're not going to get it, though.

It's about as much as I'm going to give you. It's literally now trying to get on my lap. I'm trying to think of another thing.

Favourite comedy characters in America. I used to love Bill Cosby, like in the Bill Cosby shows. And Mork and Mindy.

So Mork from Mork and Mindy. Also, one of my favourites is Mork's son. And his name was Pork, not Pork.

Dork. Cork. Mork and Dork.

I forget his name, but he was he was Mork and Mindy's son. And great, great comedy character. Really phenomenal.

Yeah, possibly funnier than funnier than Robin Williams. As far as like comedy goes. I mean, funny is comedy, isn't it? But oh, wow.

Yeah, that's very funny. I'm just trying to think other comedy shows. I mean, the Golden Girls, I liked all of the characters in the Golden Girls.

I mean, especially the really old one. Although she wasn't really old, was she? I don't think in real life. But she went on, she was like the grandmother.

She was the mother of one of the, I think she was a mother of Blanche. And she, she was got a proper mouth on her. So she was funny.

That was a good character. I'm trying to think of some sitcoms, sitcoms on my characters from today's sitcoms. American sitcoms.

I'm just trying to think. Probably. Oh, blimey.

Ork from York. No, no, I can't think of any others. There's so many.

I was focused on British ones. So and then I thought, Oh, let's have a look at the American ones. And I mean, Batman and Robin, the TV show, that was funny.

So they were good comedy characters. Words were gummage in this country. The original words were gummage.

I loved him. Would I have an outright winner out of all of them? For longevity. Alan Partridge has been going over 30 odd years.

And no other comedy character in this country I think has done that. For but then you've got Fawlty Towers. Basil Fawlty, that was such a brilliant character.

Hmm, and you got Delboy. I'm gonna choose Delboy, just because I love the show. And I know that when I finish this recording, I'll remember something.

Oh, why didn't I think about that one? But it doesn't really matter, does it? Yeah, just trying to think of the American ones before I go. What other American ones are there? There's loads, isn't there? I used to watch the American sitcoms on a Friday night, because that's what I used to be on a Friday between nine and 10 on channel four. So Roseanne, just different ones, Cheers.

And then when Cheers finish something else, they take that, you know, they take their turns, and something else would come on and something else. And yeah, be quite a few different shows. I always watch them.

Whatever was on, I'd watch it. Always. Every Friday night.

This was in the late 80s, maybe also in the 90s as well. I got no idea what's on a Friday night now. I lost track of TV a little bit over the years.

I do believe that brings me to the end of this here recording. So thank you for listening. Remember to be kind to yourself, because you do deserve to be happy.

Be gentle with yourself. You deserve to feel safe. Lots of love.

Bye.