This video is a brief compilation of the final Blackadder series which was set in World War I. Although at one level it is very amusing, I guess, as is so often with humour, it is funny because it is only a relatively thin parody of the utter stupid strategy that the British ruling army class employed in World War I.

So what I find interesting in these bleak UK political times is how it is spawning new comedy from hitherto completely unknown people (this lady at the time of writing this post has only 393 subscribers). This gem popped up on my Youtube feed on the 13^th of August so I thought I might as well include it in this week's comedy sketch release.

This lady does a great Liz Truss impersonation yet the tragedy is that it is so close to the real thing that one is left feeling both depressed and entertained at the same time. Entertained by the clever parody, yet depressed at the the thought that our next Prime Minister will be indistinguishable from this parody character. Not something you really want to think about when we are facing a cost of living crisis with UK energy bills tipped to hit over £4K per year next year, a war in Eastern Europe, collapsing NHS, global heating-driven European heatwave etc, etc.

Time for change of comedy genre. The two Ronnies are the type of comedians that you could safely take you neighbourhood monk to and they would probably not be offended. Ronnie Barker was very gifted at coming up with clever ideas for sketches and this one, while not a play on words, is nonetheless clever in its execution. It also has a nice little punchline to bring the sketch to a fitting conclusion

Time to move to stand up comedy. This first sketch is an impressive little musical number with somewhat complex lyrics that explores (critiques) the American idea that where you fall on the political spectrum is a morally neutral choice. It makes it point rather successfully I feel through comedy although the song itself is definitely not a laugh minute tune.

Ryan George has a real gift of taking the cultural furniture that has been with us for our whole lives and exposing just how strange it really is when observed from a different perspective. I guess our Christmas paraphernalia is ripe for such parody given the thousands of Christmas songs that have accumulated over the centuries this season has been celebrated in the Western world.

Frosty the Snowman has always been one of my favourites since our next door neigbour once bought my daughter Grace a dancing singing snowman with this tune programmed into it. Strangely enough the version in our snowman is a little different to the classic one. Perhaps I am doing a Peter Kay by mishearing the lyrics of my dancing snowman but it truly likes he is singing:

"🎼 Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul, with a pink carnation and a button nose and a lively 'I don't know'🎵". My youngest autistic daughter Rebekah and I now regularly sing these words as we both find them rather amusing in their silliness.

Time for some more Blackadder. The last time I cited Blackadder on this website was all the way back in June when the days were warm and long. That particular set of sketches was taken from the final series of Blackadder which was set in World War I. This Blackadder is set around the time of George the 3^rd and this historical context created lots of opportunities for the very clever comedy writers of Blackadder to create a series of master sketches. These wonderful sketches have brought many people much joy over many years and have raised the spirits of those who are feeling the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune".

In week 23 I posted some material from the series the IT crowd which was a brilliant series that screened in the naughties. Although all the episodes were very funny, two that were exceptionally good were "Are we not men?" (a nice reference to Devo there) and "The work outing". I have already cited the first bit of the work outing in September last year so now it is time for the next instalment. For the context of where this sketch starts, click here to watch part I.